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Miniatures Adventure => Call of Cthulhu => Strange Aeons => Topic started by: forcedperfect on May 15, 2013, 02:41:41 PM

Title: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: forcedperfect on May 15, 2013, 02:41:41 PM
Hi, aill!

My wife and I just picked up Strange Aeons a couple of weeks ago.  We've had great fun with it, and I immediately started working on some scenery boards for the game.  Here's the first one I finished (sorry for theme-inappropriate models, our pulpy models haven't gotten here yet).

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8138/8701251946_fff8b4aa59_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87051941@N04/8701251946/)
2013-04-30 13.58.22 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87051941@N04/8701251946/) by tinyarmies (http://www.flickr.com/people/87051941@N04/), on Flickr

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8125/8701251256_2e207c4289_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87051941@N04/8701251256/)
2013-04-30 13.59.09 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87051941@N04/8701251256/) by tinyarmies (http://www.flickr.com/people/87051941@N04/), on Flickr

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8259/8701250328_96f0693a2f_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87051941@N04/8701250328/)
2013-04-30 13.59.24 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87051941@N04/8701250328/) by tinyarmies (http://www.flickr.com/people/87051941@N04/), on Flickr

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8555/8700126759_ea4bcb6076_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87051941@N04/8700126759/)
2013-04-30 13.59.47 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87051941@N04/8700126759/) by tinyarmies (http://www.flickr.com/people/87051941@N04/), on Flickr

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8266/8700129981_a97e6e4109_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87051941@N04/8700129981/)
2013-04-30 13.58.13 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87051941@N04/8700129981/) by tinyarmies (http://www.flickr.com/people/87051941@N04/), on Flickr

The whole board is just sheets of insulation foam trimmed into rock shapes with a foam cutter, with a popsicle-stick bridge and a chunk of leftover resin scenery from some old project in the center! 

Thanks to Uncle Mike and Co. for a great game, we'll be playing for a while! 
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: superflytnt on May 15, 2013, 03:02:25 PM
Love the cliffs and bridge, man. They're both grim and have a good "blasted heath feel" to them while having those cutouts so they're practical as well.

Good stuff!  All you need now is a Plasticville farmhouse next to that resin scenery and POOF, you have Color Out Of Space, Gardner farm and all!
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: Mason on May 15, 2013, 03:03:33 PM
Sweeeet!
 :-*

That looks great.
Simple yet very effective.
 8)


Oh, and: Welcome to the Cult!
 :D

Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: forcedperfect on May 15, 2013, 03:07:19 PM
For sure!  We're looking forward to making some of our favorite story scenes for the game.  We started making the Whateley farm before our "Bundle of the Beast" arrived, and were pleasantly surprised to find that our dimensions matched the ones described in the "Return to Dunwich" Black Dossier.  I've been spending my down time making boards for each of the scenarios in that Dossier while we wait for our Threshold crews to get strong enough to attempt the campaign!

I'm in love with the small format of the boards for this game.  It's super easy to whip up a great board to play on in no time at all!

This one was just the first we finished.  It's actually the backside of the board for the first "return to Dunwich" scenario.  Hoping to have that one finished before we move in a couple of weeks.  But after the move, we'll be in a town with a thriving nerd community, and I plan to spread the cult a bit farther after we arrive!

Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: Mathyoo on May 15, 2013, 04:07:12 PM
I've just finished my first board few weeks back, but mine is plain straight :D

Really well done, especially like the bridge. I've found out I need more and more "3d" terrain as I would love to use rules for falling, blasting people off bridges, throwing them through windows...all so cool and rarely used!
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: forcedperfect on May 15, 2013, 04:11:40 PM
Thanks, Mathyoo!

My best friend and I are big fans of Necromunda (which is likely why I like SA so much), and building up "3d" boards is our favorite part of the hobby. 

And yeah, scenario-specific terrain effects and interactions are all the more reason to make cool stuff!  Blow up bridges!  Hit people with chairs!  Light things on fire!  WHEEEEEEEEE!

Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: jnr on May 15, 2013, 04:28:57 PM
Nice bit of work there looking forward to it being finished.
http://jnrpaintshop.blogspot.co.uk/
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: superflytnt on May 15, 2013, 06:56:01 PM
Forcedperfect: For boards that don't require a lot of "hills" or landscape features, I use a 2'x3' sheet of felt that's been 77'ed...
(http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawebserver?mwsId=SSSSSufSevTsZxtUOY_xPxm9evuSevTSevTSevTSeSSSSSS--&boundedSize=310)

...to foamcore, split in the middle so it's foldable for easy storage. This allows a nice looking desert or grass base that's easy to store, and you can set EPS (Pink Stuff) terrain features, houses, roads, rivers, or whatever you wish right on top. I like this method because, for instance, I can put my "middle eastern" buildings on the board for a game of SA and then next week lay down my "Wasteland Outpost" the next for a game of Wastelands 3 or whatever.

