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Today I’m going to reveal one of my dearest secrets: how Super Glue and Basing Glue can be used to make some fantastic, crazy, awesome stuff! I have invented it by accident when I was a kid, used it since and love it for both simplicity and awesome texture effect. In this easy, step-by-step tutorial I will show you how to produce your own Overgrown Bases!
*I purchased a huge pack of these for approximately 1€,
**Once you eat up all the goodie goodie grapes, you have like a bunch of wooden leftovers. Once dried out these are awesome bor basing miniatures.
***I use either Air Soft Gun ammuniton, or for smaller calliber moist absorber balls obtainable with every new pair of shoes. Just ask your gf to dig out one of her shoeboxes, there should be a small paper bag filled with tiny, translucent balls in it.
1 I started by applying basing glue all over the base. No need to make it smooth, just enough not to leave any empty spaces.
2 I then dropped some of the tiny balls and Birch-tree seeds over the wet glue.
3 Here's where MAGIC begun. I covered entire base with Super Glue and watched as it was warped before my eyes in a matter of merely seconds.
4 Before it dried out I added some pieces of dry grape vines to make it look like some strange, alien mushrooms, or plants. I then covered additional stuff with more Super Glue to harden it.
5 Last step was to leave entire thing to dry out. Usually it takes around five minutes for a base to get dry, but it might take a bit longer, depending on how much basing glue is used.
6 The final step was to undercoat dried out base with Chaos Black spray... then do a quick paint job with random colours.
Now seriously – tell my that’s not an awesome texture effect XD This is like ultra-fast, mega-cool way of using two glues to create utter chaos on any surface. Chaos mutations, warped stuff, Zerg creep, alien planet foliage, jungle floor, faerie glade, name it – then glue+glue it 😉
Do not hesitate to let me know and send some pictures via FACEBOOK if you ever use the tutorial. I will be happy to see how it turned out 😉
In this easy, step-by-step tutorial I’m going to show you how to create a Cave Base.
*Ask your GF if you don’t know where to obtain the latter.
**Search in IKEA or any home/garden store. A lifetime stockpile of these is less than 5€.
1 I started by cutting off the tips of both toothpicks and nail sticks. These would do for fine stalagmites later on.
2 I then applied couple of drops of basing glue onto the base. Before it dried out I applied Super Glue on it and mounted stalagmites, tip upwards, on the mix.
3 Next I covered entire stalagmites with basing glue and left it to dry. The excess glue, moved by the power of gravity, was drawn downwards, where it rested around the base of the stalagmites, making them look smooth and natural.
4 Using the previous technique I applied some basing glue in few spots and then Super Glue'ed some gravel over it. You can actually glue any type of stuff with this - like skulls, some pieces of armour etc.
5 I then covered antire surface, except for any fillers, with Games Workshop's texture paints. I used a mix of Agrellan Earth and Agrellan Badland for this tutorial, but actually any of the range will do - as long as you would like to undercoat the base afterwards.
6 The final step was to undercoat dried out base with Chaos Black spray...
Now, what’s left is just to paint the bases with your preferable colour scheme. I chose to go red/copper style similar to ‘the Wave’ and watered some spots with clear resin, but the number of potential colour schemes is unlimited.
If you ever use the tutorial – be sure to let me know and send some pictures via FACEBOOK. I will be happy to see how it turned out 😉
In this easy, step-by-step tutorial I’m going to show you how to create an ‘explosion from inside’ effect on the miniatures. Personally I use this method to create exploding mines or in this case Crazy Koalas from Infinity the game, but the number of potential uses is limited only by your imagination. That being said, buckle up and have a nice ride.
1 I started with cutting the miniature diagonally in two. I didn't thought too much about where to cut, just about the waist, leaving one hand attached to the lower part of the body.
2 I then rolled some Green Stuff and glued it onto the lower body part.
3 Next I applied a small drop of Super Glue onto the Green Stuff and attached the upper body part to it.
4 Then I squeezed both part, forcing the Green Stuff out.
5 Next I gently pulled both body parts away, creating a gap with rended Green Stuff inbetween the parts.
6 Next I rolled another piece of Green Stuff and repeated the technique, adding head to the miniature.
7 After pulling the head away I used a modelling tool to stretch the excess Green Stuff to the sides.
8 I also applied Super Glue onto the Green Stuff to fasten it's hardening.
The end result is below:
Last weeks I’ve been diverting more and more attention to Mordheim. Maybe that’s because I’ve been playing PC version lately. Either way, every couple of years I get that ‘Mordheim fever’ and delve deep into my imagination, staying up whole nights, making something cool for my own Mordheim collection. Right now I work on a brand new Mordheim gaming board thus I figured out to revive an old Tutorial from Mordheim Treasure Hunters blog and add it to the collection here at Scarhandpainting. More articles are already prepared, but I somehow felt like this one will be a nice way to close the 2016th.
