Scratch Built Desert Buildings for "Wars of Ozz"

     As I prepare for my War of Ozz desert games with the Whim-Whim and Temujicans (Eastern Nomads) I started to think about suitable buildings to use on the table.  I wanted something vaguely Middle Eastern looking, but with an Ozzian twist.  I remembered some barbarian huts I had made for a fantasy game several years ago for which I had used seed starter pots as the basic structure, and I thought I could use that idea for Ozz. 

     So, I ordered a pack of 3.15 inch starter pots off Amazon and I got to work on a prototype.  I cut a door and window, as well as a small hole n the top; and then glued the pot to a cork coaster from a pack I picked up at my local grocery store. And also glued a small smoke pipe in the top, cut from a paper straw.  Then it was a simple matter of priming dark brown and giving it a suitable drybrushing and adding some details.   

      I finished a first prototype yesterday, and I'm pleased with how it looks.  Now I want to build about a half dozen more.  I may try some variations to mix things up a little. 

Ghost Archipelago: Christmas island

   Our December campaign game is coming up in a couple weeks, so I decided to give it a bit of a Jimmy Buffett twist this year, and name the scenario after the singer's Christmas Island album.  In keeping with this idea, I decided to make some Buffett-themed central treasures.

  There were three that sprang to mind: A Parrot Head knight's helmet, a Cheese Burger in Paradise, and the Lost Shaker of Salt.   I figured I'd have to sculpt all three, but lucked out and found a knight figure that actually had a helmet with bird figure on it!  For the salt shaker I found some clear beads I had that would work with the addition of a sculpted shaker cap; but for the burger I did have to sculpt the whole thing from scratch.   I decided to mount them on small cork "rocks", to give them a bit of a platform to sit on.

    I primed them black, and then set about painting them.    I think they turned out really well, and look forward to using them in our upcoming game!

 

Scratchbuilt Hanging Pirate Cages for Ghost Archipelago

    These past couple weeks I worked on building some hanging pirate cages for our Ghost Archipelago table.   Awhile back I saw someone else's post about making these, and though I couldn't remember where, they are simple enough that I thought I'd attempt them from memory.

    I started out by getting a pack of hair rollers at my local Dollar Tree store.

     I also went to my local craft store and bought some necklace chain and jump rings in the jewelry section.

     Then, back in my workshop, I retrieved a pack of Dollar Tree mini ornaments I had bought last year to make some 10mm Sci-Fi fuel tanks.  I planned to use the caps off them to hang the cages.

     I cut the rollers down to a size I felt suitable to hold a 28mm human sized prisoner, and then glued a washer to the top, and one of the ornament hanger tops, with the flanges cut down, to the top of the washer.

     I the constructed a scaffolding to hang them on, and glued that to a cut-down old CD.  I added some bracing bracket bands to the top piece using paper strips, as well as a couple wire loops to hang the cages from.

     For the bottoms of the cages I just used a couple more washers, tough on these I glued round stickers to cover the holes in the washers.  Also, on one I assembled a skeleton to represent a long forgotten prisoner, using the parts from a GW skeleton set, and an arm from a Frostgrave cultist set.  I applied white glue to the CD, and sprinkled it with sand.  Also, I attached a short section of chain to the top of each cage.  Then, when everything was dry, I sprayed it all black.

        When I sat down to paint the cages, I suddenly realized I hadn't included any kind of door n them!  (A hazard of being a cut and glue first, ask questions later, type of crafter. ;-D )  So, on each cage I carefully cut out some sections of the roller, and added two vertical bars and a balsa lock to each, to give an impression of a cage door.

     After that it was simply a matter of painting everything.     I'm really happy with these, though if I had them to over again, I think I'd make them a little shorter in size by about two of the horizontal rings.

Quick and Easy Vine Warden "Bramble" Spell Effects

   We are starting our new Ghost Archipelago campaign this month, and I have chosen a Vine Warden to be in my crew. One of her spells is going to be Brambles, which creates a thorny hedge-like barrier, 6 inches long, 1 inch high, and 1 inch wide.  To make such a terrain piece to use for the spell effect, I borrowed an old technique I learned back when I was actively playing The Sword and the Flame Colonial era rules several decades ago: Colonial players would make models of Zariba, a real-life thorny barricade that soldiers and natives used in the Sudan as a makeshift defensive works, from luffa scrubbing sponges.

