I love collecting, painting, converting and scratch building terrain. I even get to play a game once in a while. I'm a big fan of gamification as part of teaching - I'm an elementary school teacher.
This blog covers my hobby work and 'teaching through gaming'.
The entire dungeon board project is pretty well documented by now. I've covered most of the techniques in both words and video. But since I started building, before getting cameras for videos - I haven't made any video of the first part of the build.
That has now been fixed. In this video I cover:
Planning a design on the 1'x1' tile
Drawing stone work in foam
Texturing the foam
Making archway and doorway details.
Glue and stabling the walls into a tile.
For all the painting and weathering tips, there's already lots of videos and written material.
Now I only need to finish up some more boards, paint a bunch of terrain clutter and furniture and then go dungeon crawling!
I launched this blog back on March 16th 2017 - so tomorrow it'll be three and a half years old. Before 2017 I had done my blogging and hobby across different phpbb-forums. Forums fitting for the different projects and games I was doing.
But phpbb-forums were dying, not really seeing activity. More and more discussion and hobby work was moving into Facebook groups. But FB groups are moving fast, scrolling by - that's why I launched this blog. I really wanted to collect my hobby, show off my stuff and be my personal log - of how my hobby is evolving.
Slowly the blog has grown is reach, across other kinds of social media - but all centered around this blogger - where all stuff is still collected as blog posts. One thing that's always been important to me, is to not be a spammer and only sharing appropriate posts in across different media.
So in this blog post, I'll be writing - how am I blogging. And how am I using the different platforms. It's become a bloggerverse - multi platform hobby blog.
Blogger - the base of operations
I blog because I like it - that's my motivation. I see a lot of hobbyists getting hobby stress. "I should be going this", "I need to tend my blog like this". I do the hobby projects I like, I play the games I like and then take photos of my stuff.
Lots of the blog posts I have on the blog is written months in advance. When I finish a ton of terrain (I often work in batches) - I photo it all and split it into different blog post. Like when I did the entire Wasteland in a week of vacation time - became blogs for cars, scrap piles, dead trees and ruins.
When stuff is on the table I photograph it all with my phone. I then jump on blogger, an insert the photos into different blog drafts.
When I feel like writing, I make a coffee and start typing. Might write up five blogs in a row, pictures already there. Keep them as drafts for later.
To not spam and keep content for a long time - I tend to post a blog post every three days. That keeps the blogger nice and fresh. And with my normal hobby output, working when I want - I always have around ~30 blog drafts ready. So even if I don't feel like hobbying or spending all time outside during the summer, I have material to keep the blogger going.
What to post?
I try to mix up whatever stuff I have ready for posting. Switching between fantasy, cyberpunk and post apocalypse. If some game is new and I have stuff for it, I'll post that. Like a new expansion is out for RoSD and that's what people are talking about? I'll post some RoSD stuff if I have it.
But I always do the hobby work I want to do! Not putting thought into 'I better do this specific thing because of blogging'.
All finished hobby work gets a blog post.
Models, terrain, games, videos, hobby thoughts.
Write multiple blogs at once.
Post roughly every three or four days.
Facebook - the news, the photos
My Facebook page was the first social media I launched and that's what will bring in the most traffic. Whenever a new blogpost is released, I make an FB post with a bit of text, link to the blogger and all the finished photos from the post. I don't include WIP shots, as these always have lots of 'how to' words with them.
Facebook has a ton of different groups for a ton of different games - and sometimes more groups than one for each game. After posting a blog on the page, I'll share it around. One time and in all relevant groups at once.
I've seen hobby blogs sharing their facebook post in 1 group at a time across a number of days - I consider this spamming. Or sharing multiple times in the same groups.
So I tend to share my blogs once and only in groups relevant for the blog. Would never share Frostgrave stuff in the Rangers of Shadow Deep group.
I can't figure out the best times to post, so don't mind that much. It is what it is.
Post and link each blog post on Facebook.
Share in all relevant groups.
Share only once at the same time. Don't spam timelines. It shows up all over, then it's gone.
Twitter - random photo throwbacks to blogs
Twitter is new to me still. And I don't know exactly how it works, with the lack of groups and a ton of different hashtags flying around. But I have seen lots of hobby people only using Twitter as their platform. It seems kind of weird to me - as it's not a platform for photos.
But I have a Twitter. All photos from the bloggers that I post I download into a folder called 'twitter'. As twitter only allows 4 photos pr post, it'll take a lot of time to get through them.