Below I will show you a quick way of making a Witch Hunter’s Hat with basic tools, some green stuff and some plastic leftovers. The thing about Witch Hunter’s Hats is that they are extremely rare and yet they look just awesome. A lot of miniatures can be reborn as proper Witch Hunters just by adding this small detail. So, here’s how I do it:
* Modelling Knife,
* Sculpting Tools,
* Modellin File,
* Green Stuff,
* Super Glue,
* Some round and flat plastic bitz (heads in helmets will do too),
* Some tubular sprue plastic bitz (easy to get as they’re in almost every sprue),
1 I started with preparation of hat parts. For this purpose I used round shaped plastic bitz, cutting off the excess of plastic with Modelling Knife first, then flattening the top area with a Modelling File. Next I used a Modelling Knife to cut tubular sprue bitz into nice hat top pieces. This is how it should look like when done:
2 I then glued the pieces together, prepared a piece of Green Stuff and rolled it into a thin line. I also cut small pieces of Green Stuff loose and rolled them into small balls.
3 I applied some Super Glue around the connection between hat's top and brim. I then applied a Green Stuff rolled piece onto the glue and flattened it with a Sculpting Tool modelling it into a strap. For this purpose I used a rounded part just behind the tip of a Sculpting Tool.
4 I smoothed the texture of starps using a Sculpting Tool dipped in water. I then left the hats to dry.
5 Once the Green Stuff dried out I applied Super Glue onto a piece of plastic, sticked a Green Stuff ball onto the tip of a Sculpting Tool, gently dipped it in the glue and applied it to a hat's strip. I also flattened the ball with the other (rounded) end of a Sculpting Tool thus creating a clasp.
6 In the end I modelled a pattern on each clasp with the sharp tip of a Sculpting Tool. Once it was done I let the Green Stuff to dry out. Instead of modelling a clasp yourself, you can use any well sized bitz or even a piece of plastic. Actually anything fitting the hat's strap will do.
The final effect may not be outstanding but it will do the job of transforming your Imperial Mercenary, or any other miniature into a badass Witch Hunter. See for yourself in the Warband: ‘Scourge of the Witches’ gallery. Here’s a preview pic:
I hope you like the tutorial. It is an old piece but I really wanted to have it here at Scarhandpainting.
Winter is already here thus I thought about warming the theme a bit by introducing a tutorial of how to make candles for 28-30mm scale. Why produce such things? In miniatures hobby candles are rare bitz among what you get in the sets designed by main miniature producers. Even if a set contains some, their number is scarce. Why not make your own and adorn bases, miniatures and even scenery with them? Be it Age of Sigmar, Mordheim, Warhammer 40,000 or just a fantasy dungeon – candles will provide mood to both miniatures and scenery. Below is a quick and easy step-by-step of how to produce your own 28-30mm scale candles. Enjoy…
1 I started with preparation of candles-to-be by cutting toothpicks into small pieces. I tried to keep all of them between 5-10mm long, to better fit into the 28-30mm fantasy scale. Once I had couple pieces done I choose some of them and drilled small holes from one side. These will be used later to hold candlewicks.
2 Next I glued the candles onto the base. In case of scenery I usually drill small holes to hold the candles in place or just glue them as it is if I'm sure the scenery won't require enchanced durability. For the purpose of this tutorial I drilled some holes in an old square Warhammer base.
3 I then glued small pieces of wire into the holes, to look like candlewicks.
4 Then came the time to cover the candles with a basing glue, applying additional glue around the base of each candle to create an effect of spilled wax.
5 Next step was to prepare couple of small flames, using a wet paper tissue. I just rolled, then cut it into small pieces, which I then rolled once again.
6 The flames where then glued to the candles with super glue and once in place - covered with glue to harden entirely.
7 I left the stuff to dry, then painted it with mix of creme and white, washed the candlewicks and flames with some washes.
The end result will look more or less like this:
Foreboding my previous lifestyle in favor of painting for hire was the best decission in my entire life. Not only that I have a lot of fun in my ‘job’ but also plenty of time for my own projects. For those who knew me before scarhandpainting.com the number of Special Projects appearing lately might be quite a surprise. I myself am taken aback by the sheer numbers of personal projects I can work on. Below is a visual step-by-step of just such a project.
A big Infinity Event is closing in. ‘Polish Championships’ will take place tomorrow and I’ve trained my Corregiror army and dice rolling hard in preparation. Along with the usual mano-a-mano combat, a Painting Contest will also take place at the event. Each player is eligible to select one of his army rosters and present the miniatures for everyone to see and vote. I thought long and hard to think of anything that could deliver my miniatures to the podium. I know very well that there’s plenty of awesome painters among the Infinity community in Poland and that competition will be very strong. My miniatures look nice but not awesome enought to compete with paint jobs that literally blow my mind. I’ve figured something special – a Nomad-like trick to fight for the attention of voters. A special display diorama to compliment my army’s visuals as a nice background, built and painted in the same theme as the bases of my Corregidor army.
