Norcon XII Part 2- WIP Photos

Here are some early WIP photos for terrain I am making for the Norcon infinity event. Sorry about how awful the photos are, I haven't taken any miniatures photos in a long time so I didn't have my backdrop and camera set up. These are just some shots of terrain sitting on my office chair taken with an iPhone.

These pieces are all for a scenario called "Boarding Action" and represent the decks of two different star ships locked in a stellar battle in the Human Edge system. The scenario objective is to be the first player to sneak aboard your enemy's ship and disable his security systems, while defending your own security terminal at the same time.

The tiles have been made using plaster cast pieces from Hirst Arts. These pieces are all from a range of tiles designed for making starship decks for use with Wizards of the Coasts Star Wars mini game, but they are perfect for Infinity, and I will be using them in a lot of the terrain I am building for Norcon. As a huge Star Wars fan I also like how these pieces are very reminiscent of the walls and decks from many classic Star Wars ships. Bruce Hirst really nailed these when he was designing them.

I have designed the terrain pieces as modular tiles for several reasons: 1) they can be reconfigured into different deck plans for future use, 2) gluing the tiles down to smaller sections of MDF board will prevent the boards from warping, and 3) in a pinch these tiles can be used as buildings on normal gaming tables. So far the pieces here are only base coated with a heavy dry-brush. Next I will do a wash, then a quick highlight drybrush, then some detail work. Ultimately they will never be works of art, as I am just doing quick and dirty paint jobs on them, but I think they will still make for really nice terrain.



The three photos here are of the pieces that I am farthest along in completeing. The first photo is "Pilot's Lockers and Briefing Room", a piece that was inspired by the lockers and briefing room used by the pilots in Battlestar Gallactica. Originally I was going to add rows of chairs, a view screen, and a podium to the smaller room, but then it would be almost too crowded to fit models into. I may go back and add some more furnitrue and details later. 

The second tile is "Cargo Bay", based on one of the suggested designs from the Hirst Arts website. The tile is currently unfinished, as the big gap in the front wall will actually be filled in completely by windows when I am finished. The windows will be made of transparent plastic, so I don't want to add them until the painting is done, so I don't get any paint on the plastic by accident.

Finally, the last group of tiles are designed to fit between the other tiles, either by themselves to act as connecting hallways, or a row of them together to increase the width of another tile.

Already in the works, I am making another large tile called "Barracks" and one called "Engine Room". I have also begun work on the "Security Terminal" tiles, which will be the combat objecives for the Norcon scenario.

I have several other pieces that are either finished, or well under way, including some chain link fences that I am very proud of, as well as the Middle-eastern style stucco buildings that I used for last year's Infinity event. I will feature these pieces in an upcoming blog.