[Crafts] Sci-Fi Scenery Work in Progress
I've been busily assembling some sci-fi scenery for the Savage Worlds RPG cyberpunk campaign, with help from Digital_Rampage and his Castlemolds castings. For modular corridors, I found a bunch of plastic 2"x2" squares at Skycraft Surplus (alas, I went back for more, but they were gone). They make for interesting floor texturing, along with some cross-stitch grid and some Robogear/Tehnolog "Platformer" squares (though the Platformer pieces need some framing, since they're odd sizes).
I LOVE the Hirst Arts "Industrial Edge" mold (#325). It's the perfect sort of edging for floor tiles, giving a little bit of vertical definition, but WITHOUT making tall walls that block line of sight for the players to see where the miniatures are. I've thought of perhaps adding some foam spacers in the "dead space" outside the edging (slightly taller than the edging blocks) so that the pieces can be stacked and stored more easily without fear of "dinging" the details. However, I think it's more visually interesting this way, so I'll just have to get out the styrofoam and make some proper "nests" for the pieces. Except for some large specialty pieces, the tiles are no more than 6"x6" each. I haven't yet sorted out what I'll do for doors, but failing all else I can use some Space Hulk doors, or else I have some Sci-Fi Supply vacu-form pieces that might possibly be turned into doors with weighted bases.
So far, all I've done is to glue them together, base-coat them black, then spritz them with some grey to give them a bit of a "grungy" base appearance (as these are meant to be maintenance access corridors for a mining base). I still need to go in and paint details, such as indicator lights, the omnipresent cables/conduits (which make a NICE continuous linking element), vent fans, etc. Some pieces are already a bit dated, as they depict CRT screens. I wish I could find a cheap supply for small pieces of that "neon" translucent plastic (green or orange) that I've seen incorporated into some toys, and some places have been etching to make "holo screens" for scenery; I could etch it or paint it and have some removable "holo terminals" here or there to bring the tech level up a little. I've got a cracked plastic poster tube that's "neon green," which I *could* sacrifice for the cause (I got it when I was told to go ahead and trash or salvage it, due to the large crack in it), but it's actually potentially still usable with a bit of duct tape, and I hate to chop up stuff that's still useful.
I also picked up a couple of Halo Micro Ops scenery pieces that were on clearance. I was an idiot, suckered by the size of the boxes to think that the scenery pieces would be bigger than they actually are. Sure, the figures were obviously very small compared to 32mm scale, but the pieces still LOOKED big all the same. Even at half-price off, it's not cheap for the amount of table I can cover with this.
The gate piece was of particular interest to me because of the sliding doors, but the tower seems to have a lot more going on with it. For one thing, the scale offset is such that despite these being big, sliding doors, any of my 32mm Chronoscope minis would have to duck to get through. It precludes the possibility of getting a shuttle-craft or a walker through, to be sure. I don't know what I was thinking there. It's still cool, though, and I plan on getting some use out of it.
The tower and gate can be fit together, as the "broken" concrete edges are made to fit together a certain limited number of ways. If I had several towers and gates, I could conceivably make a whole ruined fortification. (I my deluded ideal world, I imagine coming across a stockpile of these things ridiculously cheaply, and cannibalizing them to make a complete complex. ;) But given the starting price, that isn't going to happen.) The items list at $35 each -- and for that price, I'd be better off buying one of the Games Workshop plastic terrain kits. (I got them at half off on clearance at Barnes & Noble, using a gift card, so for me it was $35 for the two of them.)
I think the big appeal here would be that these are pre-painted. They look pretty nice, although I need to use some epoxy putty to fill in some visible screw-holes on the tower. These are NOT your typical cheap toys by any means; the walls have thickness to them, even if it means having two parts to fit together to achieve that apparent thickness. A nice touch is the optional canopy for the tower. It has some camo netting that's a separate piece that can be removed, leaving a frame and spot lights in place, or the frame can be removed entirely.
32mm scale figures CAN be placed on them, but they'll be bumping their heads going through any arches or doorways, and there are stairs rather than miniatures-friendly ramps joining the floors on the tower piece.
Scale-wise, I would call the figures "true" 25mm scale. The mini Master Chief that comes with the High Ground Tower measures slightly over an inch from top of head to bottom of feet. I suppose if I keep enough of these Micro Ops guys (two figures and a vehicle come with each of these particular sets), I could match them up with my Zombies!!! zombies for a Master-Chief-vs.-zombie-apocalypse scenario? ;) I should see how they measure up against my Doom minis, as I think those are somewhere in the same neighborhood. Alas, there's NO WAY these Micro Ops guys are going to look all right next to my Halo ActionClix minis. Too many scales, too little time.
That said, if I ever DO find another tower or gate at a thrift store, etc., I'm snatching it up.