So on Twitter I'll post 4 photos a day, just pick four from the folder. To the tweet I add a link to the blogger and some hashtags. After posting I delete the photos in the folder (so they only get shared once). This way Twitter is an excellent place to follow, to get throw-backs, see post that has been. Probably long before.
I also use twitter to announce going live on Twitch. Hard to spam on Twitter.
Post 4 random photos from previous blogs. Only post photos once, then delete.
Announce live videos on Twitch
Instagram
Instagram is for posting photos, lots of photos. I've refrained from doing WIP photos of projects. I think I have enough content as it is. Instagram follows my blogger page, but is way behind. I often forget to use it, or there's too many photos in the blog post (Instragram allows only 10 photos).
I really like posting from a PC, but that's not possible with Instagram (only 1 photo posts). So to not loose track and double post. I follow the blogger. Posting photos of a miniatures or game on Instagram. So Instagram will often lack behind the blogger. I always add a link to the blogger, though people will have to copy it to go there.
1 post pr day, using photos from blogger
follow the blogger order
post photos only once
Twitch
This is a new addition to the bloggerverse. I don't know much about video editing or filming. Twitch is intuitive and easy to setup. I want to show of some builds and I really want to get going with solo games. Twitch offers a new way to show off stuff, that's not only written words.
The cool thing about doing video on Twitch is the interaction. Playing a solo game lets people watching take part in the game. While working on terrain, people can ask at techniques or idea while I'm working. Getting to points I might not think off myself.
I also pre-order a lot of rules and games. And sometimes get lucky enough to get stuff soon after release. So flipping through books and set is good fun, I love the hobby hype.
But for the most Twitch shows I make sure to consider: What do I want to show today? No just fumbling about.
Easy to do filming
solo games, unboxings, previews and terrain building.
Youtube
I'm a firm believer that the internet cannot have enough content. The Twitch software is easy to use for editing the streams. I try to cut down the videos to shorter versions. Making Let's Play, unboxings and terrain builds. The finished / slighty edited and shortened videos are uploaded to Youtube.
As this is finished content, I will then make a blogpost for the video. This can be combined with a longer written blog or photos. I don't want to spam. So a video preview will be combined with a written review if possible.
For years I've been doing small 1 minutes shots of terrain setups, for all my games. This go in here as well. All videos will have links back to blogger and the correct written article.
Edited, tightened material recorded on Twitch.
Minimum on video pr week. This can be anything.
Discord
Discord is an excellent program for hanging out and talking to other people. Used originally for talking while playing PC games. Back during Covid19 isolation, I was really missing talking hobby with people. The Discord was setup to help with this. It's a platform to hang out, in a way Facebook can't provide.
The Discord has since grown to a small community in itself. All people are welcome. Post away about anything in the hangout area, and people will jump on voice chat if they want to talk while doing hobby work.
Lors of people, that doesn't have blog on their own, have gotten a thread here. A micro blog, a thread for them to add whatever hobby the want.
In my own thread I post WIPs, link to written blogs, twitch will tell if I go live, YouTube will link new videos and photos from Twitter. So my thread is kind of a consolidation room. It's just a nice place to hangout and talk hobby with good people. I always check around here while I'm doing hobby work.
Hangout and talk with hobbyist
Micro blogs
Podcast - Garage Talks
The newest part of this constantly extended bloggerverse. With half a year of life on the Discord, I got the idea to invite in some of the authors from the industry. The idea is quite simple - come join the chat, hang out and talk hobby work. With a focus on the author themselves of cause.
First one to visit us was Patrick Todoroff how made wrote Hardwired, Nightwatch and Zona Alfa.
The plan is not to make a traditional interview. All the people on the Discord are allowed to join in the talk. The first one was great fun. It was recorded and released as a podcast.
There's no plan or 'must make' for this. These talks and podcasts are completely up to if any authors or people of note from the industry is willing to join us for a chat.
To sum up....
That's a damn lot of social media, considering it's about small toy soldiers. I've got no plans of fame, monetization or something like that. I just like to do models and terrain.
My miniatures are not top painted - they're decent. But I'm proud of them. I do get some good ideas for terrain and conversions. I like to share those, some people get inspired.
It all comes back to this blogger. A couple of posts every week, my personal hobby log, a collections of stuff I do. No stress, no 'I must do this' - this is my leisure time and hobby. Don't spam, but share the cool stuff around. Stay grounded, stay honest, we're all geeks.
