Wednesday 11 May 2016

yet another project

Hi all

I'm currently gearing up toward playing my first proper games of Bushido, I've played a demo game, read through the rules over and over again, watched tutorials on You Tube and furiously painting up miniatures for my two chosen factions, even making a few terrain pieces as shown on this blog.  But an important part of Bushido is objectives, to make most games interesting over a prolonged period of time you need to introduce scenarios, of which Bushido has a very healthy twelve, but the majority of them involve objectives.  So I got to thinking about objectives, now bear in mind a few years ago I would have ripped the minis out of the packs, super-glued them together and gamed with them over a floor or dining room table, fighting for salt shaker objectives.  These days I like the aesthetic side of the game as much as playing it and refuse to play with unpainted minis on bare battlefields so I wanted some thematic objectives and to that end hit t'internet and exercised my web-fu skills. I was at a loss as to what to get, most things seemed expensive and I'm very much a frugal gamer, so much so that I have made a couple of bigger pieces made out of scraps that I have lying around.  Hence the Shinto shrine which you can see here. But I wanted half a dozen so I persevered and then I found these.



Mounted on some bases that I bought from Minibits I have six statues/idols that look like this, I loved the colour so much I haven't touched them...




So I had my objectives but it got me thinking about more pieces. What else did I want? One of the things I like about Japanese culture is the ornamental gardens and Koi ponds, that's what I needed!! Now my inner dialogue went "not another terrain project, you've not finished the watchtower yet....." but I quickly shushed that detracting misery and started to plan what I envisaged to be a cool koi pond.

I already had all of the pieces that I needed (yet another frugal project) and this is what I had available and how I did it....

1 x Pringle tube
1x sheet soft foam
pva glue
brown emulsion
water effect resin
model bamboo


Cut the bottom off of the pringle tube so that you have a solid base, cut to the depth of the pond wall (I went 1.5cm). glue the foam onto the sides - inside and out (it's a good idea to score the tile pattern before gluing).  I then used the foam to cap the wall as below




I used cat litter as detritus at the bottom of the pond and then covered the whole thing in emulsion (a lot cheaper than model paint and better coverage). I then used brown ink to add shade and hot glued the bamboo as a centre piece.  I then made some koi out of foam and coloured it orange and other markings, they don't have to be perfect as the resin will distort the look.  The pic below is pre-pour.


And voila, one koi pond!!



The resin was poured over four different sittings to get the best result and after each pouring I added some extra detail. Pre-pour - one fish added, after first pour another, second pour the last and after the third I added some loose bamboo leaves.  the fourth was the final pour and had the last bamboo leaves at the surface.  i did this so that the fish would not all be swimming at the same level, a detail not completely obvious from the photos (sadly)

now I made this pond I started thinking about dedicated Bushido boards and perhaps it would look better in a Temple setting, so i went out out a bought a few supplies much to chagrin of missus Gobbo.......oops!!

artists canvasses for the board and polystyrene tiles.....

all glued together
I will post later how the board came about, stayed tuned for more progress
hope you enjoy
dGG




16 comments:

  1. Just outstanding stuff Andy. You really have made "Bushido" come alive to me with this project. That Pond is fantastic and, as you know, I'm a huge fan of objectives too - so great find with the little statues.

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    1. Thanks Simon, the pond was a fun project and will look fantastic on the dedicated board I'm working on....I hope! ;-)

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  2. Brilliant job on the pond. The Statues look cool. I once had two massive (well compared to miniatures) Lions in the same material sadly the got given away a decade ago.

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    1. Thanks Brumm, I like the colour of the statues, I don't think I could have improved on it if I tried, a little shiny but so good.

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    2. Perhaps a coat of matt varnish might do the trick?

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    3. Good shout bud, I might just try it out

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  3. Out-bloomin'-standing! I just love that pond and the idols were a cracking find too. I know exactly what you mean with regards to getting the aesthetic in place before gaming - my Witchfinder project is over two years old and we are still waiting to play it!

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    1. Thanks Michael, I'm itching to play but just grown up enough to make sure it's right, I can always add more stuff once I have a decent playable board and objectives, but the atmosphere of the games come from the aesthetic imho and I feel (now!) that it's almost if not more important than other aspects of the overall game.

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  4. This project of yours is really coming alive. Once again, outstanding work on your koi pond. There is a lot to be said for frugal gaming. Andy, you're an inspiration to us all!

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    1. Nearly there Bryan, I'm desperate to start playing but really want to get it right before gaming and by not playing straight away I ensure that I carry on painting to completion rather than having loads of dead lead for my mountain.

      The board I'm building and that I hinted at here isn't as frugal as other parts of the project but not prohibitively so and imho well worth the effort, additionally I can use the leftover materials for a couple of other boards that I have in mind for Bushido so in the long run frugality will return!! Lol

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  5. The koi pond looks awesome dude, looking forward to the first game mate

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    1. Soon mate, we can have a walk through after I've submitted my next couple of essays. Then a game or two when I finish some more figs

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  6. I fully intended to comment on this Andy when I first saw it, but didn't. Excellent work, as usual. I especially like your pond and will be "borrowing" that idea, although as I have no resin, I may have to come up with a cunning alternative... I believe I may b have just the thing...

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    1. Thanks Jez, the resin thankfully was left over from another project as it is quite expensive and I'm sure their are cheaper and better alternatives out there. I look forward to seeing what your cunning mind can come up with and then I can "borrow" it for my somewhat future river project, just like I'm going to "borrow" your door idea...... ;-)

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