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Hobby Update - The shifting maze

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 Over Christmas I got inspired and built a shifting maze game board. This is a recent game of Solo Stargrave. At the start of each turn the player picks up the spare tile and puts it at one end of the 2nd, 4th or 6th row or column and then slides that whole row or column down so that the just placed tile is part of the maze and the tile at the other end pops out and becomes the spare. The only restriction is you can't put the tile back where it came from. As the tiles slide past each other, new entrances are created and others closed off. Players can use the changing of the maze to advance their own characters, hinder the opposing team or unleash monsters. In this game it was very difficult to keep the whole team in the same tile and as a result the team got separated and in some cases eaten alone and in the dark. For the monsters I rolled randomly where the spare tile would go. In the end 3 members of the team made it across the board with a couple of treasures. I made the tiles w
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Hobby update - volcanic vents

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 I got inspired by a picture of some volcanic vents on the Crooked Dice site. These are STL files Being old or at least old skool, I embarked on making some of my own. I made these by casting some vent shapes in large glasses. I made the molds out of tin foil. The vent shape using a rolling pin and then bending the foil back over itself with a toilet roll which was just wider than the end of the rolling pin. I had to carefully stuff the foil into the glass and then fill the shape with casting plaster. For some of the first casts I made the casting plaster too watery, I wanted it to flow into the gaps in the mold but it ended up a bit weak and fragile. I got the mix better on the second batch. I then glued the vents to bases and painted them. Dark on the outside and then tried for a glowing effect on the inside. These make nice line of sight blocking terrain for infantry and obstacles for vehicles.
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Stargrave Solo game - the shifting maze

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Here is my party of Apocalypse survivors. They are based on a squad from the Falling Skies series. Here is what lies in wait in the maze.  There is an Alien queen surrounded by her guard and a few eggs. At the start of your turn, you pick up the spare tile and push it into the 2nd, 4th or 6th row or column. This pushes a whole line of tiles and this changes what has been open passages into dead ends and opens new passages. The rooms are barely big enough to fit a whole party into so it's very likely that some characters will be in different rooms and could easily get caught in a shift. This is very like what happened in the pyramid in the AvP movie. A couple of drones arrive in a corner. There is a pathway to the Royal Guard for those that can get there and get in a shot. The Royal Guard are still asleep and don't wake for the first turn. So there is a small window of opportunity to set up a shot. More Drones arrive near the nest. We manage to stun the Royal Guard so it only go
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7TV - V the mini-series - episode two

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 Alan and I played a second game of 7TV using the V miniseries as the background. After the last game the Rebels had made it back to their hideout in an abandoned factory. However, an alien tracking device implanted in one of the team had allowed the Visitors to track them back to their hideout. The brave princess volunteered to try and lead the Visitors away. The Human resistance wanted to know more about the visitors and had prepared a bio storage container that could preserve an Alien's head if they managed to get one. So somewhere in a derelict industrial park... In this episode I upgraded Diana from Extra to Star, this gave me two stars and a supporting cast of red shirt security officers Here is an overview of the Rebel Base as we come into land. A rousing speech from his Supreme Alienness gave the Visitors an extra 3" move as they start their turn His Supreme Alienness directing the security team to go around the building and to make sure that when they get shot they sh
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7TV - V the Miniseries

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 Alan and I played another game of 7TV Pulp yesterday. This time we based the game on a SciFi series. Aliens come to earth in a fleet of spaceships. The Visitors initially promise humanity benefits and access to new technology. Initially they show people how to cure cancer. Then incidents with scientists and journalists see increasingly harsh measures to take away traditional freedoms. It turns out the Visitors want the water and protein on Earth. Humanity will become slave soldiers in the Visitors wars and for those that can't fight they become food. The Visitors turn out to be carnivorous reptiles that prefer their prey fresh or alive. Who new the cure for Cancer was BBQ sauce? After NASA launched Ranger 3 with its pilot Captain William (Buck) Rogers and before the government turned to Skynet as the ultimate defence system, Earth was invaded by a race of mask wearing reptiles. Their motto was "we come in peace, eat your fill men". Now with war between the Visitors and t
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Holiday Hobby update

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I had a good break over the Christmas and New Year. I had almost 4 weeks of hobby time so its an excellent time to get to work on some terrain projects. I can then work on them for several days in a row. I built a quarry themed layout. This is inspired by those BBC shows like Doctor Who or Blakes 7 that were on a tight budget for outdoor sets. This could also be useful for pulp shows. This is made from layers of polystyrene. I didn't have enough for solid contours so its hollow.  This layout also uses ideas from train layouts so I can contour the roads around the hill. The cliffs are made from pieces of plaster rock texture. Sticking these to the polystyrene layers was a real pain and took ages to dry and stick. Its then blended together with a thin layer of plaster textured with an old toothbrush. This picture is after a first coat of paint. since this I got in another coat of paint and some shades on the rock faces. I also got inspired by the lava tube terrain on the crooked dice
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