Mordheim Mega Board |
DaltonCalford
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 7:21 pm |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 7:29 pm Posts: 77 Location: Milton, Ontario, Canada
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Mordheim Mega Board
This thread is designed to detail my insanity, having spent far too much time (and money) delving for wyrdstone in the back alleys of the city of the dead.
I am building a series of modular city tiles to be used for games of Mordheim and any other game that meets the genre.
To begin with, I am using a brand new gaming table my father built for me. The table uses nine separite 16" square sections to build a 4'x4' gaming surface.
I am going to use a combination of insulating styrofoam and caste dental plaster to build the gaming area.
To cast the dental plaster, I am using 38 different Hirst Arts Molds
Hirst Arts Homepage
I will list which molds I am using and how they are going to be used. Due to the size of the project, I am going to create my own molds that will allow me to cast whole walls and sections instead of having to cast each brick individually.
Pictures will be posted as soon as I get the picture cd's back from the store (sorry, no digital camera)
If someone would be kind enough to give me a rundown on how to post pictures, it would be very much appreciated.
best regards
Dalton
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Jimbo
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 7:44 pm |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 11:01 pm Posts: 3495 Location: Wessex
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Looks good.
In terms of uploading pictures, you first need to resize them using an image manipulation package.
Then it's as simple as clicking the Choose File button and selecting the file.
If you want to "inlay" the images then you are going to need some webspace that allows deeplinking, generally for this kind of webspace you need to spend money....
_________________ Jimbo
Felix's Gaming Pages
Felix's Gaming Pages Blog
Almost Always Right...
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DaltonCalford
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:12 pm |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 7:29 pm Posts: 77 Location: Milton, Ontario, Canada
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Hey Jimbo,
You told me to resize them, but, to what dimensions and colour depth?
I use the gimp regularly and I can make the resulting image any size, resolution, colour depth and format.
What is the best for this board?
best regards
Dalton
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DaltonCalford
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:21 pm |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 7:29 pm Posts: 77 Location: Milton, Ontario, Canada
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Hey All,
Ok, for a list of the molds I am using
201 Floor Tiles Various Sizes 203 Cracked Floor Tiles 205 Gothic Floor Tiles 210 Cobblestone Tiles 220 Wooden Plank Mold 230 Clay Tile Roof Molds 235 Gothic Roof Mold 240 Wood Shingle Roof Mold 250 Small Brick Mold 260 Flagstone Floor Tile Mold 265 Large Flagstone Mold 266 Large Flagstone Accessory Mold 267 Large Floor Tile Mold 300 Station Builder Mold 41 Gothic Dungeon Accessories 42 Gothic Arena Accessories 43 Gothic Panel Accessories 44 Gothic Additional Accessories 45 Gothic Dungeon Builder 46 Gothic Graveyard 50 Wizard's Tower Mold 51 Dragon's Inn Mold 52 4" Circular Tower Mold 53 Traveler's Bridge Mold 54 Gothic Church Mold 55 Bell Tower Mold 56 Tomb Mold 60 Prison Tower Mold 61 Turret Mold 63 Octagon Tower Mold 64 8" Round Tower Mold 65 Ruined Tower Mold 70 Fieldstone Wall Mold 71 Fieldstone Accessory Mold 72 4" Circular Fieldstone Mold 73 6" Circular Fieldstone Mold 74 Fieldstone Bridge Mold 80 Dragon's Teeth Accessory Mold
I have performed a sample cast on each mold using Light weight Hydrocal, but, I must say, the molds are perfect, but don't waste your money on hydrocal. If any of you are thinking of doing this at home, do yourself a favour and buy your dentist a bottle of his/her favorite drink and order yourself up a couple of 50 pound boxes of Die-Keen Dental plaster.
best regards
Dalton
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DaltonCalford
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:40 pm |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 7:29 pm Posts: 77 Location: Milton, Ontario, Canada
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Ok,
Now we know the molds and the material, but, what on earth to build?
If you look at the hirstarts homepage, you will notice that he has alot of buildings designed for the use of his customers.
The problem with the buildings come from three sources
[A] They look too good to be in a devastated city [B] They are designed to be assembled/disassembled and this would make the game slow down and become unplayable. [C] They are not designed with high enough walls to reach into the openings and move pieces.
All of the above can be rectified with some basic design criteria.
(a) Each wall section for a "level" of building is to be 2 and 1/4" in height (9 standard bricks) (b) A crumbled wall is no more than 3/4" high © A non-crumbled wall can only be attached to a single other uncrumbled wall. (d) A building base structure should be 6" minimum on the shortest edge. (e) For reach considerations, no building can be higher than 4 levels plus roof peak.
Given the above considerations, each tile could hold a maximum of 4 buildings (36 buildings total) and still have room for alleyways and roads.
The maximum height of the gaming area is 9" plus peak (average of 3 inches) plus base terrain elevation. If you assume a maximum elevation change of 3/4" per 4" of tile, then the highest peak would be 4.5" at the centre, assuming you are starting at table height at the edge.
That means the tallest building, at the centre of the town, would be about 15"s above the table surface. Well within reach concerns.
