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Oh no! Not another blog!
Yup. The madness spreads even further (and thinner). I think Alfndrate was right… I'm slightly loopy when it comes to generating ideas and projects. My apologies for no images yet, I just need somewhere to do a brain dump while I plan this thing out and any input or ideas that people have is most welcome.

I've mentioned before that I love Warhammer Quest when it first came out in 1995 and, as DalekDec's son is loving Lego's Heroica, it seems like a good time to introduce them both to the joys of roleplaying-lite. Sadly, my copy was sold years ago and buying a complete copy, with all the expansions costs a fortune.

The memories of the game are good, but looking at the models again, compared to today's miniatures they aren't all that. Me being me, thoughts started swirling around about recreating the set from the ground up with today's miniatures… the only flaw was the missing rules and cards.

The friend I sold it to has kindly offered to give it back as he's not used it, which means I don't actually need to make the floor pieces or make new versions of the monsters… but where's the fun/challenge in that? It also gives me a reason to actually unpack and paint the Games Day Chaos Warrior from a few years ago.

Looking around the interwebz, there are a few stunning examples of what other people have done in recreating the various rooms. The best of the best is by a guy called Deuc, who has been a big inspiration for what I'm planning to do. I am, however, looking at avoiding the Hirst Arts approach, mainly because getting all of the moulds I wanted was going to be rather expensive. If I can make something myself… why not?

I like the modular approach that he's taken to building the rooms as it allows for the creation of some of the trickier objective rooms in the core set. My only problem with his work are the steps… I just can't see models balancing on them.

At the moment the plan is to use 1.5" squares to give a little bit of extra space on the maps. Each square will be about .6cm thick so they can be built up in layers to allow for steps, pits and chasms. The main problem one left is the ramp in Catacombs of Terror… but I don't need to worry too much about that for now as it's a while off before I reach that one.

I've been going through the various board pieces and working out what component parts make up each one. So far I've identified the following combination of levels



The darker the grey, the higher the level. Red is a negative indent for things like pits or chasms and Blue is for liquids like sewers, water and lava. Obviously these don't include some of the more specific components such as the fighting pit or fire chasm... but hey. it's a good start.

Earlier on I went to the hardware store and bought some thin wood to make a framework. This will allow me to roll out squares of Miliput or Fimo the right size for 2x2 sections. Once I've got a few made, I can then look at making up some casts and testing them out.

On a side note. Does anyone have any idea what the board pieces look like in the various Descent modules or Advanced Heroquest sets? I can't find a decent image of them all. While I'm planning out the various WQ related ones, I thought it might be good to check what shapes and pieces are needed to recreate those as well for a bit of variety.

All thoughts, ideas and comments are welcome as I'm still trying to work this out as I go.





Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh! Oh! an update already!

Here's the first block of four tiles made out of Fimo.



I started trying to make them out of Miliput, until I realised it was going to use up almost an entire packet to make just one set of four! I'm just waiting for the wood glue to stick the borders back down before I start on the second set.

I can either keep them as the four joined together, or I could split them up into individual tiles before casting them. Which do you lot think would be better?

Ok, so today I made another block of 4 and placed it next to the first batch from yesterday. This game be a bit of a shock as it was significantly larger than I'd imagined (obviously my spacial awareness is shot this weekend!) Given how large a 4x2 setup is, I'd hate to imagine how large one of the expansion objective rooms will be (5x8).

So. I decided to try a block the same size, but divided up into 1" squares instead of 1.5"



It's more compact, but the miniature bases only just fit inside the squares, which doesn't leave much room for additional 3d decoration. I guess I could go up to 1.25" per square... What do you lot think?

Brain dump from this evening:
1) Yes, try 1.25" - it may be the perfect compromise.
2) Step fillers - a little bit of step you can add onto a lower step for a mini so that it balances OR some 3d filler to balance OR make the top of the steps or even the whole step tiles removable?

Need more pics Need more WIP - or how can we believe you will follow though?

I'm sure it will look awesome in the end though

Thanks for updating with last night's conversation. I meant to do that earlier, but got caught up in "Life". Damn life.

This morning I also paid more attention to the 3x3 block I'd created and I'm apparently incapable of measuring accurately as the entire block is slightly twisted. The tiles are also quite thick at .6cm, so I'm trying to decide if they need to be thinner as it makes quite a step/lip.

