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Grishnakh's Custom Terrain
- Thread starter Grishnakh
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Grishnakh’s Customized Thread - Other Game Board Features - House/Inn
Please bear with me while I deviate from my “terrain” thread for a moment to showcase a few items of some other game board features that I have been working on. These are not step by step articles on the construction of these items but more of a vanity page that might inspire some of you to come up with other types of creative ideas. I have no rules at the moment for any of these, especially the catapult. The building is nothing more than an obstacle to fight around and make the game board look more attractive. It could be used as the center point of a scenario such as “Defend the Inn” or something to that effect.
First up is the building. It is constructed from foam core (the walls) and cereal boxes (the roof and shingles). The wood beams are balsa wood of various sizes and the sides are covered with household spackle. Then everything is painted. Note the base which is created using one of my hex templates expanded to fit the structure. When you do a building like this careful planning is need so that it will fit on the hexes correctly.
That brings up a point that I’ve not encountered on this site yet. Half hexes. Heroscape gets around this with zig-zagging walls or walls that just fall short of entering the middle of another hex (look closely at the ruins and how they are placed on the game board). Whenever you do a square building or other structure one side can travel along with the hex “spine” but once it turns 90 degrees it’s going to either zig-zag or go through the middle of every other hex. This has always been a problem with games that utilize hexes. The solution that my groups have used over these many years is to state simply that no figure can enter a half hex. So, whenever I do structures like this it is always with that rule in mind.
Now to the photos:
A meeting is called by all concerned locals to meet at the local inn. It seems a giant and his henchmen have been attacking travelers on the kings highway.
A representative from the elves arrive at the back of the inn. Note the spring out back with the path to it.
The giant has “plans” to attend this meeting as well. Evil plans!
The well armored henchmen move to attack the elves....
While in the front the giant closes in....
The battle rages on two fronts. Who will emerge victorious is any ones guess!
I’m including three quarter and side views of the building as reference to anyone who might be interested in modeling a structure such as this one.
Please bear with me while I deviate from my “terrain” thread for a moment to showcase a few items of some other game board features that I have been working on. These are not step by step articles on the construction of these items but more of a vanity page that might inspire some of you to come up with other types of creative ideas. I have no rules at the moment for any of these, especially the catapult. The building is nothing more than an obstacle to fight around and make the game board look more attractive. It could be used as the center point of a scenario such as “Defend the Inn” or something to that effect.
First up is the building. It is constructed from foam core (the walls) and cereal boxes (the roof and shingles). The wood beams are balsa wood of various sizes and the sides are covered with household spackle. Then everything is painted. Note the base which is created using one of my hex templates expanded to fit the structure. When you do a building like this careful planning is need so that it will fit on the hexes correctly.
That brings up a point that I’ve not encountered on this site yet. Half hexes. Heroscape gets around this with zig-zagging walls or walls that just fall short of entering the middle of another hex (look closely at the ruins and how they are placed on the game board). Whenever you do a square building or other structure one side can travel along with the hex “spine” but once it turns 90 degrees it’s going to either zig-zag or go through the middle of every other hex. This has always been a problem with games that utilize hexes. The solution that my groups have used over these many years is to state simply that no figure can enter a half hex. So, whenever I do structures like this it is always with that rule in mind.
Now to the photos:
A meeting is called by all concerned locals to meet at the local inn. It seems a giant and his henchmen have been attacking travelers on the kings highway.
A representative from the elves arrive at the back of the inn. Note the spring out back with the path to it.
The giant has “plans” to attend this meeting as well. Evil plans!
The well armored henchmen move to attack the elves....
While in the front the giant closes in....
The battle rages on two fronts. Who will emerge victorious is any ones guess!
I’m including three quarter and side views of the building as reference to anyone who might be interested in modeling a structure such as this one.
Grishnakh’s Customized Thread - Other Game Board Features - Orc Catapult
As before please bear with me while I deviate from my “terrain” thread for a moment to showcase a few items of some other game board features that I have been working on. These are not step by step articles on the construction of these items but more of a vanity page that might inspire some of you to come up with other types of creative ideas. I have no rules at the moment for any of these, especially this catapult. It could be used as the center point of a scenario such as “Capture the Catapult” or something to that effect.
The Catapult is constructed over top of a Weapons and Warriors Catapult using left over bits from a Games Workshop Orc Chariot and Orc Banner plus some other bits that I’ve been saving over the years. The rope is string that has been glued into place and stained with thinned down paint. Note the base which is created using one of my hex templates expanded to fit the Catapult. When you do a feature like this careful planning is need so that it will fit on the hexes correctly. I kept it at five hexes.
Now all these guys need is a Castle to fire this thing at!
On to the photos:
The might Orc army advances with it’s war machine of dreaded doom...
“On to da castle youse dogs!” shouts an orc officer.
“What do you mean we don’t know where the castle is yet??!! We’ve been hauling dis ting around for months now!”
Here’s a photo of the original Weapons and Warriors Catapult:
And here is my modification:
Various views. Note the “ammo”.
As before please bear with me while I deviate from my “terrain” thread for a moment to showcase a few items of some other game board features that I have been working on. These are not step by step articles on the construction of these items but more of a vanity page that might inspire some of you to come up with other types of creative ideas. I have no rules at the moment for any of these, especially this catapult. It could be used as the center point of a scenario such as “Capture the Catapult” or something to that effect.
