Quar Trench board (Part 6): Bad Painting

 

Hello everyone.  You must have clicked on the wrong link because this is the Blog of Terrible Loss and I'm sure that you didn't get here on purpose....

But since you're here.... wanna see some badly painted terrain boards? 

Trench Terrain Boards Progress

It's been a while since any significant progress has been made on the This Quar's War Trench Terrain boards.  This is because the only space large enough to work on them is in the garage, and it's been very cold this winter. 

But! I remembered that I am a MAN and therefore don't feel things like physical discomfort or emotions, and it was time to get back to work.  Bit by bit, the boards were textured and painted all without documentation.  Eventually the terrain boards actually started to look like actual terrain boards...kiiinda.  

This seems like a Minor Accomplishment Unlocked, and therefore worth sharing.

As a reminder, each section is 2x4, and the whole board looks like this as a 6x4 table:

Now the big brown expanses in front and behind the trenches are going to be flocked and have scatter terrain on them so I'm not super worried about those areas.  It's the other stuff that didn't come out too great.  The wooden planks and the stone aspects.  Still, we'll go in for some closer ups shall we......

(for an extra bit of organization, the close ups will start at the bottom of previous picture and move towards the top).  

A trench line

The stairs behind that trench line.  

The next trench area.

The stone walls show where a bridge will go
 and also, just add some variety if the bridge isn't there.

More trenches and a rock cliff, by the T intersection,

Looking down the board into the intersection.  

Last staircase.

Faith is for Fools

It's not that the paint job is awful, it's just not what I saw in my mind's eye ya know?  But I will cut myself a break for 3 reasons: 1) first time making terrain boards, so bound to make some mistakes,

2) I painted this in my garage where the lighting is very poor and I am going blind, and 3) it's only 60% done.  I have yet to do the things that improve any paint job; a big ol' wash and creative flocking.  

Which is always the drawback of displaying stuff that isn't finished.  Because the vision of what this is supposed to look like exists only in my head.  Just like my version of the movie Jurassic Park but it's a musical where the dinosaurs sing and dance.

And ya'll can only rely on what you see before you, and worse yet, will only have my poor skills to see it through.  

I just need to have faith in the process.  Something that every Youtube terrain video says to do.  And as a MAN, I will finsh what I start (and it's too late to stop now, that would be a waste).   The Vidoes also say to Like and Subscribe and join the Patreon.  To which I say I will gladly Like and Subscribe...

As mentioned, the next steps will be the big ol' black wash and then maybe a big ol' dry brush and then the very big cover everything with flock especially any big glaring mistakes.  And I have a lot of flock and no fear. 

I'm hoping to have the basic boards done by April ish, for use in a local convention.  And hoping to have most of the yet-to-be-built-purposely-made-scatter-terrain done by September.  So I can take these things to Pacificon and flex on the losers that don't have terrain boards.

Segue to Spaceships

Last weekend I was able to go over to my friend Mr. PC's place and enjoy a game in his newly built customized small house I mean Wargaming Shed.  I'm totally not jealous.  I'm happy with my cramped garage full of cardboard boxes and spiders.  I totally don't need a spacious clean area with a wargaming table for games, two desks for painting and assembly, and storage area....

We played a game of Dropship Commander, which is something we've been meaning to do for years.

The game is 10mm in scale, and his miniatures are Gorgeous.
Just like his wargaming shed.

I enjoyed the game and would play again.  Especially since Mr. PC has everything and all I got-s to do-s is show up and make sci-fi noises.  

That's It.  

Nothing else to see and you should probably continue on your internet journey to whatever site you meant to be at.  Just be sure to use the Incognito Mode and erase your browser history.

Thanks for Reading.

Double Thanks for writing a comment.

Till Next Time.

Overthinking Terrain

Hello again,

I've been a little slow on the posts. Usually, I write my blog posts during down time while at work.  But these days I've been doing other secret writings when I should be working.  I've also been spending more time on other forms of wargaming social media besides blogs.  

And you know, there's only so much of me to go around.  The absence has to be felt somewhere.  Which works for me, because I have one of those personalities that is best experienced in small doses.

Today is a small post about how overthinking terrain leads to distracting projects.  And Overthinking Silly Stuff...is my middle name.

Overthinking Terrain

As seen previously, I've painted up a bunch of these resin fences for use in Quar games to move away from using the Snake rail fence...

And use them I did. But in the process, I saw something disturbing, and now I can't unsee it. 

