Game it Forward

A friend of mine over at the excellent I See Lead People blog (and if you haven't been there, you should go - now!) has brought up an idea that I think deserves a good deal of attention. He called it "Game it Forward" or something like that.

The basic idea is from the movie Pay it Forward. Most of us have gotten help from another gamer at one point or another when working on one of our projects, and especially when just starting a new one or desperately trying to complete one. A bit here, a bit there, a single hard to find figure you needed to finish a unit, that sort of thing. Helped without taking payment in exchange, except maybe for some postage if the item was expensive to ship.

So, the idea is that we have a karmic debt that needs to be paid. Since we can't pay the giver back, we pay it forward, by giving things to other gamers that we ourselves have little or no need for, but that can help them. I myself have recently benefited from the generosity of another gamer who had to give up his game room for his wife's home office. With no space to store a bunch of his terrain, he just gave a lot of it to me. All it cost me was gas to go get it across town.

To further this idea, I am adding to my blogs called "Game it Forward". I'll list some things I know that I can spare that I think others might be interested in using. I've already put a couple of things on this blog. They are available first come, first served. All I ask is you pay for shipping on the bigger items (like the mats).

A River Runs Through It

Found this posted on TMP (The Miniatures Page). An interesting idea for what looks to be reasonably attractive, cheap do-it-yourself river sections. I hope the blog owner doesn't mind me sending extra traffic his way.

http://wargamesandstuff.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-rivers.html

Essentially, he uses cheap vinyl tile as his base and some silicon caulk for building the banks.

Personally, I think cross-pollination of blog ideas like these are a great thing. The more exposure to good terrain tips, the better, I say.

New Terrain Blog I Found...

It's called "Take the High Ground," and it's done by a fellow out of the UK.

http://takethehighground.blogspot.com/

Quite good stuff, actually, and he explains what he's done fairly well, if not exactly step-by-step. But you can easily see how he did things.

I just wish I could duplicate them!

As far as my projects go... real life has intruded pretty heavily in the modeling/terrain making realm, and I've done very little. In fact, nothing at all in weeks.

Maybe I'll put a little time aside this weekend to work on a project or two, inspired by our friend here.

Interesting Stuff...

I have been searching for bits and pieces here and there for an aerial flier project, and while doing so, ran across some interesting things. I thought I'd share, in case anyone else is interested in the same sort of oddities.

These fellows make Cthulu-esque terrain pieces. Go to the bottom of the page, but check out the rest of their stuff, too. Its pretty neat. I wonder who carries them in the US?

http://www.monolithdesigns.co.uk/gothic_horror.htm

If you are in a hurry, and want nice looking stuff that's reasonably cheap and super quick, check these fellows out: http://www.worldworksgames.com/store/. They sell paper terrain that you download, print on cardstock, fold and place. I don't have any, but the pictures are nice. And if it gets crushed, chuck it and print a new one - nice!

Anyway, check it out!

A site I came across...

http://chicagoterrainfactory.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/quick-links-alkemy-jungle-board/#comments

Its called Chicago Terrain Factory. Its quite impressive, and the jungle temple terrain piece pictured below is featured there. Run - do not walk - to check them out. The link above goes to information about the jungle piece, but it is easy to navigate around their site to see all they have to offer.

Perfic Panels - Anyone using them?

There is a company I found showing at Historicon in 2007 called Precision Products (http://www.appliedimaginationinc.com/), that manufactures vacuum formed polystyrene sheets of terrain - I have been working on their rivers in one of my projects - and embossed sheet for model building. Things like brick and flagstone and such for the exterior of models.

They also manufacture something similar to foamcore, but with a thin styrene exterior rather than the more common (dare I say 'traditional'?) paper exterior sandwiching the foam.

Has anyone used this material? It sounds rather more sturdy than regular foamcore, what with being more water-resistant, and the fact that I tend to use water-based glues and paints makes this a definite plus.

Anyone have practical experience of the stuff? Leave a comment if you do!

Primitive Huts

Okay, these huts are just becoming available, although they have been discussed on The Miniatures Page (TMP) for over a year.

The sculptor (whose name I can't recall off the top of my head, but who goes by the TMP handle of Cacique Caribe, or CC) finished them, oh, November of 2007 I think. Then he shopped around for someone to handle the casting and marketing and such for him, as he didn't really want to do all of that himself, but there was a lot of interest in the models.

Enter Alex Bates in Alaska, of the new Forge of Ice company. They get a deal worked out, and now, they are in production.

First, a group shot. There are four different designs:

Now a close up of one:

I have nothing to do with the paint jobs (nice work, though, especially the snow) which were done I believe by a Mr Robert Phipps of the United Kingdom, a customer of Forge of Ice and friend of Alex's. I hope no one minds me swiping the photos, but I'll remove if you want me to!

I pinched this tidbit regarding the snow effect from TMP (http://theminiaturespage.com/)

"Regarding the snow effect, Rob [Phipp] says:

I Just use a bit of PVA wood glue on the bits I wanted covered in snow, then used a white flock, then another coat of PVA and then Bicarbonate of Soda for the snow effect. You get a nice brilliant crisp white from it.You don't have to use a white flock underneath but it stops any colour from the tent from showing through if your PVA is too thin.
And that's how he does it!

-Alex"

The reviews have been most complimentary, for both sculpting and quality of the production castings. You can reach Alex through his blog, and here's a link with more info and pictures of the tents. http://forum54.oli.us/index.php?topic=5205.15

Pot Toppers

There has been a lot of discussion about using 'pot toppers' for terrain projects.

I first clued into them through a Yahoo terrain makers group.

Then, Tas mentioned them on his excellent VSF blog, Yours in a White Wine Sauce! [ http://pauljamesog.blogspot.com ]

So, I felt it only right that I should mention them here. I have yet to obtain any of them, although there is a Michael's craft store not a mile from my home. It is definitely in the project queue to try out, though, as it looks like it can be used to fantastic effect. To wit, check out this page: http://ardleybridge.fotopic.net/c1501517.html

If any of you have used pot toppers, please let us know your experience with them. How easy were they to work with, were you pleased with the results, what adhesive did you use - any comments would be great!

Rivers Project

[Carried over from my defunct Napoleonics blog]

[Originally posted Saturday, September 27, 2008]

I started a new terrain project last night, one that has been sitting in the Closet for more than a year. I bought some styrene sheets last year at Historicon from a company called Precision Products [www.appliedimaginationinc.com]. These sheets are 16"square, 0.025" thick, with vacuum-formed terrain impressed into the sheets. The two sheets I bought are 1" Straight Rivers [SKU 16091] and 1" River bends [SKU 16092]. The Straight Rivers has four lengths of straight river, each approximately 15" in length. The River Bends includes:

2 x 45 degree bends
2 x 90 degree bends
3 x Y-Junctions, and
1 x Wooden Bridge

I have cut out two pieces so far, the bridge and one 90 degree bend. Yesterday I filled the styrene hollows with DAP Water Putty to prevent it from crushing or flexing, and then glued each piece to a 1/16" plywood base. Late last night I primed the two pieces with flat white spray paint, the cheap stuff from WalMart. Today, I applied basecoat colors, using cheap craft paints. Sorry about the blurry picture, I was hurrying.

So far, I am pretty pleased with the results. The water putty has added some heft and rigidity, as has the plywood base. It is taking the paint really well, too.

I will be adding a link to all the photos to the margin tonight. I'll post more when I make some more progress.

Still to come:
Drybrushing for detail
Add flock and ballast
Pour scenic water into riverbanks
Build a hand rail. The only drawback is that the piece will lose its scale-neutrality if I do that.