A while ago we played a game with six objective markers. When popping a marker, we rolled a D6 on a table. 1-3 was a hostile encounter, 4-5 was nothing and 6 was the actual objective. You can all see the flaws of this system. We soon started rolling previously rolled results and it all turned a bit messy.
At first, I thought about replacing the objective markers with six identical scenic bases, with numbers painted underneath. This idea was scrapped pretty soon, as we would eventually learn which marker was which number.
Thus, an idea was born. What if you had a nice objective marker with a hollow magnetized base in which you could stick randomly assigned numbered chits? I bought some treasure piles from Mega Miniatures, got me some appropriate metal washers and got stuck in.
The materials arrayed: Magnetic sheet, one large washer with a large center hole (mine are 50mm, with 16-17mm holes), smaller washer(s) to fit in the center hole (remember to match both diameter and thickness) and some sort of marker decoration.
The magnetic sheet was superglued to cover the hole of the large washer, with the ferrous side down. As my small washers were pretty thin, I glued two together to form one thick disk.
Here's the idea demonstrated. By sheer luck, two small washers were the same thickness as the large one.
I glued six sets together, and let the whole thing ferment and mature for a few months in this state.
Next came the fun part; painting and decorating the bases. No point in me detailing how this is done, you know how to do your own bases best. Here are the six objective markers all finished up. I decided to put flock on the edge of the bases, as that's what I do on my terrain (as opposed to my figs, where the edge is simply painted). I'm pretty happy with how they turned out!
The small washers were just primed and numbered (fnar fnar). I had first thought about painting them nicely, but as the paint will rub off I decided it was not worth it. A quick number and I was done.
When setting up a game calling for objective markers, the six numbered disks are turned face down, mixed and then "sucked" in place in the objective markers. Voila; an objective marker with a randomly assigned secret value.
The objective markers are deployed on the game table, as dictated by the scenario. When a model reaches it, the marker is flipped over to reveal its number.
A 5! I had no idea. Truly mind boggling stuff...
So yeah... no great revelations or innovative designs, but possibly inspirational to someone.
28 February 2010, 10:44:51 PM