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Post by DM Gully Dwarf aka RPG Grandma on Jul 28, 2020 6:29:18 GMT
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Post by margaret on Jul 28, 2020 16:06:43 GMT
Agree that the jeweled eyes don't work , but you never know 'til you try. I am intrigued by what looks like a sign in the back of your group of doors. "This Way to the Keep" perhaps?
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Post by DM Gully Dwarf aka RPG Grandma on Jul 28, 2020 16:50:29 GMT
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Post by DM Gully Dwarf aka RPG Grandma on Jul 29, 2020 5:23:28 GMT
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Post by sgtslag on Jul 29, 2020 12:56:59 GMT
Very nice work! Especially for someone new to crafting. Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing. Cheers!
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Post by DM Gully Dwarf aka RPG Grandma on Jul 30, 2020 6:12:07 GMT
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Post by sgtslag on Jul 30, 2020 12:22:18 GMT
They look good. Have you considered applying a clear, gloss coat over the blue sand, water, and atop the brown mud, to give it more of a wet look? Might work, might not. Don't really know, as I've never done it. Ha, ha! In my playbook, "Experimentation is King, Baby!" You might use Pledge Floor Shine: clear acrylic base, high gloss, dirt cheap, at Wal-Mart. It is $6 for a large, 27 oz. bottle! Mix acrylic paints, and/or water/alcohol based inks, to make custom washes. It is commonly known as "Magic Wash," The Dip's kissing cousin. Apply full-strength, with a brush. Water and soap clean up. Dries in 15 minutes. Incredibly durable (designed to coat floors, to be walked upon, with shoes...). Magic Wash is your friend: completely customizable washes, of any color needed. You might want to add a couple of drops of Dawn Dish Soap, to the bottle, to break the surface tension, so it flows more smoothly. One real advantage to painting Pledge Floor Gloss onto a painted mini, before any wash is applied: acrylic paints have a microscopic roughness; washes collect in it, making the whole of the surface, darker, even spotty; painting pure Pledge over the surface, fills in the microscopic divots. When you apply a wash, after the Pledge dries, the wash will be smoother, accumulating within the recesses only. It will not darken the flat surfaces nearly as much. It also seals the paint, with an extra, extremely durable, clear coat. Finish your mini's with a matte clear coat: if they become shiny, it is time to apply another matte clear coat... I like your idea for Giant Butterflies attacking... That's pure 'evil'. Ha! Love it! Cheers!
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Post by DM Gully Dwarf aka RPG Grandma on Jul 30, 2020 20:01:59 GMT
Thanks for the tips. I will see what I have... might have the pledge in the garage. You know if it was Gamma World they would be Butterflies that shoot radioactive rays out of their eyes... they will be just as bad in D&D. Death Rays of Magic... and where there are beautiful butterflies of unusual size, there are ravenous caterpillars of unusual size that are poisonous to touch... Yep go exploring they said, it will be fun they said... 🙃 I am going to do a mass seal spray... on a bunch of painted and flocked pieces. I have matte and gloss... I also have some brush on clear coats satin and matte. Anyway here are the completed resin doors I had to attach foam to, so I could create a good finished look to the blank backs. I think this creates a nicer look imgur.com/Jc2phZ8 imgur.com/xZzWMRk
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Post by DM Gully Dwarf aka RPG Grandma on Aug 5, 2020 21:01:40 GMT
Started working on the miniatures... so I decided to start with Orcs & Goblins. A couple old Elfquest Trolls will be getting cleaned up and repainted to be used with the Goblins as Goblins instead of their previous use a random hobbit or dwarf substitutes I never liked how they looked for that anyway. Hubby is working on a set of Reaper Goblins... I am mass painting the Goblins and Orcs from the 1992 game Battle Masters (a friend years ago gave us his game which was missing parts so it had been sitting in storage). I have most of them mounted, sanded, washed, identified under their stands... wolves will be put together and mounted after they finish drying. I will also be recycling all the surviving Elfquest Elves for use into Gnomes. Too bad years ago some of our RPG stuff first was disappeared in military moves (totally lost all my Star Frontiers, Gamma World and about half of the Elfquest and D&D figures... along with rules, modules etc... movers helped themselves and don’t even get me started on all the broken household stuff) and then some of what survived the great mover raid or was replaced was lost again to natural disaster... we have been slowly just every now and then replacing things. Anyway bad moves aside These guys I will be doing bad things to next... imgur.com/b6b25gQ imgur.com/bmDrTOE
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Post by margaret on Aug 6, 2020 18:32:05 GMT
Looks like you are making great progress =)
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Post by sgtslag on Aug 7, 2020 13:27:28 GMT
Back when I was starting to build my collection of mini's for my we 2e BattleSystem armies, I bought around three sets of mini's from the BattleMasters games, off of e-Bay. They were cheap, and painted up nicely.