For this purpose I found a suitable wooden crate to be used as the base for entire diorama. I’ve also set up a makeshift display of miniatures to see if the base is large enought to accomodate them.
The wooden crate passed this test so I’ve gathered 3mm PCV and some HDF leftovers. The entire layout of the diorama was taking life in my mind’s eye as I started to work on it. I’ve used the wooden crate as a template to cut a floor and a wall for the diorama. After that an idea to build a small balcony with stairs and a sniper point came to my mind. I quickly dig through any materials and pieces that might be used for that and found my good old Micro Art Studio’s walkways set. The set had some sweet looking pieces that I implemented into this project.
Using a ruler and a pen I drawn some makeshift panels and bolt holes on the ‘wall’ and prepared space for MDF pieces to be put into. I also shortened the MAS’s stairs and added elements of my own to make them look more industrial. Floor followed in a quick succession with the center being switched for a big MAS’s MDF panel. I also moundet the ‘wall’ using three screws. Initially I wanted to use magnets to keep the thing removable, but in the end I wanted for my miniatures to be safe. After that I’ve mounted three wall panels to be used as a base for glow globes. I also made some dents, marks and holes in the concrete panels of both wall and floor. Once I was done I’ve made a last check of display. Just before undercoating I had an idea to add some pipes and a vent along the walls to build even more industrial theme of the diorama. I used lollipop sticks and some leftovers to do that and proceeded to the undercoat.
Once it was dry I have covered the entire thing in two strong layers of Eshin Gray, then painted up all metal elements with a Tin Bitz, Boltgun Metal, Mithrill Silver layers and then washed entire thing with Devlan Mud two times. I slowly applied layer after layer starting with Scorched Brown, then following with Calthan Brown, Ryza Rust, Lugganath Orange and lastly Flayed One Flesh. This is the same colour scheme as the one used for my Concrete Bases. Actually both metal and concrete were painted the same way as in these tutorials:
TUTORIAL: CONCRETE BASES part 2: Painting
TUTORIAL: PAINTING ‘FIVE LAYERS’ METAL
Starting with Calthan Ryza Rust I’ve covered metal elements along with concrete panels, but before that I’ve made a short pause to airbrushed white-creeme lines and a Nomad graffitti. Ryza Rust, Lugganath Orange and Flayed One Flesh went over the lines to create an impression of them being damaged and eroded along with the concrete panels. Once Flayed One Flesh layer was done I lined/edged all the angles using the exact same piant. I also added grease/Rust streaks and oil stains here and there to bring the diorama closer to a life scene.
In the end I had to add a name, so I used a template created for me by Reycast Miniatures and airbrushed another graffitti onto the now black edges. Simple OSL was airbrushed and I mounted glow globes in the center points of each light. I also added three purple barrels to compensate glow globe’s green in preparation for red miniatures.
The final piece exceeded my expectations. Even my Girlfriend said it looks cool – and that’s rare! Damn – I count on this one to help me climb the ladder in the contest. If not – well, at least I have a fine piece to set up behind glass along with some less used Nomad Miniatures XD
27.6.2016: I actually won the painting contest XD Ultra happy about the fact! Here’s the entry:
In this tutorial I will show you a shortcut to some awesome Terrain Making. Together we will plunge head on into the distant future of ‘Infinity the Game’. We end up knee deep in terrain pieces, surrounded by half cheved bitz of plasticard, with our fingertips bleeding, clothes devastated by super glue and wallets full of unspent cash! A truly manly adventure awaits us and that’s why I’ve prepared some Terrain Making theory to prepare you for what is to come and remodel the way you think about it.
Terrain Making is a topic to write a book about. There is just so many different aproaches a modeller can take on a road to create some awesome gaming terrain. I would be lying if I told you that I am able to cover all of that here, in this tutorial. Instead I will concentrate on some key points of Terrain Making that I keep in mind whenever I happen to make some scenery.
The first thing to do is planning. I’m not a big fan of this part and usually skip it, still some key points of planning take place almost unconsciously. Just sort the ideas, prepare funds for eventual purchases, set a theme and go for it!
– Price of beauty. Long years of gaming and terrain making showed me that a nice looking table may look even better if pumped with some pre-made stuff. Just throw some money into this project and see how much it changed when it comes to how it looks. Think of a sum that you would like to invest in your gaming table – have in mind that except for some necessary stuff like paints, glue, spray, your gaming table can still be built with 0 cash involved.
