Scumbag Camera pt. 2

just a few more images, same camera, so they still suck - will try to get some proper pictures up when I've actually finished a few models (these ware WIP)

Scumbag Camera

I decided to take a few snapshots (I'm almost inclined to label them snapsnots) of the minis I've done so far, but my much-lamented camera isn't really what you'd call "up to the task". Also, this is still a work in progress, but for what it's worth, here we go:

Got wood?

I haven't really done much of this sort of model-making before, so I wasn't sure what to use as a base. However I wanted it to be sturdy, reasonably light, and (since I'm building on a budget) not too expensive, so I settled on wood. I'm no carpenter (though my brother is!) so I'm not quite sure what the name of the specific type of wood is - since I got it from the left-overs bin at the local DIY market. I also got the plates cut to size (48x48 cm) there, and ended up paying 120 kr. (something like 12£, or 16-18 euro) for all 4 plates, which was reasonable to me.

I also picked up some other remedies I'd need, this was how my work table looked right before starting the actual work:

and then printed out a plan of each of the boards I was going to make, like so:

 and started mapping out a 4x4cm grid on the wooden boards, like so:

Then I mapped in where walls and door were supposed to go:

and did likewise for the second board:

and, as of the date of this post, that's where I am - hopefully I'll get further with it in the coming weeks/months, though like I stated in the beginning - I am not going to rush this :)

Dimension X (and Y, and Z)...

This is not a 3D blog, so I won't go into detail on how I did the 3D model - besides, it's not exactly hardcore modelling, as should be obvious. But I basically set up the four boards, put in the walls, and made a slideshow of setup of the twelve missions that are in the Mission Book.

The result can be seen in this YouTube video here:

A cunning plan

The first thing I did was get down to some serious planning. It may be boring, if so I apologize, but it really is necessary, and I actually do enjoy it on some level, too!

The most important thing to decide on was scale. The game consists of 4 boards of 12x12 squares, usually arranged in a 2x2 grid, making for 24x24 squares per side. One of the missions has three boards arranged in a row, making for 12x36 squares, but the rest follow the 2x2 pattern.

Going for the same square-size as the original boards was not really the right choice for two reasons:
1) I was going to put walls on there, and as such, models couldn't expect to "spill over" frames whenever they needed to
2) I wanted a more heroic scale

My initial idea was 5cm x 5cm squares, as it'd be a nice, round number and leave plenty of space. However, that would mean the board would end up being 1,2 meters per side, which was a little much. So I decided to cut it down to 4cm x 4cm, with walls being 1 cm thick, thus taking up ½ cm on either square. This meant that corner squares would be down to 3,5 x 3,5 cms -  a little small, but just big enough for a Space Marine - I hope!

My day-job is as a 3D Artist - and as such I have access to 3D drawing software, as well as a home-license, and so it felt natural for me to model the board in 3D, to aid in the planning. This isn't really necessary, especially since the boards are relatively simple, but I wanted to do it, and it will help figure out which sides, if any, are always (or never) facing out, and that might come in handy for adding additional details and end-pieces.

I scoured the web for scans of the actual game boards, and found some semi-decent ones - a little warped, but much better than what I could produce, since I don't own a scanner, and so would be reduced to taking photos with my rather mediocre mobile phone camera!

one of the four (all different) game-boards

And so, armed with a decision on the size, and reference material in the form of scans, it was off to 3DS Max (my software of choice).

a Crusade in Space

A bit of backstory. You can skip this if you want, it's not relevant except I kinda wanted to write this. For my 10th Birthday (back in 1992!) I wanted the game Hero Quest more than anything. I got it, and it was amazing. My brother and I would play with it, and occasionally even my dad could be persuaded to join in, even though the whole fantastical element wasn't really his cup of tea.

Many years later, when I was grown up (somewhat, at least), a friend brought out the old Hero Quest for a gamenight with the guys, and eventually we turned to Space Crusade. Now this was a game that I had seen at a friends house as a kid, but this friend was the kind of guy who'd smash up the miniatures with a hammer for fun, so we never actually played the game then.

When played with other (reasonably) adult people, it turned out to be excellent fun though, and I decided to paint up some models of my own, rather than use the somewhat dated models that came with the game (the game is from the early 90's after all).

After a while, we stopped playing, but I kind of wanted to get the ball rolling again, and since I have been looking for something to do hobby-wise, I've decided that I want to create a Space Crusade game-board in full 3D (that is, with walls and all). This blog is dedicated to documenting my progress, for my own sake, and for those who'd find this interesting, for one reason or another. I expect this project to take a while, because free-time is not something I have that much of, and I don't want to rush it, or feel it's another job - it'll be something I do when and if I feel like it, and have the time.

box art, courtesy of Google, as I don't have the actual box!

90's era Space Crusade Space Marine - looks good for its age, but model-making technology has advanced and models of today look better - if I can get some decent photos of my own "marines", I might put 'em up too!