I am now using plenty of Caesar fantasy, and Red Box's Light/Dark Alliance figures: all 1/72 scale (true 25mm), all plastic. The Caesar Goblins are properly sized per the 1977 1e AD&D Monster Manual, for 25 mm tall Human figures. The Orcs are a bit short, but not bad. They are very inexpensive, easy and fast to paint. I am using their Elf figures which are also shorter than my 25 mm-28 mm Humans, so they, too, are about the correct size per the 1e MM.
I decided that I want to see them as Gary did, in the 1970's. It has been a lot of fun, I must say. Gary put an incredible amount of detail in his first AD&D book: sizes, colors, tribal information, etc. It all gel's very nicely.
What got me started, were some 54 mm Cave Men toy figures, from Wal-Mart, in the late 1990's. I did the math, and in 25 mm, or 1/72 scale, a 54 mm tall Cave Man figure was the proper size for a Hill Giant! I did some more calculating, and I found that a Frost Giant would clock in at 60 mm tall... I found a few brands of 60 mm Viking toy figures! I have not found any toy figures which match up with Fire Giants, Stone Giants, nor Cloud or Storm Giants, sadly.
The other fun thing with this project, is that these toy figures are generally very inexpensive! They paint up well enough, when primer'd with artist's gesso. Since I am building armies, the lower the figure cost, the better!
I did a scale model of the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, playing it out using 1e AD&D rules, with full figures -- I was only able to do the upper level, but... It was a high school dream come true! Working on G2: Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, and G3: Halls of the Fire Giant King, as well. I have the Giant figures, and I have the terrain making methods proven, I just need the time to finish the terrain.
Still hoping to take the Hill Giants to Gary Con, but it hasn't worked out, yet. My goal is to take all three, when done, to Gary Con. I think everyone there will enjoy seeing it, if not able to play it.
In a playtest session, and at a small convention, the players snuck into the Great Hall, in the shadows, where it wasn't lit by torches, or bonfire, unleashed a well coordinated sneak attack, and the Giants all failed their morale! It was every Giant for himself (I rolled a 19, on the Morale Check!), as they panicked! The PC's had set up traps outside of two of the side exits. It wasn't pretty. A basic slaughter took place, with the Giants on the business end of it. The Giants were all drunk, and partying. They were completely blind-sided by the attack. It was devastatingly effective.
The Frosty's will be much harder to fight. The Fire Giants will be quite challenging, as well. I would love to do all three, in succession, at Gary Con, but the setup for G1 and G3 are tedious, and extremely time-consuming. I doubt I will be able to run all three in a long weekend.
Sorry for the digression. Looking forward to seeing your work! Cheers!
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Post by DM Gully Dwarf aka RPG Grandma on Aug 10, 2020 2:43:25 GMT
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Post by sgtslag on Aug 10, 2020 13:35:13 GMT
OOOooohhh! That is dark, very dark, guillotine humor... That ranks right down there with the Guillotine! card game. LOL! Have you tried artist's gesso, to prime the mini's for your nephews? Water-based acrylic, soap/water cleanup, and non-toxic. It is simple, relatively fast, and very effective. It goes on thick (no need to dilute, first), but it shrinks, as it dries, getting sucked into recesses, forming a thin skin. It takes acrylic paints, superbly. Don't worry about small pinholes in the dried primer -- will not affect the painting results. Comes in four color varieties: black, gray, white, and clear (do not use the clear... disaster!). Cheers!
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Post by DM Gully Dwarf aka RPG Grandma on Aug 11, 2020 7:09:53 GMT
We picked up some acrylic primer of some sort for the Bones minis hubby is working on... I should do some test priming with the good stuff. The minis the kids and I did were just primered with cheap acrylic craft paints of different colors, black, grey and white, so I could see which colors would work best over the plastic colors and then take the top coat colors... I think slate grey type shade worked the best.
Definitely want to keep cleanup easy in case of oopsy situations with the kids... also they have zero clue on shop/craft safety so I will very slowly teach them safety with tools and materials. I don't need exacto blade injuries and blood everywhere....
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Post by DM Gully Dwarf aka RPG Grandma on Aug 14, 2020 7:58:56 GMT
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Post by sgtslag on Aug 15, 2020 2:19:19 GMT
FYI: commercial module maps often have zero wall thickness... You will need to factor this in when using such. Cheers!
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Post by DM Gully Dwarf aka RPG Grandma on Aug 15, 2020 3:40:20 GMT
Yes that will need to be taken into consideration...
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Post by DM Gully Dwarf aka RPG Grandma on Aug 19, 2020 22:03:23 GMT
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Post by margaret on Aug 20, 2020 7:20:23 GMT
Lots of cool stuff for your players to have fun with! As always, the bookshelves - or rather, the scrolls and books - are my favorites =)
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Post by DM Gully Dwarf aka RPG Grandma on Aug 22, 2020 4:38:05 GMT
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