     So I ordered a set of 6" luffa scubbers off of EBay for just a couple bucks.

     Most of these have three central spines in them, and these were what I was going to use to make my Brambles markers from. I took one, and using my hobby knife, carefully cut out one of the central spine sections, leaving a base about an inch wide.

    This is what you get when you cut out the section.  The first one is hard to do, and often comes out a bit uneven.  The other two are a lot easier since you already have the luffa opened up.

     The part I intended to use as the bottom of the Brambles marker has a natural curve to it from the outside of the luffa, so the next thing I did was to use my hobby knife to cut a layer of the curve off, so the spine would sit flat.

     I then glued that flat base to two black-primed 1" x 3" steel bases, set end to end, to make a 1" x 6" base.

     I then gave the Brambles markers a good heavy coat of flat camo dark brown spray paint.   After the spray paint base coat was dry, I drybrushed some lighter brown and tan highlights.  When the painting was dry, I glued a a brown and green flock mix along the bottom to blend the edges in with the table top, and help the illusion that these were bursting up out of the ground. After that, I brushed some Elmer's glue along the length of the brambles and sprinkled them with some coarse foliage to make patches of leaves on them along the "vines".

     I'm really please with how these turned out!  And I'm looking forward to using them to thwart my opponents in our campaign! :)

A Group of "A Christmas Story" Themed Pieces for Frostgrave

   As I mentioned in my latest Frostgrave Campaign report, for December we plan on doing a Christmas-themed game.  As part of that, I decided to make a few items that were inspired by the movie "A Christmas Story".  The first of these is based on the famous flag-pole double-dog-dare scene, and features an unfortunate citizen of Feldstad who had been dared by his friends into putting his tongue on a frozen metal pole at the time of the icy cataclysm that befell the city, and is now doomed to spend his days as a zombie who is trapped forever in an unfortunate situation. 

      Next up is a set of four treasure markers:  1) A blue bowling ball and can of Simonize, 2) A crate marked  "Fra-gee-lay", 3) A leg lamp, and 4) A Red Ryder BB-gun.   These were a lot of fun to make and took a little thinking outside the box to put together!

       I'm really looking forward to using all these in next month's game!

Frostgrave "Thaw of the Lich Lord" Bone Wheel: Simple Halloween Scratchbuild

    This past week I assembled a prototype Bone Wheel terrain piece for the "The Bone Wheel" scenario in the Frostgrave supplement book, Thaw of the Lich Lord.    Since we usually have 6-8 players in our Frostgrave Campaign games, I intend to make three more of these now that I have finished the prototype.
     The scenario describes the Bone Wheel as, "A gigantic wheel, sitting some eight feet off the ground on a central axle...the wheel is constructed of human bones, bound together with old leather straps..."   I knew there was no way I was going to make a big wheel out of 28mm bones, as it would take hundreds, so I headed to the local Dollar Tree store in hopes of finding something that would be bigger than 28mm but not so large that it wouldn't look too out of place with 28mm scenery and figures.
    Happily, I found a skeleton Halloween garland that looked like it would suit the purpose perfectly.

   But, before I built the wheel, I wanted to make the central axle.  So I dug through my wood bits box, and found some pieces I thought would work; a disc, a couple small spools, and a small soda bottle shape.  I glued those in a stack on a 2" fender washer.

    I then cut off the skeletons' arms and legs, and then cut the feet of the legs.    Next, I hot-glued the legs to a 1" fender washer, and then hot-glued the arms around the outer edge.

      I decided the center needed some sort of cover piece,  so I cut one of the ribcages in half, and glued that to the center.  I then did a test fit of the two parts.

      Happy with the fit, I used some of the string that came with the garland to make some lashings around the bone junctures, where the central spokes met the outer rim bones. I then sprayed the parts with flat black primer.  And, as seen in the photo below, I began drybryushing the central axle with some aged wood colors.

          It was just a matter of finishing painting everything, and then fitting the two pieces together.

Shown with a 28mm Reaper figure for scale.

