Mediterranean Island Pirate Mega-Map ReaperCon 2012

[ableman33]

Quote:N810 said:
Brilliant.... Now why didn't I think of that.      

I might go with the current color for now,
if it clashes too bad you could give it a bit of a grey drybrush.

Quote:threewolftats said:
wow..... bamboo place mats just hit my shopping list.... genius sir pure genius!!!!!

TWTs

I actually had the idea to use these bamboo mats to make suspended rope bridges for one of my previous D&D campaigns, but that game broke up before I needed to make the terrain for the dramatic "over the canyon" encounter.

I have been holding on to them ever since in case I needed to make a bridge. I am glad I did.  

[ableman33]

My bridges are done for now.

I bent my clothes hanger wire frames and glued them to the undersides of the bridges. I also glued some magnets near each end. When bending the wire, I gave the bridges just enough curve to look like they are suspended without being so steep as to cause units on top to slide.

I deliberately made my wire frames short so that there was some unsecured bridge at each end. Leaving these parts loose allows the ends of the bridges to drape down to the terrain, creating ramps over the height of the magnets.

I did not need to use this many magnets, but since I have hundreds I went for the extra security.







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Here is the bridge connecting the arches to the lone spire around the cove. It looks a little long, but that is because the metal plates that the bridge magnets secure to were placed a bit back from the curved edges of the rock.





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And here are the two bridges over the central crevasse.







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To test out the bridge, my scout trooper cautiously headed across.





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When things seemed safe, he brought his pet rock with him. Despite the load, the bridge did not shift or bend at all.
(Good thing too. Scout trooper would have been devastated if anything had happened to his pet rock. He takes that thing everywhere.)

After this test, I am confident that the bridges can take any units the players may try to stack on them.





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I am thinking I may leave the bridges like this. I had considered adding sides and/or vertical sticks at the ends for the suspension cables to give the bridges that extra look of realism.

Considering that these bridges are only just a bit wider than the largest bases that will be crossing them and I have heard that many of the units extend past their bases, I think the inconvenience of tangling in ropes or being blocked by sticks will trump any added realism.

Maybe I will add some dangling skulls hanging from ropes underneath or the like.

I do plan to create some sort of clues to aid those setting up the map in how to place and orient the bridges. The two longer bridges that go over the crevasse each work best in their own places and when the correct end is on the higher side of the gap.

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That is all for tonight. Tomorrow I might start on the shipwreck, we will have to see.  

[ableman33]

Quote:jhigga15 said:
I love this  

Quote:N810 said:
looks good, I think adding a couple sticks to the ends and rope handrails is definately the way to go.

/|\_^^^^^^^^^_/|\

[ableman33]

15 DAYS...

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While I think about what else I might do to the bridges (and about the general coloration of my map), I decided to get started on the remaining required element of the project: the shipwreck.

For the first step I used Super 77 spray adhesive to glue together three scraps of foam to create and appropriately sized block. (When I do things properly, spray both surfaces that are being bonded together and allow them to get tacky, I get fantastic adhesion between sheets of foam. I could have saved myself LOTS of trouble if I had just bothered to do this when making my maps.)

Here you can also see the template I will use to cut out the curved bow of my ship.





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Using my hotwire scroll saw, I cut out the curved bow to get my initial shape.





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Rather than try to use hotwires or saws to create the curved underside of the ship, I pulled out a rasp. When doing this kind of work, a breath mask is a must. The polystyrene dust created is super fine and clings to EVERYTHING.





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After about ten minutes of work I had a decent rough shape.















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Next step, wrecking the ship.  

[ableman33]

To make the ship look like it has sunk after striking submerged rocks, I made a rough slice with the hotwire scroll saw, then used the rasp to fine tune the angle until I had an up-tilted bow that I liked the look of.

[ableman33]

Quote:Thumper said:

Quote:ableman33 said:
When doing this kind of work, a breath mask is a must. The polystyrene dust created is super fine and clings to EVERYTHING.

Your teacher side is showing  

Yep, love my wood rasps ...

[ableman33]

And here is where the shipwreck will be fitted on the map. It is supposed to look like the ship tried to sail toward the cove through the gap between the peninsula and the lone spire, hit submerged rocks, and sank.













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The plan is to add broken masts, hatches, and other elements. Most will be missing having been salvaged by the pirates for materials to build stuff around the island including a mast/crow's nest access to the top of the spire.

There will be a hole in the side of the ship near the peninsula and the pirates will have built walkways over the wreck to reach the spire.

If I have the time, I will drape netting and sea weed, add barnacles and starfish and the like.

Back to work.

[ableman33]

Quote:Thumper said:
Your teacher side is showing.  

Heh, yeah. I just can't help it.  

Quote:HobbyDr. said:
"A three hour tour, a three hour tour."

If this gets any better, my head will explode.    I simply applaude your talent, as well as your focus.

Don

Quote:N810 said:
Soo when are you going to paint the plywood (water) blue/green ?  

Thanks all.  

The plywood water gets its paint job once I finish fiddling with the island rock color. I want to hold off on the water until I am sure I am done making drips and splatters.

Quote:pendrake said:
I just got my hands on and read the scenarios that will be played on these maps.    !

In the third one there is a ship named the Dark Phoenix.

That idea I had about "X" marks the spot for a Pirate-ish decoration would probably interfere with/confuse scenario number two.

One of the scenarios calls for the skirmish warbands to be landing reinforcements from skiffs.

@ pendrake - I will have to take a look at those scenarios. I have never played the game that will be using these maps (Warlord), so I have just been winging things on general game design principles.

[ableman33]

I took a break from working on my shipwreck to try something with the yellow color on my maps. On a hunch I created an ink wash and applied it to all the manufactured stone areas (the parts where the yellow was the most glaring and obvious).

I stirred 20 drops of brown ink and 1 drop of black into a shot glass's worth of alcohol. I decided to try alcohol instead of water because it would dry faster and hopefully wet into the cracks more easily.





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I really like the results. Instead of nearly featureless creamy yellow all over the place, I now have shaded almost sepia tones that are much more natural looking.



















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Given how nice this looks, I plan to give all the natural surfaces a wash with this too. After that all dries, I can tweak the look by going back over areas that I want to be darker, perhaps with a second drop of black in the mix.

Back to work.

[ableman33]

OK, I can live with this.

I washed all the natural terrain in the same ink wash mix described above. Because the natural surfaces were more three dimensional and had less yellowing, they became darker than the manufactured surfaces when they were washed with the ink mix.

But best of all, no more yellow anywhere!  



















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I really like how these came out. The rocks are not as white as my original inspiration photos, but they look well together and look natural. I always try to remind myself that my inspiration pics are to INSPIRE me, not to serve as a model that I try to perfectly reproduce.

As things stand, I am done with my main map coloration. Now I can paint the water and start focusing on the greenery and pirate details.