Counters wanted

Just to "chum the waters" I am working on some original counters with a
"anime" slant to them for generic FT games. With the continual overwhelming
response I got from doing the B5 and Star Wars ones, I thought it might be a
neat idea. i'll see if I can't get a page or so ready for this next
week.....this all got started because I picked up Jovian Chronicles by
DP9.....

I am looking for anywhere on the web to download counters for use in FT. I've
already been to the Unofficial Full Thrust Page. Anybody know of any others?

> On Thu, 17 Jul 1997 ChanFaunce@aol.com wrote:

> I am looking for anywhere on the web to download counters for use in
Yup - You want my web page...

> Anime type counters? I want them..... Work faster! :)
ACK!! (sound of whip cracking overhead as i furiously click with
mouse and stab at WACOM tablet with E-Pen) ;-) Soon, very soon. How
about mecha fighter squadrons, too.....?

Anime type counters? I want them..... Work faster!:)

Randy

"Mike Wikan" <mww@n-space.com> said;

> ACK!! (sound of whip cracking overhead as i furiously click with

What? You have time to write E-Mail, and the counters aren't finished
yet? Must talk to that slave driver of yours, quiite inefficiant.....

In other words, yes!

(You know as long as you've got nothing pressing, like a real life:) Randy

How about some Dirtside 2 counters to?! Infantry types and vehicles would be
nice. How about a special Starship Troopers and Hammer's Slammers
set?!?!?!

Huh, please?!?!?

Thanks,

> Mike Wikan wrote:

gimmegimmegimmegimmegimme!

Just adding my voice to the corus....

yes I am interested.

Sorry-no DSII counters for forseeable future- I am EXTREMELY swamped
and have been "pecking" at this one sheet for awhile.

> At 01:09 AM 7/20/97 -0700, Paul J. Calvi Jr. wrote:

        I agree.  One idea I had was to find BMPs for graphics/wp
programs and use those to make counters for DS forces. Does anyone know of a
site that has freeware or shareware BMPs with different military symbols?

Everything is a painted by hand using Adobe Photoshop 4.0

> > Anime type counters? I want them..... Work faster! :)

Robotech style would be good..

add me in when you get some..

Give me some ideas and i'll try my hand at making some..

CMC

On Monday, July 21, 1997 4:08 PM, Chris McCurry
[SMTP:CMCCURR@vastar.com]
wrote:
> Give me some ideas and i'll try my hand at making some..

Yes I'd like to know how Mike Wikan produces such cool counters. I've tried it
my self with a common paint package but the results
are OK but no-where near as good as the b5 counters, for example.

I think Mike use Adobe Photopaint/shop. It would be interesting to know
do you go about getting the original image and then how to go about adding the
detail and shading effects? Which tools to use and in what sort of general
order.

Given the demand is out stripping the supply - we need to start an
industry here.

sincerely

Hello, Does anyone kow of any sites that have military or SF style BMPs or
similar works that could be manipulated into counters for Dirtside II? Phil P.

"Phillip E. Pournelle" <pepourne@nps.navy.mil> wrote
> Does anyone know of a site that has

I have a couple of sets. To whom should I mail them?

Ray

In a message dated 97-07-21 22:12:25 EDT, you write:

What would people have in mind for DSII counters?

1" (2"?) square/round desert( or should that be in 2 backgrounds like
geo-hex terrain?) background with miniatures sized vehicles on them?

Just some Tanks, GEVs, Howizers, Powered Armour and VOTLs?

In different colors, or just in shades of gray so you could flood fill the
machines your own team colors?

Just a single sheet like the Mike Wikan B5 counters?

Is the sole purpose to turn the miniatures game into a boardgame and save all
that money and trouble ( and space!!) on minis and terrain?

Just a few questions from someone who could do counters, but is
having fun with the miniatures ( thank you geo-hex!) and wants to
know why....

I think Full Thrust can be done without loosing much by using counters, but
Dirtside II doesn't strike that way.... you may as well just play it as a
'traditional' boardgame ( that must be the idea
right?).

And while I've got your attention... I was supprised at first to see how
'vertically challenged' FT and DS miniatures are. Everything is rather flat...
this is just saving metal by not wasting any one the sides that you would
normally see when playing, right? The few Battletech minis I have are more
like 'real models' and not squashed flat... did any of this also strick any of
you? I may just be approaching all this from a rather different point of view
(HA HA, one too close to the table!).

One last point: Jon, does Ground Zero Games take CREDIT CARDS yet????!!!!!

I've got the catalogue, but unless you accept yen or VISA, it is out of the
question to get anything from ya.....

> On Mon, 21 Jul 1997 ChanFaunce@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 97-07-21 22:12:25 EDT, you write:

I want them for a couple reasons. First it would be nice to have some to round
out units I, or my opponenet, don't have miniatures for yet. Second, they make
great "unspotted" markers. Use them upside down then flip them when they're
spotted (and replace with mini). Third, sometimes it's nice to play without
minis for a quick practice game or when you can't bring minis with you.
Fourth, counters for units there are no miniatures for like Hammer's Slammers,
Starship Troopers, etc.

