[Rhoderic]

For more inspiration, check out the video game Owlboy, in case you don’t know it. I wouldn’t quite describe it as Ghibli-esque but it’s not dissimilar either.

And don’t forget that the Brigade Models scenery range includes the Hotel Adriano from Porco Rosso.

[Rhoderic]

Sane Max wrote:

I have a Teutonic Knights army, and have added a Dragon – Bestia Dei – who Hochmeister Von Eimer-kopf believes he has converted to Christianity, and doesn’t ask why Novice Monks keep disappearing

I must grudgingly admit I love this notion.

[Rhoderic]

When I first discovered HOTT and became briefly interested in collecting armies for it, I wanted an entirely serious feel to the project. Tolkienesque “free peoples” versus hordes of darkness. My interest fizzled out as I became more aware that other HOTT players were just treating it as a game of sillybuggers. I respect all projects that people put effort into, but comedy fantasy armies just aren’t my cup of tea, I guess.

[Rhoderic]

Funnily the hats make me think of Guinan from Star Trek TNG. The similarity didn’t turn out to be as great as all that once I actually looked up photos of the kind of hats she used to wear, but still, the general vibe isn’t that far apart.

But maybe convert one of the hats to be more like that? Less tall, but flaring out more?

I completely get what you say about not wanting exact doubles. I’m the same way with my skirmish projects.

[Rhoderic]

Very pretty! I like the implied worldbuilding of this project.

[Rhoderic]

You really know how to make 3mm look attractive, to the point that the scale looks perfectly competitive with all the 28-32mm eye candy out there.

[Rhoderic]

Some day I’d like to give some of the old fantasy and sci-fi rulesets a go. Laserburn, Chainmail, Striker, Royal Armies of the Hyborian Age, Starguard, Reaper, Knights & Magick, Middle Earth Wargames Rules, Dark Future, Rogue Trader, 1st-3rd ed WHFB, maybe original Battletech (if I can get to play it using only the better-looking mech designs), and a few more. I mainly want to experience them out of an interest in the history of nerd culture, so the actual enjoyability of said rulesets (such as it may be) wouldn’t be a major motivating factor.

The oldest rulesets that I’m more properly familiar with and would be prepared to use more casually are probably Dirtside II, Stargrunt II and Full Thrust.

[Rhoderic]

If I was starting up a project from scratch and had a strict £100 budget for it, I’d probably be looking at either 3mm massed-battle fantasy from Microworld, 3mm “not Epic” from Vanguard, or 15mm military sci-fi from various manufacturers, but probably with a focus on Brigade Models. All feel like good choices for self-contained, budget-friendly projects, as opposed to something like 28mm sci-fi or fantasy skirmish where I would always feel the urge to keep expanding the collection with more figures and terrain pieces.

If I suddenly had an extra £100 to immediately expand my existing collections with, I’d probably get some sci-fi terrain, mainly for 28mm, but with a view to multi-usefulness. It’s a gap that needs filling, for my 28mm sci-fi projects to become more tabletop-ready.

[Rhoderic]

Like, if I was starting from scratch and had to make a viable project out of what I can buy for £100?

Or like, if a windfall landed me with an extra £100 to spend on new hobby products, accounting for the stuff I already have?

Or like, if this was the last £100 I was allowed to spend on the hobby, and I had to try to “top up” my existing projects as best I can with it?

[Rhoderic]

So, regarding indie video games that have been mentioned in this thread…

Playing Ruiner. Set it on Easy mode because I’m just a sightseer, and (having played a lot of Streets of Rage 4 lately) not interested in another intense arcade-action experience right now. I love the atmosphere and ambience of it, entirely in line with my ideal for a trope-loving, tabletop gaming-conducive cyberpunk setting with an up-to-date, youthful edge to it. The gameplay is not very deep, and it plays a bit derpy on a console (it was definitely made for mouse-and-keyboard controls) but I can’t get enough of how slick and stylish it is in regard to art direction. Getting a lot of inspiration from this one.

