Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Something new on the menu

Blogroll Add: Gnomekeeper and the Wandering Monster boardgame

The tutorial for the display case is coming along nicely, but in the meantime I'd like to give a shout out to a friend of mine who's decided to brave the blogosphere with a boardgame he's developing called Wandering Monster. His blog Gnomekeeper is now on the blogroll.

The game is pretty far along at this point and I've had the privilege of several play-tests. There's been many a hashing out of various iterations of rules and a number of playtests after D&D or at lunch at the office where I work. In the game you're a (wandering, of course) boss monster out to grab up powers and chow down on adventurers while exploring the kind of dungeons we all know and love. Watch out for those pits and the culinary humor! And consider following along if you're interested in seeing where the development leads. I would hazard a guess there may be opportunities for feedback and/or playtesting, and who knows what the future holds—dare I say it—maybe a Kickstarter is in the cards!

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Miniatures Display Case

May I present my first significant game-related accomplishment of 2013, an Ikea hack display case made from a Billy bookcase. For now I'll show it off and then I'll come back and give something resembling a tutorial (though fair warning I was strapped for time during the steps themselves and didn't take many pictures).

I'm extremely pleased. I've long thought it waste not to keep my collection hidden away. I had a huge, ugly case a long time ago and haven't had anything in the intervening years. Actually, for the past two or so years spent finishing this project I've had this case with the cardboard back it comes with and no light, but that barely counts.

I would have much rather bought something purpose-built, but I spent literally dozens of hours researching and shopping and found nothing that would suit my needs. Trophy cases are hideous and hideously overpriced, hard to locate in person and impossible to see what you're getting shopping online. I spent a long time at Ikea inspecting every option and they all have some flaw that's a deal-killer. Found very few other prospects at furniture stores.

And before anyone says anything, let me say I know what you're thinking. Oh, that looks like a quick, fun project. It wasn't! Honestly it was a trial and took me over two years to sort everything out. For one, everything took a lot more research than I expected it, from researching the right kind of light that would not wash out the figures too much or cause fading, to tutorials on wiring and soldering, to locating all the items needed. I live in a major metropolitan area and yet I had a hard time locating anything. It's one of the ironies of today's world, I think. From the rocker switch and heat shrink tubing, to the flat-head wall plug, the fixture itself (located online in the end), etc. The mirror is acrylic purchased at a local shop called Tap Plastics, but the staff there, while helpful in the end, were a chore to work with and I believe it entailed well over a dozen phone calls, none of which gave me much confidence it would work out in the end.

It did work out in the end though. It worked out very well. In the course of this I learned how to wire lights and how to solder properly (using a soldering iron I've had since I was eight but never really put to any use). Also, huge thanks to my friend the OpFor Overlord for the design advice re the acrylic mirror back and for bringing over his router and enlarging slightly the channels in the main side pieces in which the acrylic mirror is slotted. That was the crux of the struggle after which it was downhill.

Also, even though I don't think it will be the kind of hold-your-hand exhaustive tutorials you can sometimes find on the web, I think the tutorial article I'm planning should cut your own time on this down to a fraction of what it took me, should you want to have a go at this.

Here's the fun part—loading it up:

Hordes, Warmachine and Misc figures
L-R: Circle Orboros; Protectorate of Menoth; miscellany
Necromunda figures on display
Necromunda, L-R: Redemption; Cawdor; Scavvies
Old school D&D miniatures collection on display
A portion of the D&D collection
Citadel orcs on display
Orcs & Goblins of the Old Skull Gang
All the Kublas in their home
The Kublas have a home to call their own

As always, these pics are on flickr.