Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Call of Cthulhu => Strange Aeons => Topic started by: northtroll on May 03, 2013, 07:07:04 PM
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I love Call of Cthulhu, so I was excited by Strange Aeons, and started thinking about terrain for the game. I like the fact it is intended to be played on a small area. Most of my wargaming terrain will work quite nicely as is for mundane stuff. But some things will need to be made. I'll definately need a some derelict/still lived in houses for any Innsmouth or Dunwich games. Some altars and the like are in the works too, I was inspired by what you all have done with old Plasticville churches so I got one from Ebay.
Having not grown up in New England but the west coast in Oregon and Washington, I have a fairly good idea of what old houses look like. One thing that always strikes me is how much paint is eroded away by the elements. Does anybody have any suggestions as to how that effect can be painted on a model building? I'm thinking maybe a painted greyish layer with white glue painted on top to represent the pulled up paint, then a faded paint job on top of that. Another thing is to get the right sag in a roof. Old houses in the Pacific Northwest warp. The roofs tend to bow in almost like a medieval roof if not repaired. And moss, lots of moss on the roofs as well. Any exterior woodwork will probably be a little bit warped as well. Most wooden porches develop a bit of a downward curl as a result. My great grandparents house started out as a chicken house that they just added on to it. The basement was recessed into the hillside and was forever damp and musty, with warped wood that felt like it would give way if you weren't careful. There were some very old houses in Coos Bay and North Bend, mostly of Victorian style, or a simpler style. Innsmouth should look like the houses I described. Warped, in disrepair, mossy and weatherbeaten, and faded in color. For those of you who have never been into an old church that has been unused or abandoned, they are creepy! The vegetation grows fairly rampant and if it is an old building it will have things growing inside of it like ivy, and briars.
OK, enough house talk. I guess one of the reasons I empathize with Innsmouth and Dunwich is that I lived around areas that were very much like those descriptions. Don't get me started about inbred families and the like: they existed. Nuff said. There were many isolated places, including all of the beaches and coves. Coastal pines tend to get bent, stunted and grow a little oddly becuase of all the salt air. Old graveyards are often overgrown with the characteristic sunken spots where the coffins were buried. Some of the churches and the Masonic Halls though modern looked far older because there were no human activity around them except for Sunday. Nice and eerie, eh?
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Welcome!
Check out my "Innsmouth" thread, or better yet, OldBen1's. They're rife with sources and ideas.
DO NOT FORGET TO POST TUTORIALS AND PICTURES. :)
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Absolutely PM me with any questions. Also check out Grim's fantastic Innsmouth board on this forum as well. You can also type in "Cthulhu Tactica" into Google and find some of his work there too.
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I think that you'll find that most of the folks on this forum will be more than willing to share ideas, post pictures, WIPs and what-nots. I myself have built up an extensive scenery collection from almost nothing since joining the LAF. There's inspiration around every turn and on nearly almost every thread. I guess it also helps that I live near Uncle Mike and that we game regularly.
So ask away, post away...
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Well one thing for sure, this game sure seems to fit well with some of my wargaming and cthulhu rpg friends. I really like that it can be played on a kitchen table or coffee table fairly easily. I confess I had grandiose visions of building a museum, but then reality reared its pesky head and said 'sure, but where are you going to put it?" ARGGHH! I'm definitely going to repaint my brick patterned mats in grey for city scapes! For those of you who are not aware of the miniature maker Reviresco, check them out. John McEwan the owner and sculptor has lots of very useful figures for CoC games, including some very cool vehicles and paper models of structures. John is also a very huge fan of Call of Cthulhu too!
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There are a few good museum threads here to check out as well. some of them very simple in design.
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Not being any kind of expert on scnery for that part of the world, I have stayed out of this discussion thus far.
It has just dawned on me though that the Perry Farmhouse and Renedra Barn are particularly apt for that neck of the woods.
I almost caved in at Salute and bought the Barn myself, even though I have a Barn already, it is that good.
Take a look:
http://www.renedra.co.uk/webstore.html
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(http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll111/wamasaka/Mini2011/MiniaturenfotosOriginale231.jpg)
(http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll111/wamasaka/Mini2011/MiniaturenfotosOriginale228.jpg)
(http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll111/wamasaka/Mini2011/MiniaturenfotosOriginale233.jpg)
Acrylic base coat in colour of choice, two layers of the same colour with increasing portions of white mixed in applied with really light brush strokes (call it semi-drybrush if you like). That will spare some parts of the surface an give an image of wood grain and faded paint. After thorough drying comes a black wash and after another drying a leather brown wash where dust would gather (thus not on vertical walls). A light grey drybrush job will make the edges and details pop out in the end. Thatīs it.
You can still slab a semi drybrush of light grey/brown over the basic paint to make it look worn.
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Platicville barn worked for me. Pretty cheap too.
(http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6175/6223491938_84bbaa41e1.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/regornotpul/6223491938/)
Buildings; barn and doghouse (http://www.flickr.com/photos/regornotpul/6223491938/) by REGOR NOTPUL (http://www.flickr.com/people/regornotpul/), on Flickr
Sorry I don't have a better picture of mine:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6725446227_c728541aae.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/26861900@N00/6725446227/)
Gutman Investigates The Barn (http://www.flickr.com/photos/26861900@N00/6725446227/) by oldben1 (http://www.flickr.com/people/26861900@N00/), on Flickr
If you check out the rest of my pictures the majority of the buildings are plastic railroad models.