Wargaming Tradecraft: September 2015




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Creating the Mountain King's River

In the last post on my Elemental King, I discussed building the Mountain King's base. Today, you can read a comprehensive tutorial on how I created the water on his base. I'll admit: I'm pretty proud of this one. It turned out beautifully and the ripples I made in the water seem spot on.

Included are some money saving tips and details on a slight hiccup, which you'll have to read the post to find out about.

Join the Disqussion


Just a quick note that I've installed Disqus' comment system on Wargaming Tradecraft. Been using it more over at the HoP and liking it. You can still comment using your Blogger (Google) account, but other options include one-click login through Twitter, Facebook and actual Disqus account. I've also left anonymous commenting enabled.

Some features now include the ability to see what sites you've been commenting at in one place, a profile feature to automatically email you on any replies, upvoting, better reply chains and language filtering since I try to keep this site appropriate for all ages.

Hey, who knows, maybe this will promote more commenting.

Maker Expo: Retrospective


What a day.

I'd certainly say that the first public event I've presented at was a rousing success and all full of positive energy! To recap, Maker Expo was an event full of inventors and artists showcasing their hobbies and businesses to reach out to the community and expose the public to all sorts of new and wonderful things. The event had roughly 7500 visitors, 100 volunteers and 100 exhibitors in an 8 hour span. (OK, so it was a lot longer of a day for the exhibitors, especially if you're fighting mono and a cold like I am. Think I survived on adrenaline alone.)
[See a clip from CTV News.]


TheWife starts things off before her volunteer shift. A retweet by the Mayor to begin? Well thanks!

Wargaming Tradecraft presents: Work in Progress


I'm proud to announce that this Saturday, September 19th, Wargaming Tradecraft will be representing the miniature community at this year's Maker Expo located at the City Hall in Kitchener, Ontario.

"Work in Progress" is an art exhibit demonstrating the process taken to complete miniatures, terrain and special effects. I'll also be involving visitors of the event by inviting them to participate in ongoing group paints throughout the day.

What is Maker Expo?

From their website: "Maker Expo is a diverse, family-friendly showcase of makers, artists and organizations who create amazing things in celebration of the do-it-yourself spirit."

(and it's free!)

There will be all sorts of cool exhibitors showing off items of technological and artistic innovation.

Interested in Attending?

As mentioned, it's going to be held at City Hall in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

Join the Facebook Event.

Check out the full details here.





Signage:

Basing the Mountain King

Often overlooked is the importance of the base for your model. It's not the focus, but it should accent what you've created and cheaping out will detract. I'm also a firm believer in using as many natural items to base with as you can to place your miniature in a believable context.

This becomes extra important on a project the scale of the Elemental King. Last week I looked at applying terrain on the Mountain King's body and today we'll apply it to the base.

The Plan

The whole time I'd intended to have him striding through a river that came up to roughly his ankles. So the base needs to be a rocky/sandy bed that ended at a shoreline. The wood was planned the whole time, but here I have to blend the land and water together.

Basing the Mountain King's Body


One of the parts of the Elemental King Project was that he's supposed to be covered in moss / grass. Originally, I was going to go overboard - if it was skin, it was going to be covered in moss. As he came together, my vision changed. I really liked how his skin turned out and didn't want to hide that. Instead, I decided to have the moss growing from the stone outcroppings, thicker where it met the skin.

The neat thing about an elemental, is I'm mixing my basing techniques with the actual body of a miniature. This creates a unique dynamic not often seen in miniatures.