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Author Topic: The Grumpy Gnome‘s Fantasy Projects Blog (latest update on page 61)  (Read 102809 times)

Offline mirjeki

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 98
Your Dreadhollow Forest repaints look really great. I have a Dreadhollow cave entrance tile that came in the old paint scheme as well but I'm planning on trying to 'tone it down' (as it were) to match the new style of painting. I really like your autumn leaves scheme though, it really highlights how incredibly detailed the DF pieces are!

Those bank pieces are really cool. After seeing your blog post I considered getting some from DF but it looks like they're out of stock already - they don't seem to be very good at keeping their products consistently in stock. I guess that's what happens when you have a product line that's hand-painted though?

Personally I quite like that cardboard ship, I don't think it looks bad at all. But I think the problem occurs when you mix & match elements. I think your upcoming Reaper galleon and Blood & Plunder sloops would really show them up. I had some Battle Systems card terrain for a while but I kept trying to use it with true 3D terrain and it just looked awkward next to it. All or nothing, I say!

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
Thanks mate, I really appreciate hearing that. I am always a bit insecure about my painting, no matter how cocky or pretentious I may come across to folks reading what I write online.

I can understand “toning it down” to go with new DF style. It should be easier to match to other things that way, not just DF.

As for DF stocking issues, I have no idea but it is one of the frustrations. We really wanted more Dreadhollow trees but at this stage we are hoping we pledged for enough Wildlands trees. I am experimenting with some “toys trees” as well. Photos soon hopefully. Getting the leaves to a point I am happy with has been more difficult than I expected. And my attempt to add some weight to them by putting metal shavings inside their bases has been challenging.

Your point about mixing ship types is my biggest concern with the idea of getting some.
Home of the Grumpy Gnome

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
This week’s update... a bit late!

It has been a tough week.

Not a lot finished but a lot to talk about on the blog... feel free to reply here or on the blog itself if you have anything to say in regards to what I have written about.

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/2021/03/16/a-tough-week/

I would love to hear your thoughts!
« Last Edit: March 17, 2021, 07:50:21 AM by Rick W. »

Offline mirjeki

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 98
That DF setup is brilliant - really good use of the pieces to get an interesting cavern layout. The Citadel trees in the woodland area really fit in as well. They're a different shade to the DF ones of course but I think they fit in with the general colour palette well.

I'm not sure I like the rocky banks on the woodland tile, but I assume that's just a result of not having enough pieces for what you were going for. Was this just a test setup or will it be used for any games? You could always do a one-off skirmish if you have specific designs in mind for the cave drake encounter? Maybe test out some Tarnished Splendour rules & models?

Of the road ideas you've tried out I actually really like the mountain terrain tray with fieldstone walls one. The transition banks could be used in between some wall sections as a path into the woodland, which would save on the amount of banks you require. The terrain trays themselves are still expensive though.

Where did you hear about the Wildlands issues by the way? I had a look but couldn't see anything on the official DF forums - but I might have been looking in the wrong place. They have too many sub-forums in my opinion!

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
Yeah, the ledges are not the best but better than nothing. We need more banks. Even though we have a bunch coming with our Wildlands Kickstarter I do not think they will be enough. This DF stuff is highly addictive!

The subforums are a pain to navigate. There are a couple of discussions in different places that are relevant but this is a place to start.

https://www.dwarvenforge.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&p=194904#p194904

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
And another weekly update. Hopefully folks here are getting something useful out of my blog posts.

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/2021/03/26/another-tough-week/

This week I focused on painting Dwarven Forge and some “budget” toy trees.

EDIT: Also, we are selling off our spaceship combat project materials... so a whole lot of TT Combat Dropfleet Commander stuff and some 2up models from the TT Combat Stellaris Kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ttcfm2/stellaris-the-ether-drake/description

We would love to trade for anything Dwarven Forge... help feed our addiction! Middle Earth, Pirate and Napoleonic items also considered.
« Last Edit: March 26, 2021, 04:37:36 PM by Rick W. »

Offline Mister Frau Blucher

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 425
    • Swords Under Distant Suns
I like your work on those trees from Amazon. They look really good, and I'm tempted to try them, but the last thing I need is to invest more time in something to fix it. Still too much terrain and too many figs to paint and play with.

