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Solid Mantis warrior.. out hunting for gazelle or Eldar.. same thing to some folks.. just saying.

The helm, base and retro feel is amazing.

Casey's Law wrote:I think I missed what system these were for?

And that line is tiny and could easily be part of the weapon. I would never have noticed it if you hadn't said.

Mansions of madness, cthulhu mythos boardgame of hellish insanity. Wonderful fun And, yeah, I know - but I fixed it anyway

Solar_lion wrote:Solid Mantis warrior.. out hunting for gazelle or Eldar.. same thing to some folks.. just saying.

The helm, base and retro feel is amazing.

Thanks mate, you are most kind!

Anything else need work, or is he there?

Looks great, can't see anything that needs work - I think it's just the angle, but if there's no squiggles on his arm purity seal then there's that.....Job's a good'un I'd say

Very cool pose on the mantis marine!

Thanks chaps for kind words.

Sorry for quiet spell, late oct into nov always a bit bonkers in teaching. I haven't been completely idle, gradually carving the floors into my Mansions minis, but nothing pic worthy really.

Bit up and down in the head generally, but que sera, etc.

Did have great fun doing #1 as a death eater for hallowe'en, and mask by graven scared the snot out of a couple of 3 year olds, so must be doing something right. Much alcohol was consumed, also. Various beers and Laphroig, huzzah.

My great uncle died last week - 93, a heck of an innings, but still, tough to process mentally. Being so physically distant from family at times really is a bugger. Still, on the other side of the coin my parents have decided to take the plunge and relocate near us, so hopefully childcare, if not bickering, will ensue at some point in the next 12 months.

In gaming stakes, keen to get my head round the revisions to STAW - essentially, you can't build giant federation crew killing machines or loaded up borg cubes, to give everyone else a chance. We'll see how it goes.

And... a crazy idea.

The marvelous Monkeytroll is running the League's latest contest here and I had this plan to do a modular Tholian web (fun!) but essentially it would've just consisted of jeweller's gold thread and transparent flight stands.

So I went in the old bits box.

I have 9 of the Mantic Deadzone accessory sprues, those could make walls right?

But of course, this is the League - got to made from extraneous crud lying around the place.

And then I had this idea. It may be crazy, or I may have just invented a kickstarter-worthy project of doom:


The bases are the clips from the RoB board. Inside each is 3 hard card sleeves, of the baseball/ccg variety.

Completely modular walls for any game at a fraction of the cost, anyone? You could literally slide in "hulk in space" walls, "mad mansions", "infinite future", "heroic saga", "space web" or any other printed wall template you fancy, and slot them round as you see fit.

Now you could also paint them, of course, which would work, too

Your thoughts, mes amis?

graven

Condolences on your great uncle passing graven. I understand what it's like to be far away from family. On balance, having your parents move closer should be a good thing. Perhaps more scrutiny or nattering, but certainly more involvement with the kids... which is a good thing.

The walls are quite interesting. The clear versions could be energy shields, the painted regular corridors or walls.

I like the Tholian web idea... weren't those hexogonal?

Condolences on the loss amigo. Hopefully having your folks move closer will result in less bickering and more family time.

Interesting idea with the walls....lots of potential there for a wide variety of effects...including some interesting ones printed on acetate...

Look forward to seeing where you take the first iteration....

Great idea with those walls good luck with the parents

Gitsplitta wrote:Condolences on your great uncle passing graven. I understand what it's like to be far away from family. On balance, having your parents move closer should be a good thing. Perhaps more scrutiny or nattering, but certainly more involvement with the kids... which is a good thing.

The walls are quite interesting. The clear versions could be energy shields, the painted regular corridors or walls.

I like the Tholian web idea... weren't those hexogonal?

Yeah, my folks have started to realise how much they've missed. Thanks mate
In staw, mechanically, Tholian web is done in 3/8th" strips that gradually cover the game area. It would be
...
Dull

My thoughts exactly on the clear ones - in fact, my original thought was just to wash them, as various energy shields.

monkeytroll wrote:Condolences on the loss amigo. Hopefully having your folks move closer will result in less bickering and more family time.

Interesting idea with the walls....lots of potential there for a wide variety of effects...including some interesting ones printed on acetate...

Look forward to seeing where you take the first iteration....

Acetate would be cool. I'd like transparent ones in the first set.

Llamahead wrote:Great idea with those walls good luck with the parents

Cheers mate

 inmygravenimage wrote:
My thoughts exactly on the clear ones - in fact, my original thought was just to wash them, as various energy shields.

You might experiment with washing only the inner panel, leaving the outer two clear (if I understand your description correctly). I think it would add to the 3-D effect of the whole thing. Give the walls some internal depth.

Oo yeah, try to keep the transparent nature of them, they look great as forcefield-alikes.

Maybe build some frames around them, or posts of either side of them to show where the field is produced from.

Thanks for ideas all!
Right, so, quick proof of concept:

Hulk, energy, rusty rivets and Tholian web.
Obviously these don't fill the sleeves fully, but they give you the idea.
I think that generally the clear edge of the sleeve makes the energy field most interesting. More generally, they could just be left transparent with a painted border. I like the LED idea and reckon making a couple of light up stands would be cool.
Thoughts?

Huh.
Oh well.

Anyway, here's some big horrid monsters:

A Cthonian and Byakhee. Lots more to come.

Lots

A little bit of proof that I got rid of that pesky mould line on the bolter:


Aaaaaand back to my other, original idea for MT's contest: balloon stick modular Tholian web:

The flight stands are from STAW, with half the normal stand height so that it doesn't interfere with play. Thus far, I have about 2ft of "web" to play with. It'll be sprayed black and repainted golds, I imagine, though I'll leave the stands clear. It's #1 son's birthday Friday, so I'm hoping to acquire more balloon sticks from unsuspecting locales.

