I've been such a slacker

I know there's a bunch of stuff I need to do for this blog.  Most of it centers around terrain.

So far the list is:

• Create instructions and pictures for making my modular dungon


• Write the dungeon crawl convention/single play rules.  (I received permission from the original designer to make a 'fan based' version.)


• Write the dungeon crawl convention/single play PVP rules.  Yep.  Two sets of adventurers.


• Write a whole lotta tutorials on faux stone painting.  I have 10 on my list.  I'm waiting on some smooth floor tiles from Naloomi's Workshop since they're the best thing I've found for the tutorials.


• Other stuff I've probably forgotten.

Bear with me and I'll get these done.  Eventually.

Let me know if there's anything else you've seen me make for terrain and you're interested in knowing how.

Semi Super Secret Project

It's only semi secret since I've been telling some people about it.  I'll leave it secret here until it's further along.

Tonight was spent doing the initial mold line removal and polishing of 3 horse figures.  I remembered how much I dislike using steel wool to prep minis.  It's messy and frankly annoying.  I need to take it to that level because they'll be recast twice before being "done".  I will be speaking with my caster about the best methods to minimize shrinkage in casting.

Tequila and cleaning minis still don't mix well, in case you were wondering.

On a final note to hint at what the semi super secret project may be if anyone is big into 28mm historical wargames drop me a line.  I may have questions for you.  And that's all you're gonna get for a while on this topic.

I built stuff

Yes, I built stuff.  And I painted stuff last weekend too.

I have a gothic arena that I started back in 2009, I think.  It may have been 2010.  Whatever.  It was a while ago and it has been sitting, rather forlorn, in a box.  I needed to feel productive so I pulled it out to paint.  I also have some additional pieces for my modular dungeon that I built almost a year ago and never painted.

While I was painting I found some of the arena pieces weren't as well constructed as I would have liked and some had been damaged in the moves.  Tonight I dug out the bins of appropriate bricks and built not only the replacements but a couple of new ones.  I'm mixing the basic and advanced arenas so eventually I need to figure out what's left to build.  I think I have all the basic pieces.

Here's proof I built.



It takes a heck of a lot more glue than you would think to build this stuff.  I probably should have thrown that out before taking the picture.

I do a lot of building on my homemade magnet board.  That's a steel baking pan sitting on a piece of countertop.  (I used to be able to buy the sink cutouts - fantastic for solid surfaces).  The pieces of wood have magnets glued into holes - you can see one of them upside down in the upper right.  I can't remember where I found the instructions to do that.  I do remember the time it took to align the radial arm saw to as close to a perfect 90 degree cut as possible.  That took a while but it's worth it.

I also build using my Lego as braces and alignment blocks.  To be honest mine are Brix Blocks, the Sears equivalent to Lego.  I've had them since I was a kid and I'm still playing with them.

I'll let these dry for a few days and then probably put paint on them this weekend when I do the touchups on the pieces I already base coated.  And the touchups on the pieces I touched up when I painted last weekend.  At some point I do move beyond the base coat.  Really.

The other side of the rant on competition painting

I ranted previously about painters who wimp out when it comes to honest critique and competition.  To be fair now I shall rant about the other side of that coin.

Judging is by its very nature subjective.  Even with that "Open Judging" system it's still a judge's opinion.  Blatant things like inadequate prep, messy paint and other very basic problems are easy enough to ding.  It's the judging after that I'm going to rant about.

Everyone has a different style of painting.  This is a good thing.  Where it becomes a less good thing is when Judge A prefers Painting Style 1.  That judge has a bias against every other style of painting whether they admit it or not.  Therefore they will give higher scores to minis that conform to Painting Style 1.  Typically it's the preferred painting style of that judge too.

This has actually been discussed by painters.  The artistic aspect of the mini tends to get lost in the "we need to judge against a technical standard" in open judging.  It's all well and good that someone knows how to prep a mini and stay within the lines.  It's much more difficult to say "I like this" without any reason other than it appeals to you.  That isn't what open judging is about.

Trophy competition is just that - competition.  There's 11 minis and the best 3 are given trophies.  Does that discourage the painters who didn't win?  Possibly.  Giving out handfuls of medals also isn't encouraging since you see all the other painters being given the same thing as you without any real reason why unless you can corner a judge and ask.

Sculpting is hard

Yeah.  I know.  Big surprise.

Right now I'm working on learning how to work with epoxy putty and try to make something humanoid actually look humanoid.  It isn't nearly as easy as you might think.

Until I have something that isn't actively embarrassing I won't be posting any pics.  I have some pride.

I may be slightly active again

Don't get your hopes up too much.  It's all very much in the beginning phases of doing stuff again.

So far I have a local game store asking about Saturday paint lessons/sessions/clinics/etc.  I had to break away from the teaching I had been doing for a few reasons but oddly enough I enjoy it when I have eager (and teachable) students.  By 'teachable' I mean 'willing to learn'.  I've just contacted them to let them know that this might be possible so we'll see where it goes.

I also thought some terrain building classes might be fun.  The problem with terrain is that it generally takes at least 2 sessions due to setting and drying time.  My immediate thoughts were small Hirst Arts projects and the pipe cleaner trees I made in the past.  Useful and not too difficult.

On top of all that I'm making my very first attempts to sculpt minis.  There's a reason for this but I won't get into that now.  My first challenge is making the metal wire armatures.  "Twist the wire like this" doesn't sound that hard but for me it is.  Metal hates me and getting both a smooth twist and a twist that's the correct size in the correct place is not as easy as the pictures make it out to be.  I shall be twisting and cursing at more than a few pieces of wire while I get this right.

Until I can make consistent armatures I'm not even thinking of putting putty on anything.  I did take the time to find the sculpting tools I made when I still had access to the workshop.  It looks like between those and my standard sculpting tools I have enough to make a good start.  There's someone on etsy who makes similar tools so I can get different ones if I need them.

Lastly if I have a good relationship with this store and their customers there's a chance I could set up a regular time to run my dungeon crawl.  After I finish revising the rules, revising the encounters, and painting all the necessary minis.  I even have an idea for a PVP version but would need someone to help me run it.

Yes, Rastl may be back!

Rastl is on hiatus

I make terrain and paint minis to play games.  They're toys.

I'm not currently playing any games so I don't have a reason to make terrain or paint minis.

I may eventually pick up the project of the modular dungeon again but for now it's packed away along with all the other projects.  If so I'll post about it here of course.