Chatham, MA: A Strange Aeons scenery project

[A. Paul Hiram]

I have to start this thread with an apology - I don't have anything to show up-front.  After pledging for the Strange Aeons kickstarter campaign, I rushed over here to make an account.  In order to avoid the Stark Fist of Moderation I have to post something, so consider this an introduction and placeholder for my future project.

I'm coming from a long history in Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, and this is my first foray into a different system and style.  I'd been meaning to get into SA for quite some time and the Kickstarter, well that pushed me over the edge.  I've had a lot of ideas knocking around for campaigns and settings - now is the time to see what shakes out.  I'll be heavily influenced by a number of things, including this wonderful board, and I'll try to reference them as I go for good measure.

Although SA is meant for smaller boards than I'm used to, it will allow me to add much more variety to my games by breaking out one larger board into many sub-stages.  My plan is to create 3-4 smaller boards that link together, allowing progress through campaigns and/or multiple discrete scenarios running in tandem on game nights.  This will take the form of the fictional town of Chatham, Massachusetts and its outlying areas.  At the moment, these sub-boards are planned to be:

• A sleepy town center with a hotel, a few shops and a warehouse
• A church with cemetery
• A hunting cabin in the hills, near a few nefarious landmarks hidden in the forest
• A sketchy dock/pier area along a river, though this will be tackled much later

I'm also branching out into new experiences by going with lasercut MDF for the major buildings.  I've shied away from it in the past, but I found that =http://www.sarissa-precision.com/Sarissa Precision matches my aesthetics perfectly for this project.  One of my requirements is that the buildings have interiors, and Sarissa seems to fit the bill.  Details such as furniture, items and decorations will be sourced from a variety of vendors including Fenris Games, 4Ground and Frontline Wargaming.  Again, I'll try to give references as I go in case anyone sees something they like.

I'll be updating this thread (in)frequently as I work through each building/area.  The first orders were placed today, and hopefully over the coming year you'll see Chatham take shape in time for the fruits of the KS campaign!

[frogimus]

Welcome!

Sarissa makes some nice buildings that are simple to construct. On some of the buildings you may want to save some flat clear plastic from blisters to reinforce the windows as the window and door millwork is made of easily torn "greyboard" which is a soft pulpy cardstock.

Lots of luck beginning the skirmish gaming. I hope you enjoy SA.

[styx]

Welcome aboard, looking forward to seeing what you get done for your project!

As a suggestion, check out this Kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/angrymojogames/big-box-terrain-angry-mojo-games-and-terrain-laser

$50 gets you a nice Cemetery set, not as good as 4Ground or Sarissa, but the scenery looks great and would fill up a SA game table nicely.

[A. Paul Hiram]

frogimus -  Thank you for the advice!  I'd never considered using blister plastic as window panes, that's an excellent idea!

styx - I did see that campaign.  Nothing against their product, I'll just be using the objective markers in the various SA boxes (tombstones, Cthulhu's Lair, etc.) to fill out the scenery.  While I'm excited to see how much time can be saved using MDF for the buildings themselves, a lot of the fine detail I still want to be resin or pewter.  *dodges whip crack*

I did begin some detail work while waiting for shipments to arrive - framed portraits and pictures.  Definitely a new experience for me.  I'll upload some images later tonight, and maybe a step-by-step guide if anyone is interested.

I think I'm going to start with the "cabin in the woods" board, followed by the church and cemetery board, and wrapping it all up with the town center.  I always try to save the best for last!

[A. Paul Hiram]

Alright, time to start adding actual content!

To kill time waiting for deliveries, I've started work on some finer details to add a bit of personality to my buildings.  For example, portraits.

To start, I found a suitable image online.  I then rescaled it to fit the exaggerated proportions of 28 mm Heroic scale, printed and cut it out.  It is about 0.75" tall.



Next, I used the printed image to mark lines on thick cardstock to form the frame.  For this, I used a spare sheet of comic book backing.  I tried to leave enough thickness in the frame to allow for gluing later.



I cut out the frame with a hobby knife.  It's not perfect, but at this size it doesn't matter.  In fact, I think that the imperfection adds character!



I cleaned up the cut with a cigarette lighter - this removes the burrs and gives the frame an even more distressed shape.  Also, I used a ballpoint pen to impress diagonal lines in the corners.  When painted, the impressions and darker color will look like the joints in a wooden frame.



I painted the frame with a few coats of medium brown acrylic paint.  A small rectangle of printer paper, coated with PVA glue as a stiffener, was added as a plaque.  This was painted bright gold and the date was added with fine-tip indelible ink pen.  If I really cared, I would then give this a quick wash of watered-down black ink but... at this point, I don't.  The picture was first glued to a larger sheet of printer paper, which was then glued to the frame.



Once everything had dried, the completed portrait was pressed underneath a pile of encyclopedia volumes overnight to make sure it was flat and ready for mounting.

[necrocannibal]

Great idea, I'm thinking of doing something similar. I have some images that I printed really small to use as posters stuck on buildings or walls, after having weathered them I think they'll look quite nice (just like your Lovecraft and Poe Picture).

[A. Paul Hiram]

One of the great things I'm already taking from this project is the opportunity to go more in-depth with ideas I've previously used for my Warhammer terrain, just at a much less-detailed level.  I've made propaganda posters and the like, but actual framed pictures?  I felt like it would be something of a waste for Warhammer, but for Strange Aeons it's perfect!

Speaking of detail, I've gotten started on some resin furniture from Frontline Wargaming.  Here is my take on their 25mm Homestead set:



My impression of their products is that there's quite a bit of finishing work required (the table, especially, had a ton of flashing) but the detail is well-worth the effort.  You'll notice quite a bit of damage - some was the result of casting errors, some from my own mistakes.  It's not a big deal to me as I'm aiming for a neglected look, further brought out by my characteristic over-use of black ink washing.



Again, I was impressed by the detail.  Having fit the furniture into the cabin they're destined for, I realized that it doesn't leave a lot of room for based models.  Only the stove will be anchored in place - the rest can be removed for interior play when needed, and put back for ambiance whenever possible.  Speaking of the cabin...



Like the furniture, this is my first attempt at both working with

and MDF terrain in general.  The lone cabin (for my hilltop table) proved an excellent beginner's project and I'm very happy with the result!  I went with Sarissa mainly because I wanted detailed interiors, and this certainly fit the bill:



It took a bit of knife work to get everything to fit properly, but now the roofs and door can be removed and replaced with no effort whatsoever.  Once I get a break in the weather I'll give it a couple coats of primer and start painting!



The fountain and park benches, also from Sarissa, kick off the town of Chatham board.  Again, these are more detailed than I originally thought and assembled with very little trouble.  I didn't have time to make another trip to the craft store, so I used Elmer's Clear PVA glue for the water effects.



I found these 1:43 period automobiles for a pittance on eBay.  Again, the damage only adds to the character I'm going for.  They'll look perfect on the back alleys of Chatham, or ferrying Threshold agents to their doom objectives.