Playing Neo Cab. To be honest there doesn’t seem to be much miniatures gaming inspiration in it (except maybe some of the character art), but I still like it for other reasons. Definitely “my type” of game in regard to the culture it comes from and its general design philosophy (I’m one of those people that loved Tacoma). It seems to be a fairly mellow take on cyberpunk, overall.

Playing Gemini Rue. Reminds me more than a little bit of Beneath a Steel Sky, which I have strong childhood memories of. As cyberpunk settings go, this seems to be a very noir, deliberately drab and dumpy, “low-cyber” sort of cyberpunk, clearly channelling Blade Runner more than anything else. It’s a sharp contrast to the setting in Ruiner – very much a case of opposite ends of the spectrum that the genre encompasses. Not sure about this game’s usefulness as a source of miniatures gaming inspiration yet, but it’s nice to just immerse myself in the atmosphere, and to play a retro-style point-and-click adventure again.

I still do want to play Cloudpunk, but will have to wait for it to come out on console. Turns out my cheap laptop PC can’t even handle a voxel-based game 🙁

For similar reasons, Satellite Reign seems like a game I’ll only get to experience through YT videos, at least until I buy my next PC. But I can work with that.

[Rhoderic]

I’ve never thought of “crafting” having connotations with gender-coding, age or cultural scene, and I still don’t. Anything from a tea cosy to a molotov cocktail can be “crafted”.

I use “terrain-making” and “terrain-crafting” interchangeably. I probably tend to favour “crafting” because it sounds more powerful, somehow. There’s a sense of agency about the word.

In German, Dutch and the Scandinavian languages, the cognates to “craft” (“kraft” or “kracht”) mean power, force or strength. In Anglo-Saxon it meant these same things but also, by extension, skill and ability.

[Rhoderic]

Dreadful. So very dreadful.

[Rhoderic]

As my wont is to explore all the many subgenres and “flavours” of speculative fiction, I don’t have any one exclusive answer to the question.

In a “typical”, slightly retro-leaning space opera setting wherein said pirates are to be perceived as buccaneering heroes, or at any rate nothing more evil than pesky miscreants, I’d go for all the classic “space rogue” tropes. Firefly, Han Solo, Harry Mudd (as portrayed in Star Trek Discovery), the pirate gang from Guardians of the Galaxy, the more roguish elements from The Outer Worlds. The usual. Also a bit of Captain Harlock because I have a soft spot for vintage manga and anime. There might be some sashes, kerchiefs and belted tunics, perhaps even the occasional collared cape or exotic skull cap, but I wouldn’t take the archaic look too far. Other than that, a mishmash of vests, leather jackets, bandoliers, high boots, goggles and edgy hairstyles would bring the look home.

In a similar setting, but assuming thoroughly villainous pirates, I’d probably take most of my cues from the Reavers from Firefly. and various post-apoc loonies. I’d try not to make them too feral, but they would be projecting a scary ferocious style for sure.

For a more ultra-futuristic setting that doesn’t leave much room for gribbliness or retro fashions, I like the style of the Freeborn from Beyond the Gates of Antares, especially the Domari squads (whereas the Vardanari are a bit overwrought, and the Mhagris too low tech-looking).

I also like the idea of space pirates taking on much more unique stylistic identities within the frameworks of specific sci-fi settings, typically for the purpose of having them come across as memorable, horrifying villains. In one setting, they may have appropriated scary-looking bio-tech so they have a Gigeresque air about them. In another setting, they may be decked out in overwrought-looking gothic armour and equipment. In yet another, they may have that Dark Eldar-ish malicious sleekness about their kit.

I like it when I can watch a space opera film or TV series, or read a space opera comic book, or play a space opera video game, and go “ooh, that’s a cool new interpretation of space pirates!”.

[Rhoderic]

Cacique Caribe wrote:

Hmm. Didn’t/Doesn’t someone sell laser cut foamboard structures?

News to me. Some quick Googling has failed to turn up any such manufacturer, but it does bear out that foambord is feasible to cut by laser, which I hadn’t expected.

I do know that not all manufacturers of laser-cut scenery use MDF. Some use 1mm card. Some use HDF.

