Wild West Continues (More WiPs)

I was able to get a little time today to work on my WWX demo board. I wasn't overly happy with my current utility knife so I headed out to Hobby Lobby to see what they had and also to Home Depot. I found what I was looking for at hobby Lobby in the large selection of X-acto products they had. I have decided I want to base the mesa sections I have done so far so I headed over to Home Depot of a piece of hardboard to use as basing.

Hardboard for bases. DieselDM has a jigsaw and is going to help me cut these out.

 



I headed into the basemen with the intention of getting all the pieces for the burned building removed from their boards. I found this to be far more laborious than I intended and lost interest part way through. here is where the building stands. I decided it was time to sack up and get to carving out the rock wall section of my demo board. I headed to the back recesses of the cave and began to hack away at some foam. Here are those results:

I may need to play around with the top some or it may be just right once covered with sand. I don't know yet.

"Couple, two, tree" close ups for ya

 

 

One possible layout. Since I intend for the pieces to be modular I should have some flexibility here. The game seems to be pretty terrain intensive so I think it should be ok like this

 Some of my beloved Trollbloods swing by the wild west to take a peak

 

Despite my initial trepidation in tackling this wall I am very happy with the results (other than the massive blister I gave myself). The more I look at it the move I feel I have to cut in the mine shaft so this is my new worry. I need to figure out the best approach as my hot wire foam cutter isn't wide enough to tackle the thickness of this section. I still have a ways to go but I am happy with the progress. I need to put some sand/ballast and rocks over this section before it will get its basecoat of bloodstone. I am not sure if I will have time to work on this board at all tomorrow (today as it is 1am now) but progress is happening so I'm pleased.

Accessories for Terrain Project

When I woke up from my nap today I had a package waiting for me downstairs. I ordered a few items from Tectonic Craft Studios for my WWX table experiment. Here are just a few shots as I took the items out of the back.

Everything nicely packaged

 Thought a burned out building could be fitting for the mine section of the table

 Maybe a little sign

 

Back of the sign piece you can see the perforations

 

Couple sets of small fences can never hurt to get in the way of those pesky outlaws, right?

 The back of the fences.....hmmmm no perforations (?)

 

Ok I just wanted to take some quick unboxing photos. I have literally only had these out of the box for 15min so I will withhold judgment/opinions until I take some real time handling them. I can say I was very happy with the turnaround time on the order as I received my pack within one week of placing my order. Next pots I should have some photos of the pieces either full assemble or partially assembled and more thoughts on the items themselves.

The Law Comes to Town/Table Progress

Yesterday while I was napping I received a box from Outlaw miniature. These minis are minis that have been pre-release before the KS ships. I ordered two sets of Sheriff Ironclad and Marshall McClain one for me and one for DieselDM. These minis are both underbosses for the lawmen faction (Diesel's intended primary faction). A FYI for those that have not been following WWX the mini Mic Ironclad was a model Outlaw made to honor the support of one of the KS backers. He was really active during the KS campaign and they surprised him and the community with this mini. Marshall McClain was a special early release for Gencon.

Ok on to the 2x2 demo table. The other day I showed y'all my first section of mesa rocks. I was pretty happy with it so I decided to test out the paint I had made at Home Depot. After gluing some sand and rock to the mesa it was time to paint.

  I primed it via the airbrush with Vallejo surface primer

After the primer dried I slapped on some of the Home Depot bloodstone clone. Obviously there were some missed sections at that time but they have been filled in since. This was really just a test to see how the color "felt". I'm happy with the base color next step will be drybrushing.

 

Last evening prior to work I jumped in the car and headed over to meet Diesel to give him his new minis and to grab a piece of 2" foam he had sitting around to try and do some tall thin columns for stone. I had already started a new section of mesa rock and was eyeballing the perfect spot for it. I took a couple minutes to rough up the column prior to work and took a quick photo.

 

 

Here is the new column. while I am happy with the mesa texture on it by and large I am not happy with the size/shape for what I was going for. I have since snapped it in ~half and reshaped the top but I am still not in love with it on this piece so will most likely become a stand alone rock. As you can see I have glued down some sand and rocks in preparation for primer. I may make a second attempt at a smaller column for I may just sand over that entire section.

 

 

I took a second to throw what I currently have onto one of the "2x2" boards to get an idea of the landscape. I say 2x2 cause upon further measurement none of the six is actually 2x2. The label at Home Depot said they were 4x2 so I had the gentleman cut them in half and figured we were good to go. It turns out the original pieces were not exactly 4x2 so all the squares were a touch bigger. I gave two of the squares to Diesel and he was going to trim them up for me. As you can see I have two section mostly "mesa'd up"and another stack awaiting the mesa treatment. After that it may be time to hit up the big rock facing to the cave section. I think the table will have enough cover after that but will not know for sure until I try out some games in a month or so. Please remember to vote on the poll at the top right. Thanks

 

Mesa Sytled Rocks First Attempt (kinda)

Last night (this morning actually) I decided to take my first stab at the mesa styled rocks for my demo WWX board. I was doing some laundry and catching up on Dexter when I got a little impatient and said those rocks should be dry enough where's my knife? My first attempt was an epic fail and got thrown out immediately the second attempt was better.

 Here is my "first" attempt

 

 The "good" side

 

 The "not as good" side

 

The little rock section above was all I did last evening. I was feeling pretty OK with the results and decided to play around with a little more today. The plan was to have the section above go on top of a larger flat piece to have a two stepped mesa. After the boy had their first skate lesson I headed to the basement and started carving up the bottom section:

 

Once again had some "good" sections and some "not so good" section but I am OK with the result to try and press on. These are in fact learning pieces so once/if I really get this down this item can go to the FLGS terrain bin or just get relegated to the sidelines.

