Sailing to the Ghost Archipelago - Bloggard's log ...

[Bloggard]

a catch all thread for my crafting, painting and playing with regards to the Ghost Archipelago ....

to begin with I'll be posting pics of the various bits and pieces put together in terms of figures and scenery.

Although loving the aesthetic aspect of the hobby above all else, my skills are, ironically, rather moderate.
As such, I'm going for an evocative 'table-top' standard (telling myself this is necessary in terms of enabling practical game-play ), and am trying to box clever in terms of using materials and items that make the lightest work of things as possible.

... so much of what follows has come from a magpie-like scrutiny of hobby-activity (and, um, ebay ... ), courtesy of google, with sources credited where possible / remembered.

Anyhow, first up:



I'd tried a mat and various pieces of felt, before further obsessive surfing let me to the wonder that is crushed velvet.
No doubt obvious to many, but it hadn't occurred to me (and unfortunately I can't remember the specific source - may well have been someone on this board).
it works very well - the way it changes depending on light-source, and your own position is great - doesn't come across in a photo I guess. This stuff isn't the cheapest around, think it was about £8 a metre off ebay, specifically, 'crushed glitz velvet' in aqua.

[mikedemana]

Great idea! And what's more, if you want green, swampy water, you could simply go with a green crushed velvet for the same effect!

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/

[Bloggard]

Great idea! And what's more, if you want green, swampy water, you could simply go with a green crushed velvet for the same effect!

Mike

I've picked up some other shades, Mike, as you say.
remarkably effective stuff, and good value in comparison with gaming-mats.

here it is, in a wip set-up for the watchtower scenario:

[ayak333]

that is a fantastic set up and wonderful terrain! Nice!

[Ogrob]

Yup, that looks great and should play well too! Nice elevation differences.

[critsmash]

Looks great! How well do the miniatures stand on the velvet? 

[James Holloway]

That set up looks great and the blue crushed velvet is perfect. I was looking for a similar solution for my own board.

[Doug ex-em4]

That looks really good. Crushed velvet - who'd-a-thought....?

Impressed....!

Doug

[mikedemana]

That board is spectacular!!! 

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/

[Bloggard]

thanks for the postive comments, all, much appreciated.

the sum is def. greater than the parts, and GA really lends itself to that, with the suitability of aquarium decorations etc. There have been some flukes too with how materials have worked out, when bought purely due to price (i.e. low).

I will be posting pics of the constituent parts with some verbiage, in case of interest one way or another.

Ogrob: hope so: never actually played 'pure' frostgrave' despite picking some of the printed matter, so have no idea of what really works in terms of scenics etc, but have taken the 'more the merrier' advice in the rules very literally ...

critsmash: on bases, no problem with miniatures standing up? - but of course the crushed velvet is only the sea area - and figs wont be on it that much (but having said that, see following post about sharks...).

James: having picked up a few different pieces of crushed velvet now, and some samples too (particularly of the relatively expensive stuff - £20+ a metre!) and would say it's worth going up from the basic £3 quid a metre stuff, to the sort of thing shown in the pics here.

[Bloggard]

my oldest chum and his missus are here for the week - we were supposed to be archipelagoing, but still rather a lot to do on the craftage front.

He's done a very nice job on the  sharks:



got to make sure they get used now - thinking of a 'sink or swim' type scenario - particularly given the rules supplement in the latest WI concerning boarding larger vessals etc: possibly two boats having rammed each other / or driven onto rocks, and the sharks start to circle ...

[mikedemana]

He's done a very nice job on the  sharks:

Not just a nice job, but a frighteningly nice job! 

I'll be seeing that Great White head in my nightmares again...be sure to thank your friend from this shark-o-phobic gamer...

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/

[James Holloway]

I have taken your idea as inspiration and got some crushed velvet of my own. Just £3.50 on ebay, and arrived in two days.



Forgive the blurry photo, but you get the idea. It's definitely telling me I need more islands, bridges, etc. Just used my own crude homemade hills as islands. Maybe a shipwreck would be fun ...

[Bloggard]

yes Mike, he's done a great job. And I'm the same shark-wise!

Am really chuffed with a statue / fountain he's done, using a blotz mdf kit and a bones mini-me Cthulhu fig - brilliant verdigris'd copper effect, which I'll post a pic of when the 'still water' has set (could be problems with that actually) ...

James - yep, looks great. definitely one of the bargains out there scenery-wise for this game. And agree - the more scenery the better - one of the main things attracting me to this game (look for a post about umbum ships soon - yes, you read it right, that is 'umbum', btw). Also, just to clarify again - I'm not claiming to have originated the use of this material, having seen it in someone else's post / blog - just can't remember where.


only managed 8 figs to completion in time for a game this week, so hope 4 figs a crew works out (can always use some base-coated ones if really necessary I suppose...)
just shading and dry-brushing, and surprising how well (for me) these have turned out: there are some superb figures in the official range.
I've actually felt the need to give the barest impressions of eyes with these.

should point out that one of the Heritors is a Foundry fig from the Swashbucklers range ...



going for a 'hybrid' basing approach - I really like the acrylic base look for skirmishing, and got quite a lot of them in ready, only to discover I can't cut metal figs cleanly from their bases ... so of necessity, have gone for a neutral base on an acrylic round - works pretty well.

[Bloggard]

getting the table set-up 'properly' now to actually attempt a game or two ... we're both v. impressed by the rules, read-through-wise.
love the quasi- pen n paper rpg feel, with the campaign rules in particular.

so another pic of the cloth - favourable angle and lighting and the effect can be quite remarkable - although can't seem to get rid of a colour-cast in this image.

boat from a nice chap on ebay uk, just getting going with a resin scenery business - will post about his stuff presently.




as mentioned above I'm right chuffed with a fountain and forbidding statue that my chum Barry's done -  we had trouble using still-water (basically wasn't enough) and my attempt to add a diy'd mix had an, um, interesting effect as you can see. Putting it down to devilish other-worldly emanations.



going to have to think up a scenario for it now.