Look here:

Do You see it? 

Here's an even WORSE example:

Now You see it.
Isn't it.... Hideous?

I know right?  I, of course, mean those itty-bitty-teeny-weeny-barely-noticeable-but-utterly-wretched-and-disgusting gaps in between the fence bases.  Now you can't unsee it either.  Let's all take moment for the feeling of nausea to pass.  

Yes; in truth this is not a big deal and yes; most wargaming fences have this appearance and yes; doesn't effect game play at all and yes! I like to engage in hyperbole.  

But I am not your average miniature wargamer.  I am an Overthinker.  And Overthinking can sometimes lead to over doing.  The gaps had to be filled with something as modular as the fences themselves.

In the end, I made a bunch of little stone pillars to fill the gaps.

My hand in the picture for a sense of scale.
Also, because I have gorgeous cuticles.

The process, while time consuming, was not difficult.  I used my Proxxon to cut a spare piece of foam into 1" cubes and diamond shapes (because I'm that kind of crafter now, where I have spare foam just lying around.  Some might call that hording trash; others might call it preserving supplies).  Then just carved a brick / stone pattern into it.

The carving was done with an Exacto knife and then gone over with a dull pencil like one sees on Youtube in almost every crafting video.  I steal from the best.

Continuing to steal learn from the best on YouTube, I put the cubes into a coffee can with a bunch of rocks, closed the lid, and shook the hell out of it to give the pillars some texture.  

This did not really work that well.  I mean it worked, just not super well.  I suspect it's because the pillars are too large to get beat up sufficiently.  Just like me.  And it had the side effect of being really noisy and waking up my children, because I do hobby stuff late at night after everyone is asleep.  

So, I ended up just using a big rock and a foil ball and pressing into the foam.  

And here's a PRO TIP not on the Youtubes; Don't just grab some dirty rocks from your backyard, throw them in a can, and then shake it with your big strong arms; because when you pull the lid off all this dust is gonna come billowing out.  

After all that it was just painting them up.

AND NOW: 

Gorgeous!

Superb!

Somewhere along the way I figured out that if you cut the pillars into a diamond shape you can do 45-degree angles....

marvelous!

And there we go.  No more unsightly gaps.  This post reminds me of those make-over shows where they have a revolting 'before' image and a glamorous "after' image.  And all it took was hours and hours and hours of work in between.

Thanks for reading.

Double thanks for writing a comment.

Till Next Time.

Quar Campaign Day and Ongoing Quar stuffs.

 

Greetings!  

Are you by-chance in the mood to read about my ongoing projects in the world of Quar?

Also known as War Muppets.  Sometimes called Battle Newts.  Conflict Kangaroos. Army Anteaters.

Only I use those terms, but I'm thinking they could catch on. 

Maybe in the mood to see WAY too many pictures of a day of Quar gaming as part of a larger a campaign?

You are? Great! Because by a totally random coincidence I happen to have a post full of Quar right here, right now.  How lucky for everyone.  

and if ya aren't, then Adios Hippos.  

Post Full of Quar

To start things off, here are some more recently painted Quar.  These dudes are a faction of the Crusaders called Toulmore Veterans.  I know that doesn't mean anything, to anyone, who is not a Quar aficionado, like all of us cool people are.  I feel the same way when Naps players say "Prussian hussar" and I think 'now you're just making up words.'

These guys are the same as Crusaders except they have Teal uniforms and white helmets instead of green unfirms and brown helmets.  so TOTALLY different.

Here they are showing off the
adequate paint job.

The Whole Patrol

so far, so fabulous.

but that was like 12 miniatures!  12!  how utterly exhausting and boring to paint SO many miniatures.  I probably went through like 8 paint brushes.  I needed a break from miniatures, so the next project was doing some easy terrain. 

In previous posts I have written about how I wanted to stop using my ACW snake fences in games of this This Quar's War just to stop the constant This Quar's American Civil War jokes.  

Gamers can be so cruel, and the internet is like a middle school playground. 

(no one actually was cruel, I'm lying for dramatic effect, like your Aunt Jenny during a wedding toast).

Previous posts also discuss how I attempted to scratch build some fences and sucked at it, so bought these instead, and painting and flocking was a simple affair.  Just goes to show the life lesson that one should never try if one can buy.  

I got about 10 lengths of fences done in time for the Quar Game day.

Quar Campaign Day

My new faction and fences would come in handy, as I had a big day of Quar gaming on the calendar being hosted by nice guy Mr. NB.  

