Bits and Bobs

This is just a very small update for the moment as things have been very hectic around here. I really want to get some more painting done so I can post more units up, but so far it has been a little more real life and work related.

Song of Fur and Buttons

Photos continue to be taken for this expansion which is nearing closer to final layout completion each and every day. I was playing around with some photos and I took this one (which I rather enjoyed). The dinosaur is from the Shleich line of dinosaurs and is not retouched in any way. That is the store bought paintjob.

Kermitian Akitsushima – aka Land of the Dragonflies

Kermitian Akitsushima is a game I’ve been working on behind the scenes. Akitsushima is japanese for Land of the Dragonflies and in the game represents the name of an ancient Kermitian sporting field where teams compete to catch the most Dragonflies. The game will use the basic Song of Blades and Heroes mechanics with several twists and minor modifications to help it suit the sporting arena.

The release of this game will depend on the success of Song of Fur and Buttons and may be included if there was ever a Song of Fur and Buttons 2.

Playtesting on the basic game is set to begin in the next week or so, with the campaign rules still being written as we speak.

Fear and Faith Campaign Supplement – Ghost Rangers “Whom Shall You Call?”

This supplement is currently being written as a homage to a certain movies. It will provide rules to play Fear and Faith games set in the Ghost Rangers universe, but will also provide a short 4 scenario mini campaign. Look out for more information shortly.

Battlelore Project

After much debate I’ve chosen my Troll. As cool as the Splintered Light Miniatures one is, its just far too small compared to the other figures to be represented accurately. Remember that this guy has an attack of 6! He needs to be big and menacing. So I chose the Troll from the Warhammer Battle of Skull Pass set. Its a perfect size and looks very intimidating. I’ve just based him on a 40mm washer so I can reuse him for everything from Battlelore to Song of Blades and Heroes to Mighty Armies or HOTT (with a custom base using a holesaw)

Nuthin’ But Net

I have also been writing more material for Nuthin’ But Net, with rules for an All Star Dunk Competition in nearing playtest, in addition to a 3 point competition and the Plantmen team. Alternative team rules are also being worked on, but I don’t know when it will see the light of day. Just know that it is being worked on I’m particularly excited about the Slam Dunk Competition which plays like a game all of its own.

Well, that turned out to be more info than I was originally going to write, so I hope you found it interesting. Feel free to ask questions or make comments.

- Ben.

Nuthin’ But Net Free Expansion Booklet 2 Released!

This free expansion booklet introduces several new aspects to Nuthin’ But Net as well as a new team (Kobolds) and a Team Sheet to keep track of how your team is going during the season.

Whether you have already bought Nuthin’ But Net or are interested in finding out more, this is a download worth your time.

A big thank you to Jim Hartman of One Monk Miniatures who let me modify his outstanding Kobold graphics to create the Earth Splitters Kobold players. The first six Kobolds to ever play the game!

Download the second free expansion booklet by clicking here.

All the rules are optional of course and you must agree with your opponent before using them in a game.

Make sure you leave a comment letting me know if you enjoyed this expansion or not.

- Ben.

Making Your Own Nuthin’ But Net Court

I’ve had a couple of people message me in regards to some more detail on how I made the Nuthin But Net 3D court. Right about now I’m thinking – “Why didn’t I take more photos!”

Oh well – too late for that…

PS. Sorry about my Hobbit-like feet being inthe photo – I had to stand on the table to get a good shot of the whole board as its dark here at the moment.

The reason my court is a full court is that it lets me demo/run two games at once and also allows for a possible future full court expansion.

I’ll try and write down step by step how I made the board – it was VERY easy to do – the only slow bit was the marking of the hexes on the court.

I have a feeling I’ll be doing some team themed half courts in the near future, but for now – here we go.

MATERIALS

600mm x 800mm x 20mm MDF board

450mm x 600mm x 12mm Blue High Density Polystyrene

Hex template with 20mm sides (simply drawn on a graphics program, printed on card and cut out)

Ball point pen

Skewers

Cork

40mm x 30mm x 3mm Wooden base

Acrylic paints

Large paintbrush

PVA Glue

Wood Putty

Flock

Instructions

The first thing I did was to find the centre of the MDF board. This was easy and only involved ruling a line from corner to opposite corner.

