Thinking about the game that I will be running this weekend, I've been giving
some thought to the matter of making the board look as visually appealing as
possible. The problem, of course, is that there is generally not all that much
to see in outer space.... So, I was wondering what other people use for
"terrain" on their FTII boards. We use lava rocks as
asteroids, some of which have been mounted on flight stands--I intend to
replace these with some artificial foam rocks, as the bases will cheerfully
snap off of the rock at even the slightest hint of an impact--and cotton
pulled out into "nebulas". These give a -1 to any shots that pass
through it. I've seen a planet that someone made, using a plastic hemisphere,
and intend to do the same at some point soon. Does anyone else do anything
neat and different? I'd like to hear about anything at all.
> Thinking about the game that I will be running this weekend, I've been
Coat the pumice ("lava rock") with thinned PVA (white) glue and let it dry (24
hours or more). That should keep it from coming apart. You could glue it
directly to a flat, rigid base (foamcore, plastic, or metal). If you use a
flight stand, drill into the coated
rock so the stand extends 3/8" to 1/2" into it, place it upside down,
fill the hole with PVA glue (or 2-part epoxy or epoxy putty), and
insert the stand. Leave it alone until the glue is completely set (PVA
completely clear, no white left).
I picked up some dark, opaque, irridescent marbles to use for bogeys, or maybe
for asteroids (though chunks of pumice should work better
for asteroids). I also picked up a bunch of 6" 2-piece spherical
clear plastic "display balls" at an after-Christmas sale ($.40 each),
and I'm painting one half up as an Earth-type planet. (Another half
will become a nuclear power plant--terrain or terrain objective--for
Dirtside, and others will become diorama covers. Definitely worth the price!)
Also, instead of counters for missiles and submunition packs,
I use fancy sewing pins (the kind with the ball-shaped plastic
head) or ball-head map pins, stuck in 1/2" diam. wooden disks
from the local hobby/craft store.
I haven't tried it, but if you're using plain black or dark blue felt instead
of a commercial "star mat," you might try picking up a couple of different
sizes of glitter (mixed colors) and dusting a little (probably a *very*
little) of that over the table.
Voila--instant stardust! ;-)
- Sam
> John Crimmins wrote:
Swarms of meteors, ie clusters of smaller volcanic rocks mounted together on
one stand. Derilict space ships with seperated parts carefully mounted
seperate sections giving the look of every piece drifting along in space
together at the same rate. A model of a comet: This was actually sculpted from
DAS and painted up (tail and all)looked really good too. There is a lot of
junk floating around planets and between them.You could probably make up a
model of an out of control comunication sattelite or a forgoten about explorer
like Pioneer or Voyager (STAR TREK)and have it hurtle across the table top (at
the guy who'se winning of course). Just think maybe instead of an asteroid
field you could have a drifting garbage dump (Quark), drifting launch boosters
that escaped gravity, bits of Death Stars etc. etc. etc. (THE KING AND I) You
could have escape pods or EVA pods drifting around although they would be
quite small.
For planets etc ive got a couple of polystyrene 1/2 hemispheres that sit
flat on the table but even with a good paint job they never look relistic.
Maybe because they're too small or something. Any way thats my brain picked
On Wednesday, March 18, 1998 4:27 AM, Trevor
> [SMTP:adspirit@pipeline.com.au] wrote:
Asteroids - lava rock and acrylic putty soaked foam whicj looks better
Black hole - matt black ping pong ball
Ice Moon - blue washed rubber ball
(one with a smooth marbly white surface for dogs I think)
Explosions - Modelled from Flourescent FIMO
Missles/Torpedos - 6mm BB painted flourescent on a GW flight stand, glob
head pins work too
Plasma torpedoes - Modelled from Flourescent FIMO (this stuff is ace
under black light)
Moon (like luna) - acryllic putty soaked foam tennis ball after
cratering with hot soldering iron
Pulsar - flourescent blue ping pong ball
Class M planet - Half a foam football soak in acrylic putty and painted
Another Large polystyrene dolls head.
Nebula - Flourescent airbrushed black felt
Space debris - all those really awful micro-machine cut and painted dark
metallic colors, bits of kit bash, bad soldering jobs etc.
Asteroid battle station - Asteroid plus plasticard and kit bash
Space station - half a Cylon mother ship
Planet crusher - A loofa, acrylic putty and paint
> John Crimmins wrote:
So, I was wondering what other
> people use for "terrain" on their FTII boards. We use lava rocks as
I've found that the new 'Battle Planets' that are currently in toy stores
(Toys 'R' Us) work just dandy. There are five or six different ones, plus
'battle moons' that are somewhat smaller. Each one also comes with a number of
other miniatures in various scales that I have found useful.
It sounds like the planets of Ice and Rock would be particularly good for your
purposes. Some of the wierder ones like the Planet of Bone (huge, green,
organic, with long tentacles) have been serving me in
other capacities. The Planet of Bone makes a great Lovecraft-style
elder god hovering over a 6mm or 28mm battlefield (differing only in the level
of threat involved).:p
> I've seen a planet that someone made, using a plastic hemisphere, and
For a planet, I purchased a CHEAP globe and cut in in half. The one I fould
was about $10us at WallMart. Looks VERY nice. I would like to find one of the
moon, but the ones that I have found are too expensive
($50+).
For misssiles small spinner weights (from your local sporting goods store,
fishing department) make great missiles. Jaws drop when you place
a dozen of them on the board at one time :-)
For a Wave gun, I made a template out of bright blue monocote. People groan
when I reach for it.
For a Nova Cannon shot, you could use: Small: Tennis ball Medium: Large Nerf
Ball Large:??? No, I didn't make these as I don't use the SMNC (Spending Money
Naval Committee)
On Wed, 18 Mar 1998 09:36:19 -0500, Jonathan Jarrard
> <jjarrard@ford.com> wrote:
> I've found that the new 'Battle Planets' that are currently in toy
Great idea! I've been wondering what I could do with them. Some of the small
figures you get with them would make dandy 20mm Stargrunt figures, but I could
never think of a use for the round modules that make up the bulk of the toy!
At C$9 to C$15 these are even reasonably affordable.