I've had a look around for an adjustable pasta maker to flatten out the fimo more easily, but they are kinda pricy given that it's of limited use once I've sorted out the initial cast-able batch of tiles. I would also need a square cookie cutter of the right size in order to negate the need to measure anything out. In order to get an adjustable pasta maker, a square cutter the right size and more rubber for moulds works out at about the same price as the Hirts Arts moulds I wanted... so we've reached the point of trying to decide if Hirst might actually be the best bet after all, especially as it takes away the need to work out how to make all the wall sections as well.

Ok, after careful review of the Hirst moulds again, I've taken the plunge and decided to use their moulds, rather than try to reinvent the wheel. I've purchased the Cracked tiles to use as flooring and decided to stick to 1.5" after all so there's some space for 3d elements. I've also picked up the Fieldstone Wall mould so I can build walls, archways and supports for the different levels that you can see in Deuc's dungeon. Not original I know, but I'm keen to start playing with DalecDec and his son as they were asking about it last night while we killed/ran away from zombies with Arakasi

Could you build lego walled squares to fit the fimo in for perfect squares?

Yes, but then they would have been too tall to roll out the fimo

If you look at the earlier pictures, I'd built wooden squares that were the height that I wanted the tiles. This allowed me to shove in the fimo and then roll it flat, to the right height.

I was having a root through my bitz box last night and came across some really old models that should be great for the dungeon. Back when Mordheim was released, the pre-orders in our store were given human and skaven corpses. Should be fun to add a bit of detail to the tiles.



I also got the moulds from Hirst come through for the tiles and brickwork. A couple of cures later and I've got the start of my first room. So very exciting!


In order to have more flexibility, I will be creating tile groupings in 2x2 and 3x2 blocks as this should give me enough flexibility to create most of the rooms. The brickwork walls are there to allow the creation of multiple levels in the dungeon. I've also created the steps as a separate item, so they can be moved around to create alternate layouts. Now the box and stairs have been created, I'm going to create new moulds of those to allow quicker creation of these items.

Excited to see where this goes, good luck!

Now things are starting to pick up speed!

K. We're nearly done with the first 4 sets of tiles... enough to make the first room.w
The stonework was done with the following layers:

- White undercoat
- Very thin wash of a lighter grey
- Very thin wash of a darker grey
- Very thin wash of black into the crevices
- Very thin wash of brown over some of the stonework
- Very thin wash of green over some of the stonework
- Gloss varnish
- Weathering powders (light earth and aged rust.



I've still got to add some mossy growths onto the tiles; maybe some slime too... not sure yet. So what do you think?

Very nice!

Looking very nice, they really look like stone

Just seeing that little set of tiles I'm already excited for the final product!
Sub'd keep it up

Definitely going to subscribe to this! Looks great so far!

Bravo Sir, Bravo! the first room is looking awesome and full of character. Looking forward to seeing more.

Thanks guys. Sadly I now need to wait for Tomps to deliver a new batch of dental plaster to create more tiles. . In the mean time, I can start with a few characters and monsters to go in the dungeon.

As I mentioned yesterday, I've started piecing together some of the characters for use in WQ. I'm using alternative models as I don't have the originals any more... which should make things a bit different

I've started with two of my favorite characters from the original sets, the Chaos Warrior and the Dwarf slayer.
I'm really pleased with the Chaos Warrior so far. I think the reds are coming out a nice blood red. I just need to be careful when it comes to adding highlights to it... I'd hate for it to turn pink at the last minute! I'm thinking I might just do some very thin white highlights and then gloss the armour so that it's shiny.


The slayer is made from the Avatars of War berzerker box and was an attempt at nmm bronze... it hasn't worked, so I need to revisit that at some point. The skin also needs blending in a bit more as the transitions are a bit rough in placed. Still... I think the shading is working nicely.



And of course, what party would work without a wizard to back them up?


I should be picking up the WQ box on wednesday, so it will be interesting to see what is still in there... The only bits I desperately want back are all the books and cards... the character models, minotaurs and little gribblies (spiders, bats, snotlings and rats) would be good, as would the doors and floors. The other monsters... not so bothered.

