Custom Action Tokens

Unlike some solo gamers out there, I cannot simply pick up my favorite set of multi-player rules and play, unmodified, a game against myself.  Perhaps I lack imagination but to me that feels too artificial with a dearth of surprises.  So I prefer games designed or highly modified for solo play, especially rules with intense randomization.  For me, an enjoyable solo experience is playing the part of each side's commander trying to force some order into an otherwise chaotic situation.  One of the best ways I've found to facilitate solo play like this is through the use of action tokens.  I'm playtesting a new platoon level skirmish game I made called Our Space Age Army, so I decided to construct some easy stack-able custom action tokens.

First I made the master token shapes using plumber's epoxy putty.  I smoothed out the putty and used tools to press in the symbols for attack, defense and move actions: cross-hairs, castellated line and arrow respectively.  I used a punch made from a scrap plastic tube to make the tokens round.  The putty cured and then I glued a nail to the back of each, making a master press.

Next I rolled out and flattened a strip of Sculpey polymer clay and pressed the shapes into it to an appropriate depth (about that of a penny).

Finally I poured water-putty into the depressions in the Sculpey strip and waited 100 to 200 minutes.  I removed the cured tokens without destroying the strip of clay; it's ready for more putty.  As the picture below shows, I still need to take some sandpaper to the edges, but the tokens are ready for paint.  I think they'll be plenty durable, but if not I'll add another mold-making step and cast them in resin instead. 

 

DIY Spaceship Update

I got back from my business trip finally and returned to making miniature spaceships.  I made a resin cast of a new design right before I left but didn't get a chance to paint it before I departed, so I spent the weekend painting this one.

Well another rose-colored spaceship... not what I intended.  I wanted a fire engine red ship, but since I use ink washes heavily I add a lot of white to my base color to keep it light.  On the last two ship designs it worked fine, but on this one I think I would have been better served using straight red without toning it down.  The black ink would certainly be dark enough to pick out the detail, especially with drybrushing.  Oh well, I have the mold and enough resin to make a hundred or so casts so I'll make another copy and try a different paint scheme.

I like this ship design but not the photos.  I have too much sunlight coming in and washing out the color.  Also, all the tiny details combined with the almost flesh color of the ship gives the vessel an organic look, which is exactly opposite of what I was after.  Like I said, I'll cast another and do it up in proper mechanical grey.

 edit- Here's a few more pics.  I tried less light and while this makes the photos a bit dark, they show the effects of the ink and drybrushing better.

DIY Spaceship Miniatures Continued

I poured a resin cast of my latest scratchbuild spaceship miniature design tonight.  I'm leaving on a business trip tomorrow and wanted to get this ship cast, filed and sanded, based and painted all tonight.

Unfortunately preparations for the trip took most of the evening, so I was only able to clean up the cast; attaching the lower hull, basing it on a flight stand and painting the whole thing will have to wait until after I return. 

The monochrome nature of the resin cast makes it hard to see the details in the picture below, but this miniature is my craziest design yet.  Maybe a little too over the top on detail, but I think it will paint up well.  The little object at the top of the picture is the exhaust nozzle for the ship's engine.  For the first time I'm experimenting with casting separate components which require assembly to complete the ship.

Another Painted Resin Scratchbuild

I painted up the third resin cast of a spaceship design I sculpted; the unpainted cast first featured here.  I used the same basic techniques as last time, but took Matgc's advice regarding drybrushing and achieved a much subtler effect.  I'm happy with the results, although I may have used just a tad too much black wash.  Then again, the miniature through the camera eye looks completely different than it appears on the table, and the heavy wash helps me pick out the details across the room.