Minis for Monday! (slightly late)

Hello Everyone!

I've learned a valuable, yet painful, lesson today. I had an older post open to update it with some links, my computer hung up (a memory leak somewhere, it seems), and the post was wiped. As it was my Dungeon for Dominion Day, a prize-winner, and my most detailed (and visited) post, I couldn't leave it at that. There was some hope, in that the initial image and opening paragraph still lingered in the editor when the browser was re-opened. It's taken me hours to restore the post, and add back in the valid links, etc. Fortunately the comments were still linked...

The reason I was fiddling with the old post in the first place was because I've recently been chatting with Mr. Billiam Babble, of Inked Adventures fame, and he suggested I share the minis I made from his knight-for-scale doodle in his Large Dungeon Entrance. These knights will be marching off to join the Cardboard Warriors as soon as this is posted.

I reworked the whole page earlier today, to put in a proper copyright notice; they were, until today, for my eyes only save for a glimpse in the photo below. Please note, the artwork is under copyright by Billiam Babble, but my understanding is that my adaptation may be shared with the notice intact. For free, that should go with out saying. However, I heartily encourage you to purchase some of Inked Adventures' most excellent dungeon tiles and terrain. Not only will it show your appreciation of his work, it affords you the very best way to make your knight feel at home. ;)

Brave Montresor against four Dead Demi-Human Knights (or Halfling Shadow Knights, if you prefer) in the Dungeons of the Demented Demi-Human! adventure for Dominion Day.

Inked_Adventures-WackyAnne_Double_Dozen_Dead_Demi-Human_Knights

These are not quite in the One Monk/Cardboard Warriors style for three reasons.

One: this is simply mirrored art rather than full-front and back (YOU try doodling a back to match!). Two: rather than fold on the base tab, you fold down from the top of the mini.
Three: no black border used as a cutting guide. You trim as near as you can, or leave rectangular

Why this way? Well, this was a very early experiment of mine, before I knew about GIMP or had access to my Photoshop. This is just about the simplest way to make a mini:

1) take a cropped screenshot of a suitable image

2) duplicate it

3) flip the duplicate upside down

4) flip the duplicate left-right (mirror-image)

5) open up a text-editor, drop in upright

6) copy across as many times as you want, hit enter

7) drop in upside-down/mirror-image

8) copy across the same number of times, lining it up

9) in between each set of feet, insert two lines of type with the artist/mini info

10) underline the right-side up text, to provide a cut or fold line

That's it, save for some minor tweaking of tab sizes, lining-up, and page formatting. All it took on my Mac were the screenshot function, Preview to flip the image, and TextEdit. The screenshot image loses some resolution from the original, but it's still acceptable.

In this case, to fit the page, the knights come out to about 23mm scale. Given that One Monk's scale is closer to 32 mm, and comparing with my small-sized Pathfinder minis, the resulting knights are just about perfect halfling size. Now, you could certainly enlarge these on printing, though you will have to change your top and bottom margins to compensate. It would be easier for those using A4 instead of US Letter.

Here you can see them roughly cut and folded. Next, you would glue the wrong sides together. You may glue the tabs together if paper-basing One Monk style or with a plastic slotted base. Or you could leave the tabs unglued to use the Reivaj or Kev's Lounge styles of paper-base. Inked Adventures' free bases work best with the latter styles. After the glue has set, you can trim around the figure, or leave as is.

Well, I hope you have some fun with these. To see what I used them for, check out my Dungeons of the Demented Demi-Human! adventure for Dominion Day.

The good news is, that I have perhaps inspired the Brilliant Mr. Babble to draw up some actual adventuresome paper minis!

- WackyAnne, AKA Dungeon Mama

Picnic Adventures! Corn-flagration of Doooooom! Halloween Mini-module for Monday...

Just a tease, for now. Hope to have this mini-module of sorts posted tonight, as there are now only 10 days left until Halloween!

Picnic Adventures! Pumpkin Patch Map-Tile

The first official release from Picnic Adventures! For my readers, and especially my friends at the Cardboard Warriors Forum! It will be joining the second part of the Forum Hoard of free minis and models in paper...