I think if you mix in orange and/or Vermin or Vomit Brown (can't remember which off the top of my head...) into the red you should avoid the pink that mixing in pure white does...

I can't remember if it was vermin or vomit either... I guess I need to run a test model tonight and see.

Now you have made me go look it up - it was Vomit Brown

Thanks! That seems to make some semblance of sense. I will give it a go and see. Just as well I gave the model a coat of varnish this morning

Damn. I really need to keep an eye on the fantasy rumour threads now I'm working on this project! Some of the new Empire kits are going to be a goldmine of character and terrain pieces, especially the War Altar / Luminar / Celestial whatever-it-is sets.

At first glance I really liked the Griffon kit too... but the head. Why is the head so small?!

The finecast/plastic characters are also going to be really really nice for characters... the Witch Hunter and Warrior Priest ones especially.

Why do I hear my bank account screaming faintly in the background?

[evening update]
I'm currently waiting for my first batch of plaster floor tiles to cure. It will be interesting to see how resilient the dental plaster is... it's supposed to be pretty tough stuff. I'll write a little walk through on casting with plaster next time around in case anyone is interested

Excited to see where this go's.

You and me both

Sadly I didn't get to pick up the WQ boxes this evening as my friend is ill... so I've spent it playing with the plaster instead.

Mixing up the plaster is pretty simple once you learn the consistency trick. According to Hirst Arts you pour water into your plastic cup and then add the plaster powder until the water stops dissolving the powder.

I forgot to take a picture this time around, but as you pour the plaster into the water, it sinks to the bottom and starts to dissolve into the water. Slowly keep adding in the powder until you get a little island rising out of the now milky water. The powder should have absorbed water, but not enough to dissolve completely. It's difficult to explain, but when you see it, it makes sense.

Once you've got it to that consistency, carefully stir the mixture to get rid of any remaining lumps. The plaster should now be about the consistency of a (to use their words) thinnish milkshake. For the brits, I'd say about the consistency of a Shakeaway. Mmmmm Shakeaway.

You can now carefully pour this into the moulds, pushing it into the crevaces of the mould to avoid bubbles. Once you've got all the plaster in, carefully drag something flat across the top of the mould to skim it. You should now have something that looks like this:



It takes about half an hour to set (or at least the plaster I bought did). Carefully turn them out and *tada!*



I decided to now see how strong the plaster is compared to the resin... the answer is... not as strong. *Snap!*



I then threw the rest onto our stone floor to see if they would survive being dropped. Happily they did, so I guess they are strong enough... plus it's cheap enough to cast more in the plaster that it's not really a problem if any snap.

Looking good, by the way how did you mold the pavers.

The rubber molds came from Hirst Arts as I was too lazy to finish my own flooring from earlier in the thread

I'm slowly building up a nice collection of plaster floor tiles. I want to cast enough for a few rooms worth before I start painting/decorating them, just to make sure there's consistency between them all.

In the mean time, I've been doing a bit more work on the Chaos Warrior. I think I need(/want) the red wash and glaze from the new GW paint range to try and give his armour a deeper, richer red. I'm currently contemplating a gloss varnish over the armour too to make it look like lacquered armour... but it feels like cheating.

While this argument rages in my head, here's a WIP shot... mostly of the axes

Some more work on the Chaos Warrior. [I've replaced the rubbish shot from last night]

Remember the broken tiles give you well broken tiles anyway.....Nice start to the NMM on the Warrior

I got a nice little present in the post this morning (well, I say present... I did pay for them

While the plain is still to rebuild a full WQ set, DalecDek and his son want to play WFRP 3e, so I'll be using the tiles and monsters in that setting as well, which should be fun. Both of them are massive fans of Dreadfleet... so I may have bought the print on demand WFRP pack that has the captains as NPC cards. You may all laugh now.

I, on the other hand, think the pack has a lot of potential as you not only get the captains, but a pile of new locations and actions to play around with. Looking at the stats, it occurred to me that they should be pretty simple to convert over to WQ in case anyone fancies going up against Tordrek Hackhart or Skretch Half-Dead.

Speaking of converting things over... I'm nearly done with some Skin Wolf stats. Should I post them in here, or over in the Board Games section?