Armchair Dragoons Forums

News:

  • Connections Online 2024 will be held 15-20 April, 2024 ~~ More Info here
  • Buckeye Game Fest will be held May 2-5, 2024, with The War Room opening on 29 April ~~ More Info here

News

Connections Online 2024 will be held 15-20 April, 2024 ~~ More Info here

Author Topic: Bison's Tales of Hobby Crafting  (Read 56312 times)

mcguire

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Corporal
  • *
  • Posts: 1101
  • Shoes for industry!
Reply #165 on: January 20, 2022, 04:04:49 PM
The true artist bleeds for his work.  ;)  :applause:

But power tools and any kind of stupor do not mix.

"Man...knowing how to use the cards properly certainly changes how I play the game" -- judgedredd


Bison

  • Corporal
  • **
  • Posts: 1263
Reply #166 on: January 20, 2022, 09:43:03 PM
I am working on slightly less deadly scatter terrain now. Simple tree stands to give the table an impression of woods. Of course, I am using a high-temperature hot glue gun so burning myself is always a very likely possibility. Blood and burnt offerings...the punishment I tolerate for the sake of art. :D



thecommandtent

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Corporal
  • *
  • Posts: 1266
Reply #167 on: January 20, 2022, 10:12:25 PM
Can never have to much scatter terrain!

Careful with letting blood on your druidic terrain, you never know what kind of unholy mini abomination you might summon  ;D



Staggerwing

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 4362
Reply #168 on: January 21, 2022, 06:34:52 AM
Great stuff bison!

Feel better soon.

Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa


Bison

  • Corporal
  • **
  • Posts: 1263
Reply #169 on: January 22, 2022, 08:48:03 PM
Isolation is coming to an end and I had one last project burst. It all started on a sunny but cold Friday morning. Bored I decided to grab my jar of sand, the wife's colander, and head out to the driveway. Nothing demonstrates a sort of crafting lunacy like sifting sand. Separating big grains of sand from little grains of sand. I do not remember the words spoken at me by the wife about her colander but I am sure they were positive and encouraging sentiments.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2022, 09:16:11 PM by Bison »



Bison

  • Corporal
  • **
  • Posts: 1263
Reply #170 on: January 22, 2022, 08:55:32 PM
After a good 30 to 40 minutes of pretending I was on a sunny beach...I grabbed the skill saw, MDF, and a carpenter's square. I am a minimalist Dungeon Master. A little terrain goes a long way and frankly, nearly every encounter in D&D can be captured in a 24 x 24-inch space. So those are the dimensions I cut my future battle board to...well sort of. A 24-inch board is actually between 23 1/2 to 23 3/4 inches. I am not a rocket scientist but I am sure there is a logical reason for this discrepancy. Cut the board and used the sander to bevel and soften the edges. I followed that up with a good few handfuls of newly sorted grains of sand and a half of bottle of Mod Podge. I think I may have an unhealthy crafting love of Mod Podge.



Bison

  • Corporal
  • **
  • Posts: 1263
Reply #171 on: January 22, 2022, 09:04:31 PM
I suffer from insomnia occasionally. So to fend off the middle of the night boredom, I do things to occupy my time. It's quiet at night and I get oddly productive. Really need to do some research on biorhythms and sleep habits. Anyway, I painted the board an earth tone. I like to use sponges to paint. They really make effective blending and painting tools. The board is mostly painted burnt umber and given color variation with a mixture of orange, yellow, and a light brown called chestnut. I like it. It looked very cool but a proper board is flocked with three green tones to make it look all grassy and such. So I smeared Elmer's glue on the board and flocked to my heart's content. I would have used Mod Podge but I used it all sticking the sand to the board earlier in the day. Sorry Mod, I still think you are the best! I put some of the newly build terrain on the board for perspective.



Bison

  • Corporal
  • **
  • Posts: 1263
Reply #172 on: January 22, 2022, 09:15:23 PM
After catching a few hours of sleep as the sun was rising, cleaning up the back yard, setting up a bouncy hut, vacuuming the downstairs, beating the dust out of the house rugs - it was time. Time to set up for the family's weekly AD&D campaign gaming session. I still need to put a final seal on the flocking but it takes 24 to 48 hours to fully cure. And I had no time for that today. We had a game to play and I really wanted to give the new board a whirl.