I then placed the HD Poly foam so that each corner was in line with the diagonal lines. This helped me to place the foam centrally on the board. I also double checked by measuring the distance from the edge of the MDF and the HD Foam on each side.

I marked out where this sat, but did NOT glue it down yet. This is important.

Next I found the halfway line on the court and marked it lightly with the pen. I also marked the centre of the court vertically as well. This gave me a guide for laying out the hexes. I worked from the center hex to the outside ones, tracing each using the hex template. This sounds pretty innaccurate and to be honest it wasn’t the most accurate way to do it, but its really close enough for what I wanted.

When I was happy with the placement of the hexes, I used the ball point pen to score the foam.
I did this by pressing harder whilst holding the pen on a 45 degree angle. This gave a nice indent to the outside of each hex.

If you need to trim the edges after laying out and scoring the hexes, do so now. Then use the marks you left on the MDF before to find the center again and use PVA glue to glue it down. I drew a border around the edge of the foam and then criss-crossed using the PVA. To help the adhesion, I pressed down on the foam until the PVA spewed out the edges. I then used my finger to wipe this PVA up the sides of the foam. This will help seal it.

I left this to dry overnight basically – you want to make sure this is really dry before moving on.

I got a pot of black acrylic paint from Riot Art – very cheap as its only your undercoat. Get your paintbrush and dip it in the paint and then lightly in some water. Use this method to get the paint semi-runny so that it flows into the indents in the foam. You want it completely covered for when you seal it later. If its not covered, when you seal it, it will melt the polystyrene.

Once this is dry, you can sculpt the ground around the court using wood putty. You could really use anything you would normally texture stuff with (spack filler, rocks, sand etc…)

Leave it to dry and then undercoat with black as well.

I used textured paint on the court and then used a thin brush to paint on the Arc, foul line and half court line.I used a two different sample pots of paint (two colours that are close) to paint the terrain and then decorated with flock. I also added some small bits of flock to some of the hexes to break up the brown.

The basketball rings were really simple to make.

The base was simply a small piece of HD Polystyrene foam. A skewer was cut to an good looking size and stuck in slightly diagonally to the base. This was then glued down.

The backboard is an old base I had lying around, but could just as easily be a strong piece of card. It is 40mm x 30mm and was handpainted. 1/3 of a cork needs to be cut off carefully and glued to the back of the board. Once dry, skewer the skewer into the cork on the backboard so that it sits flush with the court. Glue it in place.

The basket is simply a piece of card rolled into a circle and glued to the board.

So there you have it – a simple and fun way to make your own 3D court for Nuthin’ But Net! The paper one provided with the game is excellent, but there is nothing quite like playing on a fully customised court like this. It really makes it special.

Thanks for reading.

Ben.

10mm Lizardmen

10mm Lizardmen Photos

Just a quick post to upload some photos of my 10mm Lizardmen I’ve been painting. They can be used for Warmaster, or with the help of my magnetic basing trays that I made, can be used for Mighty Armies or HOTT. Versatility is always good!

Song of Fur and Buttons

The final playtest copy has been finished. It is 12 scenarios following the exploits of three adventurous bears – Sir Maurice Fursworth, Sir William Cuddlesbury and Sir Uppity Paws. It has been a great deal of fun to write and I look forward to releasing it with Andrea in the future. More news as it comes to hand

Nuthin But Net

Three teams are in playtest – Plantmen, Skeletons and Kobolds.

If you are interested in helping playtest any of these teams, feel free to leave a comment on this thread. I would need a minimum of 5 games with the team you want to playtest. Those 5 games should be against different teams to ensure a good spread.

The teams will be in the next supplement, along with a play sheet to keep track of your players achievements and a few other ideas to use in your games.

Nuthin’ But Net 3D Court

I’ve been very busy lately writing the final few chapters of Song of Fur and Buttons, beginning a new game – Mighty Armies Invasion and developing the background and concept of ‘Dusk’ – formally known as Twilight. In addition to all this I’ve been writing alot of new material for Nuthin’ But Net.