Years ago I bought a won a copy of Sedition Wars for super cheap at an auction, and I've never really gotten around to using any of the models from the game. But with Zona Alfa I wanted to paint some of the models, they seem like perfect mutants from the zone.
Zombies
These dudes came with a some base colors already done. A black undercoat with a necrotic grey/green flesh drybrushed on top. I just picked out a few details and made sure to give one of them a slav ganger uniform - blue Adidas pants.
Mutant
These is definitely a dangerous mutant and also an unmodified Sedition War sculpt. I like the Roadside Picnic setting of an alien encounter, and these guy would fit to be that kind of mutant - something from outer space.
Bloodsucker
This is an iconic Stalker monster, so I needed to have one for my mutants as well. The body is from an old plague stage 3 restic model (Deadzone 1st edition). The arms and the head is from a Dreadball mutant team. My son loves this model, he turned out really good.
The Witch
The last kind of the Sedition Wars sculpt is this beast, I call it The Witch. I figure it's a very nasty, stalking, silent killer. Again it has a really nice alien look. This one was base coated grey, had some metal and bone details picked out. The entire model is then covered in purple wash.
For a lot of Rangers of Shadow Deep scenarios there's a possibility to rescue some villagers from evil. In out first scenario I didn't know, so we just a crew member from the Ghost Archipelago.
But I wanted to have some prober fantasy civilians to rescue. So here's four civilians who will often need saving from monsters.
I build the male farmers from Oathmark human soldiers. I found the two bodies with the least amount of metal studs on their armor and scraped them off with my hobby knife. Then picked out two heads without helmets - and they're pretty much perfect.
From the old (and otherwise terrible) GW zombie kit I took a pitchfork and a scythe. Job done.
From my regular hobby supplier King Games I found a bunch of different civilians. The one on the left I can't remember who made, it's a metal figure. The model on the right is a reaper bones miniature.
As something new I want to do a book preview / flip-through of all the new books I get. So last Sunday I made a good coffee and sat down with Frostgrave 2nd edition.
I've read it a couple of times as a PDF to write my long-read review. But haven't actually enjoyed the physical book (as it was delayed in the mail). I like the tactile feeling of real books. So was looking forward to doing this one.
These live previews is run over on Twitch and viewers can come with input and questions in the chat. I was quite nice.
The Youtube version of the preview is now online. Go check it out, if you're still waiting on your Frostgrave 2nd edition book - it's really nice.
In the video I also show some of the models I've found for my new warband. Gonna run a Thaurmaturge witch and demon hunter. With a band of zealots. I've found some good models for it. Looking forward to painting them up.
Disclaimer: Osprey Games send me a copy of the book for free.
[Disclaimer: Be aware this is an old article, since Brexit has taken effect, there's been changes to the company. The review below might not be fitting for their current service.]
I stumbled upon Tiny Wargames during Covid-19 lockdown. Save a retweet from then offering a nice discount, because some UK trade show got cancelled. I had already decided to throw some money at smaller businesses being hit by the crisis.
Anyway it was a good reason to upgrade some of my mat - because I've been using decent (but homemade) mats. You can read more words below on the quality and products I've bought.
I've also gone ahead and ordered three more mats (being happy with the first ones I got) and unboxed them live on Twitch. Video is up on Youtube, I check out three different mats, compare to homemade stuff and check out colors with my terrain on it.
Unboxing video
Words on the mats
The best thing about cloth mats is the low price, the price is around half of getting one in mouse mat material. It's also quite easy to store the mats, I just fold them two times on the long end and put them on a hanger in the closet.
The amount of texture on the mats are pretty good. I've been giving a good amount of effect on my homemade mats, using different spray paints for color play. But the printed effect on these mats doesn't even compare.
All the mats come with folded edged and to lines of stitching so they won't tear despite heavy use. Mouse mat material is super nice, but some of my very used Deadzone mats the fabric and rubber have started to come apart. Needing me to go over them and repair the edges with my sewing machine.
Below is a 3'x3' desert mat, I've chosen one with a bit of green spots here and there. It's very light compared to all the terrain in my collection. But I've ordered some yellow terrarium sand, to do some proper desert terrain.
This is a shot of the 4'x6' grass mat. The board is not 4' wide though, it's just short of 3'. But my fantasy terrain fits nicely and the 'texture' in the mat is so much nicer than the homemade green mat I used before.
A shot showing of the texture in the mat a bit closer to the camera.
