It Came from the Lightbox: Skabbik’s Plaguepack
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Monthly Archives: August 2023
It Came from the Lightbox: Battletech
I took on too large a batch of battlemechs. I forget why I chose these: I think they were to get some boxes fully painted, but they don’t all clearly map to them so who knows. Point is: I took on too many at once, and then once I got them ready for decals, I added a few more, which slowed things down even more. They’re done, now.
This guy’s a printed mech: it’s an objective marker.
Warhammer Underworlds Token Organizer
Made a couple of small tweaks to my prototype: found a better source to create the logo SVG from (the Wyrdhollow rulebook PDF, not some random image found on Google), and made the magnet holes a little bit deeper.
Everything’s held together with magnets, and there are magnets on the side for the removable tray to snap into place. It fits in the deckbox, taking the space of 3-4 decks (less if on its side, I think).
Pretty happy with it!
Prototype
Casey has gotten into Warhammer Underworlds, so I guess I am, too. Dissatisfied as I am with the available token organizers, and given that designing gaming tools has become a bit of a hobby in itself to me… a prototype. Designed to fit in a card box.
Workbench
Wow, did I bite off more than I could easily chew with this batch of Battletech. I’d started with too large a set of models, got them to the point where they were ready for decals and enamels and then added three more! Whatever I was thinking, it wasn’t clearly.
Well, they’re almost done now, thankfully. All I have to do is base them, which hopefully will happen tonight.
My process for these guys is actually very simple: base color, edge highlight, pick out the corners with an even more extreme highlight, then drench the sucker in an oil or enamel wash, which I then clean up a few hours later. I like to do cockpits, stripes, and pick out parts I’d call “black, metal” to add some realism, but it’s not complicated.
I thought it’d be fun to take some in progress photos of pre-, mid-, and post- enamels, so that’s what I did.
Here are some closer shots, of just the Nova.
I also got started on Skabbik’s Plaguepack, because Underworlds is on the table again and I’m excited about the models. Gonna be sick of green, though…
Alpha Strike Mech Silhouettes
So back a few weeks ago, when I played Alpha Strike with Dave, I learned that Alpha Strike has an optional rule that is, effectively, Infinity’s Silhouette rules, wherein every model of a particular type has a specified volume which can be substituted for the actual model. This offsets the tendency of models that are intended to be about the same size but often have wildly different poses and shapes, which can make Line of Sight… strange.
I think these rules, particularly Infinity’s implementation of them (of course), are Necessary and Very Good.
Alpha Strike doesn’t have a specific Silhouette stat per se, but if we look at the table:
That table reduces down to 5 categories:
| s | Shape | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1″x1″ | ProtoMechs (All) |
| 1 | 1″x1.25″ | Infantry (All) Combat Vehicles (1-4) Support Vehicles (1-3) |
| 2 | 2″x 1.25″ | BattleMechs (1-4) |
| 3 | 3″x1.5″ | Superheavy ‘Mechs (4+LG) |
| 4 | “It’s complicated” | Support Vehicles (4+) |
So, of course, I doodled up some S markers for these.
I’m not deep into Battletech, and Catalyst isn’t making Protomechs in plastic, so I’m not going to worry about them (that’s why I started numbering at 0). Support Vehicles 4+ defy a simple shape (seriously, there’s a 15 item table with footnotes to cover them and there’s “use model” in the main table), so I’m not worrying about them.
Honestly, S1 and S2 are probably the only ones I’d ever see on the table, but it’s convenient for me to have the S3.
S1 and S2 are magnetized, so they can snap together, and they fit comfortably inside of the S3. I can just tuck them in or I can set the S2 on an A-Case tray, the S1 on top of it, and the S3 on top of them both, and they should be reliably stay where I’m asking them to: even though the S3 isn’t sticking to the tray, it’d have to slide up the 2″ length of the S2 to fall off and in the meantime is holding the S1 in place.
Printed these at .2mm layer height with organic supports. I ironed the topmost layer, but I suspect that made the text less legible. If you use supports, I recommend a support blocker covering the magnet holes on S1 and S2; support material isn’t needed for a 6mm gap and goes a long way towards making those magnets maybe probably not fit properly. Use 6mm x 3mm magnets.
I’ve put these up on Cults for the nuisance fee of $1.
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It Came from the Lightbox: More Leviathan Tyranids
Managed to wrap up the remaining, non-CP Tyranid half of Leviathan. Not up to 1k points, though.
Workbench
