NovaJohn Geekery Blog

I've been taking advantage of some sales this week and picked up some terrain, specifically so that I am closer to realising the Infinity table I've had in mind for some time now. A quick photo below.


I still need to 3D print a bunch more floor tiles to get even close to finishing just this one board, but it is a start.

Day 325
374/325 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 18
3D printed models - 15
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 19/19
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 7/4
Finish Zombicide survivors - 30/30
Finish Halo Covenant - 28/28
Finish Halo UNSC - 52/52
Finish Zombicide zombivors - 27/33
Finish DFC Shaltari - 10/15
Mercs: Recon - 68/142
Dystopian Wars Prussians - 48/164
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 0/1
Paint all DZC Scourge - 43/62
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 0/15
Onslaught miniatures - 11/54

Just a quick post today. I have spent the week sorting out terrain for the Malifaux board, including stacks of barrels, wagons, gravel and a pair of buildings. The buildings are cracking along, the small one was knocked out yesterday while the other has taken most of the week to get to its current state. The small one is complete, there are just some details to do, most will be added during the painting process. The large one has some work to do on the roof, details to add and a balcony to go on.


A quick look at the terrain competition reminder has it being judged in a weeks time, not two, as I originally thought. So I have to finish and paint these next week. Possible, but a bit of a challenge. It is going to be a busy week!

Day 187
23/187 Painted/Days passed
23/65 Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
Build and paint a set of Deadzone battle groups.
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew.
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs.
Finish painting an Infinity group.
Make some headway on my Warpath fluff.

I have spent every day this week sick, but could only afford to take two days off from work. Throw in some very early nights and fever related concentration and you wouldn't have thought I would have done much this week. I have to admit that I made more progress than I expected! I busted out the paintbrush and started on my Plague for Deadzone, finishing 4 dogs and getting the first colour stages on the rest of the starter.



I also made significant progress on the Malifaux board. The board has been painted, flocked and is generally ready to go. It did warp in the middle of the week with the heavy rain, which was extremely disappointing but some weight on the ends has mostly sorted that out. I am very likely to shift to using foamed PVC sheets in place of MDF when I start making these for other people...




Luckily (?) the terrain competition is being delayed for three weeks, which means that if I can get some buildings and scatter terrain done by then I may have an entry... I have some building frames on order, hopefully they arrive with sufficient time to detail and paint. I have also roughed out a building from my scraps of foamed PVC which I will build to fit with the bought ones.

Lastly, I got a special package this week. In my Facebook browsing it came to my attention that a US company was producing geeky 'lootcrates' that are built to a theme which changes every month. A quick look at past crates had me hooked, so I took advantage of NZposts' Youshop feature and got one sent to me. Below is a picture of what came this month, with the theme 'Transform.'


So I got a T-shirt, Hexbug, Thundercracker figure, MLG month free voucher, MLG wristband, Lootcrate magazine, Warheads candy and some stickers. So it cost me about $45 all up to get, from that the shirt (or equivalent geeky print anyway) would set me back about $30 and the Thundercracker figure would be about $15. Those are items that I would have bought anyway, so I've not lost anything. The Hexbug looks pretty cool and sour candy is always nice. The magazine goes over the contents of the crate and some other little things and the Decepticon sticker will definitely find a place somewhere! The only things in the crate that don't really interest me were the MLG items. Seeing as my PC has a heart attack trying to open Excel, online gaming items aren't really much use to me...

If you want to get your own loot crate you can get a discount if you go through my referral link below:
http://mbsy.co/lootcrate/6857425

Next months crate closes on the 10th and has the theme 'Villains' with some items from Marvel, including a T-shirt.

Day 180
23/180 Painted/Days passed
23/57 Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
Build and paint a set of Deadzone battle groups.
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew.
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs.
Finish painting an Infinity group.
Make some headway on my Warpath fluff.

That is right, I painted something. Shock, horror, I know. I have basically finished the Sorylians, I haven't had much luck printing out the ship names for copying the font just yet, that is all that I am likely to do on them from now. One has been sacrificed to the 'test model' gods so I only have 9 now. It was spare anyway...




Out of nowhere I also got 10 Enforcers for Deadzone painted up this week. I decided that the blue colour scheme I had planned for them wasn't working so went for an easier, more identifiable scheme. This also gets me one step closer to my Deadzone goal, which is nice. The bases still need doing, which I am sure surprises nobody. I haven't yet decided if I will just do them in metallics or not just yet. I would need some new metallic paint for that though.


