Welcome to the Dungeon; getting lost in D&D... pt. I

While the Dungeon-project is well over a decade old, it has rarely been used for any serious gaming. Over the years we played some WFRP-games in it, some Morheim and Warhammer skirmish and even a few games of Dungeons & Panzers (patent pending), but we never played Dungeons & Dragons...

Well, today I had a test-session, together with my long-time gaming buddy. It was his first game of D&D and my first time as DM...

I set up a small, two level dungeon for this first run... I tried to include quite a lot of furnishing, giving the dungeon (well, actually it was the basement of a brewery) an inhabited feel...

Due to having had a very busy week at work/school I hadn't worked out a full scenario. We had prepared his first character (an Elf Druid) earlier and put together a second one (a Dwarf Fighter) on the spot. As this session was meant as an exercise in exploration and combat, the background of the characters was minimal at best. 

I tried to enhance the game by giving detailed descriptions of the walk through the rooms and corridors, something I really need to learn... 

For a first game, it went rather well... As is typical for my buddy, his very first dice roll was a natural 20, a feat he repeated another four times over the session... We had to look up almost every single rule, but as the afternoon progressed the pace quickened. We ironed out quite a few issues and I now have a pretty clear idea of what direction I want to take...

We managed to learn quite a few things and I gained a lot of respect for the way the DM of the game I play in organizes his sessions...

3D-printing dungeon decor... pt. VI

You can never have too much loot... And that's why you can also never have too many loot piles. These piles are very versatile and can be used just about anywhere in the dungeon, they can be used to store/hide loot (well, they áre called loot piles for a reason) and serve as cover during sneaking or combat. If all else fails they just look good... 

This is an overview of my current set of loot piles...

These loot piles originally started out as barricades for Mordheim, but a year or so ago I updated and repainted them to enhance my dungeon. The base of each of these piles is a stack of home-cast plaster crates, the smaller and more detailed pieces are a mix of plaster, metal, plastic and resin parts.

Having a 3D-printer opens up a lot of possibilities and the last couple of days I have spent some time putting together and printing a couple of complete loot piles and some separate pieces to further enhance the excisting loot piles.

The first two, relatively simple, loot piles...
These were printed as one piece.

The third pile, also printed as a single piece... 

For the third pile I wanted to try something a bit different. I searched, and found, a chicken and a birdcage.

The cage was printed separately, mainly for ease of painting...

On Thingiverse there are a lot of interesting and usefull pieces that can be used for this purpose. Most of the new pieces are designed by a very friendly designer from France. He designed the wicker baskets with tomatoes and apples, the bottles with a wicker shell, the bag of potatoes and the sacks... The wooden crates were found elsewhere on Thingiverse.

Three 3D-printed loot piles mixed with some of the models
from my collection...

The separate pieces... The detail of these items is amazing!

The printed pieces used on a couple of existing loot piles...
The size of these bits is just right!

This is just the first addition to the loot piles, I can imagine there will be more to come!

3D-printing dungeon decor... pt. IV

While digging through Thingiverse, something I started doing on a daily basis now I have my Elegoo MARS, I found a set of medieval suits of armour. According to the creator, these are from Fable III, which would explain why I felt I had seen them before.

Immediately I thought of filling the halls of my dungeon with these pieces...

The first print turned out too small (my own doing as I scaled the model to 35mm), in this smaller scale the sword proved too thin to be printed properly. To fix this I imported the file in Tinkercad and put in another sword I thickened considerably.

Compared to the first print I further enlarged the next batch by 15%, bringing the suits of armour more in line with the rest of my dungeon furniture.

The suit of armour in the middle is one from the first batch, both the models
 on the outside are from the last print. 

When compared to a miniature the suits of armour look a bit oversized, but next to the other pieces of furniture they look just right.

The suit of armour comes in two variants, one with a sword and one without... 

I printed 24 suits of armour in two prints of 12 each...

I based the suits of armour on small, round MDF bases. The small bases allow easy placement all throughout the dungeon.

Below are a couple of examples of how I want to use these.

The small, recessed arches are a perfect fit for these armours, but because they have such a small footprint they can be placed just about anywhere. I hope these new pieces will add to the medieval atmosphere I am trying to create for my dungeon.

I will be painting these soon...

Plans for 2020...

While this is in no way a new-years resolution, I do have some plans listed for the coming year...

Hexes...
I aim to expand my Hex terrain considerably. Not only do I have plans to double the number of snowflake Hexes to enlarge the surface of my Hex terrain, but I also want to create more different Hexes to further increase the diversity of the set. The Hex Terrain Toolkit offers plenty of options I haven't even used yet...