– Avoid Expensive stuff. I just told you to spend some cash but be thoughtful with that. Try to pinpoint the most expensive elements of your future gaming table and substitute them with some cheap alternatives. This way you not only save some cash but also will not brind huge visual diversity to your terrain set. [A good example of an expensive terrain piece that could be easily replaced.]
– Be a pragmatist. Keep it fast and simple to build. I too had a boner when seeing this gaming table but hey – it’s like a billion € and countless hours spent on putting these things together. Remember that cash equals time and vice versa. If earning cash to purchase a terrain piece and putting that piece together will take you less time than making one yourself – just go for it. Otherwise it’s worth to keep it at speed. A nice looking gaming table can be built and painted in less than 16 hours!
– Select a theme. A ravaged battlefield, futuristic city, space hulk hallways, huge magazines, train station, rich district – what you will choose will affect the materials you will need and a level of complexity ergo ‘time’ you will need to build your gaming table. A good theme is an average between price, time of build and LOOKS. Low on cash and time? Try out Magazine space full of barrels and containers. Plenty of cash and time? Go for a pristine Rich Quarters with fountains, streets, bridges and detailed buildings.
In order to create a gaming table you will need a lot of different materials. Plasticard, cardboard, thin wood are considered to be ‘common’ while bitz and parts of particular shapes are more difficult to obtain.
– Have an open mind. There’s plenty awesome items surrounding you all of the time. Most of them end up as trash while they might be used as modelling material of exceptional value. Just go to the kitchen and look around. Plastic bottle caps of different shapes and sizes, coffee jar lids – these are the tip of an iceberg!
– Ride the outside world. Home ‘trash’ is your brick and mortar when it comes to Terrain Making but true pearls belong to the world outside. Just outside your doors you can find some nice looking stones and sticks but further you venture the better your loot will get. Go ahead and visit a supermarket. Toys, hair utensils, cheap (crappy) plastic jewelry, tools section, decorations – these places are marked with ‘X’ for ‘treasure’!
– Be like modern China, steal blueprints. Many different companies created a variety of splendid gaming terrain. Once you type “Infinity Gaming Terrain” in google you will find a lot of great inspiration to draw your ideas from. You can even purchase some and use leftovers to pimp the visual effect of your home made terrains or go even further and rearrange purchased terrain to have some additional spare bitz left!
Finally a part of raw hard work! If you picked a theme that goes along with your funds and time that you are willing to invest – this part will be a lot of fun for you.
– Durability. Gaming terrain should be tough as otherwise you risk games ended up being forced to do some repairs. Try to create terrain that is well ballanced and easy to game with. I recommend that you base all of the smaller terrain pieces as this will improve their balance along with visuals. Just remember to never use cardboard for basing as it usually bends over time. The recommended materials are: plasticard, plywood (both can be seen in the picture above).
– Utility. Gaming terrain is supposed to be gamed upon. I know – some small, sweet looking, extremely detailed pieces makes me wanna cry with joy, but are they as playable as simple, angular blocks of terrain? The answer is NO and have that in mind. Additionally it is worth to measure some heights to better fit the miniatures. For example: A barrel of the same height as a miniature will usually force you to wonder if a miniature standing behind it has LOF to other miniatures? Well usually it does due to use of silhouettes so it’s better to build barrels that are half the miniature’s height. Etc.
[Once again a good example of an expensive and not very playable terrain piece.]This building is looking great but it is expensive, the cover it provides on the ground level is limited, it is too high for some miniatures to go to the roof in a single action forcing you to remember where the miniature is left hanging.
– Clusters. When it comes to small terrain pieces it is the best to keep them clustered on a single base. They will stay in place and provide a wide cover instead of falling apart and moving around the table each time someone ccidentally pushes it.
– Clones. I’m an enemy of a ruler. I just hate to spend lots of time measuring plasticard/cardboard pieces of same dimensions. I preffer to measure up one piece, then cut the rest using the ‘primary’ piece as a template. Even if some pieces get a bit different from one another this will only add some extra touch to the overall looks of my gaming terrain. [Use this technique at your own discretion.]
– Production line. Plan your work accordingly. Start by preparing all the necessary pieces, put them together and base all the terrain pieces. Do not start to paint before all the terrain is ready for it. This way your work will be a bit less rewarding but you will save a lot of time. Same goes for painting: Do not paint a single terrain piece but paint them in droves instead. Just as you end up applying a layer to the last piece, the first one will get dry and ready for the next layer.
So here’s a shortcut recipee for you:
– Prepare funds then cut the expensives off,
– Plan what to buy/build and how long it’ll take, (be a pragmatist),
– Choose a theme according to your capabilities,
– Pillage your house for free trash material,
– Pillage nearby supermarket for some key material pieces, [keep it cheap.]
