Tag Archives: Laser-cutting

Romanes eunt domus

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You may remember a couple of posts back where I was getting excited about a Kickstarter from Grenzer Games. Some rather nice looking 15mm Romans. Not that I needed them. This project has been postponed. Here is why in their own words.

Never Defeated!

After a long discussion this week at Grenzer HQ we have sadly decided to cancel the project at this time, BUT, we will be back with an updated, new and shiny campaign, in 30 days. This time frame is an approximation due to the Corona virus situation in China, which has had an impact on the country’s industrial efficiency.

We have listened to what everyone has said in the comments, here and in forums and blogs, and are readdressing the campaign with your suggestions in mind. We are taking this time to address the overall production costs, which are quite honestly, killing us, and are the reason that the campaign funding goal and stretch goals were so high. So we’re gathering a new set of quotations that will help us achieve a product cost and funding goal that is a more manageable amount. 

We are also coming back with some updated box content, and providing you guys with our fully fledged rule set At Lances Point, alongside the miniatures, which is what they are designed for. These will be available in a PNP (print and play) format from the Grenzer Games website – http://www.grenzergames.co.uk and look for the ALP page for more info.

The campaign page will stay open during this redevelopment time, so that we can still talk to you all, provide you with updates on what’s happening and listen to your feedback. We will also post a link to the print and play rule set so that you can download them, give them a try and tell us what you think.

I had started preparations for the Romans by making some casualty makers and some order tokens.

I didn’t factor in how fiddly it is to paint the Roman shields

Further updates can be found at http://www.grenzergames.co.uk

Frohe Weihnachten

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This last couple of months has seen me busy, but not, sadly, painting. First point of atta ck was my workshop. I am due to inherit some tools and workshop furniture from my departed father-in-law and I want to get everything ready so that the bits can slot into place with the minimum bother.

One view of how the workshop used to look.
And now the new look.

The cabinet in the middle, with the blue drawers, has been made to house various small bits and bobs that had been floating around without a place to live. The carcass was made from 12mm plywood generously supplied by Electric Love. I even had a couple of young lads who were at a loose end cut the timber for me.

I’ve made some more screw boxes as I have a large collection of unsorted screws. The screws were collected from Electric Love, at the end of the festival the tool cases were emptied and all the loose screws were binned.

Having to get up at a rediculously early hour to get the Boys ready for school is that there have been some quite amazing sunrises. Here are a couple, unfiltered or tampered with.

The next job which has taken the most time was making a painting area for Number Two Son. This necessitated moving book cases and vitrines around the Hobby Room.

He will be getting my old paint shelves and I shall make some expanded ones for me seeing that my paint collection has grown. I will take more photos of the Hobby Room once it has been cleared. My Daughter, Boyfriend and my Granddaughter stayed for ten days, so all the excess furniture we had been storing in the Guest Flat got decanted down into the Hobby Room.

Finally I would like to wish you all Season’s Greetings.

This Years card

A little Renaissance fantasy

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A disclaimer: this is totally ripped off from Wargames Illustrated 382 and David Bickley who built the original. You can read his blog here:

http://www.talesfromghq.blogspot.co.uk

I kept coming back to this article and mulling over it. I really don’t have time to get distracted by another project but it was sooo tempting. Late one night I pulled out a piece of paper and started doodling. The next day some graph paper was procured. Too late! Project started!

As Mr. Bickley had produced his model from individual parts I decided to follow along and make mine in modules starting with the front gate.

  • Upcock

Me being me, there have been a few upcocks in the design, but nothing that a hammer wouldn’t sort out.

Obligatory kitten for scale

The original suppliers who inspired this build are:

http://www.charliefoxtrotmodels.com

http://www.warbases.co.uk

http://www.wargamesbuildings.co.uk

Transport skiff

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This model was loosely inspired by a model I saw in the Trash Bash Bits group on Facebook. The original was made from a fly-swatter. It wasn’t quite what I had imagined but it sparked an idea.

The first iteration looked like this.

Standing figure from Moonraker Miniatures and the seated figure is from a batch of “O” Guage model railway figures sourced from eBay.

There were some issues, some of which I addressed in the next iteration.

The next iteration was like this.

Correction required.

Comparison shot of the two. You can see I have added some extra detailing to the cabin roof.

Iteration two with cargo and kitten for scale.

Iteration three will elimate these issues and hopefully be the final model.

I made a thing

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Tired of taping bits of paper to books in order to photograph figures I made a thing.

It is big enough to hold a piece of A4 paper and the paper is held in place with magnets. There is not much more I can say about this. Once I’ve painted more things you will be able to see how useful it is.

Tabletop Knights Gaming Day 2019

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I really should have written this much sooner, as always laziness overtook me.
For a far more eloquent account of this event I will direct you to
https://www.battlebrushstudios.com/2019/04/show-report-tabletop-knights-games-day.html
I decided to forgo Walter’s Austrian Salute this year. Walter has no intention of expanding and with last years event with a lack of sales and culinary disaster I wasn’t keen to attend.
Christoph’s event, Tabletop Knights, was a bigger event and he is keen to expand.
Preparing for this event has taken a couple of months making two display boards, Nessus and Gone?
Two days beforehand i was struck down with the lurgy, cold, tired runny nose. Great!
First day of the school holidays, which would normally be spent sleeping in, we got up extra early so we could drive to Germany and set up for nine.
There were a couple of traders there.
Obviously Christoph with his lasercut Roostermodels products. Which reminds me to get a banner made up.

