Working on something new; Terrain boards no1; Refinery first look

It's no secret that the wargaming bloggosphere creates a constant stream of great things, which is really good when you can't really decide what to do next.

This little conundrum was solved in my particular case when I saw these beautiful pieces put together by Ali of Sayiner Micro toys : Link

Inspired and with some idea of what to do, I started sketching and pondering how to make some more nice tiles of my own. If I wanted to cover the entire table space available to me when playing I'd need to make quite a few, at least 12. Where do I get that seemingly random number from? Well, the fact is that the only suitably sized 2-3mm acrylic I could find without having to order online is 25x25 cm squares from a local hobby shop.

I wanted to be able to use the pieces individually as well, in case I decide to do less than the full 12, get distracted or can't find space for them all in my already cramped cupboards..

I also find it much more likely to continue if I actually get some use out of them before they are all finished, so with a rough sketch all done, I started on the first one:

(I appologize for the state of clutter and general quality around these pics, they were taken with my phone as I was watching some telly with the wife)

I've always wanted to make a refinery of something along those lines, and then I realized I had a ton of pipes that I got from old crow a few years back. The big building is just a plaster hulk right now, but after some bits and greeblies it will hopefully look the part of a small refinery. On the top right the bottle is a stand in for the silos that will be there when I finish them.

And here is the base board primed and the pipes mounted. I'm going to keep the building/silos and the bridge-pipe pieces removable for easier storage of the board. It might be hard to spot in this photo, but there is the beginnings of a roadway running through the board.


I'll be sharing any updates to this project as I make some, but as usual there might be a sidetrack or two along the way. I'm currently trying to decide on a rules system for my next set of games, inspired by reading alot of military sci-fi. I'm thinking fairly small scale, squad level skirmish mostly, but the occasional larger battle thrown in. The larger battles will probably use CoTF or Gruntz, but for the skirmish side of things I'm currently trying to decide between Blasters & Bulkheads and Rogue Stars.

Any opinions on these system, or any other suggestions is welcome!

Til next time!