Terrain and Vehicle Models?

[TheAuldGrump]

Whoops - I posted an image of the textures, but not of the buildings themselves. Here is an image of the cover from the PDF, showing what the completed buildings might look like -


The Auld Grump

[Mister Andersen]

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[TheAuldGrump]

Heh, that would fit too.

The shacks in Arefu are a closer match than what I showed for Megaton, but I can't seem to find any good images for them.

The Auld Grump

[TheAuldGrump]

Who could resist pulling the Big Red Lever?

Soon the world will know the fury of my Death Ray_(TM)!

Did you happen to see which way Ming went?

Frozen Planet Retro SF Terrain.

The Auld Grump

[TheAuldGrump]

I have built my first six tiles and an assortment of walls for the Himmelveil sets (starting with Streets). It is... different.

Normally I tend to make permanent builds - which I later tend to give away unless it is likely to see regular use.

These are much more aimed at being put up then taken down - the pieces sliding together in multiple ways - it feels very much like Panel & Girder, or a bit like Link'n Logs. The core to the system are a series of Posts, Walls, and Anchors. The anchors glue down onto the tiles, and are textured so that when not needed they can fold flat on the tile and be ignored. They are folded up and inserted into the bottom of the Posts to hold them in place, then a wall section is slid into place. The result is surprisingly sturdy - once you  have a corner or two it holds its shape.

Making the individual pieces is a bit of a pain - you need a lot of them, and some are kind of fiddly. I found myself feeling tempted by a robo cutter for the first time. It also didn't help that I cut out the first page of wrong - they still worked, but I made it a whole lot harder on myself than it really needed to be. (I was doing interior cuts - but it is a lot easier if you fold and glue the section first before cutting the fiddly bits - it means that they are no longer interior cuts.... RTFM Grump! )

While making all the little bits and pieces is a pain putting them together is a whole lot easier - and rather a lot of fun. More time is spent preparing the pieces, but they go together so very easily once done that it is worth it.

The tiles are designed to plug into each other - two tabs of foamcore slide into covered slots in the edges of each tile - the covers folding into the slot. These tabs are also used to hold things like balconies and stairs in place - it is very easy to do multiple levels. The only way I can think of to describe it is that it works stupidly well. I was left with a general feeling of 'why wasn't this done before?'

It is going to make building my Prison scenario much easier - I can already see how I am going to be doing most of the build, and I already have most of the pieces that I will be needing in these PDFs. I am still going to need Canals. And when the scenario is finished I can take the thing apart and put it all into boxes.

The only downside is just how many Posts and Anchors I am still going to need to cut out and glue.

The Auld Grump, then the Auld Triangle went jingle jangle, a along the banks of the Royal Canal....

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm, an expansion is coming out for the Sewers set - including sewer falls, pumps, wheels, 1 inch, 1.5 inch, and 2 inch walls, some stairs, a small shanty town for those who dwell in the fetid warmth of the sewers, some 3D pipes, and some wider effluent channels.






It looks very much like I will need to come up with excuses to send the PCs into London's sewers.... (Yeah, right - like I need an excuse! )

Odd as it may sound there really is archaeological work done in London's sewers.

The Auld Grump

[Krensky]

Someone needs a continuous ink system for Christmas.

[TheAuldGrump]

Someone needs a continuous ink system for Christmas.

Heh - the new system that World Works is using is tempting me to buy a robo-cutter. Something that I could not have pictured myself doing before this. (All the anchors and pillars... oi!)

It takes considerably more initial investment of time, but so much less time spent at the table putting it together. It is just plain different than what I am used to. Generally I was building a permanent structure for a key or climactic scene, then giving it away or using it as a prize when the scenario was done.

This is all about a quick build at the table, to be taken down and the pieces used again.

The Sewers will likely see use if I ever run my introductory Steamcraft adventure again - one scene involves the goblins living in the subways of London Below. Easy enough to add some railroad track to the sewer set. Every time I have run the scene the PCs have run rather than deal with the goblins at all.

Hmmm, it has been a while since I gave the PCs any reason to head into London Below....

The Auld Grump

[TheAuldGrump]

An image from the upcoming Canals set.

(click to show/hide)

The Auld Grump

[TheAuldGrump]

Canals has been released. (Looks very good, though I cannot say that these images make any sense whatsoever. )
The Sewers Expansion has also been released, and looks very good.

Fat Dragon has released their town set as well - less versatile, but more ready to use. A lot less work in the beginning, and not bad looking, if a bit less flexible.


I think that Himmelveil will be a better choice in the long run, but Dragonshire will hit the table faster. (My suggestion might be to get both, but then again I like building terrain. I just wish that I had the time and space to do more of it.)

Himmelveil needs a few more sets before it really opens up its potential.

And, mostly unrelated, Fat Dragon has also released Rio Draco - a Western setting.

Westerns really aren't my cuppa, but it looks decent. And takes major advantage of the layers option in Acrobat.

The Auld Grump

[TheAuldGrump]

Continuing with 'Wow, there have been a bunch of releases that I haven't mentioned'....





David Graffam has been doing buildings, mostly for Warhammer Fantasy Battle, for a while now. He recently started releasing under One Monk, including a free building. He used to have a large number of free releases, but has now decided to go commercial. His structures are exteriors only, and are fairly idiosyncratic, but look very interesting on a table top. He makes extensive use of layers to individualize each building.

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* I have no problem with Dave deciding that he should be paid for his work - money, not imitation, is the sincerest form of flattery.

[TheAuldGrump]

Over on the World Works forum, Menace is hard at work converting Cathedrae Noctis to the Terrain LinX system.

God... damn. Just god damn! It is looking sweet!


The Cathedral is my second favorite WWG set, falling behind Maiden of the High Seas (which is all kinds of awesome), but far ahead of nearly everything else.

Making it with the TLX system... even better.

The Auld Grump

[Aldus Vertten]

Is that an official conversion? Will they sell it aside or included with the original?

[TheAuldGrump]

No, it is not official, but it is likely that they will be selling it in the ktbash area of their website.

Menace has been putting a lot of effort into this, and it shows.







(These pics also give a good idea as to how the TLX  system works.)

Even the original creator was impressed.

The Auld Grump, there is also an official science fiction series in the works for TLX.

[Crafty_Pat]

Wow. Those pillars and stained glass windows are TEH AWESUM!