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What do you use to base the terrain on? MDF?

I've got a few small thin sheets of plywood (~5mm), but I'm not sure how well they'd hold up for large terrain pieces. I've only dabbled in a few small pieces so far, a couple wooden palisades for a D&D campaign I'm trying to get going. I'm worried about the plywood warping if I do anything larger (the palisades are 6"x1").

Because I apparently just crap money, use plasticard (£2.50 a sheet, though at the show I was at it was going for £1.50, so I know the craft stores exaggerate their prices). It doesn't warp as much as wood does see, and is easier to cut. That and I can just buy one size of the stuff (2mm thick A4 sheets) and use it both for bases, and on occasion the actual terrain too (though I tend to use a slightly thinner type if I'm using it for construction, as the balsa wood frame already gives some structure).

Most of my club's terrain however is mounted on plywood. Its thicker than what I use, clocking in more like 5mm. I haven't seen any of that stuff warp, bar the thinner bits that were used for roads. The problem I have with that is that it takes a lot more effort to cut. You need an electric saw if you want to the edge to be even, whereas with the plasticard you literally just have to score a single shallow line with a knife then snap off the excess. So Plywood's probably more economical, but I prefer plasticard as its easier to shape and a bit more multipurpose.

Though yes, I'll admit that I could be buying a lot of the stuff I use elsewhere for cheaper. However I only really buy the stuff when I'm in town doing something else anyway, so its hardly something I prioritise (wonder why I'm always saying "yeah I ran out of balsa again, so had to shelf that project", because I literally buy a handful of the stuff once a month and judge how much I'm going to need poorly).

I somehow finished the diner overnight there. Damn, I thought that I'd be working on this all week.




As you can see I removed the sign that was hatched to the roof. It just looked a bit weird to me. I'll hopefully make a free standing sign that'll sit in the place's car park at some point. Aye I also haven't added all the broken glass yet as that's a real pain in the arse to do.



The interior's a bit sparse at the moment as I'm not sure if adding more bits will make it a bit less functional. I could get a hold of some diner booths from Ainsty Castings, though by adding them the interior will become more cramped. For reference a 28mm model takes up about as much space as a 4x4 set of those red and white tiles. As it is right now I'd like to think it fits the style well enough at least, though yes I could have added a load more details, but I'm not sure if anyone would notice or not. =P

Crap I forgot to add a bloody menu to the wall! I guess some of the bits of paper floating about could have it on them. Argh!

Anyone remember these at all? Nope? IIRC they appeared in the Sierra Army Depot in Fallout 2 (and possibly other military locations in the first and second games). Security bots that patrol the corridors of military installations, setting off alarms when they detect intruders, and giving the a nasty shock with their extending stunner (compact in the model I made).



So which design do you prefer? The original Fallout "Floating Eye Bot", or Fallout 3's Eyebot?



One of them definitely screams retro-futuristic more to me. =P

Both are cool, the original floating eyebot is reminiscent of the 1950's "Art Deco" styles they went with. The FO-3 Eyebot is a nod to Sputnik

Things that I now feel like sculpting...

 Wyrmalla wrote:
Things that I now feel like sculpting...

That Ed-E does have extra bits attached.

Heh, that's a military Eyebot from the Divide that's been modified to act in a medial capacity. I'd note that in the original draft for Fallout 3 Eyebots were to be used by multiple factions, not just the Enclave. Files exist for US Army, Brotherhood Outcast and Enclave (the one used in the game is the generic one oddly, not the one that has Enclave textures) Eyebots, showing that it really was just a typical surveillance bot before the War. However I would ponder what use it would have with the other factions in the game, as the Enclave only really used it for propaganda. Having it as a generic enemy in locations doesn't seem like the best use of it, though the more variety of robots the merrier.

Rebuilding ED-E is always a priority for me in NV. Such a useful follower and doesn't get in the way. Certainly, no Lydia.

Good job on the diner. Liking it.
If you're worried about the tables and things getting in the way, you could stack them up in a corner.

 Dr H wrote:
Rebuilding ED-E is always a priority for me in NV. Such a useful follower and doesn't get in the way. Certainly, no Lydia.

Good job on the diner. Liking it.
If you're worried about the tables and things getting in the way, you could stack them up in a corner.

Me with Lydia:

Jarl: "Now you are one of my men, you have been awarded a housecarl"

Lydia: "I am your housecarl lord"

Me: "Yeah, no. Bugger off home Lydia, I won't be speaking to you for the rest of the game".

