GnomishNotions

 I had an idea for how to use some plastic ant antenna I had collected while converting the Tyranid ships for G&G Battlefleet Gothic - 6mm beholders! First, i looked through a collection of beads my mother kindly offered to me and found two that measured a little under 1cm across. I glue these to paper-clip flight stands and filled the hole on top with superglue. Next, I took 20 of the ant antenna and glue 10 to the top of each bead to form the beholder's eye tentacles. An image of the finished figures before painting Next came painting! It took four coats to get an even colour on the miniatures due to the slipperiness of the beads. Doing a pre-coat with watered down white glue may have help the paint stick more quickly and evenly but ultimately the result was more than satisfactory. For the eyes, I started by painting the rough shape in black, adding thick black dots to the end of each tentacle. Next came white, followed by an iris of orange for the red beholder and yellow for...

 A big dream of mine is making miniature representations of the creatures in the AD&D monster manual. I've never had a lot of funds for miniatures which has instilled in me an interest in gaming on a budget. The holy grail of  D&D and cheap miniatures are the chinasaurus - plastic dinosaur toys which gave rise to creative monsters like the bulette, owlbear, and rust monster. Examples of figures I started with.  With this inspiration in mind, a bought a pack of cheap plastic dragons from the dollar store to use to make the different D&D chromatic dragons to use in various games. I started by going through the pack, choosing dragons that best matched the description and artwork in the monster manual. In addition to have one of each of the classical chromatic dragons, I managed to make two wyverns (allowing for one with a rider) buy trimming the front legs off of two of the smallest dragons in the pack. I also removed the wings from two of the beasties to use as ...

 After a series of setbacks and stalls on my Ork Roks, I haven't been feeling excited about Battle Fleet Gothic as much. That said, I managed to acquire some cheap plastic creepy crawlies that I wanted to try to convert into Tyranid bug ships which I hoped would be easier to assemble and paint. The crawlies in question I started with one single large plastic crab (destined to become my hive ship) and a few ants. I wanted to create at least three different kinds of vessels to give my forces some variety and also wanted to try basing a squadron of smaller vessels. So, the plan was to create one large flagship, a medium-sized 'cruiser', and a smaller collection of 'destroyer' or 'frigate' sized vessels.  I began (completely without a plan) by taking the plastic ants and chopping off the head and all the limbs. I noticed the heads, once they had the antenna removed, looked similar to horseshoe crabs - a great base for my 'destroyers'. I experimented brie...

Map of the Californias - by Me The Californias include mainland California and the island of Baja California. The mainland is composed for the temperature lands surrounding the Sacramento bay and the mountains which ring it - the Klamath mountains to the northwest, Sierra Madre to the east, and the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains to the south. These southern mountains as split in half by the San Andreas Straight, with one half of both ranges remaining on the mainland and the other forming the northernmost portion of the island of Baja California, beyond which is desert. Monterey Coast - Guy Rose The climate of mainland California is semi-arid Mediterranean with mild, wet winters and dry, hot summers. The average temperature in summer is 30 C while in winter it is about 20 C. Temperatures tend toward mild on the pacific coast and along the Sacramento Bay. Meanwhile, at high elevations like the southern mountains, summer temperatures become more varied and cooler in general, as ...

Map of the Arctic Islands - by Me The harshest environment of North America, this region includes all of the non-tree baring islands of the Arctic ocean. Once covered in permafrost, which helped to trap moisture in the ground, the warmer southern months have allowed this water to escape turning it into a frigid desert. Its flora, where it occurs, consists mostly of herbs, lichen, and dwarf shrubs Pangnirtung Fjord, Auyuittuq National Park, Baffin Island - Ruth Driedger The Arctic archipelago has a frigid semi-arid climate with short, cool summers and long, cold winters. Average daily temperatures in the summer are 10 C while in winter they average less than -30 C. Annual precipitation ranged from about 300mm to 500mm. Highlands, mostly bare rock, are unable to hold water and so it tends to pool in low-lying lakes, rivers, and muskegs. Most characteristic of the climate of the far north is the immense seasonal fluctuation in the length of daylight. In the warmest months the sun can stay...

Map of the Tropical East - by Me This region of mixed forest is bounded in the west by the Mississippi river and the east by the vast reaches of the Atlantic ocean. Its northern boundaries are the St Lawrence and the Great Lakes, except for the northern portion of the Appalachians which are instead part of the northern forests. In the South, the forests continue into the Mississippi and Mexican gulfs along numerous peninsulas and islands Tropical Landscape - Frederick Church The climate is humid, tropical in the south abut more temperate to the north along the Great Lakes and St Lawrence. Higher elevations such as the Appalachian and Ozark mountains have mild oceanic climates. Throughout the region seasons are well defined, with hot summers and cool winters. Snowfall occurs regularly only the northernmost regions and only then in the coldest months - with the Maritimes being frost free year round due to the moderating influence of the ocean. Weather can be unpredictable across the regi...

Map of the Great Plains - by Me! This vast sea of grass stretches from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Mississippi River. Its northern limits are marked by the Saskatchewan River, at which point the landscape is dominated by the rolling forests of the Laurentian Shield and the Mackenzie River valley. In the south, its transition to desert scrubland is marked by the course of the Red River.  Pointing Them North - Olaf Wieghorst The region is semi-arid and temperate, growing more tropical as one moves southeast. This transition is marked by increased precipitation, though across the region most rainfall is between May and July. Both short- and long-term droughts are common. Summers tend to be hot, averaging 35 C in the south and 17 C in the north, while winters are cool, hovering around 15 C in the south and hovering around freezing in the northern portions. That said, the region's flat and open nature can cause large and unpredictable swings in temperature fr...