My regular readers will know that I set myself the goal of making a gameboard to run a demo game of Rogue Stars at the Austrian Salute this year. I’ve yet to play it. Here is a progress report.
First off a plan. I wanted to have raised walkways and a twisty-turney town part. My initial plan was a little too ambitious and too large. It was based on a metre by metre board, it was only when I got the rule book that I learnt that the play area was three foot by three foot play area. The idea is that the board can be used for a variety of games so it needs the maximum amount of empty space and the minimum of fixed scenery. I still wanted my twisty-turney streets. So a back wall is used and the scenery only projects about seven centimetres into the play area.
Something else the game uses is tokens. So I knocked out a couple of examples. The wound marker was something I already had and thought I would use.
Here was the first building, the Gatehouse. I would have liked it higher and more imposing, but using steps at one centimetre intervals didn’t allow it. Next time I will make the steps at two centimetres. Maybe.
In all there are three different types of Desert House that I have made for the board. This is one type, the others have either a glass dome on top or stairs up the side. One problem is that they make the wall buildings rather insignificant.
The beginnings of the wall, trying bits out for size.
A view of the wall buildings in situ. There is an edging to the gameboard which I have added extra shapes to suggest some depth.
You can see everything painted up and glued down and work started on the cliffs.
This is an overview where I am working on the positioning of the landing pad and the goods yard.
Work started on the cliffs using my new EBay purchase, a hot wire foam cutter.
Filling in any gaps with “No More Nails” a most excellent product which I haven’t yet sourced over here. If anyone knows what it is called in Austria/Germany I would be most grateful.
I plan to have three different groups of adventurers for the game. This is the first group, the “Star Cops” lead by the redoubtable Captain Robert Smythe. Figures by Pig Iron Productions
Nice figures and I will certainly be revisiting their ranges.
Cutting the foam to insert a small bridge.
Glueing the roadway together.
One unfortunate effect of painting the roadway was that the card warped. It did straighten a bit when it dried. I shall say that it warped in the hot desert suns.
Here we are at today’s state of play. There are four more stepped houses to make, but as they are loose they are a lower priority. The next job is to glue the roadway down and then apply sand.
More pictures will follow when this project draws closer to completion.
This is a follow on from the prototype in the last post. There are some minor adjustments to be made, but I’m just about there. I did misunderestimate the amount of roof tiles needed. The cut time is approaching an hour which is going to bump the price up, even at minimum wage.
So they got an overnight soak in vinegar and then this morning a scrub with a wire brush and some wire-wool. I remembered that I had my Dremel set up in the hobby room, where I do my painting, so used that with a wire brush attachment to get into all the little cracks and crevices.
Here they are all cleaned and with a light coating of turtle-wax.
This is the pin-vice. I’ve added a wooden ball on top and I think I’ll make this my number 1 tool and shuffle the other pin-vice to back-up status.
genuine grumpy old tin 