...I hate companions in Bethesda games. Saying that the New Vegas ones I could bear as they actually contributed to the story and had their own quests and unique dialogue for locations (Arcade Gannon's my favorite).

Also, the song Lydia the Tattooed Lady comes to mind whenever someone mentions her.

I saw some laser cut ones at that show I was at that I could probably stick in there unglued. Meh, the place looks decent enough as is. What's really bothering me however that it needs little rusted tin cans everywhere and a Nuka Cola Vending Machine in the corner by the counter.

lol
Yeah, all the housecarls I had looked after my houses. The clue's in the name after all.

For Skyrim I always have Aranea Ienith as a follower. Mostly because she stays out of the way again, and that she often zaps things before I even know I'm being attacked.

I did like the companion quests thing they did for NV. Made it worthwhile trying them out for a bit.

Well the Companions in New Vegas had an impact on quests, instead of just being NPCs that followed you around. Arcade Gannon for instance brings along Enclave soldiers in the final battle, Veronica allows you into the Brotherhood Bunker ages before you're supposed to, etc. Unfortunate then that Bethesda didn't take any ques from Obsidian when making Skyrim, and just carried on with their "ocean with the depth of a puddle" style of game. =/

Still, Skyrim was a step up from Fallout 3 overall. Hopefully then a few more years have given Bethesda the time to develop themselves a bit more. I doubt 4 will be on par with New Vegas in a lot of ways, but as long as its better than 3 was I couldn't complain (seeing as I just spent a good while playing Skyrim again there too).

...and Raul will make sarcastic remarks the entire time.

I wound up deciding to have a go at redoing the Legion, as I made the models for that faction over a year ago and I'm not happy at all with them. The models that I have are based on some Warlord Games Romans, and by and large haven't been modified much apart from new heads and weapons. The base models aren't that reposable and stand shorter than everything else that I have too. So, given that there's a new game on the horizon let's go back and revisit a faction from the last game.

These WIPs are made from Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings Uruk-Hai Scouts of all things. The idea comes from a Fallout thread from Lead Adventure actually that I saw months ago and wanted to emulate. However after having made a few I looked at the models and felt that they just weren't working out. Even though the Lord of the Rings range's models are smaller than GW's other stuff, they still look fairly squat and chunky when compared against my other stuff. So after those I shelved the other Uruk-Hai that I had set aside (more Machete guys) and decided to pull out one of the old and dependable Wargames Factory sprues that I have (...and which I never seem to run out of) and made a model from one of those instead.



What I like about the Wargames Factory guy (who I suppose is a Legion Veteran, the others are regular line troops, though the guy with the rifle is a scout given his hood) is that he's not wearing Football Armour. Nah having made those Diamond City Guards I thought that it would be interesting to give him a set of Baseball gear instead. He still fits in with the style of the Legion, but it sets him apart somewhat. I guess the Southern states prefer football or something more than baseball, so that's why (other than as an aesthetic choice) they wear the former as standard.

But aye, looking at that image the Wargames Factory model definitely looks better proportioned to me than the others. Whatever, in other news when looking for the Uruk-Hai for those Legionnaires I found a pile of terrain that I'd lost ages ago. Hmn, so maybe I'll see about painting up some of that too (there's some refuse skips that were already half painted, but for some reason I shelved them).

In spite of painting up some Legionnaires for some reason a notion came upon me to make a Vault elevator from Fallout 4. Yup, because I really wanted this pain in the arse.

Its not a scale replica of the one from the trailer. No, that one I measured to be about 19 inches across for 28mm. The one I'm making is 12 inches across instead as I couldn't fit anything larger inside the storage boxes that I have. =P



I've not worked on this long, so its still incomplete. As I don't have the palsticard to use as a base for this at hand right now I haven't worked on the area that's still red foam. That part I'm just using as a guideline and will be cut away and instead I'll fill in that area with milliput (which I'll probably have to buy some more of too). Like I said this isn't a complete replica, so if you compare it with the original you'll notice I didn't include so many panels (eight instead of ten), as well as simplified some of the details ...because I couldn't be entirely bothered with the hassle (the area around the gear is supposed to have a texture to it).



Heh, so there you go. Its a bit of a pie plate, and not something that I really expected to do, but there you go.

