Wednesday 21 October 2015

Treasure markers

Treasure!

When I bought my Basius II press-moulding pads, I chose to receive the Dungeon and Urban varieties.  Most of my model-making (at least with exotic bases) is for modern, post-apocalyptic settings and so the Urban pad seemed obvious.

At the time that I ordered it, I thought that I would maybe use only the 'clean' side of the Dungeon pad.  That side has plenty of flagstones and other stuff which could double up as modern day interiors (or perhaps as slightly rougher exterior paving - garden paths and the like).

The busy side of the Dungeon pad is full of piles of treasure, lost satchels, lockets and the like.  I didn't think that I'd get much use from it - but then I bought a big roll of green stuff and felt that I had to use the putty for something.  Suddenly, making some treasure markers seemed like an excellent idea!


So far, I've pressed 7 of these bases.  I've painted them up as part of a ruined city and added some snow to add to the sense of abandonment and desolation (though note that #7 isn't quite finished as I haven't snowed it yet).

The snow is done by adding white glue to the base and then sprinkling with sodium bicarbonate ("baking soda"); this is a very cheap, readily available, fine powder with a nice bright white colour.


The gem on base #7 is my first attempt at painting a large, faceted jewel and I'm not particularly happy with the way it turned out.  I did try to follow some online tutorials, but they were really dealing with simulating jewelry in computer graphics rather than with paint.  My attempt doesn't look right (not to me, anyway).

I'm making a whole bunch more bases from the same mould, though most of these have little or no treasure on them.  These will be used to base up some fantasy creatures and dungeon adventurers (or, in some cases, to rebase some of the older parts of my figure collection).  Look for one or more articles on these in a week or two.

I'm not entirely sure in which game I might use these markers, though.  Perhaps someone could suggest something appropriate :-) ?

20 comments:

  1. Sounds like Frostgrave to me ;-)

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  2. +3 for Frostgrave C6. I think it's the snow dude!

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  3. while they could be used for anything. the Snow pushes the Frostgrave theme. So +4 for Frostgrave,

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    1. Personally I think Frostgrave would work just as well in a Desert or jungle setting. But as my group want to use the book as is a cold snowy waste it shall be. Personally I would have gone for an Ancient Egypt look, but other club members were less imaginative.

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    2. Well, of course - any setting with close terrain and a ruined civilisation would work. Sometimes it's just easier to go with the flow, though :-( ...

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  4. These look great, all the better for being home made - great job Sir.

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    1. Thanks, Michael. And I can make as many more as I like for very little cost, no two quite the same as each other :-) .

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  5. Replies
    1. Thanks, HW. They were surprisingly simple to make :-) .

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  6. Nice work Colgar. Really nice.
    Man, I gotta start varying my own sleep inducing bases.

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    1. Well, bases can take the eyes away from the model itself, if they're too detailed. Still, it's not difficult to add a little variety.

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  7. Very well executed they look really good.

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    1. Thanks, Simon; I'm pleased with the way they turned out. They were really easy to do, mind you.

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  8. Too easy on the Frostgrave...

    But really nice work! Hehe...

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