| We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
| The Last War | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: 27 May 2010, 10:30 PM (1,071 Views) | |
| ☺Doghouse | 27 May 2010, 10:30 PM Post #1 |
Captain
|
To try and improve my sculpting and casting abilities I started to put together a game system late last year to try and focus my efforts. Rather than clog up my other log with random updates I'm starting this one from scratch and will update as and when I get the chance. Whether or not I actually get around to producing and releasing the models is yet to be seen but I'm going to plod on and see what happens. The Game Concept Basically the general idea I have is that mankind has expanded out into the universe. The other races that it encounters sees them as a threat and a great war breaks out that ends in the defeat of mankind. A couple of hundred years later and mankind has been all but wiped out, hunted to near extinction with those that survive living as a nomadic underclass with little or no status. Deprived of the same rights as the other races they are left to scavenge scrap from the derelict warships of the last war which they then sell on or use to repair their equipment and also can fight in death match gladiator style battles. The humans aren't alone and can be joined by outcast aliens, outlawed sentient robots, war droids, etc, along with various tanks, apcs, combat walkers and flyers that they have salvaged from the old war ships or ancient battle sites. Alternatively you can just go for an all alien crew. The general idea is that you have a small ship and crew that are trying to make their way in the universe with several different ways of keeping alive. You have the skirmish level games where you run around on derelict vessels trying to capture valuable lost technology, a gladiator style blood sport where you can compete in combat for cash using combat walkers and an all out battles system where you can attempt to eliminate your rivals or raid supply depots or shipping lanes. The idea is that you can field between something like ten and forty models with either a small crew of characters or go for squads of henchmen types instead both of which can progress in campaigns. If whilst playing a campaign one player begins to vastly dominate news of their notorious deeds spread and there are options to inform the authorities who then send in the troops to sort them out. There will also be rules for trade and maybe other stuff like gambling or other criminal activity to bulk out the in between game sessions. With the idea of having a space ship as your base I'm also toying around a space ship combat system as well so I can try my hand at making some space ships. The Models As you may well know I like realistically scaled stuff so am going in a slightly different direction to most other systems. The beauty of the humans is that although they are fairly big the hands, heads and weapons will fit other heroic scale miniatures. Originally I'd intended to go true 28mm but it's fairly limited in terms of individual models. This is a test cast I made for a 28mm model that I was going to use as an armature that I could repose and add detailing to with hands, weapons and other pieces of equipment. The beauty of 28mm is that the vehicles can be smaller but it limits the conversion opportunities.  Reworking The Old Stuff. I haven't had any time of late to get anything done on these guys since the new year but this is the rough line of suspects that I have so far. These are fairly static for the time being and I'm using them to get a general feel for the models. It also means that I can cast these in white metal for play testing and experimenting with kit combinations. The one on the far left is a little guy I started a few years back that I'm reworking, the next on in is going to be an alien sentient robot, the next an illegal human combat droid, then a human followed by a big alien that will have a third leg added to the back to make it look a little more unusual. Ultimately what I'd like to do is make multipart mix and match alien kits so that original designs can be created.   This is the human test piece that I was working on. I've used one of the hasslefree heads to cut a few corners but have cast an accurately proportioned armature from resin that I can build over. The base is a 30mm base rather than the traditional 25mm version. Ultimately I hope to have the arms attached with the weapons being separate with hands attached so they can be swapped around. I'm working on the assumption that given five hundred years of evolution that humanity has naturally bulked out a bit in order to survive amongst the other more volatile races and I will be doing some female models to go with them.  I'll update when I next get the chance to do some more but am planning on adding some walkers and a few vehicles like fast attack jeeps or tanks. |
 |
 
|
| ☺Easy E | 30 May 2010, 11:38 PM Post #2 |
|
Captain
|
Can we get a better shot of that little guy? |
|
|
|
| ☺Dave38x | 31 May 2010, 12:36 AM Post #3 |
DubDubDubDubDub
|
sounds good so far mate, if your gonna be scratchbuilding starships then i'm very interested! |
|
|
|
| Lawkeeper | 31 May 2010, 04:17 AM Post #4 |
Corporal
|
I wanna see that big hulking thing on the right in action :D! |
|
|
|
| ☺Doghouse | 31 May 2010, 12:30 PM Post #5 |
|
Captain
|
Easy E: Here you go mate. It's quite an old sculpt but I am going to re-work it extensively to bring it up to scratch. Dave38x: What I'm thinking is smallish vessels but more in line with 15mm scale. The idea being that you an field a a single vessel supported by small fighters/gunships. I want to build the main vessels in a modular format to encourage conversions, so basically you buy a hull type and then add engines, cargo holds, weapons, etc. The idea is that it's based on large asteroids where mining takes place, so there is a lot of terrain involved and works like submarine warfare. Lawkeeper: Yeah, he's going to be a bit of a brute. Update I haven't got too much done because I have other stuff that takes the priority on the go but have made a little progress on the first human. For the time being I'm keeping the models fairly static, primarily so I can get the designs in place and secondly for ease of casting. The humans are quite big but as this is intended to be more of a skirmish system it shouldn't be too much of a problem. The logic behind the size is that rather than scale down the minis to be proportionate for 32mm, which makes them tiny in terms of detail, I've scaled them up to fit the 32mm heroic scaled heads. The main advantage of this is for converters, basically any 32mm scaled head will fit as will weapons, pouches, etc. To balance things out a little I want to make smaller races and robots that are set at the more traditional 32mm size. I've got a little more done on this guy but the cuff on his left arm is a little too bit so I'll be going back when I next get the chance to get some done. For the time being I'm working my way down the arms and legs. 