– Use some purchased terrain and leftovers to create your own variations,
– Make your terrains durable, balanced and playable,
– Keep small terrain pieces based together,
– Save time while preparing particular bitz by using one as a template to cut the rest out,
– End one stage before moving to the next one,
I feel your pain. That wall of text above is probably as hard to read for you as it was for me and I read it more than thrice. Let’s go to the Practical part of this Tutorial with some examples and more pictures. I will use my own gaming table prepared last year as an example of how to do it in accordance to above tips.
Back then I was short of time and wanted to create a gaming table designed for Infinity ASAP. I love Micro Art Studio’s terrain and wanted to purchase a whole set of it along with some Spartan Scenics. Cash was not an issue but once a test purchase was delivered I almost dropped the project due to time consuming process of putting these terrains together. It was a hell of a boredome so I decided to go ahead and prepare my own gaming table. I choose something between Mass Effect ‘Citadel’ and Death Star outer surface style Theme and already owning a Micro Art Studio’s catwalk set I decided tu cut off the most expensive thing: Buildings. Small part of the surplus cash was to be used on static grass and a Battle Mat that would eventually pump the visual effect of the gaming table.
Being a pragmatist I decided to use a hard cardboard boxes as the main bodies on the gaming board. Easy to obtain in friendly local hobby store, easy to prepare, light (transportaion), stable, very playable – the cardboard boxes prove to be an extrmely good pick. Some spare parts from catwalk set let me upgrade my ‘buildings’ with a nice set of futuristic ladders. The plan was to improve the visual effect by adding some facture with paintjob.
Once I was done with the buildings I moved to all the other stuff. Less futuristic but very playable and bringing some colour to my gaming table came Barrels, Trash Containers, Holograms, inner walls and some key terrain pieces. Here’s an example:
Barrels: Plastic bottle caps of coca cola, milk and water. I find the ones with less facture being the best as the paint looks much better on irregular flat areas. I drink a lot of Coca Cola Zero in addition to milk and water so I used most of the caps being kept in home 🙂
Trash Containers: Tic-tac pack upper parts. Some were additionally converted but looking past I think that I should leave them be as they have a perfect shape on their own.
Holograms: Old Warhammer 40,000 tokens, easy to obtain at second hand market and as these are rarely used – they come in cheap. I had some left from my own Warhammer 40,000 collection and purchased another set from a friend.
Inner Walls: Rectangle Chessex Dice packs being emptied and thrown away by a local hobby store. Some walls were also made of wooden blocks. Some have been updated with facture made of wooden spare parts left from Micro Art’s catwalk set.
All the leftovers were used to build this Relay Beacon, leaving not a single bitz unused.
This particular gaming board was made with rush thus I had to update it from time to time adding extra touch with new sets of scenery. Just recently I wandered into the Supermarket in search of some final pieces to strengthen the theme of Sci-fi quarters. I found these cool items:
Plastic hair holder / 1,5€is a masterpiese of both architecture and art. A fine centerpiece for my gaming table. I bought two of these and made them into this:
Decorative beads / 2€ will one day be used to make a set of awesome light globes all around my flat white buildings. For now they served as additional facture for new set of Trash Containers.
So here we are. My gaming table took less than 24hrs in total to complete and that if all the add-ons are being counted. The overall cost of this project is Micro Art catwalk set, Micro Art hologram banner set, Micro Art gaming mat, warhammer 40,000 tokens, two hair holders, a pack of decorative beads, a can of white spray, some paints, glue, brushes. It’s around 150€ + 24hrs worth of my work (which could be much less if I only made all these stuff in one go). All the other items I’ve managed to get for free. Now I have a very playable and rather nice looking gaming table, designed for Infinity and fully packable into a single box XD
! If i haven't purchased Micro Art Studio's awesome stuff the overall cost of this gaming table would be close to 50€
I hope that you will find this tutorial both helpful and inspiring. In case of any questions just leave me a comment in the comment section below.
PS: The pictures below were made couple of days ago in a local mall, which was modernized recently. Now it looks just as my vision of what this gaming table is supposed to represent 🙂 Welcome to the future – few years from now and we will see some Heavy Infantry in live action 🙂
Being a Wargaming hobbyist is not always related to miniature painting. Some of us just like to collect miniatures, others enjoy competitive play. There are those who do not feel joy of having a brush in one hand and a miniature in the other all the time. That doesn’t make them any less a ‘hobbyist’ than the actual painters. Needless to say that regardless of what makes us into true hobbyists we have one important thing in common: we love miniatures.
