NorCon XIII Part 1- New Terrain

I just finished the first batch of terrain that I will be making for NorCon XIII. I also have plenty more on deck waiting to be painted, so I should have more ready to go by the end of next week.

 

The first pieces of terrain shown here are dense forest markers that are going to be used to represent the moors of Ord in my upcoming Iron Kingdoms RPG, but at NorCon they will be joined by many more pieces to represent the forests of Northern Caledonia. I have four pieces finished so far, and four more on deck, but I will need about 12 more after that to make a full forest table. These were made using a variety of tree kits from Woodland Scenics as well as plaster rocks from Woodland Scenics. The bases are made of thin MDF board that I covered with sand and flock.

 The next set of pieces are ultramodern concrete benches and planters. These planters will be used as ground cover and decoration for the city table that I am planning. Down the road I will upload a photo of the layout that I have designed for this table, but the short version is that there will be a large central building on the table with a small courtyard. These chairs and planters will be used to fill that courtyard to provide some cover in the middle of the table. These were made using a variety of resin cast pieces from my favorite terrain makers at Antenocitis Workshop.

The next two pieces are both reflecting pools that will be used as decorative terrain for the first session of my IKRPG game. I will probably use them again down the road in later chapters of the IKRPG game, but I'm ultimately planning on donating them to Matrix Cards and Games to beef up their terrain. Both pools were made using plaster blocks from Hirst Arts, and are topped with minis from Reaper Miniatures.

For very simple pieces of terrain these turned out to be a pain in the ass. After the beach table I made for NorCon last year I decided that I needed to put much more dye in the water if I wanted to get a nice shade of blue, but unfortunately I over-corrected and made this water way to blue. Even worse, the amount of dye that I used prevented the resin from curing correctly, and it never fully hardened. To try and fix it I added a thin second layer of clear resin over the top. However, the blue resin underneath continued to harden and shrink, causing it to peel away from the fast-drying clear layer, creating weird fractal-shaped bubbles around the edges of the water. Well... Live and learn, I guess. Maybe the third time I do a water effects I'll get it right.

 The final pieces here are a set of garden planter boxes filled with trees. These will also be part of the terrain for my IKRPG game, but they will also be used as ground-level cover for the apartment complex Infinity table for NorCon. I know that pine trees are a weird choice for trees to grow in a garden, but I had an overabundance of these that were to small to use on the forest templates that I was making, so I ended up using them here. The garden boxes were made using plaster bricks from Hirst Arts, and the trees are from Woodland Scenics.

NorCon XIII

I've changed obsessions and switched back from my video editing project to making terrain. I've started assembling my tables for this year's NorCon event. In the last couple of weeks I've put quite a bit together, and I'll start uploading photos as soon as I get some painting done.

I'm not sure what to expect for Infinity turnout this year, and I'd like to participate in the Warmachine tournament this time round, so I'm planning on fewer tables. However, I want to try and outdo myself this year, so I am working on some cool new stuff to make better tables.

My plan is to have either 4 or 5 tables this year, plus a Warmachine table that I am making for our local Pressganger, Scottie. Like last year, each table will have a separate scenario unique to the table. One table will be a straight victory point scenario, and for the others I will be running simplified versions of some of my favorite scenarios from the Paradiso campaign book.

Table 1- I'm bringing back the Desert Town table from last year, but this time with some new additions. I've ordered a few more buildings to add more complexity to the table. Also, I've taken steps to correct the one complaint people have with the table by making the cover on the rooftops of the buildings more clear cut.

Table 2- The Apartment complex will also be making a return, with the addition of a few more pieces of cover.

Table 3- One of the new tables I'm making will represent a mining prospector camp on Dawn, just outside of the borders of Ariadna. The miners have uncovered a dangerous alien artifact, and two factions have arrived to investigate.

Table 4- Last year I wanted to make the holy grail of wargaming tables: a non-ruined city. At the time it turned out to be more expensive than I could afford, but I have a new plan to try again this year. The idea is to make a table with a three or four story building in the middle of the table, surrounded by shorter buildings. The central building has been affected by a cyberwarfare attack, and local police have secured a perimeter around the building.

Table 5- I'm still waiting for a flash of inspiration for a fifth table, but I have plenty of time before NorCon. I may ask someone to help me out, like the excellent Japanese Sectorial table that Joel made last year.

Warmachine Table- For the Warmachine tournament I'm building a table to represent a hamlet and lumberyard in the northern Thornwood. This small community has had the misfortune of landing right in the middle of every major faction in Western Immoren.