[Rhoderic]

deephorse wrote:

I’ve found that whilst I can post one photo easily enough, I’m unable to find a way to add two or more (as others clearly do) to a post. I use an iPad mini, and I can’t find any way to get a cursor to appear at the bottom right of the photo I’ve added so that I can hit return and make a space for a further photo. Tapping in the area that I’d like the cursor to appear just ‘selects’ the photo I’ve uploaded, and if I hit return the image gets deleted.

Try leaving an extra blank paragraph below the one where you insert the picture, before you insert it.

[Rhoderic]

Thanks, everyone. All but Zen Terrain are manufacturers I’ve checked out in the past, but had half-forgotten about, and I suppose I started this thread wanting to be reminded of them again. So, they’re precisely the kind of suggestions I was hoping for.

[Rhoderic]

Patrice wrote:

I have this figure (not so well painted…) and I just had a look at it. Yes the hands are a bit too large especially the part under the thumb behind the pistol, however if you look from different directions it’s not so obvious and also the rolled sleeve adds to this impression. I must say I’m really not troubled with this. For some contexts I use almost only Copplestone’s and Bob Murch’s figures, for some other games Paul Hicks’ and some others, and I avoid to mix them.

Slightly alarmed to hear that Copplestone and Hicks might not mix well. I have several projects in which I’m intending to use figures by both sculptors. I own figures by both (none yet painted in the case of Hicks) but don’t think I’ve ever bothered comparing them side-by-side.

[Rhoderic]

I think my brain tends to filter out the stylised proportions of wargaming miniatures, within reason. Many, perhaps most, of the CAD-sculpted figures with correct anatomical proportions that I’ve seen look impersonal and soulless to me, so it’s a “careful what you wish for” type situation in my mind.

[Rhoderic]

Is it the thickness of the hands and wrists?

I think we’re all grumpy old sods about completely different little details when it comes to miniatures and (especially in my case) terrain. I know there have been times when I’ve asked you, Mike, to spot what annoys me about some miniature or terrain piece, and after several wrong guesses I’ve had to explain what exactly it is. Which says something about me, not you.

[Rhoderic]

deephorse wrote:

Toothy or smoothy? I’ve never even heard of those terms

“Smoothy” was a joke. “Toothy” however I’ve picked up from other hobbyists.

[Rhoderic]

jeffers wrote:

‘toothy’ (I like that term!).

I’ve definitely heard/seen other people describe undercoats and painting surfaces as “toothy” and “having tooth”, so I can’t claim credit for it. I like the term, too.

 

Autodidact-O-Saurus wrote:

So a couple years ago I moved to Liquitex professional gesso for both metal and plastic figures. Much happier with it. I’ve never had it obscure details even on 10mm figures and I can prime any time I want. No ventilation issues. No humidity issues. Just give it 24 hours to dry and don’t wet your brush with water.

This is the same gesso I use. I’m fond of it for the same reasons and will continue using it for the vast majority of surfaces, basically any surface that I don’t intend to paint as particularly shiny metal. As for drying time, I find it to be much less than 24 hours, assuming it’s not watered down and has been applied no more liberally than it needs to be.

 

Autodidact-O-Saurus wrote:

Shininess is all about the smoothness of the top surface.

This is what I want to believe, and traditionally have believed, but my experimentation with undercoats, metallic paints and varnishes these last couple of days hasn’t really borne that out for me. Airbrush-formulated metallic paint (thin in consistency but rich in aluminium pigment) with a gloss varnish on top definitely looks shinier on top of a glossy surface, than on a surface undercoated with gesso. For most purposes, painting metallics on top of gesso will do perfectly fine for me, as the things I’m painting metallic aren’t usually meant to look polished to a gleam anyway. I’ll be reserving the shinier metallic finish for those few items that I want to have stand out as having an exceptional glint to them. This might not even be an issue with historical miniatures, but most of my miniatures are more fantastical so I want the odd bit of chrome and the occasional item of metal that looks like it belongs on a parade ground.

 

Nathaniel Weber wrote:

@Rhoderic: do you color or tint your gesso? If so how? I have used white gesso and have tinted it with a drop or two of brown.acrylic ink to help provide a warmer base. Was wondering if you had experience with that and if something other than ink would be better, like maybe pigments or plain acrylic paint.