 Stacked up in their "final" configuration

An enlightened hire hand stops by to check out the progress.

 

I need to glue these section together and lay down some sand and stones to get a final idea on this mesa. As I said this is just a learning process but all in all I'd say an OK first go at terrain. I really want to make sure I feel comfortable with the process and my ability to replicate my results before I start hacking away at the rock facing for the cave wall.  

Venture Into Uncharted Waters

As you may be aware I have been pretty excited about Wild West Exodus and the upcoming delivery of my kickstarter pledge. Seeing as I still have to wait at least a month until my shipment I have decided to try my hand at something completely foreign to me.....a table. Those of you that follow this blog know I am a really big fan of Rob Hawkins' work and have commissioned him for projects on several occasions. I would love to have him build me a custom table but until I win the Powerball that will have to remain a dream. I have decided however to attempt to build the table myself. the inspiration I am using for my table will be this:

Let me get this out of the way right now I have no delusion of grandeur and I am full away that the above photo is the dream outcome not the expected outcome. My plan right now is to do a 2'x2' demo board which can then be used as a section of a 4'x4' table. Here are my concept sketches:

I am still not 100% sure about the interior cave section but I can make that call later on down the road. If I decide to scrap that idea I will rotate the cave wall section of the demo board to an outside edge. If the demo section goes well the next section will be the township and I will be using building from Burn In Designs' welcome to Rock Ridge which can be seen here:  http://www.burnindesigns.net/2012/10/welcome-to-rock-ridge.html I have been in touch with Lathan the owner of Burn In Designs with some question and possibilities of modifications. More on the buildings as more info become available to me.

Ok with my plans bubbling in my head I decided to strike while the iron was hot and headed out to Home Depot.

MDF and foam

Tools and supplies

I had sample size latex paint matched to P3 bloodstone, moldy ochre, and 'jack bone. These color follow Rob's tutorial on his mine table above.

Hot wire cutter

 

When I got a free sec I stuck outside to play around with the wire cutter for the very first time. I cut a few pieces of foam to make the cave wall section of the demo board. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy smoothly this went for me as I have never played around with foam or a wire cutter and wasn't sure if there was a "trick" to it. After the sections were cut I glues them together with liquid nails and sandwiched them between boards of MDF with tools and weights stacked on top to allow the foam to dry appropriately (I hope). I plan to give it wall section at least 24 hours to dry before attempting to carve the face into the mesa styled rocks. Fingers crossed this next step will be as smooth.

 

Issues with WWX Poll/Backer Created Minis

Ok well I am having issues getting the poll set up for my WWX posse. I have six choices listed in the last post but for some reason the poll gadget on blogger will only allow me to poll four questions. When I hit the add question option it just does nothing so I guess I have to cut two from the rotation right from go. I will consolidated the Jesse James into one choice and as much as it pains me drop Geronimo. Please vote which you'd like to see painted first and help me make up my mind.

The other day Outlaw posted the second of their three backer created minis. During the Kickstarter campaign Outlaw had one back decide they wanted to create a mini for the line and would buy one for all backers over a certain level. This was really amazing and the concept art for that mini was really cool. Later on Outlaw announce there would be two other backer created minis for purchase. The sculpts for the later two have now been released and Killingsworth is suppose to be revealed at Duelcon in a few weeks.

While both of these minis are cool I have to say I love the way The Wraith turned out. He is very Frank Castle like and I love the pose. OK enough for now gotta try and grab a nap before work. One again please vote and help me make up my mind.

Please Help: Input Needed

One of my Kickstarter purchases should be shipping in about a month or so and I am looking to get some feedback from y'all. The Kickstrater I am referring to is Wild West Exodus which takes place in an alternate wild west which has sci-fi, fantasy, and steampunk elements. I have been really excited about this project since I first saw it and have a couple local buddies coming along on the journey with me. While I am really excited to get these minis and begin painting I am having one heck of a time deciding where to start. Currently in the game there are 5 factions available: The Union, Outlaws, Warrior Nation, Enlightened, and the Lawmen. I will be receiving elements from all 5 of these factions as part of my Kickstarter pledge. Here are photos of the bosses I am considering building around. I did not include Wyatt Earp of the lawmen as Mickey aka DieselDM is most likely going to start with the lawmen and I didn't pick either boss for the enlightened as Nick only pledged enlightened and will be playing them. Here are my choices

 

UNION

Abe Lincoln of The Union army. He comes available with two sets of arms for different poses but this is the one I will be using hands down. Grant is the other option for Union at this time but Lincoln is just too cool to pass up and will be painted/played before Grant. I am not sure of the direction a Lincoln posse would take at this time.

OUTLAWS

 

 

Here are my current options for outlaw bosses. At the top you have Billy the Kid. He come accompanied by two hired hand bodyguards. If I build a Billy the kid force I think it will be some characters and more basic grunts. Next we have Jesse James. Mr James comes in two sculpts as seen above. The original at the ready pose and the alternate shooting pose. If I do a Jesse James posse it will contain mostly characters I think consisting of his brother Frank and Cole Younger.

 

WARRIOR NATION

 

 

Last but not least we have the Warrior Nation being led by Sitting Bull (wolf) and Geronimo (bear). I am not really sure which direction this posse would take but love both minis.  

 

Ok so there are my choices and I am looking for y'alls help in making a decision(s). I will most likely work on two posses at the same time as I am entertaining the thought of being a deputy (think press ganger) and will need two painted posses for demos. I will be posting a poll for voting (once I figure out how) and will see where we stand in a months time (hopefully when my "little men" arrive.  

 

If you would like to see more of the minis available in the range at launch take a look at http://www.wildwestexodus.com/ and you can see most of the minis in their rendered state and some in their fully painted state.