I'm keen on modularity because I play many different tabletop games and re-use my cadre of buildings and scenery in different periods; I hate to lock down anything.

That said, the board you made is pretty damned slick, and I could see it working for an "Arroyo Village" Fallout Warfare scenario really well.
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: forcedperfect on May 15, 2013, 08:28:47 PM
superflynt:  for sure!  i used to make a lot of modular scenery (and if i had any damned sense, i'd still be doing the same thing) in much the same way you described.  i'm just one of those looney modelers that really likes to build scenario-specific environments to fight in, especially for narrative wargames.  it's worth the week or so's effort to me to have a fresh board to fight on, and keep it stashed in the garage for the next time i want to play through that scenario. 

my current engineering challenge to myself is to build as many boards as possible that will be both double-sided and lay flat on top of one another.  makes for a lot of flat-topped "hills", but nice environments that store well.  not all my boards are so layered- i was just using offcuts from my other boards to make something useful here.  for instance, the whateley farm board is flat without the buildings, fences, and trees on it.

thanks for the responses, all!  really excited to get to know everybody and swap ideas.  this game is super fun and inspiring for projects!
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: superflytnt on May 15, 2013, 09:56:39 PM
Glue the boards back to back, then drill 1/4 inch holes in all 4 corners (and 2 along each of the edges) and hot glue centered 4" lag bolts into them so that the entire board (assuming 1" thick core board) is sitting on them, suspended 1" off of the table surface so that it is always flat. Sort of like piers.

If you !really! want to go bat-shit crazy, glue strips of velcro to the center along the sides and then you can attach a 2" wide by 10' long skirt of material to it to hide the upside down terrain.
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: DeafNala on May 16, 2013, 02:42:28 PM
EERIE & DARKLY ATMOSPHERIC; a perfect setting for a Strange Aeons Game or a Reality Show. GREAT WORK!
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: einarolafson on May 16, 2013, 03:38:56 PM
Very nice!! Looking forward to see all those boards you have planned!!
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: Oldben1 on May 17, 2013, 02:51:01 PM
Well done, very eerie!

Now all you need is a well, some cotton and a flickering tea light.
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: Uncle Mike on May 18, 2013, 01:57:40 PM
Looks great! Seeing the boards is always my favorite part!  :)
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: Black Cavalier on May 18, 2013, 05:47:07 PM
Very well done.  & generic enough that it could easily be used for other scifi/fantasy/pulp games.  I love the 3rd picture of the zombie on the slope.  With his base, it kind of looks like he's snowboarding down the hill.
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: forcedperfect on May 20, 2013, 09:51:12 AM
@uncle mike:  thanks!  and thanks again to you and your crew for the great game!  the wife and i are super excited to finish up our dunwich boards.

@oldben1:  great idea!  i experimented with built-in lighting on an old project years ago... http://www.terrainthralls.com/Tutorials%20folder/Molgur%20Scared%20Site/Nyss%20Hunting%20Village%20Pt1.html (http://www.terrainthralls.com/Tutorials%20folder/Molgur%20Scared%20Site/Nyss%20Hunting%20Village%20Pt1.html) , but haven't gone back to it since.  might be time to have another go!

@deafnala, einarolafson:  thanks!

@black cavalier:  yeah, this one was just made in an afternoon, didn't get too heavy on detail or system-specific visuals.  the flipside of this board is the river / bridge board from the dunwich black dossier, and it'll be a little less generic hopefully.  and any time you can have zombie athletes, you're clearly doing something right.  :)
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: Oldben1 on May 21, 2013, 03:09:55 AM
Yikes, for some reason I thought you were new to war gaming.  You've got some awesome terrain built.  Welcome to the fold!
Title: Re: My first Strange Aeons board
Post by: forcedperfect on May 21, 2013, 11:47:47 PM
oldben1:  thanks!  one of the things that attracted us to this system was the small table size.  hoping to make some fun diorama-ish boards for this one. we're moving to a college town i used to work in with a strong gaming community, i'm hoping to win some people over to SA with flashy scenery.  :)