Road and rivers
Tiny Wargames sell 4'x4' sheets of roads and rivers in different styles. You choose the correct scale when ordering it. I've bought modern roads, dirt roads and rivers in 28mm scale. Three different sets. The fabric is easy enough to cut, I but a new long scissor just for this project. '
As you can see by the below pictures, it works fairly well on different boards. And the roads / rivers are easy to store. I've just put the cut out ones beneath a book.
I have however after some use noticed that the fabric does tear a bit at the edges. White threads coming off, and that shows on the mat below. After contacting Tiny Wargames I've been given the following tip:
- Ironing starch (starch like the stuff in potatoes and corn). Comes in a spray and then iron the fabric. Looking forward to trying it out. Should straighten the roads / rivers and prevent the flossing of the fabric. I'll have to revisit this review after trying it.
Otherwise it seems an easy fix to spray glue or pva glue the fabric to some thin cardboard. That would prevent tearing as well. But that remains to be seens in the future.
For something like this, I think perhaps mouse mat material is better, though thicker and standing out more on the mat. If these roads / rivers worth the price? I think they are. Even if I need to do some work to them, the printed detail is excellent.
Say the modern asphalt road, would be easy to glue on cardboard, then add some sand/flock to the edges. There's more than enough here for a grass, sand and wasteland board - even if giving them different edges.
Fantasy board show off
Here's a quick little video flying over the 3'x6' setup I made for this review. Still have a good amount of kits, both Renedra, MDF and Terrain Crate - that I want to build for a bigger fantasy board.
Alright comrades listen up. The first run was a success for us, I know we didn't bring out a lot of cash - but experience is a reward on its own. Especially for a couple of rooks like you. Now that case we extracted is a treasure map - guns, inventory, ammo. We need to get into this bunker. Problem is some outsider, ganger, no brains got a hold for the key for the bunker. We don't have the ordinance to open the can without the key. This is not gonna be a walk in the park, we're going into Chernya Woods. Dangerous hot spots in there, nasty critters. I'm not sure those bandits know what they're doing setting up camp in there. They won't be missed. With a bit of luck they're already ripped apart and we just go searching for corpses - but it might turn into a firefight.
You all still have your grenades, drop whatever change i have left on extra bullets. You're not ready for all the sneaky sniper stuff yet - it'll just go to shit. No, we're gonna make it rain lead instead.
So they're off into Chernya Woods to attack a bandit camp, secure the key card and perhaps score some other look on the way.
For the game I'm using the the solo rules additions posted on Osprey's Blog.
Setup
Before playing a scenario, I always make sure to have the right terrain pieces and objectives. For me it's a great motivator, that's also why we also roll scenarios before a game date. For the Walk in Chernya Woods I have to make five new forest bases to proper cover a 3'x3' mat, when there's not much else on the board.
And that's pretty much the setup. Lots of woods and single trees. I placed to forest bases of all dead trees to mark out hot spots - and added some rusty oil drums to those places.
The mat and road are homemade, painted on some cheap felt.
At the center of the board is the bandit camp and as per the scenario description they have some barricades set up. I expanded the camp look with a few tents and a campfire. The five bandits were put at random positions along the barricades and all started with action points saved for overwatch.
To up the the difficulty I split my squad into two groups and then roll for random board edges for them to enter. This turned out, so that my crew would be attacking the board from opposite sites. And I decided to put them in tight groups of three.
The plan was for my leader to give action points to a rookie with his leader skill, and the team members being close together - to better tackle the hotspots. One guy can spot the spot (giving a better result on the summoned enemies), another will throw a bolt at it from safe distance and the third is ready to shoot anything that spawns with some overwatch.
Team one was leader Dimitry, hardened (bone doc) Kirsh, rookie Sulla. Team two was veteran Sasha, hardened (LMG) Peotr and rookie Oleg.
Then before starting the game I rolled to check which weather conditions we would be working under - a sunny day in the park, no troubles there.
Zona Alfa seems like a game where the crews bank account will grow very slowly, as grenades and med-kits will need replenishing after games. So it was important for my gang to try and clear the hotspots in the area, to earn some important cash - and hopefully not take any real casualties doing it.
Rolling to high on the table for random enemies would be a disaster, no way in hell could my guys take out another group of bandits - but that's the zone for you.