6mm...
Even though I already finished quite a few of my new 6mm stuff, I still have plenty of tanks and armoured cars waiting to be painted. I hope to complete my stock of vehicles and infantry, expanding my range of models to be able to play larger battles.

Play more games, fight more battles...
In that regard 2019 has been a very, very slow year, but 2020 is looking to a lot better already... Having recently discovered What a Tanker!, getting in more games should be quite easy... I also want to try the Battlegroup, I Ain't Been Shot Mum and Crossfire rules in 6mm, ad well as play a few games of Flames of war, also in 6mm...

Dungeon...
While most of my hobby time and effort is being absorbed by the 6mm WW2 Hex terrain project, the Hirst Arts Dungeon isn't forgotten... I do have some interesting pieces waiting to be finished as well as an abundance of very nice furniture and assorted clutter. I also have a growing collection of NPC's and monsters to populate the massive dungeon...

3D-printing...
I already have a bit of experience when it comes to 3D-printing, as I have an Ultimaker 2+ in my classroom. While this is an excellent printer, it's hardly suited to print 15mm or 6mm miniatures. At the moment I am saving up to purchase a resin 3D-printer, most likely an Elegoo Mars, preferably the updated Pro version... This type of resin printer has become surprisingly affordable and seems to yield impressive results...

Whatever comes my way...
Last year, the whole Hex project and the 6mm miniatures came rather unexpected, so there's no knowing what I will stumble upon this year...

Going to town... pt. IV

The first multi-Hex town module is finished...

All grassed and with a couple of trees added... 

About half these buildings are magnetized and are thus detachable, this should help to keep the streets easily accessible, even for fat-fingered gamers like myself...

With the detachable buildings removed, there's plenty of space to move around

Here are a few shots from different sides...

I tried to use different colours for the houses. The different colours are there to break up the uniformity of the buildings but without adding too much contrast (if that makes sense). I used several muted browns and yellows, which, when combined, give a nice overall appearance and add a suitably sombre look to the town...

I am thinking about adding another tree or two, but I am unsure as to whether that would limit the accessibility of the piece...

Gearing up for CRISIS 2019... The CRYPE is real!

CRISIS 2019 (Mainland Europe's largest Wargaming convention, organised every year in Antwerpen by the wonderful people of TSOA) is just six weeks away, so it's about time to get a proper shopping list ready...

I have been to CRISIS for more than a decade now and it's interesting to see that my enthusiasm for Wargaming hasn't diminished in the slightest, but the focus is ever shifting...

All those years ago I was playing mostly Fantasy games (WFRP, Warhammer Fantasy, Mordheim), at that time I was already building the Dungeon, so I only bought stuff related to that. After that came Flames of War, and for several years I mostly bought 15mm miniatures.

And now there is this new project, 6mm WW2... I intend to give all the stands selling 6mm/1:285 miniatures my full attention. I am somewhat ashamed to say that in all those previous years I mostly skipped anything smaller than 15mm, writing it off as way too small. How things can change...

As always, I will be looking for furniture and other cool stuff to put in to the Dungeon. But this year I will be mostly getting some 6mm miniatures to use with my new Hex terrain. While I love being surprised by finding cool stuff I am not taking any chances and will place a rather substantial pre-order at a merchant who stocks GHQ Micro Armour...

Bringing the Dungeon to life...

The dungeon project has been around for years, steadily growing into the behemoth it is today... Work is done in leaps and bounds, sometimes it can be (almost) forgotten for years, and then, suddenly, inspiration strikes and a flurry of activity pushes the project a bit farther. The pictures below represent its current state, but, as the project spans several years, I can't post all the pictures here... Check out my PROJECT THREAD on the Hirst Arts forum if you want to see more (much more).

The Dungeon is completely made with Hirst Arts blocks, lots and lots of Hirst Arts blocks... It consists of well over 250 modules, ranging from very small and basic to large and elaborate.

We mainly use it with WFRP (Warhammer Fantasy Role Play) but it has seen action with some other games as well, including Mordheim and even Flames of War (our very own Dungeons and PanzersTM)... 

While the Dungeon is very large, extremely versatile and a blast to play with, it can feel a bit empty...  An empty Dungeon is fine for some scenarios, but most of the time I want these corridors and rooms to represent the halls  of a castle, so I was looking for a more 'lived in'-feel. Hence the last bout of creativity was mainly focussed on adding some furniture and other pieces of smaller scenery. The furniture comes from different sources and manufacturers, made from plaster, resin, plastic and metal... I also worked on adding some much needed NPC's... While not nearly enough to fill the entire dungeon, I can at least make a part quite habitable...