This was on the Sunday during the Valentines Day weekend.  Disappearing for a day to play miniature games would require the expenditure of many hubby points. Luckily for me I had the bank roll laid in, as evidenced by her Valentine's gift to me....

Can't argue with a travel coffee mug.

Don't worry, I got her gifts too.  I got her flowers, candy, and a cheesy Valentines card, and on the inside I wrote in a dirty joke.  Just what all women want.

I woke up early and drove the 2 hours down to Fremont and spent the day there doing game stuff and then drove back up.  It helped that the Monday after was a holiday, so the kids had no school, and I had no work, and therefore the wife had no responsibilities on the day after my day of no responsibilities.  

Walking into the Quar area you're greeted by a table full of snacks, with drinks below.

The Quar in the large frame is founder of the Crusade.
Loved or hated depending on what side you're on.

Campaign Day Set up:

Mr NB really deserves a LOT of credit for pulling together and running the event.  He fangled 12 players (so 6 pers side) to play in 3 linked games.  The first round was 3 games of 2vs2 in a 'Kill the opponent for fun and profit' scenario, then the next round was 6 games of 1vs1, each with it's own special board and scenario.  Then round 3 was back to multiplayer, where the scenario had 3 objectives across the middle.  In each round, each scenario had a primary and secondary objective; and accomplishing these contributed to small bonuses in the next game and to overall victory.  How this worked exactly was either secret or I wasn't paying close enough attention.  

The nice guys from Zombiesmith (the makers of Quar and the rules) also sponsored the event, provided some prize support, and were on hand to run a demo or 2.  

I brought along my new Toulmore Vets to fight for the crusade.  Another nice touch is that everyone got a little "national pin" to wear for the side that you were on:

National Pins that one wears on the collar.
The blue is the Royalist side, the yellow is the Crusade

Photo-Barrage:

I have a LOT of photos here.  If I know what's going on in the picture I'll write a caption.  Otherwise, we'll just go 'oohhh, preeetty' and move on. Some smiling faces, but mostly tabletops and crotches.

Now in no particular order:

one of the last multiplayer games.
Crusaders are trying to capture that Tractor (tank) in the middle.

My dudes pushing over a statue to dam the river for an objective

oh pretty

Oh pretty

crusaders need to place a charge on the gun, being guarded by 
some Fidwogs with their itty bitty teeny weeny one Quar Tractor.

Quar Farm with Guard Beetle

Escorting a tractor over the bridge, which has barricades 

oohh preety.
The dudes lying down are Out of Action, I think.

I gotta get my hands on the trench scenario from Mr. NB.
I am very curious.

oh, pretty

Assaulting the teeny tiny wittle bittle tractor.
because it's a menace.
Just like toddlers.

The snake thingy that kinda sorta looks like Randall from the Monsters Inc Movie
is actually part of the faction's force (called Gloamers).
It's kinda sorta like a war dog.  Sorta.

Here I am fighting over a village: the objective is to have
2 of the 3 buildings under your control at the end of the game.
This is a pic of my second game, where I was very confident of victory
until I got shot to pieces and all my dudes were dead.

My last multiplayer game.

The event ran long, and we were cut short when the store staff said "Look, we gotta close soon, so you nerds gotta go."  Still, everyone was a fine sport, looking to play fun games in a relaxed atmosphere.  I thought it was pretty amazing that one could gather 12 people in a room, each with their own Quar collection.  With Quar being something of a nitch within a nitch, behind the ditch sort of genre.  

It also became clear to me that I need to read up more on how some of the different factions work if I wanna keep up my "I'm 'The Quar Bro, I know everything bro," attitude.  

Cleaning up in a furry, we then held a brief award ceremony outside and Mr NB awarded a fairly large selection of prizes based on our accomplishments or failures.  There were infantry boxes donated by Zombiesmith, and a wide assortment of 3d printed items.   

I was happy to be awarded one of the giant statues for my peppiness and willingness to tell everyone the rules whether they wanted to hear it or not.  

Size of the Statue with a normal Quar.

The statue is a historical figure from the lore of the world.  Something like a Ghangis Khan and a Socrates rolled into one.  It's a very cool and unique item, and now I gotta have a think about what I want to do with it.  

Still thinking.  I'll probably make it a part of some sort of spent Pluck container. 

That last sentence only made sense to Quar players.  

Thanks for Reading.

Double Thanks for Writing a comment.

Till next time.