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Post by tkdco2 on May 11, 2022 16:27:19 GMT -6
To be fair, the painting does concern the painting of miniatures and not that of barns, soffits, portraits, or the town green. That's true, although I have used landscape paintings as backdrops for my terrain when I photograph them.
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Post by tkdco2 on May 31, 2022 14:15:13 GMT -6
The miniatures and terrain in this video are made for Pulp-style gaming, but there's more to gaming than fantasy. Besides, the models here look too nice to exclude. www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-VNK2540sk
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Post by Malcadon on Jun 1, 2022 21:43:34 GMT -6
I quite enjoy painting miniatures.
One of the most essential tools to have for painting miniatures is a Jeweler's magnifier visor with lights.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jun 10, 2022 5:43:58 GMT -6
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Post by rsdean on Jun 12, 2022 10:19:09 GMT -6
It’s not the first time I’ve seen this. Bill is a member of my local club, btw. My son came up for a visit this weekend, and we got in a couple of games of Dux Bellorum (post-Roman Britain) and De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA, both Republican Romans, one against the Gauls and one against Carthage).
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Post by tkdco2 on Jun 12, 2022 13:46:12 GMT -6
I had the wild idea of mixing the Risk figures with the dragons from those fantasy figures by the bucket. Then you can have a fantasy game set in the Napoleonic era. This is not a new idea. The Flintloque game has rules and miniatures for Napoleonic elves, dwarves, orcs, and even dog-men.
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Post by rsdean on Jun 12, 2022 14:30:48 GMT -6
Other members of my club are currently working on a Wars of Oz game, which is basically Napoleonics with fantasy elements, so that seems reasonable enough.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jun 17, 2022 14:12:29 GMT -6
Adding background music to the game is nothing new, but how about sound effects?
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Post by Malcadon on Jun 17, 2022 18:59:05 GMT -6
Adding background music to the game is nothing new... I remember adding background music during a session for the first time. That was a big mistake. In retrospect, adding music to the game was not a mistake into itself, but choosing the right song, the right time and the right volume is what make soundtracks work at the table.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jun 17, 2022 19:41:44 GMT -6
Adding background music to the game is nothing new... I remember adding background music during a session for the first time. That was a big mistake. In retrospect, adding music to the game was not a mistake into itself, but choosing the right song, the right time and the right volume is what make soundtracks work at the table. That is true. I found matching the music to the adventure took too much time and unnecessarily slowed down the game. Probably better to have the score from a movie like Conan the Barbarian play in the background without worrying if it fit what was going on in the game at the time. But the music I remember most from the AD&D games my group played was "We are the Champions" by Queen. Sound effects can work for online games. I've used them in my MERP game when I ran it via Tabletop Simulator.
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Post by Malcadon on Jun 17, 2022 20:12:41 GMT -6
Probably better to have the score from a movie like Conan the Barbarian play in the background without worrying if it fit what was going on in the game at the time. That was the problem. The music of Basil Poledouris was so bombastic that it was a distraction. The song would get calm with the kitchen/orgy part, then suddenly get loud with the raid on Thulsa Doom's throne room and no one can focus or communicate properly.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jun 17, 2022 23:44:23 GMT -6
I can see that, actually. I once tried using some Medieval music, although the pieces didn't usually sound like a bunch of adventurers. Some classical pieces would work, if they aren't too loud.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jun 18, 2022 4:20:18 GMT -6
But getting back to painting miniatures, here's some useful advice on caring for your paint brush and wet palette.
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Parzival
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Is a little Stir Crazy this year...
Posts: 346
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Post by Parzival on Jun 18, 2022 4:56:20 GMT -6
I can see that, actually. I once tried using some Medieval music, although the pieces didn't usually sound like a bunch of adventurers. Some classical pieces would work, if they aren't too loud. Back in the day, we played our favorite music and didn’t care if it fit or not. Though sometimes it sort of did— Toto’s Hydra album’s title track, along with “Saint George & the Dragon”, and their instrumental bit “Child’s Anthem” from their debut album were favorites. (If you’ve ever seen the Hydra music video, it’s obvious somebody involved played D&D.) But other stuff got in the mix, too: ELO, Journey, Led Zeppelin, Molly Hatchet, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steely Dan, Donald f*gen (solo album), The Alan Parson’s Project, Pink Floyd, Queen… to this day their songs make me think of D&D even though they have nothing to do with the game— they just trigger the memories. These days I don’t play music while gaming. Guess my no longer (really no longer) teen brain just isn’t up to the multi-tasking required. But I’ll still put “Hydra” on for inspiration beforehand.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jun 23, 2022 4:44:47 GMT -6
We've covered paper miniatures before, but here are some uses I never thought about:
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Post by Malcadon on Jun 28, 2022 8:28:02 GMT -6
We've covered paper miniatures before... I still have some old paper miniatures. My first where those fold-up paper standies that came with that black box Basic D&D set form the '90s featuring Zanzer Tem's Dungeon. My set of paper minis is a mix of black box D&D, some printouts of Cardboard Heroes, Call of Cthulhu monsters and cultists, Scooby-Doo and the Mystery, Inc. gang (kinda tied with CoC), Tekumel, Battletech, and so on and so forth.
While I still collect and paint a lot of miniatures, I like to have them as display pieces. With RPGs, I like to use them sparingly at the game table to promote "the theater of the mind" and I don't like RPGs descending into a tactical chore. When I do use them for RPGs, I have figurines and paper miniatures available for players and as notable NPCs, while most common monsters are represented with Chess pieces. HeroQuest is when I most use miniatures as that game is best played with 3D furniture and greater monster options. In the past, I'd used the black box D&D standies to fill out that game — the Chaos Warlock (placeholder) figure can only do so much in NPC-heavy scenarios.
