More Tree Fort

I did get a gangster game in and I do have some pictures. But the tree fort is still taking up what free time I currently have.

 

Not much progress. I broke a lag bolt earlier this year and I stopped out of frustration. I started back up recently. I had to disassemble and reassemble the tree fort before making further progress. My next step is to make a solid and safe railing for up above and adding an additional deck below. The below deck will help prevent any racking of the tree fort. It will also be a place for us adults to hang out.

 

I have also had additional trouble with misshapen and twisted boards. A good deal of the wood is unused treated wood from much older projects. A good deal of them are more crooked then my back. Three of the 4x4s had a 45 degree twist from top to bottom. That makes it tough to have nice square corners. It also isn't square on the diagonals. This means the platform is in the shape of a rhombus* instead of a square. It is off by only a half inch, but it vexes me. Still, nobody has noticed yet.

*That is the first time I  used word rhombus outside of school.

My labors and those of the Gods.

So with the flurry of posts, one might think I'm quite busy with hobby stuff. That is not quite true. Mordheim is a once a month fight fest. Since I can keep my tables set up, there is very little work I need to do for it. Outside of touching up my warband that is. Additionally, my Harryhausen game is scheduled for 2013, Mayans be damned. (For it, I'm thinking of using Labors of the Gods. It is a Super System ruleset.) So I can work on it in small batches at an enjoyable pace. And since I have work benches set up for the boys, they can work on their projects right along side of me - family time and hobby time.

The fact is, I have very little free time. My priorities right now are my three jobs and my family. I missed out on a good deal of my friend Steve's Warhammer Fantasy RPG game. Though luckily, I made it to the finale. It also looks like I will miss out on the start of my friend Heather's RPG game, which is a very big bummer.

Still, it comes down to effective management of time and resources. I think by the end of the month I'll have some new processes in place which will make working the three jobs easier. And maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to get back to RPGing.

Now to one of my more interesting labors, I'm building a treefort for the kids. Why is this here? Well, the treefort hardware and tools have been cluttering up my hobby workbench for months. So there! :)

I'm minimizing the impact to the tree as much as possible. Most of the weight will be held up by the 4x4s I'll be using. The fort is designed to shift with wind and frost heaves and not constrict the tree's growth. I'm guessing I'll have to tighten down bolts every spring.

Bronze Bull

Another quick painting project for the Harryhausen game. I primed it black, spray painted it dark brass, and then dry brushed it with bronze. I finished it by properly painting the horns and hoofs with bronze and then sprayed it with a protective coat.

Bronze Bull

Children of the Hydra

These are part of a new project for a game I will be running next year. It is a Ray Harryhausen RPG and skirmish game. So it will have Classical Era Greeks* fighting mythological beasts. I'll be using miniatures from a whole lot of sources. Below are pictures of the Children of the Hydra from The Foundry.

Since it has been awhile since I painted anything in volume, I thought I'd start with the easier figures.

*Greeks of the Trojan war era might be more approprate for a pure Greek mythological game. But that is not the game I'm doing.

A Battle at Amon Hen

Since I'm posting, I thought I'd toss out an old picture of mine. It was taken after a game where I had some Rangers of the North fighting Ringwraiths at Amon Hen.

Amon Hen

If you look carefully, one can see there are some interlopers there as well.

Mordheim Campaign

We have gotten a number of games in for our Mordheim Campaign. We have 6+ regulars plus some others we will continue to try and rope in. I have enough tables set up to support 12 people if the stars ever align right. I have two 8' tables that each can be broken up into two 4'x4' tables. I have have two additional 4'x4' tables as well.

Swamp Board



This was a fun board to put together. All the blue area is difficult terrain, the green areas and boardwalks are normal terrain. Models can cross over and under bridges and platforms. 

Ruins 4'x4' Half 1

Ruins 4'x4' Half 2

Fortified Farm

City Section

Both the 8' boards are contiguous terrain boards. There is a river that runs down the middle of each separating the two playing fields for Mordheim games. But, the terrain on the boards were set up so they can easily be used as 1 8'x4' board for larger games.

We will be having a larger game come May.