Decided to make the "Ant-Mound" Vault entrance I see.

Crap! The cog wheels are out of sync with the pattern on the panels! Argh!

I'm playing through the final quest of the honest hearts dlc in Zion canyon now, and noticed that the The Wargames factory woodland Indians might make nice Zion Tribals.

I have rescued my dad in FO-3 again

Last time in the New Vegas, my character is trapped in Sierra Madre

Skyrim I was dealing with repairing corrupted data loss so am re-doing the books of darkness for a certain Daedric Prince.

Oblivion, I have to go in and see where I am, but the gates are sealed.

I have some Zion tribals somewhere. White Legs and a guy dressed up like a Yaoi Gui. In other words crap that'll never see the light of day. =P

And if we're doing this:

Fallout 3: IIRC knocking off an Outcast patrol to steal their crap. A bolt action rifle loaded up with explosive rounds can make a mess of Power Armour, and man, come on they have good crap! ...I was roleplaying a scavenger. I literally spent most of my time in that came slowly moving through buildings (added by the D.C. Interiors mod) rifling through every single cupboard and drawer searching for goodies. I went apegak whenever I found food. Better still, "holy crap some ammo! Now I can quit hitting guys about with this crowbar for like five minutes!".

New Vegas: At the end of Lonesome Road. My character now past their scavenging days. No longer bald, but with every DLC slightly longer hair, more tattoos and a new outfit that had a higher armour rating. By the end of it they had a pretty nifty stealth suit (the one from Old World Blues, but modded so it was hyper upgraded) and hair that had been cut back in short once more. I was ready to go fight on the dam for the NCR and end the game again, but I forgot that there's a point in the game where you throw in your lot with one side. I miss-clicked when talking to House and with that that character's story had to end (no saves left). Apparently you talking in a private casino free from any bugs means that the NCR can hear you saying "yeah sure I'll help you out with this inconsequentual task for some money. At no point have I said that I'll throw my lot in with you and hate everyone else though right?".

Same reason why I wound up siding with House the first time that I played that game...

Skyrim: Yeah that thing died on my a few weeks ago after going through the typical mod overload. Lemme think. I'd finally given up and been proclaimed Dragonborn (I hate starting up the main quests in Bethesda games. Rather I tote about in a world not ravaged by some catastrophe for ages), but was still playing modded quests. Now that character had traveled the world. Morrowind, Hammerfell, Orsinium, Elsweyr, and lands not found on any map (i.e. all those mods that add new places). They'd started ship wrecked and freezing to death. With a lute in hand however I'd travel the province, and by the end of it be pretty badass with a sword. In the end though I wound up being bored of the warrior life, and content to just travel and play in taverns. Pity then that those bloody dragons had to keep ruining that existence. =P

Oblivion? ...damn, now that was a while ago. Probably toting about the Shivering Isles. Seriously I went to that place immediately at the start of the game, particularly Mania, and stayed there as long as I could. The result would be returning to the main game leveled, but with no fame or infamy. I think I played an assassin type, as the Dark Brotherhood questlines seem to be the most invested in by the devs for some reason. Oblivion gates? What Oblivion Gates? Don't be silly, Kvatch is fine. Have I been there lately? No, but hell Anvil's just down the road I can stop of there instead of going up that hill to that perfectly fine city.

And as this seems to be a roundup: Morrowind: That I played more recently than Oblvion. Having joined the original branch of the Dark Brotherhood I destroyed the Daedra worshiping Morrowind chapter. In Suran they were wrapped up in the intrigue of the underworld, and ended their journey as the right hand of Morrowind's kind in the shadows. I only ever completed the main quest in the traditional manner once, every other time I just went past the Ghostfence with an over leveled character and slapped about all the bosses their. Sure you could go through all the quests, or you could just run in, lift some holy items and punch out the final boss (at which point everyone start's proclaiming that you're a god, and you respond like "god? Dude I was just doing all that for the loot! I have no idea who that crazy Dark Elf chick in that dress was after I killed that random boss level guy in the mask").

Never had Morrow wind though

I thought you might dig this...

Its like Oblivion ...with plot.