The more the colors the better but they should still look good when printed in
gray scale. Also the more sheets on the most "topics" would be the better
option.

Infantry should be in 1" squares with a full squad and half squad (fire
team) counter. Large vehicles should be 3/4 by 1 1/4" or so for size 4
and
5 vechicles and 1/2" x 1" for size three and smaller vehicles.

Yes the DS2 Future War minis are "vertically challanged". John has a new line
of minis coming out that are great, judging by the new wheeled vehicles.

If you want a great place to order minis try www.discountgames.com. They have
secure credit card ordering and GREAT prices. I order most of my stuff from
them and have always had great service. The site is a bit annoying to get
around until you get used to it.

Paul

> At 12:39 PM 7/22/97 +0900, you wrote:
--snip--

> At 09:17 PM 7/21/97 -0700, you wrote:
Second,
> they make great "unspotted" markers. Use them upside down then flip

OK...maybe FOUR reasons... <g>

On Tuesday, July 22, 1997 4:39 AM, Adrian Bruce
> [SMTP:adrian@inetc.roland.co.jp] wrote:

About 1" - slightly smaller than the actual mini - square - easier to do

arcs. Also with a background that can make a transparent GIF easily.

> Just some Tanks, GEVs, Howizers, Powered Armour and VOTLs?

These classes would be fine to start.

> In different colors, or just in shades of gray so you could flood fill

I'd prefer pre-colored - grey / kakhi / cammo / desert / winter

> Just a single sheet like the Mike Wikan B5 counters?

Yes - Single sheet per army.

> Is the sole purpose to turn the miniatures game into a boardgame and

Also for PBEM. And saving space you can run it as a virtual board game.

> And while I've got your attention... I was supprised at first to see

Never really struck me they were. NSL ships certainly aren't.

sincerely

> And while I've got your attention... I was supprised at first to see

If you dig up an Armor/Armour Tank book and look at the silouhettes
(sp??)
of tanks through the course of history, you'll notice they become more and
more 'flattened' as time goes on. Makes them a smaller target. So, no, I don't
have a lot of difficulty with the flattened tanks of DS2. In fact, they make
perfect sense. You don't want to be sticking your head up any higher than you
have to.

As for the FT minis...*shrug* Dunno. I like most of them as is (not overly
fond of the larger NAC ships, however)

Mk

> Adrian Bruce wrote:

I have a system called Paper Minis. I've got a PostScript library allowing me
to output PostScript text when I call functions for drawing lines and such. (I
got the PostScript library from somewhere else, but have simplified and
adapted it a lot for my purposes.) On top of that, I have a layer that lets me
define a 3D shape and
"unfold" it onto a plane--a sheet of paper.  This can be drawn as an
outline, with solid lines for cutting and dashed lines for folding.
The unfolded shape can also be drawn with "decorations"--shaded boxes,
lines, circles, filled shapes, etc.

So I figure out what 3D vertices are needed, and figure out how to connect
them to give the shape I want and some tabs for holding it together. On an X
system I can display the outline in 3D and rotate it around to see what it
looks like (wireframe drawing). I design decorations for each face, using
functions that normalize the coordinate system for the face to something easy
to do, so I don't have to do math to find out where to draw stuff. Then I
output PostScript, print it up, and cut it out. I think it is a good idea
to copy it onto stiff colored paper--I used green and yellow.

I've got several tread chassis (never figured out the plural for that), some
hovers, a turret, an artillery piece, a little hover scooter, etc. I was away
from a UNIX with PostScript system for a while, but now that I have access
again, I may add to the collection.

The pieces I have so far may be found on Britt's FTP archive:

ftp://kewlaid.highfiber.com/pub/rpg/miniatures/Paper/

in a gzipped, tarred archive.

I think having these guys (plus some more, maybe) copied onto two different
colors of paper could get somebody started for cheap.

> Paul Calvi wrote:

As any of you who frequent the miniatures or wargames newsgroups may ahve
noticed, over the past few days there's been a debate raging that started when
I posted a question asking about whether people considered it still a part of
the hobby to use counters instead of minis. Amazingly, some people consider
such a suggestion to be heresy!

It's good to know that the folks on this list are more down to earth and
realistic in their attitude. I suppose it's only to be expected that players
of GZG games would place the game above the miniatures in importance. (Even if
Jon's profits would be better if we all bought sackloads of minis all the
time....)

Thanks to Rick and Oerjan for posting stuff supporting the gamers side of the
case.

> Adrian Bruce wrote:

> On Tue, 22 Jul 1997, Steve Pugh wrote:

No problem -- there are too many ways to make the "us vs. them"
divisions that infest this hobby from time to time, and after 20 years I'm
tired of hearing them repeated over and over again.