Staging the Set

The Monastery, test layout

Ever since I finished the scenery, I've been arranging all the pieces together on the gaming board with excitement, staging the set like a young lad building his first Lego city, looking for best balance in both gameplay-wise and appearance. The possibilities are endless...

Here's a mock-up layout for a possible Punk Moth scenario, The Monastery. This is just one of the many possibilities that the new scenery grands us. I'm pretty pleased how the set looks as a whole. There are some hue differences in the greys of the ground and the decayed walls, but I think that just gives them more lively look.

Lonely AA-turret and a Paltry Foxhole

Good news everybody! Today I finally finished the Caterpillar phase of the Punk Moth project by putting the foxhole and AA in paint along with all the rest of the ruined walls. All of these objects will play a decisive part in the scenario as some of them will/might be secondary objectives or otherwise placed in strategically important spots.

The end of the Caterpillar phase means that we are free to continue to the next phase of our project - the Pupation. In this phase we will plan, organise and enrich our first game of INQ28 (which, by the way, has been under preparations for almost two years by now). This game will work as a stage for our two rival Inquisitors, Inquisitor Marius Cassar and Inquisitor Pherion of Mars. The hunt is about to begin...

But first, here's some first close-ups from the finished scenery.

The lonely turret guarding the sky, idle.

The terrain will be filled with improvised obstacles for characters to dive behind in a heat of combat.

The Monastery

Slow but Steady

It has been pretty challenging to enter into the crafting mode lately due to the hectic life that has been keeping me busy. My new job as a project manager is something that I've been dreamed of ever since I properly entered in the advertising business. It's been immensely rewarding but also very demanding and time-consuming experience so far. The incoming summer also brings the good weather here in Finland so it means more time outside with the family.

Despite these factors I've been able to push the Caterpillar phase forward by putting the brief moments in use. The process is slow but steady...

The Weeping Walls of the Monastery

It is time to reveal some of the work I've been able to pull out for the Caterpillar phase so far. Without any further words or teasers, here's the first part of the Monastery, beaten by the dust, sand and filth.

As you can see, the yellowish white repeats all around the surfaces of the ruin. Most of the trims have been painted to represent patinated copper. It does give a nice contrast to the dirty white walls, don't you think?

I have also started working on with the taller part of the courthouse and thought to share some WIP shots with you.

The salt weathering effect does work pretty well on the walls. I did learn from the first portion that I need to fix some of the white paint and hide some of the rusty areas to make the walls just a little bit less weathered, as too much rust and weathering effect makes the larger surfaces look too complicated and busy. I think it's a bit more balanced now...

Sector Primed

I've been off-radar for the past couple of weeks. It is the Punk Moth's Caterpillar phase that has been keeping me busy lately. I've been building ruins, bunkers and garbage like a rabid squirrel, getting this project back on track.

While building the scenery I got some neat ideas how to spice up the terrain with little details, giving it some more depth to the surrounding that where Cassar and Pherion will have their confrontation. Here's the primed sector at the moment...

Lonely AA-turret guards the sky silently...

Courthouse's front wall is filled with notes, appeals, notices etc.

"Deep behind the frontline stands an abandoned guardspost. There lies secrets within these ruins..."

Mikko will be bringing his entry to the scenery - a crazy cool loading platform - next weekend to our hometown, where we'll hopefully be able to sit down, catch up and share our latest ideas and visions, regarding both Punk Moth project and our solo projects. I will then get that piece back home, prime it and start to ponder what will the colours of this planet be like...

Caterpillar Planning...

OK, the Punk Moth project is back in action, hooyah! Time to wipe out the dust and continue to model the base. As you can see, I'm almost done with the first half of my 2-piece base. Not quite there yet though, still need to add hell-of-a-lot of dirt and junk all around... and paint it!

Designing the interior of the Basilica was very fascinating. I really had to think how the building would work more like a playable diorama rather than just a bulky terrain piece blocking strategic LOS. Also, my intention was to make it look like a real administrative building with an interesting and very playable layout yet easy to move around and manouver. That's where I came up with the idea of separating the building in half, "blowing" its core to the pieces and giving it some air to breathe. When we'll be photoshooting our game, if there's any action happening in the centre of the building, we can just separate the two boards and take nice low angled shots.

But now, lets take a closer look of those numbered areas...

1. Defence turret might be one of the secondary objectives to either of the Inquisitors. Maybe other side needs to destroy it before their pick-up can land on the hi-ground nearby?

2. Cargo area will be filled with the supply boxes and barrels to make the area more like a small labyrinth. It will be great place for some of those okkiW's CQC-specialists to hide and make ambushes.

3. Ruins of Basilica hide many horrific secrets within...

4. This was the southern defence line of the XXII platoon (Fifth Imperial Airbourne Brigade) before they were beaten and forced to flee by the overwhelming counter attack of the opposing force.

5. Public Halls of the Basilica was the main entrance to the building before it was bombed to the ground by the fierce artillery of the opposing force. This hall has many entraces and is perfect spot to ambush any unwary scouts.

Here's some more WIP shots of the board so far...

Take Two

Our first go with the terrain landed flat. The base - 3 mm foam PVC sheet, covered with 25 mm polystyrene strips - was way too elastic and bent after the glue had dried. So it was time to go back to the drawing board and rethink the process.

Learning from this mishap, we decided to use plain 50 mm polystyrene plates for the base.

Crushed ground and bombed foundation (with mock-up building).

I have to admit, I thought that the process of building terrain versus painting miniatures wouldn't be that different, after all, the scale is same and you need to be good craftsman in both cases. Well, so far I've prooved myself wrong. While the scale is same, the wast amount of space and possibilities of my 50 x 50 cm board has made a tremendous obstacle for me to cross over. Not that I don't like the challenge, but I've very limited time in my hands when it comes to doing hobbystuff (don't we all?) and the size of ONE board really hit me. Choosing the facing of the cathedral's corner alone was very hard decision for me to make, not to mention how tall the building was going to be. Well, the inner perfectionist in me will cry for the compromises I'll have to make.

Even though there's been couple of setbacks, it has also been refreshingly new and fascinating trip so far. Trying all the new tricks and techniques while building the terrain has been really fun - you know, smashing the foam with fist-sized stone and poke the surface with crafting knife like a mad man... Something totally different to kit-bashing and micro-accurate greenstuffin' I've used to do. It's both liberating and lustily airy.