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Creatures of Taarsh - Part 3

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  This post has been a long time coming! Who would have guessed that categorizing and summarizing all animal life on earth would be such a big ask? I had originally intended a more complicated process for selecting animals but ultimately decided I was letting perfect get in the way of finished. The Procedure First, pick a region you are trying to create an animal for. Then, pick a base animal from the Native Taarsh Lifeform or the Colonial Lifeform lists . (List to Creatures Part 2). Next, Pick an ecological niche the new animal will fill or roll on the chart below for inspiration. Then, choose an earth animal that fits both the biome and ecological niche. For example, wolves for a forest pack hunter. Finally, mutate the original animal so that it is more like the animal from step 4. I.e., more suited to its ecological niche and biome.  You can take this a step further by adding additional mutations as desired OR use your new animal as a ‘base animal’ for the Signs in the Wildernes
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Axis and Allies - Battlefleet Gothic

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  I played a game of Space Hulk at the club which got me on a Warhammer 40k kick again. I’ve started designing planetary campaign tiles based on old Star Smuggler planet cards and discussing campaign rule options with my friend.  An imperial fleet attempts to burst one of the Tyrant's blockades during the Badab War For space battles I decided I would use the system I’m most familiar with - Galleys and Galleons - with new ship types based on those from the game. A few slow days at work were spent drafting rules for Imperial vessels from Battleships through cruisers down to frigates and destroyers. I’ve also made up rules for signal ships and transports.  Meanwhile, in the spirit of Rogue Trader I’ve been scratch building starships out of old WWII battleships I got from an old and disused copy of Axis and Allies. The conversion was simple - take two ships of appropriate size and shape and glue them together along their keel. This produces a figure with conning tower and turrets along
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Matchstick American Civil War

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A few months ago my wargaming club introduced me to the game LaSalle. I found the mechanics similar to DBA and very interesting - especially the interruption mechanic. A picture from one of two 6mm battles I got to take part in as part of the club. This was my first experience with 6mm and I love the size of units and sense of scale they give the table. I decided I wanted a creative project and decided to make a pair of armies for the game using matchsticks to see how the work as a medium. I debated doing F&I or 1812 but ultimately chose to do ACW because it kept me from having to do irregular uniforms.                                                                   This is my original idea for infantry layout - each block is meant to represent a company with 8 companies total per regiment (the skirmish line not being bases). I ultimately scraped it and decided to have a single line of foot across the whole base. The figures were painted in simple bands of colour - sky blue pants
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Missouri - Hexmap

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 A new hex map of North America. Here is the state of Missouri! Its nice to be out of the mountains and back in more monotonous terrain. Rivers are based off of maps from Geology.com while the hexes are determined from descriptions from the EPAs website.  Those with keen eyes may notice an unusual feature - the ocean has creeped up to Missouri's south-east corner. And so I am finally forced to admit that these hex maps are not intended to reflect modern America but are instead maps for my far future setting - Gothic North America. This is a far future earth setting - after sea level rise due to melting icecaps - inspired by works such as 'A Canticle for Leibowitz', 'Gamma World', and 'Crusader Kings - After the End'. 24-mile hex map 6-mile hex map
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Red World Mesas

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 Had some time earlier this month to work on some terrain to use with my Red World ships and finally had some time to write a post. I decided to make some mesas to use as 'islands' for G&G as well as some rocky patches to count as 'shallows'.  Here are the finished mesas (2 large and 2 small) and rock fields (4).   I began by cutting out the bases from cardboard and then laying increasingly small sections which were glued on top with a 1-to-1 PVA/Water mix. The bases that would become rock fields are mostly at the front here. To these I added a single second layer to create a gentle 'hill' affect.  A closer look at one of the smaller mesas bases, with a WIP base of flyers in the foreground. These flyers are made from carved down matchsticks with painted cardstock sails. The flight stands were made from a piece of cut paperclip glue into holes made with a hobby knife. Spackle was used to fill in the edges and smooth down the landmasses. I wasn't too worri
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Red World Shipyard

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I spent a long weekend working on some ships for role-playing and wargaming in my red world setting. It began as a thought experiment to create a D&D setting that drew on turn of the century science-fiction set on mars (Princess of Mars, Out of the Silent Planet) instead of fantasy stories (Three Hearts and Three Lions, the Lord of the Rings, etc).  The ships themselves were designed through input from the players at the beginning of a Dungeon World games. In that game I envisioned them as a cross between Greco-Roman and Renaissance galleys - long ships with rams and bow mounted cannon. Electric engines replaced teams of rowers. The player's decided that there wouldn't be any hand-held firearms in the game and so it was decided the crews would veer more toward Greco-Roman than Renaissance. I imagine ships carry compliments of marines, fighting with tall shield and javelins in Roman style or perhaps with pike and shield after the phalangites.  Ship Profiles In the Dungeon Wo
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Utah - Hexmap

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 Yet another hexmap of North America - this time Utah. This one was a real challenge! The mountainous nature of the state led to a huge variety of microclimates, the detail of which were lost on the 6 mile map, let alone the 24 mile version! Once again, rivers are based off of maps from Geology.com while the hexes are classified using descriptions gathered from the EPAs website.  24-mile hex map 6-mile hex map
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