This new material will of course be compiled into several small expansions which will be released for free both on this blog and on the Two Hour Wargames Yahoo group. Some of the things I’m testing at the moment are magic, two new teams – Undead and Silva (plantmen) in addition to full court rules, All star weekend rules as well as several others.

I hope you have found the first such expansion (already released) to be beneficial and fun to use. Not to worry, another one will be on its way when I’ve finished playtesting.

Something else I’ve recently done is finish my 3D Nuthin’ But Net court. It is a full court so can be used to run two simulateous games or one full court game. It was very easy to make. Just involving blue insulation styrene, MDF, textured paint, woodfiller and flock – as well as several paints and paintbrushes. Below you will find a couple of photos of the court.

The Silva (Plantmen) will play a little differently from the already established teams, as will the Undead. But more info on that later

Song of Fur and Buttons

Well I’m currently writing the eleventh of twelve exciting and unique scenarios for this expansion. I’ve had an absolute blast writing it and if there is enough interest in the first one, I have enough material to easily write up a second book. I would have included more than 12 scenarios in the first, but I’ve just completely run out of room!

I am taking photos for the book next week – a big thank you to Nic @ Eureka for letting me use some of his store models for this. What a gentleman!

Hopefully this will be the return of regular posting on this blog, so please stop by and ask questions, make comments and provide feedback. It is all great appreciated. So until the next update, take care and thanks for reading!

- Ben.

Nuthin’ But Net Expansion Booklet 1 available!

I have been working on a series of small Expansion Booklets for Nuthin’ But Net. These Expansion Booklets are free and provide more options for your games of NBN,  these could be new teams, new rules or player aids.

The first in the series of these Expansion Booklets is now available to download from here and the Two Hour Wargames Yahoo Group.

It includes:

• 9 Legendary Players
• The introduction of Training Points
• 17 Abilities to specialise your players
• Rules on deliberate fouling

You can download it by clicking here – Nuthin’ But Net Expansion Booklet 1

I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue and on any future issues.

If you have got NBN, download the file and have fun!

If you haven’t got NBN yet, download this file and check it out to see what you’re missing out on lol

- Ben

Nuthin But Net released!

G’day guys!

Well, my first game Nuthin’ But Net, is finally complete and is now available to purchase here:

http://www.angelfire.com/az3/twohourwargames/UPlay/NBN.htm

Nuthin’ But Net has been a project I have worked really hard on with Ed (from Two Hour Wargames) since last June and its great to see it come to fruition.

The game features 9 different fantasy races, Beastmen, Dwarfs, Goblins, Orcs, Elves, Kermitians, Reptilians, Humans and Ratmen. The game is 3 on 3 basketball and uses a very fluid system where both players are involved at all times. There is no sitting down waiting for your turn, because even on your opponent’s turn, you need to roll dice, try and steal the ball or block it, denying your friend the shot.

The fluid system allows for some real strategy. Where and when you move your players is just as important as when you perform your actions. You can set picks, dunk on your mates – pretty much whatever you like.

All the artwork in the book was done by Andrea of Song of Blades and Heroes fame and the board of the court is done by Paul Kim – thanks guys!

Feel free to check it out and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Cheers guys!

Ben.

Ahhhh… Holidays at Last!

First of all, let me apologise for the lack of updates lately. If any of you guys are teachers out there, you can atest to the craziness that is the last few weeks of school. I’ve had to move classrooms and will be teaching grade 5s instead of 2s next year… so there has been a lot to do.

Well, anyway, here I find myself at the end of another long, but rewarding year. It was sad to have to say goodbye to my grade two-ers as they were a great bunch of kids. But it now means I have plenty of time to concentrate on my projects.

I have been writing like a madman lately and so haven’t got much stuff painted, but it now means that Twilight (Dusk Now) is now very close to being opened up to playtesters. I just need to finish off a scenario or two and clarify some points and then the call will go out. *Cue Kermit the Frog like ‘Yaaaaay!’ with flailing arms*

I have finalised the design for the Song of Blades and Heroes cards, but the release will be put back a bit while I sort some stuff out. It does look like I will be able to get physical cards though which is great news! Here is the final design below.