    I'm happy with how the project turned out.  Since this is a scenery piece that will probably only ever be used for this scenario, I didn't put a lot of effort into it.   Still, for a quick job, I think it looks pretty good.

Ghost Archipelago Skull Rock Terrain From Dollar Tree Halloween Decor

   This past week my local Dollar Tree started putting their Halloween decorations on the shelves, and I grabbed one of their plastic skulls to make a skull-shaped rock terrain piece for Ghost Archipelago.

     I began by slicing off part of the lower jaw at an angle, so the skull would sit more upright and less leaned back.

     I then hot-glued it to a CD.

     I also hot glued a bit of pink foam scrap under the back overhang so it wouldn't look quite so unbalanced.

     I then sprayed it with flat black primer; and when that was dry, I sprayed it with stone texture spray paint.

     When the stone texture coat was dry,  I drybrushed the skull with various light grays.   When the drybrushing was dry, I used a little green stuff, some small twigs, and some spanish moss to make a little bird nest to sit in one of the eye sockets.

     I then hot glued various plastic aquarium plants onto the base.

     After that,  I flocked the base and added some more clump foliage and some grass tufts.    Finally, I sprayed it with some Testor's Dullcote matte spray paint.

Shown with a 28mm Reaper pirate figure for scale

     I'm very pleased with how this turned out!   I'm thinking I may like to make some smaller ones as well.

Three Wise Monkeys Idol Jungle Terrain Piece (Ghost Archipelago)

     My mom used to collect these old dime-store souvenir figurines of the the classic three wise monkeys from the Japanese fable. (See-No-Evil, Speak-No-Evil, and Hear-No Evil) .  She had them in metal, china, stone, wood; and in every size.  When she passed several years ago, I kept this one carved wood one because in the back of mind I always thought it would make a great primitive statue terrain piece.  Now, recently, with the impending release of the Ghost Archipelago rules; I finally had the impetus to set about making that idea happen.
    The first thing I did was find a suitable large plastic base for the terrain piece.  The base had sharp right-angle edges, so I took a hobby knife and roughly cut the angle down so they were more sloped in appearance.  I then hot glued the statue to the plastic base.

     Next, I glued some small gravel and coarse sand around the base of the figurine.   Then, when that was dry, I sprayed the whole thing with flat black primer.  After that, it was just a mater of drybrushing everything with some grey tones.  I also decided I wanted a little dirt showing, so I glued some more coarse sand to the base, painted it dark brown, and then drybrushed that a series of lighter browns.
     Lastly,  I glued on a whole bunch of various types of vegetation to make it look all jungle-y!

Shown with a Reaper 28mm figure for scale.

      I'm pleased with how it turned out.  And what's best is that I now have a piece of terrain that will make me think of my mom when ever I use it. :)

Quick and Easy Cardboard Game Piece Frame Sci-Fi Building Ruins.

   So, a while back I saw someone's blog entry where they made some neat Sci-Fi ruins out of the cardboard frames that are left over after you punch game counters out of them; and ever since I've been looking for an opportunity to try it.  Then, I was with a friend a while back who was punching out the counters for his newly purchased copy of the Congo ruleset, and I asked if I could have the remaining cardboard frame left after all the counters were punched out.

     I first cut the frames into sections to look like partially destroyed walls, and glued them on to 6" x 6" cork tiles.  I made one 6" x 12" base by gluing two of the cork tiles together, in order to make one larger building.  I then added a few odds and ends to the walls using some dollar store lego and other plastic bits.

 I first gave them a base coat of some old Army Painter "Necrotic Flesh" I had on hand.

     When that was dry, I gave the ruins some burst sprays of some Krylon "Aqua" Sea Glass paint I had been wanting to try out.  I think it gave an interesting "alien" effect.

     I then painted the slabs with Americana "Terra Cotta".   I think it adds to the alien look.

    I added some other colors here and there to the detail bits I glued on earlier.  Then I slathered the ruins in some Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash, using a wet brush.  When that was dry, I drybrushed them with Americans "Bleached Sand".   Lastly, I sprayed them with some matte varnish.

Shown with some Reaper 28mm Sci-Fi figures for scale.

     I'm really happy with how these turned out.  They are't too complicated or detailed, but I think they'll look good on the table.   I especially like that they're made from what would have been trash. :)