I stumbled on this pair of N Gauge model railway scenic phone masts on ebay. They were a little short for my needs, but happily as they're 3D printed to order, the seller was happy to increase the height and do a custom order for me.
The custom masts are ~18cm tall. They were a little fiddly to assemble - especially the long girder sections, but after a splash of paint, I think they meet the brief!
I mounted the pair on some wider bases with washers glued to the underside to help with stability. I also added some nice new tufts to the base - these are Army Painter 'highland tufts'.
Painting was very quick - basecoat brown, sponge on a lighter brown. Paint the comms array white and sponge on grey!
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| The eagle-eyed among you may well have already spotted the comms arrays in the background of some of my scenic photos! |
It's taken me 4 games of Shadow wars to realise the height thing was the real issue in my tables. Those are real nice additions, they don't look like much but they make the whole scene look more credible.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny isn't it - you realise that everything on the table is the same height - trees, buildings, containers. I'm looking out of my window now and can see a 2-storey house, a single-storey garage, a 20ft tree, some lampposts - all different heights :)
DeleteMore height is a great thing for a game table, although I assume it would be easy to go overboard and make it hard to reach in and move the little men.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the towers, I think I could make them with my Cameo... just layer the paper a few times, and then sprue for the antenna bits. Might be worth a punt.
Absolutely, you don't want too much going on. I saw a gorgeous shanty a few years ago, riddled with cables and wires between the shacks. It looked fabulous, but as a gaming piece wold have been a nightmare.
DeleteWhat's a cameo? Some sort of laserguided cutting something?
I have always wanted to have some terrain absolutely dripping in wires, drying laundry, and flags and the like.. but then how do you play it?
DeleteYeah, Silhouette Cameo, basically a knife blade in a printer. I have not done much with it, but I made these bases with it, dice, and experimented with some terrain elements.
Funky! One of my hobby buddies has something similar and has used it to make some pretty clever things.
DeleteSweet. Less is more, these are simple but totally effective. Nice.
ReplyDeleteThanks Suber! Just keep adding stuff I reckon - layers of detail :)
DeleteVery nice and effective. I must look into something similar.
ReplyDeleteIt all helps, right?!
DeleteLooks nice! Interesting thought about height, I tend to avoid anything over two stories because it tends to be unreachable in game and it leads to being smacked down in-game by 'the wrists of the gods' (<- hey it sounds better then 'being knocked over while measuring). On the other hand from an aesthetic perspective you are absolutely right.
ReplyDeleteI think selective additions are the way forward - too much gets in the way of gaming, but a few elements can really help with the aesthetics :)
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ReplyDeleteAdding a few, steady, not too intrusive high elements to a terrain set goes a long way to making it a bit more believable.
Good job.
Cheers cheetor!
DeleteEffective results mate.
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, the odd piece like you've produced here and there creates a more interesting playspace and gaming experience. But less is more in this I think.
I agree, too much and it becomes cluttered and impractical (even if it's more accurate!). A nice compromise is what's needed.
DeleteMuch much better scale wise for sure!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
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