Roll The Dice. I had made some little give-aways for them and Martin appreciated them. I had hoped that he would bring some paint along as I have a few gaps with need filling. Sadly no.
Spiele Cafe had a tombola, which my Son’s happily indulged in, and some demo games.
Spellebrette (can’t read my writing) had discount GW.

My table set up


The day was started by and address by Korbi.

View of the hall


There was a 40K tournament running downstairs


So on to the tables and games.
Roll the Dice had two demo games. Wild West Exodus and the Warlord Games ripoff of Wings of War.

GW Night Vault.
Unpainted figures.


Summoners
Interesting models.
But not another rule set?


A Song of Ice and Fire


Gates of Antares
Interesting cardboard scenery


Last Days
Yet another zombie apocalypse!


Test of Honour


Frostgrave
With Christoph’s scenery


Dead Man’s Hand
Something that potentially of interest to me.
Christoph’s scenery


Freebooter’s Fate
Nice scenery from 4Ground


Guildball
Bloodbowl anybody?


Age of Sigmar
‘Nuff said


WH30K
Nice scenery from Deathray


WH40K
With added Tyrannids, a lot of them!


Walter playing Saga


The usual Star Wars
Legion and Armada


Painting competition


Trade was very slow. Until lunchtime my biggest sellers were some coffee mats that I’d made with scraps of wood from the Happylab recycle bin. I managed to sell my entire box of scrap off-cuts from laser cutting. I had a couple of enquiries about making some custom token trays. Sadly nothing has come of this. Martin from Roll the Dice bought some of my static grass to test out the waters.
I did enter the painting competion, and got a third place in the single figure catagory with my Earth Warden.
There was no culinary disasters and the food was hot, plentiful and reasonably priced.
Overall the day was a bit of a disapointment. Low sales, a supposed gaming opponent didn’t show and a long wait due to the 40K tournament for the awards ceremony. If I do attend next year I will not be putting such an effort into a display board.

Nessus

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This is the second board that I made for the Tabletop Knights gaming day. My kind Daughter gave me a copy of Destiny 2 when she gifted me her old PS4. One of the worlds you visit is Nessus.

This is not my image and it is used without permission

I fell in love with the visuals and wanted to recreate them. In the small space of a Kill Team board I wouldn’t be able to do it justice, but maybe I could give a taste.

First up was to make flocking, My local DIY store gave me a small piece of pure white foam and the poundshop provided cheap paint to colour it.

Planning out the board

Laying down 10mm of foam under the “metal” floor plates. I wanted them raised so there was some variations in the floor level.

The buildings

Adding the sides for extra strength.

Glueing parts into position

The crane

Adding colour and weathering.

More details.

Some of the columns in place with vegetation.

Set dressing.

Over all I wasn’t so happy with this board. There were a few tiny mistakes. I didn’t like the colour scheme on the buildings. I would have approached it differently next time. I have no idea where I am going to store it now. I did offer it up for sale at the event, but no interest.

Gone?

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This is the first post of three regarding the Tabletop Knights show in Germany.

This will be about the first display board, Gone?

I saw this image, credit to whoever did this (if you let me know I will credit that person here) and thought, “I want this!” If you are interested I have a Pinterest page devoted to scenery. Look for Nik Green. I highly recommend Pinterest as a resource for keeping ideas from all over the interweb neat and tidy and in one place.

I got the dimensions of a Kill Team board, thirty by twenty two inches, and got two sheets of chipboard cut.

Clamping the sides

Burning the splinters off the cheap wood frame

Trimming the foam for the inserts with my Proxxon

Foam inserts fitted

Playing around with ideas

Track chopped out and starting to detail the edges with strips of cork tile

A Lego wheel being used for detailing

Gravel from Walersee and fine river silt used for detailing

Building before and after painting

Starting to build up the layers

I made a pipeline out of some scrap pipe from a skip and some laser cut supports. I magnetised the feet so it could be removed for transportation.

Everything in situ

Silt! Silt everywhere!

Paint and weathering applied

Tuft mania

And then scatter

I think the scatter needs to be more yellow to match the tufts. Added to this was some water effects. Overall I am very happy with this board. Some minor tweeks as noted are required.

The joys of the countryside

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Altough it is very pretty where I live, if you don’t have a car you’re buggered. To put it politely. I had to go to the post office to post some orders.

Mighty Fortress doors


I have actually made something that people want to buy!
Usually my Wife drives me around. This week however she is off skiing with the children.
Geographically the post office is just under five kilometres away. Very manageable on the flat. We live just over two hundred metres higher and the most direct route is cross-country. Joy.
Add to this, Eugendorf is not designed for cyclists. It is a shopping nexus on a main road with an autobahn junction.
I won’t be doing this again in a hurry.

The Reever’s Arms

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2018 is the year of extracting digit. My old gaming buddy, mugodice.wordpress.com, had wanted an inn for his games a couple of years ago and I had been putting it off.
The brief was that it had to occupy an eight inch square footprint.
So spoiling his birthday suprise here it is.

I have a cunning plan. Maybe?

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Somebody yesterday on the Oldhammer Community page in Friendface posted an interesting question.
“Has anybody made replacement doors for the Mighty Fortress?”
The Mighty Fortress was a polystyrene castle made by Games Workshop in the mid-eighties.
mf
Due to the age of this many of the plastic doors have disappeared or have been broken.
The-Doors
Some people on the Oldhammer page suggested 3D printing. This got me thinking.
Why can’t I laser cut replacements?
I dug my Mighty Fortress out and I used a piece of scrap 3mm MDF to guage sizes.
scrap
It fitted perfectly.
Next project.
group