I decided last night...or early this morning...I do not want to learn new rules for role-playing at my table. I like 1st edition. I know 1st edition. I have many 1st edition books. We went back to using 1st edition rules. Also, I made a new 1st edition character sheet on a Word document at 0400 this morning. No way in hell was I going to be playing that new-fangled 2nd edition. Not anytime soon anyway.

Anyway here is the board and terrain set-up with all of the necessary materials ready to go for the gaming session. I think it turned out nice and it was a very fun session. Best moment..."OK, Thunder of Death (one of my 6-year-old boy's human fighter) the skeleton is approaching you with his rusty sword...what do you do?" "I offer him an arrow as a sign of peace!" "Uh, ok.... :o ;D"



Bison

  • Corporal
  • **
  • Posts: 1263
Reply #173 on: March 11, 2022, 01:42:58 PM
Work took me away from the crafting table for several weeks but I have a little time again so... I now face a significant first-world dilemma. I have multiple projects going that need to be worked on...finishing my Rohan Riders...making some swamp and additional forest scatter terrain...we started to play through Keep on the Borderlands so I need to deal with some cavern terrain...paint a couple of character miniatures for the kids...the Hundred Years War army modeling...

Maybe I need to start fewer projects? Ha! Who am I kidding? Knowing myself I will end up crafting something completely different than one of the many projects I should be working on.



Undercovergeek

  • Sergeant
  • ***
  • Posts: 2075
Reply #174 on: March 11, 2022, 01:48:02 PM
Project creep - seems like a good idea at the time  :tickedoff:

I have 3 - nearly completed 2



Bison

  • Corporal
  • **
  • Posts: 1263
Reply #175 on: March 11, 2022, 01:52:53 PM
Yes, it does...I really need to get the riders done. I think of all the projects this is the one I need to just sit down and power through but I in my infinite wisdom failed to write down my color scheme. So it'll take some time to pull all of the appropriate paints.



Bison

  • Corporal
  • **
  • Posts: 1263
Reply #176 on: March 13, 2022, 06:22:13 PM
I painted a couple of miniatures last night for my boys to use during our campaign. I gave myself an hour per figure. Good, bad, or indifferent. I held the line but the detailing suffered a bit. However, they are more than good enough for the table.

The fighter is going to be used to represent "Thunder of Death." I call him Thundar but my reference is lost on every single person at the table. A favorite cartoon of mine growing up when waking up early on Saturday mornings was a weekly ritual. The model was a bit of a pain in the backside. As is the case with many Wizkids miniatures, the details can be a bit hit or miss. I would have done more detailed work but, honestly, it was getting a bit annoying to figure out where the different layers started and stopped.

The thief is named "Money Bags." I used this figure to look at different exciting brown tones. I got lazy and did not do a whole lot of shading and high lighting work.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2022, 06:28:12 PM by Bison »



Bison

  • Corporal
  • **
  • Posts: 1263
Reply #177 on: March 13, 2022, 06:26:40 PM
OK. So I sat down to start dealing with the Rohan Riders and then I discovered a problem. Not the sort that ends a project but certainly a setback and an annoyance of oversight. As you will notice my dear friends with significantly more attention span than myself, one of these damned horses is not like the others. :tickedoff:

Now I have to paint yet another dang horse. So much for getting out the alligator clips and a foam block to paint the actual horse riders.



bob48

  • Smeghead.
  • Warrant Officer
  • Lead Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 11716
Reply #178 on: March 13, 2022, 06:32:06 PM
Good to see you back behind a brush again  :bigthumb:

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


thecommandtent

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Corporal
  • *
  • Posts: 1266
Reply #179 on: March 13, 2022, 08:16:09 PM
I painted a couple of miniatures last night for my boys to use during our campaign. I gave myself an hour per figure. Good, bad, or indifferent. I held the line but the detailing suffered a bit. However, they are more than good enough for the table.

The fighter is going to be used to represent "Thunder of Death." I call him Thundar but my reference is lost on every single person at the table. A favorite cartoon of mine growing up when waking up early on Saturday mornings was a weekly ritual. The model was a bit of a pain in the backside. As is the case with many Wizkids miniatures, the details can be a bit hit or miss. I would have done more detailed work but, honestly, it was getting a bit annoying to figure out where the different layers started and stopped.

The thief is named "Money Bags." I used this figure to look at different exciting brown tones. I got lazy and did not do a whole lot of shading and high lighting work.

Those came out great!