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Post by Mike Blake on Aug 4, 2019 16:26:21 GMT
Has anyone tried planning one out, to have all the essential requirements that SF scenarions might need? When we started the Old West many years ago, we had town maps which showed the layou, but which were just the buldings we had in different places!
I have a hankering to do something similar for our Kraken Nebula space opera games...any thoughts, ideas or suggestions as to what should be included, perhaps as a) essential and b) nice-to-have/add later to give some sort of priority?
We have varous pieces of suitable terrain, of course, but it has no real identity (nor is it stored very sensibly ie logically in my garage). I have some Postman Pat/Fireman Sam and Breyer farm buildings which I would like to convert/paint use, also Playpeople.
Initial thoughts are market with transient 'stalls' around a central plaza; wrong-side-of-the-tracks (a mono rail?) downtown rough quarter; saloon/bar/cantina (at least one!); a mall-like shopping area?; industirial complex; repair workshop/junk yard...some smarter housing/sleeping quarters...marshal's office/police barracks/jail...and just on the outskirts of town a large crasshed spaceship slowly being stripped for partd etc (because I have one!)
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Post by stuparkin on Aug 4, 2019 19:46:09 GMT
Mike I think an industrial complex is a must, we always had one when we did WH40K in the distant past ( they always cry out Sci-Fi -thinking of Bladerunner there) and must be one of the easiest terrain pieces to do, but knowing you, you never take the easiest route!  I suppose you are looking at a generic "town" as described above, in so far as I'd be looking at what type of world will it be set on - desert, jungle, baron, a mining colony etc as that might help you to decide on what sort of buildings you really want i.e. in desert setting your going to want a water plant/water purification plant or some like etc (a good objective marker). Also if it's going to be on the edge of town then going back to your "western" days, instead of a train station then maybe part of a space port etc? (another good objective marker). Stu |
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Post by Mike Blake on Aug 5, 2019 13:23:16 GMT
Good point Stu. As far as poss I suppose I want to be able to use it on any kind of world...ie regardless of the dominent terrain type, which may be asking too much. But a set of core buildings, to which other 'world specific' elements can be added/removed as needed.
Space port of some kind - yes - even if just a control tower and a landing pad.
Going back to westren, I saw it as a developing frontier town eg with the old original adobe buildings, some newer but crude tech replacements, and some pretty sophisticated structures in the newere, up-market quarter.
Probably divided into 4 basic quarters, from 'poor scum' to 'ruling class'...
I have checked out the terrain suppliers you emailed me, tx.
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Post by leswhite on Aug 6, 2019 1:50:50 GMT
Mike,
I would adapt what you already have to start and then work up to doing something specific for a game.
You have Adobe buildings for your western theme games , so why not change out some roofs and add some tech to the walls/doors/roof space. I'm thinking something like these. 
This could have started life as a simple adobe structure but by adding the metal doors and window surrounds and a few pipes it looks more SciFi. 
This one is a bigger structure but again the grey elements give that vibe that it isn't on this planet. 
This building could be more industrial ,a workshop perhaps, with the tanks and pipes. These extra elements could be stand alone pieces that just butt up against the building so that you can change there position each time you set up a game. Having the tech stuff separate also means you can mix and match between several buildings to change the look.
An antenna array placed on or near an adobe definitely gives the impression it is no longer in the wild west  |
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Post by leswhite on Aug 6, 2019 2:03:29 GMT
If you have buildings without scenic bases, that is it sits in its' own outline, then it can be placed on any type of ground cover - desert, red planet, woodland, etc. Have a look at this 28mm set up as an example - note the buildings on the left, the fuel tanks and the landing pad are free standing. 
So putting these terrain pieces on a desert board for example will still work. 
Here is a view from the other side of the same table. 
The buildings are a mixture of 'trash', mdf and card buildings but they all seem to work together quite well.
These pics are taken from the Internet , I don't know who made them or what game it represents. I am just showing them a examples.
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Post by Mike Blake on Aug 6, 2019 14:35:10 GMT
Thanks guys. I will strat to sketch out a street plan...
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Post by jhonpog on Aug 7, 2019 3:51:34 GMT
weird my post didn't show from yesterday.... I've not much to add to the good advice above fwiw a standard colour palatte and common grebbly use would be the way I'd approach it good luck and post lots of pics!
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Post by leswhite on Aug 16, 2019 11:06:05 GMT
Mike, Check this out antonswargame.blogspot.com/2019/08/basing-playmobil-colesium-part-i.htmlFound this on TMP and thought it might work for your space port idea, in the Mos Isley style, enclosed landing pad. This blogger is using the Playmobil Roman arena based to be useful for Gladiatorial combat games but it should work equally well as an SF item. To work out the size, the larger arch doorway is the same as the one used on the Lighthouse that you have, the lower one with the metal gates. It should be large enough piece to place in the centre of your table to fight in and around it, place half of it on the table edge to give you an entry or exit point for a game and of course use the bits reassembled into something else. I haven't checked on availability on Ebay but I've seen a few over the years and parts of them too. |
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Post by Mike Blake on Sept 2, 2019 13:29:57 GMT
Nice one - I will track one down evilBay and give it a go.  Found a nice drawing of the SW town with the spaceport in it...splendid inspiration
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Post by Mike Blake on Jun 23, 2020 12:50:56 GMT
Still working (mentally!) on this one - found an amazing painting of a wrecked Walker, laid on its side and being used as a base by the latest female SW character... I have one, damaged, and just crying out to be put onto a board, or a couple, legs are very long, and kitted out like the original. It is on the cover of one of the splendid DK books - Complete Locations, and again inside.
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Post by jhonpog on Jun 24, 2020 6:57:43 GMT
sounds good Mike I would like to see this! If I had a busted walker I'd do the same but I'd be tempted to cut it in (roughly) half length-wise to make it look like it was partially buried....
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Post by aducknamedjoe on Jun 24, 2020 20:06:55 GMT
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Post by Mike Blake on Jun 25, 2020 9:34:40 GMT
Happy to use any and all materials - and paper/card when super-detailed and scruffed-up can as you say look really good. Thanks for the links.
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