|
|
|
|
| Ephemerist | 1 Jun 2010, 04:58 PM Post #6 |
Colour Sergeant
|
Those are some damn fine scults as always! I'm really liking the amount of pre-planning that you're putting into the customisation possibilities of the minis, should make it so much easier to have a really diverse range. Keep it up! |
|
|
|
| ☺Doghouse | 2 Jun 2010, 03:47 PM Post #7 |
|
Captain
|
Thanks mate!  I think that conversions are definitely something I'd like to focus on and this scale works really well for that as well as painting. I think that because it also means that you have a smaller force you can really go to town on stuff which is always fun. Got a bit of a start on the big guy now. I'm just playing around with the design at the moment but want to go for a sort of alien looking space suit with personal modifications. I had originally intended to add a loin cloth between the legs but decided against it because I want to get away from themes such as warrior cultures or religious orders and go more general sci-fi. I haven't got a name for them just yet but basically they are one of the larger races. I'm currently building a rebreather on the back of the neck rather than the face to be a little different, as it breathes through gills in it's neck. The arms are basically just sticks at the moment while I work out the best position but ultimately they'll have sleeves over the top. I've ditched the three leg idea in favour of a small snub like tail.  Update Scale The 42mm scale is weird on the humans but it really works for some reason. Because of the elongated proportions it uses only a little more material to make than a regular 32mm. It's basically the length of the shins and feet but it's still less than you'd get in a terminator model or about the same as this bulky stormtrooper I'm using here for scale. The scrawny alien uses a lot less because it's so thin.  The camera doesn't really show it off that well but it looks really good in person which is weird. The human is mounted on a 30mm base, the alien on a 25mm and the big guy on a 40mm. Head Swap To give you a better impression of how the multipart works for the humans I've got some rough pictures to demonstrate what I mean. The first head is just a hasslefree miniatures head with a beret I've sculpted on, the second is an old dodgy looking helmet design that I will be reworking and the third is a plastic scout head.   
Edited by Doghouse, 7 Jun 2010, 11:18 AM.
|
|
|
|
| Ephemerist | 7 Jun 2010, 04:50 PM Post #8 |
|
Colour Sergeant
|
Wow, impressive to see how much the models need to be upscaled to match the 40k heads proportinately. |
|
|
|
| ☺Doghouse | 7 Jun 2010, 06:51 PM Post #9 |
|
Captain
|
Yeah I thought I was seeing things when I first worked out the scale. I was sure that I got it wrong but had an engineering mate look over the maths, then another friend who used to be an art teacher and they both said it's pretty much spot on. The downside is that I can't look at 32mm stuff in the same way any more, they look like strange little big headed dwarfs. 
|
|
|
|
| Splod | 8 Jun 2010, 12:48 PM Post #10 |
Second Lieutenant
|
Ha... Is this what, the third log for this project?  Looking great so far though mate. Can't wait to see how this progresses. |
|
|
|
| ☺Doghouse | 8 Jun 2010, 12:59 PM Post #11 |
|
Captain
|
Cheers mate! I'm not sure to be honest. Think it's the second... I'm going to start casting the first human sometime today or tomorrow so should have some painted pictures up soon.
|
|
|
|
| Splod | 8 Jun 2010, 01:19 PM Post #12 |
|
Second Lieutenant
|
You know I'm looking forward to getting my mitts on any of your work
|
|
|
|
| ☺Doghouse | 8 Jun 2010, 01:52 PM Post #13 |
|
Captain
|
Well once I've got some stuff made I'll send a few bits out to you mate.
|
|
|
|
| Splod | 8 Jun 2010, 02:04 PM Post #14 |
|
Second Lieutenant
|
Yay! The big alien is for lack of a better word, cute. What is the first cast you've got in metal? |
|
|
|
| ☺Doghouse | 8 Jun 2010, 02:47 PM Post #15 |
|
Captain
|
Cute?  Aw and there was me going for big and scary... He does have that sort of look to him I guess now you mention it. The idea I was trying to get across was a big alien that looked fairly normal if that makes any sense. Most big aliens are made to look like monsters and I wanted to see if I could make something that wouldn't look too out of place wandering around a space station but also something you wouldn't want to upset. I do have some plans for some nasties though. The first guys up for casting are the humans, specifically the guy that I'm working on now. I need to play around with the minimalistic multi-part system and head/weapon swaps to see what works and what doesn't before I start the proper models. |
|
|
|
| Splod | 8 Jun 2010, 02:52 PM Post #16 |
|
Second Lieutenant
|
Cool... Well let us know how it goes Please promise me there won't be giant chainswords? |
|
|
|
| ☺Doghouse | 8 Jun 2010, 03:33 PM Post #17 |
|
Captain
|
Nope, no chainswords, space dwarves, space elves, etc. The human stuff will be based loosely on what I was working on before, so near future weapons and armour/vehicles. So think more along the lines of farscape or firefly in terms of setting, maybe star wars in terms of scale, with humans being the underdogs. |
|
|
|
| Splod | 8 Jun 2010, 03:43 PM Post #18 |
|
Second Lieutenant
|
Don't you dare dis the Space Dwarves! *grrr* 
|
|
|
|
| ☺Doghouse | 8 Jun 2010, 03:54 PM Post #19 |
|
Captain
|
Ok I'll rephrase it, no fantasy inspired elements.
|
|
|
|
| Splod | 8 Jun 2010, 04:11 PM Post #20 |
|
Second Lieutenant
|
That's much better
|
|
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Specialist & Non GW Games Project Logs · Next Topic » |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
5:13 AM Jun 19