I have also been working on another project more recently that I’m very excited about. I’m having an absolute blast writing it and hopefully I’ll be able to tell you all more about it soonish.

I have painted a few miniatures, notably some stands of 10mm Night Goblins and two Teddies. One Colonial Teddy Bear – Sir Maurice Fursworth and a native Teddy Bear that looks a lot like a Koala (note the gum leaf shield). I just love these guys. Almost as much as the Frogs… they just have sooo much character. They are made by Eureka Miniatures.

After some discussion the other day, I’ve decided to paint some of the Married Zulu Teddies (natives) as Koalas, with their feather headdresses a Sulphur Yellow colour (like a Cockatoo) – trying to make them distinctly Australian.

Here are some photos of my most recently painted miniatures.

I have also began making a 3 foot square terrain board to play Song of Blades and Heroes on. I know I already have the 2′x3′ one, but because the terrain is fixed, it’s become a bit stock standard to play on. The 3′ square one will feature movable terrain pieces. This way the battlefield is always fresh, and I can use it for SoBH or Twilight, which will cut down on my storage space alot… now to try and offload some of my other boards.

My demo board for Nuthin’ But Net is almost complete, which is great. Then I can get started on converting some minis for a Kermitian team.

I think I’m really going to enjoy these holidays!

Merry Christmas to everyone and their families!

- Ben.

Reusing, Rebasing and Rebounding…

Wow! What a busy couple of weeks that was. Back to work, starting assessments, writing games, playtesting and pulling hair out!

Reusing and Rebasing

One of my biggest modelling projects that I’ve undertaken recently has been the rebasing of all my Fantasy 28mm stuff. Yes that’s right, I’ve taken the plunge and have begun to rebase every… single… one… seemed like a good idea at the start…

The reasoning behind it was that I found myself painting up twice as many miniatures as I needed. One set for skirmish games and one set for mass battle games. The solution I decided on was to rebase all my models on washers which would be great for skirmish (as the model is now lower to the ground – this makes more visual difference than you or I would have thought!), but I also can use them for mass battle… how?

Well, I first ordered a couple of hundred round 25mm heavy duty magnetic bases from Litko. Then I waited and waited and waited. It must just be me, but my last two Litko orders have taken almost a month to get here… great product, but the waiting is hard when you want to get started right away!

The next job was to buy some wood filler. I used the bases that I had already bought (and used some of) for my 28mm Mighty Armies stuff (which I am rebasing for use with both skirmish and mass battle). I applied a smattering of the wood puty over the base (making sure it was a deeper layer where the models would sit), then I dipped a washer into some warm water and then pressed it into the places where the models would sit. Once the washer had touched the wooden base, I took it out and removed the putty from the middle.

Once dry, the base had three or four pock marks around 25mm diameter each. I painted them up and flocked them, then using the self adhesive on the heavy duty magnetic sheets, stuck a 25mm magnetic circle in each hole. Voila! Now I can just sit my models on there for use with mass battles.

Here is my test base (just an individual one to see if it would work):

Yes it is a LOT of time and effort, and despite the fact that I’m no where near finished, I’m happy that I undertook the project. I think in the long run, this will be a much better use of my hobby time (and my wallet’s money!)

Rebounding

Over the last few months I’ve been working on a few games. There are a few I can’t tell you about yet, but one of them has pretty much been completed and is just waiting on the final layout, artwork and external playtesting.

It is called Nuthin’ But Net and will be published through Two Hour Wargames‘ U-Play Sports Division. It is basically a 3 on 3 Fantasy Basketball game. In the base book there are 9 races represented. I have really tried to make this the best game it can be and Ed (owner of Two Hour Wargames) has been outstanding throughout the whole process, helping my original ideas grow and evolve into the current game.

I’ll give you more information soon, but I wanted to share my demo board that I’m making for it. It will allow two games to be run at once (one game at each end). I hope you all like it.

Until next time, catch you later!

- Ben.