A pumpkin patch/garden plot/wheat field/corn field tile for your enjoyment, using the grass and dirt textures from One Monk's bases page (all credit to the mighty Jim Hartman, and thanks to Eric "Squirmydad" Brown for keeping the dream alive!). This ensures that they will work perfectly with One Monk's Halloween Harvest Prop set (download zip file here). The map or terrain tile is designed as 7" x 7", 300 pixels per inch. You'll likely have to test it out on your printer for the most accurate scaling.

Picnic Adventures! Pumpkin Patch Map-Tile (image or pdf)

Why 7" x 7", rather than 6" x 6" or 8" x 8"? Well, this way you can slice off one or more of the grass margins and have a battlemap spanning multiple tiles, yet still have a usuable stand-alone tile. Four tiles will yield a 12" x 12" field, six tiles a 12" x 17" field, nine tiles a 17" x 17" field - and unless you plan on leaving the fields fallow, you'd better stop there  


Since the One Monk crops are 3" long, one page of wheatfield or pumpkins will yield 24 linear inches or 120 linear feet of crops, one page of corn-rows will yield 12 linear inches or 60 linear feet of crops. A single tile can accommodate four (in-line) or five (off-set) rows of crops per page, so plan & print accordingly. 

You can use One Monk's bases that are included in his set; they'll match just about perfectly if you want to place or glue them down onto the tile (see how well they'll blend below). Alternatively, you can glue the tile(s) down onto foamcore board (preferably black), and cut slots to accommodate the crops' tabs, like Okumarts bases his minis. You can also crop (tee hee) the tabs somewhat, so you don't have to slice the whole length into the tile/foamcore.



Preview showing compatibility with One Monk's free Halloween Harvest Prop set (download zip file here)

Reboot to the Head! A little Mini Mondays for you...

Hello again, World!

While the summertime meant mama-time over dungeon-time, things are finally falling into place for fall. And this blog has been too-long neglected, especially considering the amount of raw data that I've been accumulating even as I've been failing to post.
In the coming days and weeks, I'll be posting many of the papercraft gaming models I've been finding, admiring, buying, printing, cutting, folding, gluing, and even occassionally using ;)
I'll also be reviewing a few of the many excellent resources (digitally and in print) I've discovered for gamers and game-masters, beginners, kids, and old grumps. :P
But for tonight, where it's still Monday somewhere, I'll be talking about an impulse buy that has turned into an impulse collection... with perhaps no end in sight.
For Mini Mondays, let me present:

duh duh DAH!

HeroClix


[now let me take a few minutes to clean up and post some pictures, please :) ]

Hopefully you recall our handsome adventurer from the Dungeon for Dominion Day, brave Montresor Jericho, from DC's Crisis line. I picked him up for a song ($0.50) at my FLC&GS, Strange Adventures,  because he so closely resembled the hero from the best computer RPG that ever was, or ever will be, Sierra's Hero's Quest Quest for Glory. I've still not found any better candidate, in metal, plastic, or paper. He's seen duty more than any other mini, and braved the Skeleton King's Crypt not once, but twice, while my son & I played Pathfinder on a picnic in the park.
Well, he was also a gateway mini, and after the disappointments I've suffered with the hit-and-miss quality of WizKids' Pathfinder Minis releases, I found the prospect of HeroClix _very_ appealing.
Buying from the bargain bin allows me to see what I'm getting and therefore get what I like, pay little for it, and keep or convert as needed.
I plan on rebasing them gradually, touching up a few spots where the brush went awry or the colours need adjusting for my needs, and only altering a couple more drastically. Mini-painting is another entirely new experience for me, so I'll go slow, do as little as possible, and only experiment on the cheapest, most disposable ones until I'm feeling more confident.

Over the course of a month or two, I bought 34 bargain-bin HeroClix for $22.75, or $0.67/mini on average; 7 for $0.25 each, 11 for $0.50 each, 2 for $0.75 each, 14 for $1.00 each. Roughly a third need no conversion, another third only light modification, and the remainder some, none (saving 2-3 recognizable superheroes for my boys later on), or completely (cut up for parts).

