Getting Crafty ... Decorating Deck Boxes

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Relic Knights – I'm really happy with the Pro Dual Tower Deck boxes I picked up to store my Relic Knights stuff, however the black boxes are pretty plain. It's also a bit of an annoyance to have to open each box to see what's inside. In an effort to dress them up a bit I created some stickers to apply to the boxes. These help to distinguish the boxes from one another as they're all solid black.

I used some Avery Full Sheet Laser labels to print stickers of each faction symbol and the Relic Knights logo. This paper is supposed to stand up to the terrors the USPS puts packages through so I'm hoping it will stand up to some use. I may wind up reprinting them and sealing the stickers with a gloss varnish if they don't hold up, but I was in a hurry and just stuck them down. (Sometimes you just have to try something to see how it will look before you go back and do it right)

The adhesive seems to be holding pretty well so if the ink does the same I'll be happy. (Although I'm not holding my breath, this will be good enough for now.)

I also picked up a few keychain tape measures that I made little faction logos for and applied. I like that I know have a complete box with everything needed to play for the five factions I own. If I can ever get back out to other stores this will make it easy to demo the game and help build back the excitement of a few years ago when the kickstarter was live.

I really hope this game does well as I really like it and feel like there's plenty of potential for it to grow and have a decent market share in the already crowded skirmish game market.

Lucy in the Sky with ... Black Diamond Starter

Relic Knights – I'm still cranking away at getting my Relic Knights assembled. I'm trying to get them done ASAP so I can send a complete list of missing parts over to Soda Pop to get them sorted out. It's a bit of a bummer that even though CMON is the company that took the money for this and handled the packing that I have to go to Soda Pop to get the missing parts. It's a weird dynamic that I hope winds up working for everyone involved. It still blows my mind with the amount of negativity on the kickstarter page as well as in Soda Pop's own forum. It's unfortunate as the game is really fun and the models are pretty good considering the cost of them during the kickstarter.

Anyway the Black Diamond starter was pretty straightforward to assemble. The troopers have this shield that I'm guessing fits on their shoulder (at least that's were I put it). But other that that one wonky part everything else went together fine. 

The tank seems a little odd as there is this one area that looks blank almost like it's missing a part but I can't really tell from any of the product shots because it's on the rear of the tank.

Magnus is really a cool model and I'm really happy with how he turned out, super easy to assemble with mold line that were easy to remove.

I was also able to put together the Diamondback Mech and this was a dream to assemble everything fit just right and mold lines were easy to remove. 

Overall so far these models seem to work fine in this material. I do however still have the other half of this faction to assemble.

They Call Me ... Doctrine Feel-Good

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Relic Knights – Wow that's a pretty god-awful headline, I need to work on my puns...

Anyway continuing my press to get all the Relic Knights stuff I received assembled I'm now into the Doctrine. This is one of the factions I was on the fench about during the initial kickstarter but in the end I felt like the look of them was unique and they could present some fun modeling opportunities (ie my library). 

Much like the Speed Circuit faction these are mostly small models with a fair amount of fine detail. It is tricky to work with this material as with these small models its hard to get in where the mold lines are to remove them. The peg and plug sockets go together smoothly and make assembly a dream.

That's one thing I have to say about all the models in the Relic Knight line I've dealt with so far. They are a nightmare to clean up but once that part is done they go together smooth and glue solid with almost no "hold and blow" required (having recently put together some older metal Malifaux figures the "hold and blow" really does blow). I've never been a fan of accelerant because I don't like what it does to the glue in terms of making it more fragile.

Overall I didn't find any major issues with these models as I put them together apart from the standard complaint about mold lines and their location. They do look a little soft in some instances mostly with the faces which at this point I think if may been intentional. 

Need More Levels (Library Board Part Five)

Relic Knights – Looking at the layout I have so far it's pretty obvious that I need something else on this board. Right now it just feels flat, part of the problem with building a flexible system designed to be easy to store is the overall flatness of the layout. While I think it could work fine as it is with some additional scatter elements strewn about, it doesn't have the jaw dropping cool factor I want.

The solution was pointed out to me by my friend Ben, add more levels. Duh! This of course will solve the flat problem but will potentially then add the storage issue I was trying to avoid with this project.

Here's my planned solution.

Looking at some Super Dungeon Explore boards I found doing an image search I came across one that was a haunted mansion. Essentially the second level was just a block of foam with steps and a guardrail. I think this will solve my flat issue easily but still be ok to store. 