Sorry, I don’t. In fact, I must admit I no longer even subscribe to the “received wisdom” that the colour of the undercoat affects the end result. When painting miniatures, I tend to prefer paints that are thin in consistency but heavily pigmented, especially for basecoats (by which I mean the coats that go on top of the undercoat, in case anyone defines “undercoat” and “basecoat” differently than I do), and to paint several layers of basecoat, however thin each individual coat may be. I really don’t see the undercoat “shining through” at all after that. To me, the only purpose of the undercoat is to provide tooth and make the paintjob more durable.

I’d personally steer clear of mixing inks with gesso, as I really don’t like watering down gesso at all. I’ve found that watered-down gesso has a weird habit of forming a skin and taking a very long time to dry underneath, so that it may “slop off” if I mistakenly believe it has dried and begin painting over it too soon. This has never happened to me with any other paint or primer, and with gesso it’s only happened when it’s been watered down.

I’ve heard that you can tint gesso with regular acrylic paint up to a ratio of approximately one part paint to two parts gesso. But I also have vague recollections of having had gesso turn thick and grainy when I’ve experimented mixing it with acrylic paint in the past. I suggest just doing some experimenting to see what happens.

 

Mr. Average wrote:

I’ve tried gesso but despite what I’ve heard about how it shrinks and conforms, I’ve found that to be problematic for small scales. It simply ruined my small figures when I tried it.

I’ve actually never experienced the famous “shrinking gesso” effect myself. I only use white gesso. Maybe it only happens with black gesso, which presumably isn’t as “bulkily” loaded with pigment (because black pigment gives better coverage than white)? In any case, what I do is simply to apply my white, undiluted gesso very thin to begin with. I take care not to overload the brush, and I just sort of dab it on. If it goes on too thick for a start, I keep dabbing (insert joke about hip-hop dancing here) and wiping my brush on some paper until I’ve gotten it thin enough. A small amount goes a very, very long way. Even the thinnest of coats sticks very well to the surface and provides plenty of tooth. I’ve done this with 6mm figures but must admit I haven’t taken it down to 3mm yet, though I own figures in that scale.

[Rhoderic]

Whirlwind wrote:

I have bought the rules and they look good. However, I don’t really have any good ideas about how to do the physical set-up!!! Help wanted, especially with good, cheap, easy terrain ideas…

Which scale? Assuming 15mm, and not being sure where you draw the line for “cheap”, here are some suggestions for sci-fi laser-cut buildings, cast/laser-cut components for detailing building exteriors, and various scatter terrain items:

Brigade Models (building components and cargo containers)

Ground Zero Games (building components and scatter terrain)

Iliada Game Studio

GameCraft

[Rhoderic]

I just see it as a very desirable thing when a miniature or a terrain piece lets you keep your options open regarding branching off into new scales later on. Buy it for using with one scale now, and be reassured knowing it lowers the threshold for investing in another scale later.

[Rhoderic]

Any one definition of pulp is likely to accidentally exclude something that, if challenged, is hard to justify excluding. The “derring-do” definition, for instance, excludes weird horror (largely devoid of heroics) by the likes of Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, who are among the defining writers of the golden age of pulp periodicals.

But were I in a different mood right now, I might also go ahead and define pulp as derring-do, while separating out weird horror as just that: weird horror, a different genre. Pulp is hard to pin down as a definition, but the “core” of the concept is usually easy to recognise when you see it.

[Rhoderic]

Looks equally useful in both scales to me.

[Rhoderic]

Just to get a better sense of scale, what thickness are those bases you’re using?

[Rhoderic]

I’ll be cheering you on. I definitely want to get armies from this range myself at some point, but there are so many different things I want to order from Microworld that I’m somewhat paralysed by indecision. I can’t afford it all at once.

I hope goblins aren’t too low of a priority for Microworld. Given how the range implies a classic Warhammer setting, one would expect to see goblins where there are orcs. It’s not a dealbreaker for me, but an orc army with some goblin rabble in the mix would be preferable to an army of orcs alone. Oh, and trolls, but I could probably just repurpose some 6mm goblins for that.