Heh, what Bethesda were when they didn't have to care about cramming in as much tosh with what voice actors they had available. No, they could write lines to their hearts content as most dialogue was in text rather than voiced. Its also far less generic fantasy than Oblivion and Skyrim. The world feels more like a good D&D campaign, with a rather unique setting. Also, and this is something that I've carried through the series since, it makes you want to really hate the Imperials. They invaded the province and started wiping out the culture and imposing their rules over everyone. Worse still though is that the Imperials were nothing compared to the Dunmer when the later were in their prime. *spoiler* The villain of the game isn't out there to destroy the world, no, he's just pissed that someone's invaded his homeland and wants them out. ...Paradoxically however the Imperials were only capable of invading because the villain sapped the power of the god-kings that were defending the place.

So aye, Morrowind has a lot more depth than the later games in the series. Contemporary reviews of it still said the adage "an ocean as deep as a puddle", but I suppose whilst the other games are kind of that slick patch of water you find on the road after some rain, Morrowind's maybe just half a glass full of water instead compared to them.

If anything, Morrowind was great for making fun of the fated hero cliche and showing that the rules of the Elder Scroll's world are really, really meta (to the point that one of the gods knows he's a computer game's NPC and sat their save scumming till he got where is now, instead of being a prostitute in some back alley). You're just some guy, but because everyone says that you're a reincarnated king loads and loads of times, you actually become one. Crap of that level of meta just doesn't appear in later titles at all, and its a real shame.


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@Malika2

Hah! Now that's a new one!

Out of curiosity have you played fallout 1 & 2?

Spent first two days of my summer playingn through one and working my way through 2. I loved new Vegas but nothing really beats the first one.

On a side note have you ever considered making a mini and/or a scenario scentering around the infamous pariah dog?

I'm thinking about doing so with my necromunda group.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Wyrmalla wrote:
Well the Companions in New Vegas had an impact on quests, instead of just being NPCs that followed you around. Arcade Gannon for instance brings along Enclave soldiers in the final battle, Veronica allows you into the Brotherhood Bunker ages before you're supposed to, etc. Unfortunate then that Bethesda didn't take any ques from Obsidian when making Skyrim, and just carried on with their "ocean with the depth of a puddle" style of game. =/

Still, Skyrim was a step up from Fallout 3 overall. Hopefully then a few more years have given Bethesda the time to develop themselves a bit more. I doubt 4 will be on par with New Vegas in a lot of ways, but as long as its better than 3 was I couldn't complain (seeing as I just spent a good while playing Skyrim again there too).

FNV played its trump card by bringing back all of the people who made FO1so great.

The recent overall quality of Bethesda writing tends to hover somewhere between "sci fi original movie" and "fan fiction" so I fear we won't ever see another "morrrow wind" from them.

Have I played Fallout 1 & 2? Man I've played the bloody Japanese text adventure game that came out alongside Fallout 3!

Of the two I prefer the second game, as I think a lot of people do. The first one's fine, but after having played the second one you realise how much of a step up it is. Though it its a pity that the overhaul mod for the first game, whilst bringing back a lot of features also decides to bring back the dreaded time limit too (the game was released with this patched out, so you have a good few years to complete the game. In the original you had to beat the Master pretty quickly, as over time the Super Mutants would destroy settlements. It would be literally impossible to save the Boneyard for instance, so all those quests would be lost. Yup, dumb idea. ...I'm waffling a bit).

I like both of those games, but I will say that they aren't as accommodating as I'd like them to be. See I recall in my last playthrough of 2 that I wanted to be a sniper type. Come the late game though and you just can't get away with having a poor defense value, yet you're forced to fight enemies. In other words it pushes you to don a set of Power Armour and find a Plasma Caster (ahem rifle, New Vegas retconned the name). So whilst they say you can play as you like, anything other than being a tanky combat character is difficult. In New Vegas however I made it through the whole game as a light armoured type who put all their points into intelligence and stats like speech/science. Though you could say that's a negative point of the newer games, that you're still somewhat capable at combat even if its your dump stat.

...I ah, just threw a grenade in the general direction of that thing and let the splash damage kill it.

Heh, I could do, but players not being allowed to shoot the thing would probably piss them off (though that's the point). Few of them have actually played any of the Fallout games, let alone the originals, so I think that the joke would be lost on them...

Hmn, now to do I go out and buy modelling supplies today and finish that Vault door, or leave that till tomorrow so I don't have to go out twice? Blargh, screw you 2000AD for only being sold in town!

I like the second one (more than FNV) but I felt it was a bit rushed (the amount of bugs and cut content is twice that of FO1), they went a bit crazy with the mature content and the gameplay issues you mentioned were a bit more glaring due to the severe lack of weapons early on.