Having that in mind I’ve prepared something not exactly related to painting miniatures. It is a small Tutorial about Preparation before an ‘Infinity the game’ Tournament. A preparation that in my opinion is especially important from the ‘beginners’ point of view but will benefit all the players present at the evet, and here’s why:
The game lives on as long as it sells and it sells as long as it’s fun. ‘Fun’ is the principal of hobby, still a lot of players consider miniature wargaming tournaments of being ‘all about competitive play’. The fact that both sides should have the same amount of fun is pushed to back burner as once the adrenaline kicks in, there’s no thinking about ‘what the oponent feels?’ – only what he ‘thinks’ and only if related to the current game 🙂 Sometimes that leads to stressful situations or even unpleasant behavior. On the other hand there are players more interrested in throwing some dice and moving miniatures enjoying scenario flavor and nice looking scenery pieces. These happen to misstriger some reactions, forget rules or equipment vital to play the game according to the rulebook. So in order to bring fun to the tournament and have some fun ourselves we shoud both prepare mentally and grab some gear for the upcomming event.
Mental Conditioning: First of all try to think about what the opponent feels? Off course it won’t be fun to be massacred by some unpainted ‘tournament ready in 15 minutes’ miniatures of a guy who ‘must win this one to get to top 3’. Stone face and lack of sense of humour is your’s enemy as much as it is for your opponent, regardless of which kind of player you face. At the same time have in mind what’s going on in your opponent’s head while you shift back movements and can’t make your mind for what seems to be an eternity. Or while you whine about your opponent’s miniatures being unpainted and how ‘devoid of climate’ that is instead of facing this match like a man.
– You play against ‘non competitive flavor snail’? Even when you behave nice and point out some vital rules, that your opponent may to forget, try adding a joke or some short battlefield anegdote to smooth the atmosphere. It is possible to win literally obliterating oponents army and still to achieve fun for both sides. Try to keep your adrenaline glands dormant as once they flare up you only worsen the opponent’s reaction time.
– You play against a ‘rookie’? Keep the atmosphere calm and friendly having in mind your own first tournament experience. Try not to use tournament slang and abbreviations – your opponent nodding does not have to mean he understands what you said. Tutour your oponent (ok, do it after some actions have been taken so he learns on mistakes) to help him understand what did just happened but also to become a better opponent for the future matches. This way you also become a better player.
– You play against a ‘tight ass pro’? Don’t treat some rules as not obligatory, for example be thorough while moving your miniatures (don’t steal some vital inches due to being lazy). Be calm and accurate but at the same time try to decide fast even if it costs you a loss of confidence on the table. Better to loose and learn from your opponent than to win and stagnate without evolving your skills. Remember that once you estabilish an accurate form of contact you will be able to ask some vital questions thus fastening the game and having less difficulties with making important decisions.
– You play against ‘Luck’? Don’t be angry at dice. This game is all about RNG, also luck is a bitch. You will take your time to position a sniper in full advantage just to be taken out by a stupid pistol’s ARO while at the same time some Combi Rifle grunt will multikill on a spree! Infinity is just ‘that kind of a game’. Deal with it or move on to ther systems;)
– Clock is ticking! Keep track of time as you may be the one overthinking too much.
– Hands off! Under any circumstances do not touch opponent’s miniatures unless he lets or asks you to.
– Obtain certainty! Ask your opponent for any ARO’s or other actions available to him so that he won’t misstriger. Have in mind that the harder it is to win the better player you’ll become.
– Buckle up and disengage! When game ends just pack your stuff and report results to a judge. Then transfer your things to a neutral place (parapet, empy table…). Most people tend to leave their belongings scattered around the table and dissapear to be late for another round. In that case you being late and unprepared means that four players, yourself included, will be awaiting while you chaotically collect your stuff from around the table.
– Keep noting! Write down every major choices so that there won’t be any doubt about them. For example which Camouflage Marker reffer to which miniature etc.
! Additional tip - Read the official Infinity Tournament System rules and Scenarios that will be played at the event.
Gear Preparation: Gaming is so much easier when you don’t have to borrow stuff from all the peeps at the tournament. Usually it’s also much faster! Being professional does not mean that you go straight for Power Gaming, it means to play according to the rules thus reducing a number of conflicts to a minimum.
Pro: If you consider yourself a Pro then I don’t need to tell you of how important some of this stuff actually is. You probably own your personal tournament set and know your own ways of waging war.
Rookie: One of the reasons why Infinity is such a great game is that you don’t have to spend a lot of cash on a bunch of useless items (say ‘hi’ to Games Workshop from me) and can focus your finances on miniatures instead. Rulebook, Unit Profiles, Unit Silhouettes, Tokens and Markers are all printable. Just fallow to Download section at Infinitythegame.com. Even the Classyfied Objective Deck is not obligatory as rulebook includes a special table that you may use instead! That leaves you with some vital stuff like Tape Meausure, Dice, Templates and off course Miniatures to obtain. So regardless of what kind of Tournament Gear you have – it’s time to pack it correctly.