The Catapult is constructed over top of a Weapons and Warriors Catapult using left over bits from a Games Workshop Orc Chariot and Orc Banner plus some other bits that I’ve been saving over the years. The rope is string that has been glued into place and stained with thinned down paint. Note the base which is created using one of my hex templates expanded to fit the Catapult. When you do a feature like this careful planning is need so that it will fit on the hexes correctly. I kept it at five hexes.
Now all these guys need is a Castle to fire this thing at!
On to the photos:
The might Orc army advances with it’s war machine of dreaded doom...
“On to da castle youse dogs!” shouts an orc officer.
“What do you mean we don’t know where the castle is yet??!! We’ve been hauling dis ting around for months now!”
Here’s a photo of the original Weapons and Warriors Catapult:
And here is my modification:
Various views. Note the “ammo”.
Grishnakh’s Customized Thread - Other Game Board Features - Gargoyles
As before please bear with me while I deviate from my “terrain” thread for a moment to showcase a few items.
I think there might have been a thread about this but I wanted to put it here. I found these at a Michael’s Arts and Crafts store tonight for 25% off. I think I might repaint them or at the very least put a black wash on them to tone the white down a bit. They are the perfect size.
Again, waiting for a castle to put them on.....
On to the photos:
Here’s the packaging
They have a cool look to them, you don't even have to put them on bases.
“Who youse calling ugly!?”
I want a castle to go under me!
As before please bear with me while I deviate from my “terrain” thread for a moment to showcase a few items.
I think there might have been a thread about this but I wanted to put it here. I found these at a Michael’s Arts and Crafts store tonight for 25% off. I think I might repaint them or at the very least put a black wash on them to tone the white down a bit. They are the perfect size.
Again, waiting for a castle to put them on.....
On to the photos:
Here’s the packaging
They have a cool look to them, you don't even have to put them on bases.
“Who youse calling ugly!?”
I want a castle to go under me!
srmalloy
Active member
I will have to check the samples I printed; from the image being 850x1100 with its header information saying it was 100dpi, that sounded as if printing at 100% image size would push the image -- not the template outlines, but the image -- over the printable margins, and I've been bitten too many times by bizarre hardware/software interactions to make assumptions about what that will do; as you said, experimentation is the only way to find out. But your template images take the experimentation out of making the templates in the first place, and gives us all an even starting point to build on.Grishnakh said:
Holy son of a crap! Why aren't you doing this for a living?
Doustin
New member
All this stuff youve made looks great, I have a few questions/comments
1. What is the background in all your pics? Most peoples have walls and doors and whatnot, but yours look like theyre right out of a storybook or something.
2. I dont know if youve seen it or not but I have a topic in this same section about gravestones from Michaels that are from the same set as those gargoyles. Theres a couple links to lots of stuff from the people that made them.
Awesome stuff youve got here as everyones said.
1. What is the background in all your pics? Most peoples have walls and doors and whatnot, but yours look like theyre right out of a storybook or something.
2. I dont know if youve seen it or not but I have a topic in this same section about gravestones from Michaels that are from the same set as those gargoyles. Theres a couple links to lots of stuff from the people that made them.
Awesome stuff youve got here as everyones said.
Doustin said:
Oh, trade secrets...... oh well, here goes.... the background is simply a large peice of white illustration board that I prop up against the outside edge of the light colored counter top in my kitchen. I position the hex board in such a way as to not see the edge in the photos. Rather than move the background as I'm shooting the shots I slide the whole set up around instead. I just make sure that when I frame the shot the white board completely fills the screen. If you look carefully in some of my pictures you can see where I missed and the mess that is my house shows up.
Doustin said:
Yep, I saw your thread earlier today. In fact your thread is the reason I went to Michael's in the first place. (That and I needed a few art supplies but hey, who am I kidding, the real reason was to look for stuff to use in Heroscape!) I started to post there but I kept it here simply because I plan to modify them in the near future. They'll look great with the castle sets I'm sure. I'll link some photo's in your thread if no one has them posted already.
skyknight said:
Thanks for the compliment skyknight! I'm glad you like seeing what I come up with. I've been considering hauling some of it out to Gencon but I'm not sure. (I don't think, however, that you are attending?)
The walls of the Inn are done in foam-core and glued together with Elmer's glue. The roof is made out of the cardboard from a cereal box. I then cut the singles out of the same cardboard and glue those down in an overlapping fashion. That way the roof is double thick cardboard. The glue strengthens it a whole lot as well. The doors and window frames are glued on strips of balsa wood in various thicknesses. I then covered the walls roughly with everyday, household spackle. Afterwards the whole structure is painted using a lot of dry brushing. The last step is to mount it to the hex base and then add the flock. At the moment I think the building looks a little plain. I'm looking into ways to add things around it such as barrels, fences for a stable area, a sign post, etc.
It took a lot of time to put together. I had planned to do more buildings in the future but it will probably be a while before I get the time to do a project like this again. I have several ideas that I'd rather work on at the moment (after Gencon).
srmalloy
Active member
If you don't want to do all the work yourself, you might want to look at the Monolith Designs ruins terrain items.skyknight said:I understand totally, I am going to do a giant ruined church when I get my creative juices saved up enough
srmalloy said:
These guys have some pretty cool stuff for sale as well. At the very least you can get some great ideas from what they have done and adapt it to Heroscape.
http://www.wargames-scenery.com/scenery/index.php?osCsid=6fd9b6049bf37cf6a38e81e394a993dd
Great fan of your work, Grishnakh. Great inspiration! How are you getting on with the ruined church that you mentioned? I am working on a set of ruins myself at the moment and would love to swop (not steal!) ideas. Really like those gargoyle things too.