Can't wait to see more great miniatures from you!


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Also they had a weird fixation with talking or intelligent animals/sometimes plants.

The guy who wrote the fallout bible got so sick of all the questions centering around the talkingn animal characters he angrily declared they all died shortly afterwards.

I don't see any in New Vegas so it must be Canon

Video game companies are horrible when it comes to allocating time and resources properly. It shows that the team that worked on 2 then went on to become Obsidian given the myriad of cut content you find in their games (New Vegas had half the fething map cut! Wonder why the Legion just seem like the cliche bad guy faction? Because they had their whole damn questline cut!).

I like the early game in these wide open sandbox titles more than the late game actually. For instance in 3 and New Vegas its great to be skimming by with a melee weapon and the handful of bullets that you've found for whatever gun you could get your hands on. It feels fantastic to slowly creep up the pole as you start to trade in gear and eventually make it out of town with enough bullets and stimpaks that you aren't just making it through encounters by the skin of your teeth (or rather you just don't run out of bullets midway and have to beat people's heads in with a crowbar). By the late game I kind of hate that you're packing thousands of bullets, which is why for instance that the mods I tend to go for limit the amount of loot you can find and carry (in Fallout 3 I was still carrying only a few clips of ammo by the late game, though admittedly they were a higher grade than what I was armed with before).

Yes, I do play these types of games with the survivalist, living on the edge mentality, pushed up to the max.

Talking animals? I'm sorry but have you met my friend, he's a ghost? ...I don't know what was with those games back then, but they had a habit of sticking in ghosts whenever they could. Arcanum has a random one right at the start. Fallout 2 has one in the Den (though at least its interesting to think that before the war the Den was actually probably a decent place to live). I can't recall however if anyone has actually make any post-apocalyptic raccoon models. Armadillos however...

Ah, and aye Chris Avellone, through stint of actually bothering to try and write a concise canon for the series when nobody else would, became the series' god. If he didn't like something with the original games then it'd be rewritten or gone. IIRC he didn't come onto the series till Van Buren, before then it was just Josh Sawyer, but he was given full creative control over that project. Bethesda used his bible to base Fallout 3 on, though clearly departed in areas. Its nice to know then that he was able to bring back control of the series when it came to New Vegas, as he really is an awesome writer, and I just love seeing anything that he comes out with (he proof read the Nuka Break series 2 scripts IIRC, and appeared in that with Tim Cain and J.E. Sawyer as a bonus. Didn't see no Tod Howard in there did we!?).



Things have been progressing with the Vault elevator. I can see having the base model finished by tonight, then its a task of going over the thing and tidying it up a little. The clay's surface is a little uneven, so I may have to sand the thing for a while. :(

That is still a big cap for that elevator platform

Heh, well yes given that the actual elevator is only just that white gear in the middle. Also no however. See I imagine that the whole thing is a plug that's slotted down into a drilled out shaft. The thing has to survive being hit by a nuke, so whilst the elevator takes up only a quarter of the whole thing, the rest's concrete and gizmos. I imagine only a fraction of the cap is capping off the shaft too, the rest's extending out beyond it just to keep the area even.

Like I said though, the whole thing is really meant to be 20 inches across. Mine is only 13'' (originally I said 12'', but I realised that I was missing an extra rim). When you're trying to shuttle down an entire Vault's population as quickly as possible you kind of want to do it fast. I could see two dozen folks being packed onto that elevator if they were really pushed for time (hell probably even more if the bombs are literally dropping around you. Though, and this is something that isn't explicitly stated in the canon, the Vaults were filled up in advance of the nukes. Somehow people knew to get down their, possibly because early warnings went out. There must have been times when Vaults were filled up, but it turned out to be a false alarm. ...Ah, I'm trying to justify how people could make it to Vaults that were in the middle of nowhere without having hours of an advanced warning. Blame that on game design I suppose).

In the video, the gear was the outside, but the circle in the center of the gear wheel was the elevator

Huh? Nah the whole gear is the elevator. The circle in the middle is just an indented pattern by the looks of it (zoom in close and you can see there's flat metal in the gap. They could be separate, but the circle and the gear both descend as part as the elevator as seen below. I could probably cut out the gear on my model, but I think having it close will probably do (it'd only really be to change the Vault number on the door, but I don't think anyone's going to nitpick such a small detail).