– Pack your bag! Try to pack your bag/box to the optimum. An optimal packed bag will let you move swiftly on the tournament ground, embark your miniatures fast after the game (to let other use the same table) and unpack them rapidly when facing next opponent! Some vital stuff will be within reach all the time also!
– Print an Army Roster! That goes both for your’s and ‘Courtesy’ one to show it to your opponent. A printed roster is easy to apprehend and will fasten the ‘game preparation’ process. Also you will be able to decide on strategy easier when facing plain enemy roster yourself. Did I mentioned that wothout it you won’t be able to participate?
Use ARMY program to prepare your army list and don’t forget to print ‘Courtesy’ roster for your opponent.
– Templates (‘teardrops’), Blast Markers (‘cookies’): Must have, just don’t show without them!
– Precise Measures: Precise Measure is in my opinion the most important tool of precise gaming so I recommend you bring one. It comes in handy while moving miniatures and checking their Area of Control. It makes the game a lot more pleasant.
– Tokens: Wounds, Unconsious, Prone, Regular Orders, Impetous*, Irregular Orders*, Camo*, Command Tokens (*if your army uses these) are vital to the game performance. These are must have and if you lack some cash to purchase fine versions of these – you can always print and cut yourself.
– Objective Markers: Objective Markers are not obligatory but they come in pretty handy. All for the sake of keeping track of what’s going on at the table.If you lack these yourself then probably your opponent will provide his own set, but what if he thought exactly the same?
– Silhouettes: Silhouettes* are a must have in N3 (*if your army uses these) and they tend to be used at some point in the game. They are being used if a certain Line of Fire situation is not clear. At first you will probably mean they are an inconvenience but after couple of tries you won’t be able to play without them.
– Classified Deck: This item is just awesome. All the rolling involving a special table and then searching how does a certain secondary objective works is just frustrating. You can either buy one of these along with your friends or print a copy. Whatever you choose you won’t regret!
– Laser Pointers: No more Line of Fire arguments, no more asking other players if a miniature sees another miniature, no more judge involvement needed. Fast and awesome method to check out LoF!
– Facing Markers: Facing Markers are a whim, as you can just mark facings on the miniature’s base. Still I preffer these instead of destroying smooth, black surface of my miniatures’ bases.
– Wound Rings: Wound Rings have one advantage over Wound Tokens – they fallow the miniature wherever it goes without you being involved.
– Tape Measure, Dice: These must be present. They all are vitat to the game and not taking one is like forgeting to put your pants on for the event. (Well if you actually happen to like going out without pants consider this actidentally putting them on instead!).
– Pen & Paper: Pen & Paper are important as you will be asked to write some vital information like which Camouflage Marker is related to a certain miniature etc.These ARE OBLIGATORY regardless if you consider yourself a Pro or a newbie.
– The Miniatures: Try to pack only the necessary ones and in a configuration that will be easy to access and won’t require lots of time to be deployed/swiped back.
The Rules: No one demands that you take a paperback Rulebook with you, not to mention all the errata, Paradiso, FAQ, whatever. A mobile phone with basic Rulebook.pdf will usually do. Be advised tho, as leaving on a tournament without any means of consulting a Rulebook is a mistake. Syre you may be able to memorise all the rules but I doubt that and a Rulebook is much cheaper than amphetamine.
A mobile phone with internet access to check out Infinity Wiki is also a nice thing to have.
So a lot of what must and musn’t be done here 🙂 Please remember that this is my own opinion based on personal experience acquired during over fifteen years of miniature wargaming including some world class tournaments. As for Infinity I’m still a noob so I will have to confront my ways with a bunch of tournaments but I’m sure that most of these will prove true.
Infinty Tournament Checklist:
Must haves:
– Miniatures,
– Roster for you and the opponent,*(printable)
– Pen & Paper,
– Tape Measure,
– Dice set,
– Tokens, (printable) / WHERE TO PURCHASE
– Silhouettes, (printable) / WHERE TO PURCHASE
– Templates and Blast Marker, (printable) / WHERE TO PURCHASE
– Rules,** (printable)
Usables:
*- Printed Roster for you and the opponent,
(printable)
– Precise Measure, / WHERE TO PURCHASE
– Objective Markers, (printable) / WHERE TO PURCHASE
– Classified Deck, (printable)
– Laser Pointer, / WHERE TO PURCHASE
**- Paperback Rulebook, (printable)
Convenience:
– Facing Markers, (may be painted) / WHERE TO PURCHASE
– Wound Rings, / WHERE TO PURCHASE
**- Printed Errata, FAQ,
**- Paperback/printed Paradiso etc,
Feel free to add some stuff in the comments – In the future I will gladly expand this article according to wise advice.
