New In Clouds of Glory terrain building projects and "starter packs"

[GilmoreDK]

Hi All

We just started up a new terrain building project. In the game you insert the fligt rods directly into the foam terrain boards in order to get rid of ugly stands and hexes. But our old boards are several hundred games and almost 20 years old.

Here is an old pic from when they were new...

So it is time for an update. The old ones are made from expanded polystyene and they work very well. But we decided to raise the bar a notch. Currently we have designed the boards and have made the first ones by making a negative cast in casting sand and then made the board in in a rigid castable polyurethane foam.



The board sections measures 60x60 Cm and in addition we will make a number of "special" boards such as frontline boards and an aerodrome.

Here is the design:



it can be combined in various ways:







I will soon post some pics of the rough cast sections.. We have a vain hope of getting the boards ready for the Hamburger Tactica wargames show in late February. Houses will be shapeways 3d prints from Kingscarbine and some of our own designs printed on a local 3d printer.

On another note: We have started building and shipping In Clouds of Glory" starter packs in order to help people getting started with the game.. The packs contain seven planes in 1/350  (1 Camel, 2 SE5a, 1 RE8, 2 Alb D.Va and a Dr.I) along with insignia decals (from Doms decals), cockpit panels for the planes, nose mounts, flight rods and a set of printed adhesivie laminate foil for making the turn and gunnery templates. We ship this for the cost price (around 40€)  plus shipping. Contact us at contact (dot) icog (A T) gmail.com if you want to hear more.

Terrain boards can also be made MUCH quicker as can be seen in this German project – based on a ”get started easy” approach with easy boards and a ”starter kit” like described above.  




More on his project and approach here:
http://zinngebirge.blogspot.dk/

More on In Clouds of Glory - including full rules here: www.icog.dk

- Svend

[von Lucky]

Great stuff - look forward to updates.

[GilmoreDK]

Here is a sneak preview of the first four boards..

Still missing is houses and water.



It seems we will be ready for Hamburger Tactica.

[OSHIROmodels]

Looks very good 

cheers

James

[FramFramson]

Lovely! Can't wait to see the final product. 

Will the new hard material give you a longer lifespan for your boards, you think? I'd imagine the old ones must look like swiss cheese at this point.

[GilmoreDK]

I actually think that the new boards will be somewhat less durable. But i think that a 10 years lifecycle would be just fine as well... The newish, very high, carbon flight poles has a larger diameter that the piano wire we started out with and thus gives some more wear so i think the boards will wear out quicker than the old ones.  

But while the old boards are indeed holed like a cheese but that is not the key motivation for the upgrade. It is more that the old boards has seen a lot of combat, and transportation and it is beginning to show.
So either we should use a lot of time renovating them (giving them a layer of dilluted white glue on the underside would give them several years more in lifespan - as the glue would enter and re-inforce the holes from below) But a renovation would not be entirely satisfactory from an aesthetic perspective as they were made in one week by some young inexperienced modellers back in the mid nineties. And it is beginning to show as we raise the bar on the planes and other vehicles.  Thomas who builds the new boards and is the co-designer of the game, works professionally as a movie set-designer and prop-maker and has gotten massive professional experience building stuff like this since (for example for LEGO commercials like this ), so it would be natural to use some of the techniques and materials that has popped up since.

[Kingscarbine]

 

Hi Svend,

Please take some pics of the PzGrey houses to post them on the Shapeways store and Facebook page.

[GilmoreDK]

Hi Nuno

I will..!

We also plan to do some 1/285 - 1/300 WWII micro armour on the boards...

Best Svend

[Mason]

Oh, these are  certainly going to look good.
 

[GilmoreDK]

Some more pics - All models and houses are 1/350th scale 3D prints.

Thomas has just mad a test for the sea boards ( German W.12 floatplane and RN Thorneycroft 55ft Coastal Motor Boat).


The new boards - still missing water surface which will be made of "clear bond" and detailing.

[OSHIROmodels]

Fantastic work 

Love the water effect 

cheers

James

[Mason]

Gorgeous!
 

[GilmoreDK]

Thomas is currently working on the village board and is trying out layouts of the village. Note the cast foamboards fresh from the sand cast

Houses are prints and resin from our own designs and from the PanzerGrey shop on Shapeways



I will update when we get further with the build

[Turbo-Ben]

I never took a closer look at the tactica on one of your games because I wasn't interested in small scale gaming but I think I will have to change that this year! Your new boards look just so damn good!

[grant]

Hi Nuno

I will..!

We also plan to do some 1/285 - 1/300 WWII micro armour on the boards...

Best Svend

You now have my attention!

I would buy premade micro scale boards; although my focus is desert warfare 1948-1973, I have some Canadians for 1984 that could use some German terrain ...