Given the above concepts, lets go into the areas of the design.
best regards
Dalton
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DaltonCalford
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:56 pm |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 7:29 pm Posts: 77 Location: Milton, Ontario, Canada
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Design Concepts,
The city will be modular from a layering viewpoint as well as from a tile viewpoint. This will be accomplished with some tiles that are designed to have another tile partially or completely covering them.
For example, a riverside tile, 4 inches of the tile will be river. 4 Inches of the tile will be dockside/walkway with a 4 and 1/2" wall . The wall will have pipes/sewar grates coming through it. On the other side of the wall will be a sewar scene very much like the examples shown at the hirst arts website. The main difference will be, all walls/pillers will be 4 and 1/2" in hieght.
A separite tile, 8" wide, would sit correctly upon the first tile, giving a layering effect. Holes in the second tile with ladders/etc could give further access to the lower levels.
This sort of design is visually appealing, and can lead to dungeon only games or games where one group (such as mutants or skaven) come out of the sewars, but, it should not be used as a combination surface/dungeon game.
More to come - feedback is very welcome.
best regards
Dalton
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Jimbo
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:08 pm |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 11:01 pm Posts: 3495 Location: Wessex
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Quote (DaltonCalford @ 31 2005 Mar.,21:12) | Hey Jimbo,
You told me to resize them, but, to what dimensions and colour depth?
I use the gimp regularly and I can make the resulting image any size, resolution, colour depth and format.
What is the best for this board? | Hi Dalton
I was going to find out what app you used and then direct you to a couple of guides I have on my Tech website http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/software.html
I would go for 600 pixels wide at about 80% compression using JPG. This means that the image will be between 50-100KB and be easy and quick to download and not ssssttttrreeettch the screen too much either.
_________________ Jimbo
Felix's Gaming Pages
Felix's Gaming Pages Blog
Almost Always Right...
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DaltonCalford
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:36 am |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 7:29 pm Posts: 77 Location: Milton, Ontario, Canada
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Quote (Jimbo @ 31 2005 Mar.,17:08) | Hi Dalton
I was going to find out what app you used and then direct you to a couple of guides I have on my Tech website http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/software.html
I would go for 600 pixels wide at about 80% compression using JPG. This means that the image will be between 50-100KB and be easy and quick to download and not ssssttttrreeettch the screen too much either. | Thanks Jimbo,
I will follow your advice on the pictures, should have some by monday or tuesday.
I will continue with the design parametres and people can follow along by going to the hirstarts page or to other links that I will post.
best regards
Dalton
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DaltonCalford
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:48 am |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 7:29 pm Posts: 77 Location: Milton, Ontario, Canada
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THINGS TO BUILD
The big question, if I am going to be building approximately 36 structures, I should have some idea as to what I am going to build.
So here is a list of my ideas, feel free to post ideas, cause I am always open to new concepts.
Ruined Wizards Tower Ruined stables Poluted well Ruined Inn Ruined Bridge
still got to think of some more.
best regards
Dalton
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nealhunt
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 8:57 pm |
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Purestrain |
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Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2003 10:52 pm Posts: 9617 Location: Nashville, TN, USA
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Nice link on the source of the molds. Thanks.
_________________ Neal
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stormseer
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 11:38 pm |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 9:52 pm Posts: 4598 Location: Suffolk, UK.
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Indeed, looks like you will be producing some impressive stuff with that selection Dalton... 
_________________ www.darkrealmminiatures.com
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DaltonCalford
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 12:24 am |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 7:29 pm Posts: 77 Location: Milton, Ontario, Canada
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Quote (stormseer @ 01 2005 April,18:38) | Indeed, looks like you will be producing some impressive stuff with that selection Dalton...  |
If Maksim ever posts the inventory of our Mega Trade, you will see how many Titans, Gargants, Chaos knights and ordontis went into the trade for the molds......
I figure it works out to about 5 sprues of infantry, 6 blisters of vehicles and 3 warengines a mold or somewhere thereabouts....
And that was not even the whole trade.....
best regards
Dalton
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stormseer
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 12:27 am |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 9:52 pm Posts: 4598 Location: Suffolk, UK.
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Wowee... out of my league to be sure...
Certainly an epic sized trade though! 
_________________ www.darkrealmminiatures.com
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Legion 4
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 6:12 am |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2003 5:13 pm Posts: 36984 Location: Ohio - USA
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The Egyptian stuff on that site is very cool ! 
_________________ Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
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DaltonCalford
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Post subject: Mordheim Mega Board Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 4:38 pm |
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Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 7:29 pm Posts: 77 Location: Milton, Ontario, Canada
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Quote (Legion 4 @ 02 2005 April,01:12) | The Egyptian stuff on that site is very cool !  | My daughters think so too, "just like stargate" they tell me.
(get them young, keep em' hooked and sometime, you too will have gamers on your hands, who says you need boys.)
I did not get the egyptian stuff due to the lack of a game to use it with.
I also got the station builder mold to make space hulk boards.
Anyways, if you are thinking of doing this, understand that the labour involved in casting one mold is the same labour in casting 20 at a time.
If a single mold needs to be cast 20 times to make somthing, then casting 20 buildings takes the same time as casting a single building. Plus the extras left over make some great building parts.
If you are going to duplicate alot of things, then I suggest RTV molding rubber to create your own masters. With your own molds, you can cast a single building in 5 pieces vs 20.
best regards
Dalton
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