Recently I’ve decided to take my previous Hacking Device Holoprojector concept to a higher level. The key point was to use the same base material: a Coca Cola bottle plastic, but instead of painting simbols and lines on it – make it look more like a complex holo projection with many ‘windows’ opened at once. A devious plan formed in my mind and here I am sharing it with all who are eager to read it!
* Scissors,
* Twizzers,
* Super Glue,
* Coca Cola bottle XD
* Piece of plastic/brass mesh,
1 Using Scissors cut a small piece of Brass Mesh and a small piece of Coca Cola bottle.
2 Still using Scissors cut a piece of Plastic into small rectangles.
3 Use some oval shaped tool to softly bend both the Brass Mesh piece and Plastic rectangles.
4 Using Super Glue, attach the Brass Mesh piece to a miniature.
! I recommend to paint the miniature along with Brass Mesh piece at this point.
5 Using Tweezers and Super Glue attach Plastic rectangles to a painted Brass Mesh.
6 It is done, but you can apply some Skull White onto the edges of Plastic rectangles to make them look more 3D.
And that’s it 🙂 Whole process takes up to 10 minutes so I decided to remove old Holoprojectors from my Nomadic Hackers and install brand new ‘software’. Hope you give it a try 😉
Here is a technique that I have developed through years of painting and find it most usefull up to this day.
Five Layers Technique is a basic technique of choosing and applying colours. I especially reccomend it for begginers as it is simple, easy to learn, fast and rewarding. You can apply almost every colour using this technique and achieve good results as long as you choose proper paints to do so. It is especially good for either painting entire army ‘tabbletop level’ or preparing a miniature for much more complex paintjob.
The main concept of Five Layers Technique is to paint different colours using five layers of paint. Starting with a foundation layer, covered with base layer, finished with highlights, all being washed and edged. Here’s an example of how does it look like when finished:
It does not matter if you have a steady hand and a lot of patience – if you pick your paints badly this method will not work. Choosing proper colours is the key to succeed. The colours should pe picked in this order:
* Base layer: pick up a medium tone colour,
* Foundation layer: choose darked version of the base colour,
– The exception to this rule is if you would like to keep the colour bright such as bone, vibrant purple, creme, yellow, etc. In this case a little bit brighter, preferrably pastelle foundation colour will do.
* Finish layer: choose a brighter version of the base colour.
– Try to keep it the same distance as it is between Base and Foundation layer.
* Wash layer: use either same colour wash or brown.
– Brown wash fits in most cases. Be aware tho – it will do much damage if you pair it with pink, purple, violet or white.
Here’s and example of a proper layer set:
Let’s talk about how to apply choosen colours. There are some rules that must be followed. Below is the order and all the important leads:
– Foundation layer: Must be painted thoroghly. Paint should be delivered into recesses and cover all the flat areas, in the same time it must be kept from obscuring details too much. Some water may be added to the paint to ease the process.
– Base layer: May be painted scruffy and without dedication. Paint should be applied to all the flat areas and bulges leaving some of the Founation layer visible around it. Protruding areas should be ‘base’ covered wholly. I susually use flat brush for this layer to quicken the process and leave some Foundation layer visible without effort.
– Finish layer: Is the hardest part. Only protruding elements, central parts of flat and bulged areas should be covered. Some ‘edging’ may be done but next layer will render it almost invisible.
– Wash layer: Is the easy part. A lot of wash should be applied onto efery surface with no regard for details. Medium brush is good for the job as brushes too small won’t keep a lot of wash in them.
– Finish layer: Goes once again. Only protruding elements, central parts of flat and bulged areas should be covered but some parts of previous Finish layer should stay visible. At this point ‘edging’ is desirable.
Here’s a step-by-step example of this method:
That’s it 🙂 Below are some colours recepee examples for this tutorial:
Foundation: Khorne Red (GW), Karak Stone (GW), Xereus Purple (GW), Tausept Ochre (GW), Stegadon Scale Green (GW), Regal Blue (GW),
Base: Wazdakka Red (GW), Skeleton Bone (AP), Liche Purple (GW), Golden Yellow (GW), Hawk Turquise (GW), Ultramarine Blue (GW),
Finish: Wild Rider Red (GW), Skeleton Bone (AP) + White, Genestealer Purple (GW), Golden Yellow (GW) + White, Hawk Turquise (GW) + White, Lothern Blue (GW),
Wash: Red Tone Ink (AP), Strong Tone Ink (AP, Purple Ink (AP), Seraphim Sepia (GW), Turquise Ink (P3), Blue Tone Ink (AP),
This how it looks like when Wash dries up,
Final Finish: Wild Rider Red (GW), Skeleton Bone (AP) + White, Genestealer Purple (GW), Golden Yellow (GW) + White, Hawk Turquise (GW) + White, Lothern Blue (GW),
I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and found it helpful.
