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Saturday, March 8, 2014

Dungeon Building – Part 1

Yesterday afternoon I decided to embark on a new project with the kids: Dungeon Building!

I thought it would be fun to make some 3-D Dungeon Tiles and so I made some plans for a few different options, cut up some bits of MDF and enlisted the kids to help make a few prototypes to see which we like best…

The basic options were with permanent walls attached or without permanent walls attached. The “With” version has walls attached to the base – and has some aesthetic appeal to them, but will take up far more storage space and be less versatile – also I wasn’t sure whether to make ~2” (5cm) or ~1.5” (38mm) walls. The “Without” version is basically 2-D floor plan tiles with the option of adding painted wood block walls to make it more 3-D…

The Boy fancied he’d like the 3-D permanently attached walls, The Girl wished for the ones without – whether it was because she saw the versatility in them or just wanted to be different from her brother is hard to tell… either way, I figured we’d try making a few rooms and hallways to see how they look and make some further decisions from there.

This was partly spurred on because I thought it might be fun to try out Song of Gold And Darkness and ultimately play a Song of Blades and Heroes campaign with Song of Deeds and Glory

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


My apprentice dungeon builders and our cut up bits of MDF.


Painting the base coat of clack.


I was a bit quicker, so I started experimenting with some ideas for painting the stone work.


Again with the experiments with stonework.


In the end I stayed up way to late – long after the kids went to bed – and finished up a corner bit for the “With Walls” 3-D version.


It still needs a bit of touching up, but overall I am happy with the results.


The corridor is 5cm wide. And everything is based on a 5cm grid and basically tiles that will fill a 25cm x 25cm area. I'll try to remember to take a picture or scan the sketches of the plans for Part 2. 


What’s up around that corner? DANGER! That’s what!


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Probably more Dungeon tiles… though I have been working on some elves and some more of the A Fistful of Kung Fu miniatures. 

21 comments:

  1. Stunning work on the stone wall, Tim. Your shading technique is very effective. Dean

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    1. Thanks Dean!

      I have to admit I stole the idea from Curt - I spent some time studying the bases of his Belgian Refugees from the previous Fortnightly Theme Bonus Round (Casualties).

      Man, did it ever take a long time to paint this corridor... I'm not really looking forward to doing entire rooms!

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  2. Wow, heroic painting standards. Double painting each stone? I will alert arkham that they will soon gave a new resident!

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    1. I don't know why people keep saying OCD is a problem... I get shit DONE man!

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    2. Right on brother. I pity the fool who games without OCD ;-)

      These look amazing BTW. Great to see your kids involved so much too.

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  3. Awesome work on the stone walls/ floor.

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  4. Very nicely done, but I can see how setting so early such a high standard for yourself can be a problem! Fortunately the corridors even in 3D will sort of stack together in pairs so they won't be too bulky. As for the rooms, if you could develop a 'clip on' system you might be able not only to compromise on the 2D vs 3D question, but get the best of both (game durabilty and storage compactness).

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    1. I think one key to not going totally overboard and discouraged will be, at least at first, not to feel compelled to lay out the WHOLE DUNGEON on the table - just the room(s) the adventurers are currently in and some adjoining corridors - as they move on shift things and "recycle" stuff...

      We are trying a couple of different prototypes. This is the one my son favours (based on my drawings and descriptions). The other is to basically have all the walls and floors separate - they won't really be "clip on" per se... but the same idea. I think Matakishi had done something similar on his site a while back.

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    2. Yeah, here it is:

      http://www.matakishi.com/dungeon.htm

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  5. Fantastic work here Tim! Your stonework is very impressive!

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  6. Very cool project! Like I said when I was out there, I am so impressed by your kids' enthusiasm.

    My terrain kits for the Renaissance Venice setup finally arrived, so I think that'll be the next thing I work on...

    Cheers,

    Paul

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    1. Venice?! What will you be playing set in Venice?!

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    2. homebrew "Assassin's Creed" skirmish game

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  7. Excellent stone-masonry! It looks great - I don't know if I would have the patience to do many walls like that, but it sounds like you have a good plan, by starting with a small set of pieces. I did do some cobblestone road pieces a while back, with the cobbles outlined with a black pen.
    Visually, the 3D version with walls tends to look better and helps with immersion, I think. But a flatter version, without standup walls has its pros, too. For example, if any miniatures have parts that stick out too much. In the end whichever works for you is a good choice.

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  8. Tim & family,
    great work indeed- amazing stonework.I am a tad like Fitzbadger and wonder if I possess the patience,let alone (in my case) artistic abilty for this one...

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  9. Thanks! I saw something similar on the Lead Adventure forum, but they weren't painted. Those do look pretty cool.

    One of hte prototypes we are working on has slightly smaller walls - but not so small as those- the ones I've cut are 38mm (~1.5") instead of the 50mm (~2") that we used for the one above...

    Maybe I should try some even smaller and see how they look...

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  10. These look fabulous, and bully for you for doing something creative and fun with your kids.

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