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Evening all,

So for a while now I've really wanted to play some Zone Mortalis games, but couldn't justify buying the boards. I also wanted to create a more 'spaceship' themed feel to any table as well. As such I was looking around and discovered battle systems. Whilst I'm still tempted by their excellent looking DLC I thought I'd attempt to make some of my own. Armed with some card,a knife, glue and what trigonometry I could remember from school I started sketching out some ideas.

Now before I show I pic of my current prototypes I'll least a few things I learnt during this process.

1. Designing texture concepts are hard (I knew this before I started but worth re-iterating)
2. It's better not to be too complex with shape (at least when starting out)
3. Really need to think about dimensions, especially when it comes to folding lines.
4. It can be a really rewarding experience
5. Off the back of number 1 - thank god for creative commons!
6. Small glue tubes offer better control!

So 2 pics of my first prototype pieces are attached - they're simply walls at the moment, with no corner pieces. The 1 right at the back was the original prototype. The closest ones use photo paper instead of normal paper.
I'm thinking of changing the design a bit so that they don't slope as much, purely to make it easier to start with. As I learn more making corner pieces etc. I can obviosuly adapt. I have already played around with pure paper models to make some bits, including interlocking sections for joining walls, so I might explore these further as well. Hopefully I'll reach a point where I'm happy enough that I'll release the "plans" as it were so people can make their own textures. Also there's some cheeky pics of my WIP pre-heresy World Eaters for scale purposes

Let me know what you think

thanks

These look great, thanks for sharing. I agree zone mortalis boards are just too expensive.

I think the only problem that you'll run into is that these will get bumped around really easily. Are you weighting them down at all?

Also, if you need to make a lot of these, have you considered the Hirst Arts plaster of paris molds? It might be a good compromise between scratch built and zone mortalis.

http://www.hirstarts.com/molds/moldssci.html


Anyway, I look forward to seeing your progress.

So far not bad

Id suggest you build basically a C Chanel using foam core or better yet MDF if possible then gluing your Card stock parts to that to make it much sturdier.

Hey thanks for replying. They're not weighed down at the moment, they're basically secured at either end by a piece of card that creates the template to wrap around. I know they will get knocked around but I was thinking of securing them together somehow, maybe just with cocktail sticks to keep things simple.


I've seen those links before, but I've not attempted anything like that before, though I do have plaster of paris handy. I've seen another site somewhere that just supplies you with molds to make joints that you can then make walls using card. I'll see if I can find the link


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@Desubut, thanks that's a good suggestion. though I would need to flatten the slope on the bases to do that


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@Terminum http://recalcitrantdaze.blogspot.co.uk/p/items-for-sale-and-commissions.html these were the template you can buy (they're around half way down the page labelled "Terrain Pillar molds"

Those pillar molds are cool, but man, 30 pounds a mold is pretty steep. Then you still have the hassle of casting it 30 to 60 times, plus making the wall inserts.

Instead I would just spend $3 on an eight foot 2x2 and use a power saw to cut two 1mm slots down each side, then cut it into pillars. But I actually like what you've done more. Maybe you could magnetize them and put them on a piece of sheet metal.

well you could try just using cheap molding puddy to weigh them downfill in the bottom part, there is also textured paper at walmart with metal designs and whatnot in 3d for panels and floor patches ect...

but your first attempt looks better than mine... i destroyed all evidence of it and gave up on it for now

@Terminum magnets actually sounds like a good idea, though maybe just to join the walls together. I think for a second iteration I'm going to try and stack them so I could create multi level. Though obviously I will have to think of structure here and some way to clip walkways to the sides. I'm trying to do it in such a way that most people would be able to "print, cut and go" without having to worry to much about molds,power tools etc.

Though if I can find something cost effective I'm willing to try anything.




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@LordRahl , I'm trying to steer away from putty at the moment as I mentioned above. But if I have to then I have to. I'll have to give them a play test at some point.

With regards to destroying all evidence - that's why I made this post in a way, I can feed back what I've learnt and others can offer their little bits of advice about what worked!