[Rhoderic]

To me, “pulp” has many adjacent meanings, and in any situation where the term is used the meaning of it must (and usually can) be gleaned from the context, if it’s not explained outright.

In one context, it means adventure stories set during the interwar period and adjacent time periods. This has porous borders with some other genres including gangster fiction, Victorian penny dreadfuls and old-fashioned westerns.

In another but similar context, it includes Conan-style swords and sorcery (“pulp fantasy”), Flash Gordon-style retro sci-fi (“pulp sci-fi”), Cthulhu-style weird horror, and Zorro-style swashbuckling stories. The defining feature being that they all represent the culture of interwar-period pulp periodicals, novels, comics and films. Borders tend to be even more porous for this meaning, not least because these genres are also associated with other overlapping terms and concepts. For instance, Zorro is pulp but Captain Blood and Scaramouche are not quite, even though all are swashbuckling romances. Conan is pulp but Elric and Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser are not quite, even though all belong to the defining core of swords-and-sorcery fiction.

In a somewhat different context, pulp is anything with an “airport paperback” sort of vibe. So, Tom Clancy, Anne Rice and whoever the Britcrime mystery writer du jour is, are representative of pulp fiction in this context.

In short, use “pulp” as you will. People will get what you mean.

[Rhoderic]

Angel Barracks wrote:

No way that colour would have worked for the Burning Sands.

Once I paint a set of grey-white apes I’ll have no qualms about using them on a desert board, though. It’s a good look in the John Carter film, for instance. And it seems a shame to artificially limit the multi-usefulness of figures that way.

[Rhoderic]

I imagine the native civilisations refer to them as legendary “ghost apes” or something such. Very good contrast against the green of the jungle, in such a way that it still doesn’t clash at all. They look like they belong in a tropical forest, but are “special” creatures within that context.

[Rhoderic]

ian pillay wrote:

The only other small scale plastics I can think of are various risk pieces…

If we’re talking “small scale plastics” more generally, there are also the 8mm (ish?) Napoleonics from Perry Miniatures.

[Rhoderic]

Logain wrote:

For economy they just released the first two fantasy 3mm lines yesterday, and they look fantastic!

Oooooh! Finally there’s 3mm fantasy!

[Rhoderic]

I grow fonder of the original Void miniatures with every passing year. I like how they look a bit “retro”/”vintage” now (in terms of sculpting style more than the general sci-fi/sci-fantasy concepts they represent). I also like the vague 2000AD vibes I get from them. They definitely look like something out of a comic book sci-fi universe, and that’s fun.

I have a bunch of them and intend to get more. I might or might not use the actual ruleset, and I’m not terribly interested in the official setting, but in any case I want to game with the miniatures in a way that captures the general feel that Void 1.1 is going for.

In the interest of having it be a self-contained project, I’m drawn to the idea of either a Junkers-Koralon match-up, because together they imply a very gritty setting, or a Syntha-Koralon match-up, for the “robots versus bugs” contrast.

[Rhoderic]

They look like dragonslayers as far as I’m concerned. Nice work!

EDIT: Now that the thread title has been changed, this reply seems a bit of a non sequitur 🙂

[Rhoderic]

Andrew Beasley wrote:

The only plastic figures I’ve seen in 10mm was the Games Workshop Battle of Five Armies Not cheap when launched and frightening now.

Thanks, I did forget about these. But as you say, they’re very dear now.

[Rhoderic]

None, I would think. Plastic miniatures in those scales aren’t a thing, excepting old Epic 40K stuff which obviously aren’t applicable for your purposes.

[Rhoderic]

It is very pretty, and very rich in a good way. I like feeling “transported” to other times and places (both historical and fantastical) by wargaming set-ups and this does that for me.

If only it didn’t tempt me to start modelling renaissance buildings 🙂

[Rhoderic]

Pledged!

[Rhoderic]

Colour plates, at least 12 per book. Full uniform guides. Cutaways of tanks showing the interiors. Detailed timelines, maps and applicable depictions of the terrain for all significant battles.

😛

[Rhoderic]

I expect a series of sourcebooks like the VBCW ones 😛

[Author]

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