A couple of weekends ago I was in Leeds for the most recent Pennine Megagame offering ‘A Shot Heard Around the Universe.’ This was an original offereing by Tim set in a universe of his own creation. Imagine a series of inhabited systems at the edge of a galaxy owned by a distant but powerful empire, the systems are feeling hard pressed due to increasing taxes and feel a little forgotten… the whiff of rebellion and secession is in the air.
Being a space game I decided to volunteer my services and provide some 3D props to the game. I thoughht if every team had a model planet it would not just add to the visual element of the day but a physical representation to identify with would help team immersion in the game.
The models were surprisingly simple to do. Once I found some polysterne balls (and one ping pong ball) of the right size I mounted them upon bamboo skewers and primed them with a tick coat of PVA. This was to give the balls a bit of rigidity and well as give the paint something to stick to. Expanded polystyrene can be difficult to get paint to adhere to at times.
I got a list of the descriptions of the planets from Tim and put the base colour and basic continents on with a brush. After that it wasa simple job to shade the planets by dabbing on various complimentary colours with a bit of sponge, blending it all together whilst wet. The final touch was bit of white sponged on those planets with seas to represents clouds. I didn’t go to excess here to keep the underlying detail.
After another coat of PVA to seal them I made some stands for them with cut down pens and air drying clay.
Once all set up on the large game map I thought they looked pretty good and added to the day.
My role on the day of the game was being kept very busy running the espionage map on a side table. The board represented a mixture of physical and conceptual areas on each of the planets and the security agents moved around the nodal map conducting operations. It certainly through up some interesting situations in the game, the system worked fine but some of the values need reworking. One player did out manoeuvre the rest with skillful play- can’t remember the last time I had a player so successfully Machiavellian.
Cheers,
Pete.
The world models were amazing Pete – thanks so much for doing them.
My pleasure Tim. Glad you liked them.
Cheers,
Pete.
Nice work there on the planets. They definately look like they would have added to the experience of the day.
Thanks- I hope they did. Someone did ask on the day how they were made so hopefully they’ll see this post too.
Cheers,
Pete.
Very effective planetary bodies, provides a nice sense of space (no pun intended).
Thanks Marvin, for a quick build I’m pleased with how well they turned out.
Cheers,
Pete.
On to Ebay … Planet Jasmine for sale; comes with hereditary title … Supreme Leader, and Jade Throne of Skulls. Starts at 99p. đŸ™‚
Give what you can buy on ebay I wouldn’t be surprised….
Cheers,
Pete.
Pete rally interesting
Thanks John. I keep toying with the idea of a Southern African megagame – either Rhodesia or South Africa… just a question of finding the time to do it.
Cheers,
Pete.