I think this is probably the best way to incorporate some of the rooms I considered during the brainstorm process.

To get started I took a 2" block of insulation foam and trace my 1.5" x 1.5" squares onto it. I'm going to stick with 12" maximum for the size of these as it shouldn't dominate the board. Next I cut down some 1" gatorfoam for the steps. I think this is going to work so I'll make a few more of these before I start the rail detail to be sure it will fit in a rubbermaid tub for transport.

Librarians vs. Pirates – Is it May yet?

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Relic Knights – I was able to get in a second game of Relic Knights using my ghetto proxy set. This time around we played a 50 point game and had Esper Wells as the scenario. Essentially Esper wells is a capture the flag style scenario. There are 5 wells on the board and you have to run a model over to them spend your action to turn it your color. Pretty straight forward.

I took Kisa and Scratch, 2 Noviates and a Librarian to face off against Calico Kate, Squall, a broadside and some pirates. I was bummed to not have anything to spend my last 3 points on I guess Malifaux's Soulstone Pool has spoiled me in the regard. I think it'd be cool if you received held esper for points not spent, but I have a feeling it would break the game.

We finished the game in just under 45 min which is pretty amazing, after so many long drawn out games of other systems it's refreshing to be able to play a fast game and potentially get more in during game night.

After playing Doctrine I really like their mechanics pushing models out of ready is pretty tricky and requires some prior thought when setting up your que. I forgot that the Noviates have coordinated fire which means they didn't do as much damage as they should have. Kate's abilities seem to revolve around blowing stuff up and pushing models around so there was lots of models getting bashed into the crystal towers.

I'm still loving the Beta Rules for this game and I hope very little changes. On the Sodapop forums there is a lot of whining that their need to be squad rules but I'm not seeing it. Having low power scrubs acting alone is helpful to capture objects and run interference. Since this is a true skirmish game I would HATE to see it fall into units like Warmahordes.

Shelved - Step by Step Library Board (Part Three)

Relic Knights – With the basic board done it's time to populate it with terrain elements. I sat down and did some sketching to plan out what it is this board will need to feel like a library/school. Usually I don't really sketch anything when I'm building terrain as I like to play it by ear and build what I see looking at the parts I have to work with.

While that system has worked well for me in the past it also have some drawbacks, namely not having a solid plan means some projects just go on forever. I've also run into the problem of playing it by ear and having a piece that looks great but is impossible to store. 

After doing some thinking I decided that I will need several elements to make this board look and feel like a library. I also came up with some optional elements to make it feel more like a school, anytime a board can pull double duty with minor tweaks you should include that in your planning.

BOOKSHELVES – I decided the primary terrain element for this board is going to be various bookshelves. To make the best use of my time I decided on several configurations that could be easily repositioned to create a new layout and were small enough to be easily stored. I settled on a single-stack L shape, a double-stack L shape, a single stack S shape and a few straight sections.

STAIRS - I'm still looking for some inspiration on these. My first thought was to use wooden balls and build the stairs going around them. I think that could look mystical and cool, but I'm afraid they won't have enough height. I've been looking at using a tube and ringing the steps around that to give some more height and provide someplace for snipers to nest. 

STATUES - I need to find some cheap Egyptian style statues. I see this more as a library/museum of mystical power and history so incorporating some statues and other relic type items will give more scatter terrain and add a bit more character to the table. While the bookshelves I found are really cool a table of nothing but bookshelf is going to feel like a simple dungeon.

ARCHES - To help give the feel of being in a massive structure I'm considering building some arches. These will provide some more interest areas as well as some minor cover for long hallways. I'm not 100% sold on the idea yet but will  probably at least build one to see how it looks.

Here's the optional stuff. To try and get more life out of this board I'm considering adding some school elements.

DORMITORY - Essentially the idea would be to create some rooms (or walls) that can divide up sections of the board into rooms (essentially buildings on something this big). I have some beds that will make a good dorm room, they're just over 1" high so it will be a bunch of light cover in a small area that could be interesting.

LOCKER ROOM - I'm not sure about this one. On one hand I think it could be fun to build on the other I don't know how functional it will be in game terms. I'm going to revisit my sketches before I try to build anything.

BOILER ROOM - This will be easy a room full of pipes and techy looking things. Gives me the chance to pull in some additional sci-fi elements and add some grime to the table. I'm not sure it's necessary yet but as an option I like it.

STAGE - Most schools have stages for presentations and talent shows. If I build one this could potentially serve double duty as the Star Theater for Malifaux. Not sold on it yet but we'll see.