With Battletech, I only own a few actual BT miniatures, so I only ever use cardboard figures. Basically cardboard figures propped-up on plastic clips for Battlemechs, and flat cardboard-tiles for everything else. The best part about this is that I like to play BT with custom-made mechs & vehicles found in a wide range old, obscure '80s "real robot" anime and model kits, like Armored Trooper VOTOMS, Megaro Zamac, Xabungle, and so much more! I still use the "unseen" units from the early BT line, and later official units that catch my eye, but I like to dig deeper with the series the "Unseens" came from (Dougram, Crusher Joe & Macross). I like to raid Gears Online, MAHQ and Pinterest for the images I need to print.
Paper miniatures are great! ...until someone sneezes ....or opens a window ...or turns on a fan ...or bumps the table ...or somethingsomethingsomething
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Post by tkdco2 on Jun 28, 2022 16:40:20 GMT -6
Some folks attach paper miniatures to binder clips or even fender washers. I've thought of combining the two for a stronger, more permanent base. Several companies make bases for paper miniatures; both clear and opaque versions are available.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jun 30, 2022 16:43:07 GMT -6
How about using Lego and Jenga pieces for your terrain? I've seen people use Dominos as well.
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skars
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 407
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Post by skars on Jun 30, 2022 17:57:12 GMT -6
How about using Lego and Jenga pieces for your terrain? I've seen people use Dominos as well. That's the Heroica line of legos I mentioned in the dollar store thread. They are great!
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Post by doublejig2 on Jun 30, 2022 19:34:49 GMT -6
We used to use toothpicks. 1 toothpick equals 1 10' section of wall or the width of 10' hallway.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jul 12, 2022 0:26:03 GMT -6
If you use Army Painter Speedpaints, here's one way to get a metallic effect. I assume this will also work on Citadel Contrast Paints.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jul 12, 2022 16:15:42 GMT -6
I can see that, actually. I once tried using some Medieval music, although the pieces didn't usually sound like a bunch of adventurers. Some classical pieces would work, if they aren't too loud. On second thoughts, would modern music done Medieval style work?
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Post by tkdco2 on Jul 12, 2022 16:27:14 GMT -6
One more, just because.
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Post by rsdean on Jul 16, 2022 13:25:10 GMT -6
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Post by Punkrabbitt on Jul 16, 2022 13:55:49 GMT -6
Thank you for that review.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jul 16, 2022 14:30:34 GMT -6
Are the Caesar fantasy miniatures still in print? I've only gotten "out of stock" results in my search.
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flightcommander
Level 6 Magician
"I become drunk as circumstances dictate."
Posts: 370
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Post by flightcommander on Jul 16, 2022 15:57:45 GMT -6
Try www.michtoy.com I usually have good luck sourcing Caesar miniatures from them.
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Post by rsdean on Jul 16, 2022 17:15:35 GMT -6
The elves have been available recently; some were for sale on eBay when I looked earlier this week.
Michigan Toy Soldier is high on my supplier list as well.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jul 16, 2022 19:20:47 GMT -6
Here's a wacky terrain idea. You've seen those air fresheners for cars that look like pine trees? Keep them after they're used up. After you've collected a bunch of them, just mount them on binder clips. Voila, instant forest!
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Post by rsdean on Jul 17, 2022 5:01:25 GMT -6
…and it will impart a residual forest-like scent to the game. 😜 If I wanted to source a bunch of mostly flat trees, I’d end up using the plastic ones I bought from Michigan Toy Soldier from a Russian company called Warriors and Battles (probably not being restocked), or I would cast my own from vintage Schneider molds. i have one for a deciduous tree and accompanying bush, and one for a pine tree. But that’s me; let’s just say that I have put a lot of effort into resource acquisition for a long time… Speaking of which, I wanted to say a couple of things about 1/72 scale figures. The first is that the central repository of knowledge about the subject, the Plastic Soldier Review, recenlt added pictures and some commentary about fantasy sets; if you scroll down their “Features” page, there are links to pictures of the early (but not yet later) Caesar sets and the Red Box/Dark Alliance sets: www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Features.aspxThe second is that, while I am a huge fan of 1/72 scale figures (resulting from my introduction to this overarching hobby through the medium of Airfix boxes when I was less than 10), the fact remains that they drift in and out of production quite randomly. I have therefore been trained (like one of Pavlov’s dogs) to almost automatically buy at least a box or two of anything that looks interesting when it first comes out, lest it be unavailable to me by the time that I am ready to work on it. So I do have a dwindling stash of things like figures from Caesar Adventurers set, and the remnants of about four boxes of Elves. That habit serves me fairly well, but it does sort of counterbalance the relatively low cost of the figures. My son, by the way, now does the same, and has ben back to 2008 or so. He recently posted pictures to the 1/72 discussion group, Benno’s Figures Forum, showing his Mesoamerican camp followers, which he had created out of Caesar Bronze Age figures and a women from a later production run of an old Airfix Tarzan set. Other Tarzan figures have been finding their way into his recent work, and that set’s been out of production again for at least ten years… Does this mean you couldn’t do something with the little guys starting today? No, but it might require some creativity to note that druids from the HaT Celtic Command set look like D&D magic users, or that the Age of Tudor set of 15th century civilians has a guy playing a lute to be your bard. Picking up boxes for a couple of specific figures, as I said, does tend to undercut the frugality aspect.
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