Pros: No Surprises, Cheaper, Generally better paint jobs than I've found with the Pathfinder Minis.
Cons: Need for re-basing for best results, Not Pathfinder-specific,
Break-even points: slightly larger scale than most RPG minis.

Sorry, I'll have to add more more details and photos later. Looking over my stash, and my records, this got more involved than I'd planned.

Today's big news was supposed to be that I'd found HeroClix Marvel Classics and DC Classics 3-packs at my favourite local "dollar" store for $2.50 apiece. Savings of 75%, my sons will get to play with recognizable superheroes (or it'll be up to me to run a superhero campaign sooner rather than later), and one or two will have life outside comic-book settings. Commissioner Gordon looks like he'd be great as an aging pulp detective ;D

Overland Adventures and other things... placeholder for Freebie fridays ;0

Picnic Adventures! Picnic Mimic!

What kids ever met up in a tavern? Nope, our bold adventurers begin their heroic journey one simple, sunny summer day, enjoying the fresh air and a delicious picnic. But what is a picnic without ants?

Here is adversary number two for our bold Picnic Adventurers (the first ANTagonist was diplomatically turned into an ally): a baby mimic at play!

The picnic basket is all one piece, folded, and has the following options built-in: food, blanket, mimics (2), and lid to keep it all in!  Dryw the Harper's female cleric from his Imperfect Child Adventurers set is included for scale, and your defense!

[My submission to the Single Figure category for this year's Papercut Awards over at the Cardboard Warriors forum]

I'd not originally planned to include this and my other entry into the Papercuts 2013 contest, but if I don't now, I never will get them done ;D I hope it at least brings a smile to your face, if not admiration for my skill!

Sadly, only camera working is my iPhone, and neither of my printers nor my scanner were in the necessary full working order to assist, so things are a little rough. My mini, therefore, is the original, prior to being scanned and printed. My photo-scan needed too much digital manipulation to restore true colours to make it worth my while for the contest submission.

Picnic Adventures!

What kids ever met up in a tavern? Nope, our bold adventurers begin their heroic journey one simple, sunny summer day, enjoying the fresh air and a delicious picnic. But what is a picnic without ants?

Here's what I've been up to all summer. Well, lots of picnics, certainly, with my two boys lil' G (age 7) and lil' L (age 3). And trying to get a game of Pathfinder going with my husband and our friends while having to satisfy my fix diving into this wonderful hobby of papercraft for gaming. The closest I've come this true adventuring has been A Pathfinder Picnic in the Park with lil' G, GMing him as he went through the solo adventure in the Pathfinder Beginner Box, The Skeleton King's Crypt, with help from a couple of paper minis.

The combination of my favourite pastimes inspired me to start designing a kid's game which may one day see the light of day. The pictures below show a glimpse into a couple of adventures I've got planned. The ant is Reivaj's Ant Warriors Standard Bearer, shrunk to 67% and de-weaponized so that he doesn't present a threat to Dryw the Harper's excellent adventurers [Imperfect Child Adventurers]. The background is from The Hobbit Companion book, the ground from a Japanese papercraft site modded in Gimp, the greenery from Oversoul Games (whose Dungeon Plungin' I have yet to read the rules for), and the Picnic Mimic, blanket, and log are all mine. The log, in fact, I've already shared in a previous post, and was my first paper mini, made on the fly for that first photo.

[My submission to the Diorama category for this year's Papercut Awards over at the Cardboard Warriors forum]

Supplemental to the entry, a couple of fun details as I play around with Dryw's amazing little adventurers...

I'd not originally planned to include this and my other entry into the Papercuts 2013 contest, but if I don't now, I never will get them done ;D I hope it at least brings a smile to your face, if not admiration for my skill!

Sadly, only camera working is my iPhone, and neither of my printers nor my scanner were in the necessary full working order to assist, so things are a little rough.