I like the look of those Stellaris models, really atmospheric. But alas, I am holding on to all my DF, and i don't have the space for those guys anyway. Hope you get a positive response on trading, though, here or on the DF forums.

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
Thanks for the kind words mate! Much appreciated.

I spent WAY too much time on those Toyvania trees but I am pleased with how they look now and they are incredibly durable. It was an interesting experiment to learn from.

Selling all our spaceship combat stuff is a hard choice to make but we need to focus, we just do not have enough time, money and space for everything we like. We ended up with a lot more Dropfleet stuff than we realized. We sold off our PHR stuff awhile back on eBay.... it did not make a lot of money, so ideally we would prefer to trade with someone looking to avoid eBay for things that would help our ongoing projects.

We have a few post-apoc things kicking around as well.

And some Early Imperial Roman stuff.

There just is never enough time....

Offline CookAndrewB

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1734
    • 3d designs can be found at Thingiverse
I have a set of those trees from Amazon. I think they look good for the very low price. I really didn't think they took much effort to fix up. Mixed in among my other trees they just look like a forest with diversity, which works for me. I did also take the time to boil them and bend them into shape so that the canopy spread a bit better. A worthwhile extra step I think.

Did you look at any of the larger-sized trees?

The DF terrain looks great. That is exactly the kind of terrain I always wanted while playing D&D!

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
I had thought I had enough of painting the leaves on those Toyvian trees but decided that they looked good enough to get a set of two medium (although these are marked with a different maker, Stobok) and the one large one. Certainly worth the effort and not that challenging but tediously time consuming when I have entirely too many other things to be working on. In hindsight I should have bent the branches on the trunks further in order to get a better spread.

It feels like everything is taking a very long time, from waiting for Kickstarter fulfillment to getting things painted up so we can play. And my son’s school being closed has really cut down my painting free time.

Offline CookAndrewB

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1734
    • 3d designs can be found at Thingiverse
Bending the branches really had more impact on the taller trees. With the short trees, the foliage wraps partly around anyway. It gets more noticeable that the canopy is on two sides of the tree in the medium and large versions. It is easy to fix though. I think I only dipped them in boiling water for ten seconds, pulled them out, twisted them, and held them in place while running cold water over them for another 20 seconds. They rebounded a little bit but held 80% of the twist. So don't be afraid to go a little further than you think you want.


Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
Ahhhh, great advice... thanks for that!

Offline mirjeki

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 98
Great post as usual! I'm enjoying seeing how you're modifying your DF scenery to match your vision for your projects. It'll be interesting to see how your miniatures look on the tiles.

My concern with lots of (highlighted) moulded detail is that it might make it too visually 'muddy' and become difficult to see the miniatures when you're playing. Our brains are good at seeing human(oid) silhouettes, but we usually adopt a birds eye view of the battlefield, so the units need to stand out from the terrain in some way.

Really looking forward to seeing more of your 7th Sea/Tarnished Splendour project. Sharpe + X-Files sounds like exactly my cup of tea.

Offline Daeothar

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Galactic Brain
  • *
  • Posts: 5745
  • D1-Games: a DWAN Corporate initiative
    • 1999legacy.com
Wonderful work on those trees!

I've never really been on-board with the foliage clumps generally used; to me, they are not to scale with 'our' 28mm. At that scale, one expects to see individual leaves after all.

This is the reason I once splurged for several months on any Britains Trees lot on Ebay that I could find. They have marvelously detailed leaves and branches, which can be assembled in a huge range of configurations, making every tree feel unique.

Plus; they're durable as frak, with no foliage dropping off whenever they're handled. So kudos to you for doing the same (with a different brand); they look great and will no doubt survive any battle they have the misfortune of standing in... :)
Miniatures you say? Well I too, like to live dangerously...
Find a Way, or make one!

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
Thanks folks, I really appreciate the kind words.

We will have to see if the minis get lost in the clutter... but I think much of the table will be game mat rather than forest tile. Certainly for the Sharp Practice part of Tarnished Splendor.

Thanks for the tip on trees Daeothar... I will look into Britains Trees for some more diversity.

 

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