Lastly I have made some decent progress on the Malifaux board this week as well. No paint just yet but I should be on to that early this week. No luck having it done for the terrain competition but at least I am fairly certain it will be done for the charity event in two weeks time. Fairly...

Glue still wet. Close-ups once it is painted...

Day 173
19/173 Painted/Days passed
19/57 Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Build and paint a set of Deadzone battle groups.
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew.
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs.
Finish painting an Infinity group.
Make some headway on my Warpath fluff.

More progress this week on the Malifaux custom play area. The sides have all been lined with MDF, the 'boardwalk' area is all laid out waiting for the panelling and I have given the first run over with putty.


In a couple of days I will be able to sand the board smooth and patch any spots that need more putty. After that I will improve the strength of the putty and then add in the texture sand. I should hopefully get that all done by the end of next week. If I am doing really well then I may get the first coat of paint on the board by then as well.

The Deluxe Gaming Area is done, I hope to get some decent photos organised as a first product range item sometime soon. It is looking like they will cost $230 and I am looking at making small dice trays as well.

Day 166
0/166 Painted/Days passed
0/57 Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Build and paint a set of Deadzone battle groups.
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew.
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs.
Finish painting an Infinity group.
Make some headway on my Warpath fluff.

So I have spent the last two weeks looking into my 'special project' and figuring out if it was going to achieve what I wanted it to. So far everything seems to stack up so now seems like a good time to reveal it:


So I am in the process of launching my own company, Nova Design Studios, aimed at designing and building war-gaming terrain, tables, bases and accessories all to the customers specifications. I'm still working out all the bugs in the Facebook page, order forms and product range so officially I won't be up and running for a couple months.

I have got a couple preview shots of what I am working on though. The first is a "Deluxe Gaming Area," which is a double sided board for expanding a dining table or similar. One side is lined with brown felt and makes for a 4' x 4' play area. The other side is a black felt lined 3' x 3' play area with dice rolling area. The pine edging is all finished with wood stain.

For some reason the flash made this come out blue, it is in fact black...

There are a few finishing details to go to this item, for instance I am looking into ways to lock the two halves together.

The next item on the workbench is a 3' x 3' custom play area. The board is designed to sit inside the "Deluxe Gaming Area" to improve the play experience. I hope to have the board finished in time for the charity event being run by the Hamilton Immortals on the 5th of July. I hope anyway...


While I work on these "demonstration models" there won't be much time for doing anything else, but you never know!

Day 159
0/159 Painted/Days passed
0/57 Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Build and paint a set of Deadzone battle groups.
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew.
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs.
Finish painting an Infinity group.
Make some headway on my Warpath fluff.

So I made more progress on the terrain project this week. I added some more details to the containers, I have about 10 more that need detailing. I am a bit torn on how I will paint them all up though. I had originally thought that I would make them all clean and look like a well maintained city area. On the other hand I keep seeing lots of opportunity to really dirty it all up, adding lots of posters, dirt and other grunge. Anyway here are some photos of three different containers.




I made a little progress on the apartment complex as well, putting in the sliding doors and marking out a decorative plate. The decorative plate will sit out from the building, I haven't decided how far yet though. I am tempted to make it part of the balconies, as the fire escape, but it would be kind of difficult to access. I also have to decide if I will make it out of MDF or acrylic. The acrylic will be harder to do and more brittle but have a nicer finish. A picture of the layout is below.


The last bit of progress I made was the detailing on the raised garden. The container details are now all ready, unfortunately I made a mistake when I made the frame. I forgot to account for the thickness of the top plate so now it is about 5mm too tall. Of course I realised this after putting in all the details... Never mind, it still looks okay if I don't have any other containers too close.


Apartment Building
 - Windows
 - Balconies (x2)
 - Air conditioner
 - Ladders
 - Fences
 - Paint
Raised Garden
 - Make framework
 - Detail frame panels
 - Populate garden
 - Fences
 - Paint
Shipping Containers
 - Add doors
 - Fine detailing (windows, signs, vents etc.)
 - Paint
Crates
 - Paint 36 large crates
 - Trim and paint 24 small crates
Paint K-Rails
Board
 - Touch up paint
 - Add details
 - Add plastic to road edges
Paint up Billboards
Catwalks
 - Build
 - Paint

Day 40
0/40 Painted/Days passed
0/10 Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Build and paint a set of Deadzone battle groups.
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew.
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs.
Finish painting an Infinity group.
Make some headway on my Warpath fluff.