Later y'all
graven

Sorry for your loss.

Oooh, lovely beasties, looking forward to the rest of them too. I need to see more of those huge monstrosities at the back of the shot.

And I'm not sure my brain is processing what I'm seeing in your previous update, I think I need closer pictures and more information to comment. Or I'm a bit thick which is well within the bounds of previously collected data.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
so I'm hoping to acquire more balloon sticks from unsuspecting locales.

Locales or locals? Unsuspecting or unexpected? I like the idea of you outwitting a sentient, scrutinous geographic location during a great balloon stick resource war.

I think locales works - I see graven as more of a 'take the balloon from here and here', rather than 'take the balloon from him and her'.

Gribblies looking great!

I was witholding comments on the walls as I'm not sure if they will be appearing in the comp....Can't say why no-one else did so though

The sci-fi versions of those panels really work well graven. Not that there's anything wrong with the non-sci-fi versions... but I think the medium lends it self best to energy barriers and such.

 monkeytroll wrote:
I think locales works - I see graven as more of a 'take the balloon from here and here', rather than 'take the balloon from him and her'.

Haha yeah. I think it ends up being 'unsuspecting' that's out of place anyway. I enjoyed the image though.

Oh and it turns out this is exactly what was happening after I read back a bit. Total understanding failure.

 Casey's Law wrote:
Or I'm a bit thick which is well within the bounds of previously collected data.

In actual fact that is a really clever idea and I'd love to see you progress it, lets see more possibilities, play with lights, different bases maybe. Intrigued.

I thought that I had commented on those, might have just thought it... I'll think louder next time.

I'm still leaning towards them being transparent.
Lighting them up would be nice, but you may need something to scatter the light from otherwise you may find that you're only lighting the top edge of the things and not the bulk. Some carving/scratches on the middle one (or some other piece of clear material that can be slotted in) would do good for an energy field/web.

Good job on the monsters and interested to see where the balloon sticks go.

So sorry for your loss, I lost my grandfather in augaust this year.

Solar_lion wrote:Sorry for your loss.

Thanks mate. It's not often I regret being 500+ miles from most of my family, but this is a rare occasion when I do.

Casey's Law wrote:Oooh, lovely beasties, looking forward to the rest of them too. I need to see more of those huge monstrosities at the back of the shot.

And I'm not sure my brain is processing what I'm seeing in your previous update, I think I need closer pictures and more information to comment. Or I'm a bit thick which is well within the bounds of previously collected data.
Gribblies! Lots and Lots of gribblies! I will get on to the Shuggoths soon enough

 inmygravenimage wrote:
so I'm hoping to acquire more balloon sticks from unsuspecting locales.

Locales or locals? Unsuspecting or unexpected? I like the idea of you outwitting a sentient, scrutinous geographic location during a great balloon stick resource war.

Either/or A weekend of theft begins anon!

monkeytroll wrote:I think locales works - I see graven as more of a 'take the balloon from here and here', rather than 'take the balloon from him and her'.

Gribblies looking great!

I was witholding comments on the walls as I'm not sure if they will be appearing in the comp....Can't say why no-one else did so though

They will - the web is a side project, methinks. I've been masking up walls steadily for paint.

Gitsplitta wrote:The sci-fi versions of those panels really work well graven. Not that there's anything wrong with the non-sci-fi versions... but I think the medium lends it self best to energy barriers and such.

Agreed. See above!

Casey's Law wrote:

 monkeytroll wrote:
I think locales works - I see graven as more of a 'take the balloon from here and here', rather than 'take the balloon from him and her'.

Haha yeah. I think it ends up being 'unsuspecting' that's out of place anyway. I enjoyed the image though.

Oh and it turns out this is exactly what was happening after I read back a bit. Total understanding failure.

 Casey's Law wrote:
Or I'm a bit thick which is well within the bounds of previously collected data.

In actual fact that is a really clever idea and I'd love to see you progress it, lets see more possibilities, play with lights, different bases maybe. Intrigued.

Awesome. I'm on it like a dog into beetroot.

Dr H wrote:I thought that I had commented on those, might have just thought it... I'll think louder next time.

I'm still leaning towards them being transparent.
Lighting them up would be nice, but you may need something to scatter the light from otherwise you may find that you're only lighting the top edge of the things and not the bulk. Some carving/scratches on the middle one (or some other piece of clear material that can be slotted in) would do good for an energy field/web.

Good job on the monsters and interested to see where the balloon sticks go.

That's an interesting idea on the scattering and scratching, I look into that. I have a couple of damaged ones so I'll start there.

Miss Dee wrote:So sorry for your loss, I lost my grandfather in augaust this year.

Sorry to hear that pet.

Cake madness, as is #1's birthday, as said. Folk want pics of TMNT cakes?

Meantime, the Dominion are not happy at encountering a Tholian web:


Later,
Earl Field Marshall gravenage

You play Star Trek Online my friend?

 Miss Dee wrote:
You play Star Trek Online my friend?

Nah, just steal their plotlines for my rpg

In other news, stole two more balloon sticks from small children today

Way to go Mr. Burns!

Boo-urns!

Some progress on bases:

Hand is bothering me. Turns out I've torn a tendon, probably, which is... Irritating!

Here come the gribblies!


And so, it begins...

That looks cool.

That looks disgusting, but in a good way. Very cool.

Gotta learn to paint with you other hand then. Simples

Gribbles looks good. I take it he is into carpentry?

It does not look like Kosh.