My son was eager to "paint some little men". I bought some spare figures from Risk Godstorm
for him a year ago which he's been painting while I work on my own figures.
I'm looking forward to playing some more multi players games of Hail Caesar but I don't have enough command bases to give each players a general. I got base coats on a few ancient commanders by Crusader and Warlord Games.
Giant Robots
I've also been tinkering with a sci fi game and got a little more done with the figures for it. I've always had a weak spot for giant robots, having been raised on Transformers and Robotech. I played quite a bit of Battletech and dabbled with the Clix version, Heavy Gear, Gear Krieg and taken a look every other giant robot game I could find. One of the things I like about "giant robots" was the gradual destruction of the mech. Rather than the more abstract degradation in other genres (an engine hit on a tank or ship for example), losing arms or legs on a robot is more visceral, but avoids the "ick factor" from the same effect if they were Roman gladiators.I'm also not a fan of the extensive record keeping on separate sheets of paper for miniature games. For this sci fi game I'm working up I was hoping to keep all record keeping on the miniature itself. The larger 10mm and 15mm scale mechs available from the Clix version of Battletech and various sci fi lines are large enough that I think magnetic markers could be applied directly to the figure. Did your mech take a hit to the left arm? Slap a smoke marker on there. Did it get its arm destroyed? Rip off the crippled limb.
I've worked up a few demo figures cobbled together from Clix figures and EM4 generic robots, but after putting together some smoke markers to represent hits I'm not sure my cunning plan is feasible.
I tried a few techniques to turn hamster bedding into smoke markers, but I'm not too thrilled with them. I'm going to try creating some smoke markers from Woodland Scenics clump foliage but the mechs might be too small to handle multiple markers. The magnetized limbs work pretty well, so there might be a way to make this work, but for now I'm a bit stuck.
GamingTable
With our impending move to a new house, I'm also planning on getting a custom wargame table. I put together a Pinterest board to collect ideas. Other than Geek Chic there don't appear to be any other manufacturers for wargaming specific furniture, so I might need to hire a carpenter to build the table I have in mind. Geek Chic is still good for ideas, and if I had a spare $15,000 I'd probably just buy one of their high end tables.
You ARE a lucky man indeed! It is the coolest thing when you can share a hobby with your son or daughter. I had a few years painting with my son & daughter, and I treasure the memories. My son loved Battletech stuff for years so I bet your boy will love Giant Robots (if he doesn't already).
ReplyDeleteI see you tweeted about the Dallimore method. I'm knee deep in a Welsh project and thinking about changing up my painting style in my next project. Could you email me so I could share a thought/question on that front? My email is in my profile.
You have my interest talking about Mecha game. I have been thinking about working on some rules using Gundam models. I enjoy kit bashing and converting and these models are affordable. Nothing feels more like futuristic combat then big robots bashing each other up on the battle field. You might want to visit the Reaper Web site for their CAV rules and models.
ReplyDeleteAs to making smoke, back in March or April of 2009 I posted an article about making smoke using Woodland Scenics you might want to take a look.