Turn 1
Stick to the plan for as long as possible. Team one started out, well covered by all the trees the bandits could draw no line of sight from the start of the game. And as planned my leader gave an AP to the rookie, the hot spot was scouted (giving a +/- 1 on the random encounter table) and a bolt was tossed at it by the rookie Sulla.
The luck sure seemed to smile on Dimitry's crew - a single zone rat spawned. A single rat, happy days. A bit excessive doing 7.62 rat catching, but never mind that.
The bone-doc Kirsh takes the shot, get a critical hit, kills the rat out right - and with the extra AP he can already move to the hotspot.
Team two moves forward, trying to stay in cover behind trees. Unlike team one, the make sure to not trigger the nearby hot spot - too many enemies close by. Veteran Sasha gets spotted by the alert bandits and they open fire on him. He's hit badly and must spend his personal med-kit to stabilize the wounds - he gets two pinned counters. The attack on this front is slowed down.
The bandit leader Big Nikolai also opens up at team two, but rolls a fumble and jams his weapon - he then spends the second action removing the pinned token. A bandit near him also opens up with his AK47, but he misses all his shots.
The remaining bandits doesn't do anything. The rookies only have 1 action point, they didn't have any line of sight, so staying alert in overwatch is a better choice. When playing solo, make the enemies smart - even if it's not covered by the rules.
Turn 2
I'm staring off with team one and bone-doc Kirsh searches the hot spot, he finds 350 worth of items and a gas mask. But an alert bandit does spot him from the camp and fires his AK47, but fortunately he misses.
The my leader Dimitry and rookie Sulla moves closer to the bandit camp, staying in cover behind oil drums and trees.
Intervention! I play with rules that allow the enemy to take over the turn, and at this point it happens. Big Nikolai once again shoots at my veteran Sasha and once again hits him - bringing him down. And he's out of med-kits.
Another bandit shoot at rookie Sulla in the other direction and hits him, he's brought down. Sulla use his med-kit to patch himself up in cover of a pine tree, he's pinned down.
Absolutely deadly, it's only turn two and I'm running out of medical supplies.
Now it's time for the rest of team two to take action. Rookie Oleg runs to Sasha, trying to get in to help bandage him up - don't want to do injury rolls on my veteran. That's worth sacrificing a rookie for.
The LMG armed hardened Piotr shoots down a bandit, ripping him apart in a hail of 7.62.
Turn 3
Starting this turn with my medic Kirsh. He opens fire at a bandit in the camp and kills him. Then not having any clear targets, he throws a flashbang at big Nikolai and a goon, hoping to add some pin counters to them. He manages to hit the bandit leader and takes away a crucial action point from him.
And after this first model the bandits intervene and take over the turn. Darn! The remaining bandits all open fire. One bad guy shoots at Kirsh, hits him and brings him down - he spends a med-kit to stabilize himself. But the bandit rolled a critical hit and fires his AK again, fortunately missing the second shot.
Big Nikolai and the goon next to him also shoot, trying to bring down the rookie helping my veteran from the previous turn. But bad guys miss their shots and the regular dude even fumbles, giving himself a pinned counter. That flash bang was however good, as the bandit leader only got to fire his weapon once.
Back to my guys again. rookie Oleg gets to Sasha and manage to close the second set of AK wound he got. That's a lot of medical items spend across the team in this little skirmish.
Last guy to go is my LMG armed hardened soldier. He hurls a frag grenade into the bandit camp, scoring a critical hit on the throw. The explosion takes out a bandit and wounds Big Nikolai. With the extra action point from the critical Piotr is able to kill the bandit leader - with a lot of bullets from his light machine gun.
The rest of the game
With the bandits all killed there's still plenty of time left to search the bandit camp. After the main objective is done, there's still time to clear the remaining hot spot. The crew gets in to smart positions, the hot spot is scouted and a bolt is tossed at it. Again I roll well and only got hit by a single zone rat and it was easily killed by the alert stalkers.
Aftermath
The crew manages to gain 19 advancement points, that I'm not too sure how I'll invest. The team loot some gas masks, a med-kit, molotov and 550 worth of salvage.
But there's not a lot left for the retirement fond. The crew have used four med-kits on the run and a couple of grenades. After faction taxes, exchanges rates, selling gas masks, restocking med-kits there's 365,5 zone script left.
That's not enough to be worth exchange back to rubles and put into the bank.
Nevermind that. My crew has the key card, they have more experience and nobody died - I call that a major win!
Now I need to build a couple of ruined apartment buildings for the city center, then we gonna loot that bunker.
