OSchmidt | 15 Dec 2014 9:58 a.m. PST |
What I mean here is a project that not only are you likely NEVER to use in a game, but is just so totally cool you are obsessing a huge amount of time and work into. Mine are… 1. The Berline coach of Princess Trixie of Saxe-Burlap und Schleswig Beersteain as a "command base" with the coach, team of six, three or four generals, lackeys, sentries, guards and serving maids etc. The coach is entirely scratchbuilt from balsa, basswood, styrene, and acrillic with small fittings, and complete inner details. 2. The Boat Train of the Army of the Princess. These are eight large pontoons or huge barges or bateaux carried on wagons used to make bridges or pole or barge up and down rivers. Again, there is a rear cabin with bunks and details in each. 3. The Princess Siege Train with six 24lb siege pieces hauled by Elephants. Another train will have the Siege mortars pulled by Frisians with parade harness' ribbons, 4. A large mountain crag (about 14" by 24" with a winding switchback stairway up to the top. Along the way are small shrines, gazebos, and cabins hanging off the edge alpine style with hunters and stags on one side, and a grotto with the scene of the Niebelungen and the Rhine maidens on the other. On the top is a castle perched on the precipice, I'm planning a clock with a balcony and the figures coming around, dancing like they have in Germany, and in the high tower a Rapunzel figure, motorized of course, letting down her golden hair. I want to make a sound system with yodeling built in. 5. A Town of the same general size as the Rapunzel castle, with the high fronted buildings. Shops on the ground floor and reverese perescopes' to look down and see it at "ground level). The Perescopes will be hidden in chimneys. Once again audio effects and moving figures. |
John the OFM | 15 Dec 2014 10:02 a.m. PST |
Do sedan chair races count? |
OSchmidt | 15 Dec 2014 10:08 a.m. PST |
Only if you obsess on them and are spending an inordinate amount of time modeling them. |
Pictors Studio | 15 Dec 2014 10:14 a.m. PST |
I'd say my Crimean War stuff. It isn't useless in the sense of I will never use it in a game, as I actually have once. But the number of games I'm going to do of Balaclava vs. the amount of time I've spent painting Russian cavalry is surely close to useless. I can, and probably will, work on some of the other battles but with so many other projects and interests this one seems like an almost complete waste of time. Still, it is fun! |
John the OFM | 15 Dec 2014 10:16 a.m. PST |
I haven't put any paint on my sedan chairs in over a year. I do however keep returning to my Jacobite Highlanders from time to time. |
Frederick | 15 Dec 2014 10:34 a.m. PST |
How about a Seven Years War period string quartet including an audience of aristocrats? |
John the OFM | 15 Dec 2014 10:49 a.m. PST |
How about recreating the Brunswick marching band ambushed at Bennington? |
darthfozzywig | 15 Dec 2014 12:07 p.m. PST |
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skippy0001 | 15 Dec 2014 12:58 p.m. PST |
I have extensive notes on a 18thC. Imagination Campaign that has the lost kingdom of Prester John (somewhere near the Pamir Knot) conducting a crusade towards the west. Part of a Space:1759 idea. I wanted to use Age of Reason, GW Trafalger and my own airship rules. Colonial Gothic for roleplaying….someday… |
OSchmidt | 15 Dec 2014 1:02 p.m. PST |
Dear Terrament That's easy, just do what HG Wells did in the original Little Wars. Take over the kid's playroom. Otto |
Yellow Admiral | 15 Dec 2014 2:58 p.m. PST |
I can't quite say I'll never use these in a game, because I'm way too dumb to give up hope of actually playing with my toys. But all of these projects qualify as topics of extremely limited appeal: Lepanto. The real battle had 484 galleys, decked out in glorious colors and stuffed to the rails with bodies. Just getting a fraction of that on the table takes a monumental amount of money and effort. The reward? Refighting the same battle, over and over and over until there are no friends left who want to talk to me. The Anglo-Dutch Wars. A period with a lot of appeal to modelers – the real ships were beautiful, the paintings of them were beautiful, and Langton's models of them are beautiful – but even the smallest battles had too many ships to game efficiently (with miniatures), and the largest battles had more than 200 ships present. Hoping to make a miniatures game of the Four Days Battle or even Texel or Schoonveld is probably tilting at windmills. To begin with, I might be able to afford that many Langton models if I sold my house… The Pre-Dreadnought Period. There are plenty of naval gamers around who love this era, collect ships for it, and even game with them occasionally. But there's no good reason I need to have a painted model of every steam-powered warship built between 1870 and 1908. In 3 different scales. Accompanied by period-appropriate shore terrain. Post-Armada Period. Talk about an obscure niche period. If I say "the Armada period", most wargamers know what I'm talking about, but if I say "the post-Armada period", even hardcore Age of Sail naval gamers suffer glazed eyes and stifled yawns. But I can't help it. It was a transitional period, before warfare by gun-armed sailing ships was formalized, and the battles were chaotic and often huge, and there are still some really pretty and inspiring paintings around that look like wargames:
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etotheipi | 15 Dec 2014 4:33 p.m. PST |
Well, there are these for the history of my obsessions. I do, however, endeavour to make at least one game for every figure I make. I suppose, overall, though, the answer is monkeys. I have lots of monkeys from various genres and in multiple scales for no good reason other than … well … they're monkeys! |
Marc the plastics fan | 16 Dec 2014 6:41 a.m. PST |
My pontoon train for the Grand Duchy of Auberge, so we can finally cross the river and invade the Despotic Pancreatic League. But first, I need to finish the artillery. Only after that can I finish the conversion of my HaT Napoleonic pontoons into 18th century (basically the drivers – but also looking for HaT to release their AWI artillery crew as they had guys in shirtsleeves. How I envy those of you who have access to the Minden range |
Klebert L Hall | 16 Dec 2014 8:34 a.m. PST |
See, I thought you were talking about cellphones and tablets. Maybe e-readers. -Kle. |
SaintGermaine | 16 Dec 2014 9:11 p.m. PST |
rereading Over the Edge and Unknown Armies occasionally. Wishing I had a consistent group that would play it correctly and enjoy either. sigh |
Mallen | 17 Dec 2014 12:44 p.m. PST |
I have a 15mm scale Indian hill fort (The Raj, not the Old West) mounted on a carved-up Tyvek mountain. Made it in a day 14 years ago and used it once. Scratch-built Austrian River Monitor. I took the sunken side-wheeler you see in aquarium shops, cut it off at the waterline, built two paddle boxes, and some pivot guns. C. 1997 and never used. |
Terry L | 17 Dec 2014 12:56 p.m. PST |
For me its finally finishing my game on the Amish rake fight. Got the terrain and figures painted. Now the rules. |
Musketier | 19 Dec 2014 9:42 a.m. PST |
even the smallest battles had too many ships to game efficiently (with miniatures), and the largest battles had more than 200 ships present Just reading the General at Sea rules, which are tailored to deal with that problem. So far it all looks quite convincing, so I've ordered some 1/3000th ships to give them a try. PDF link |
grommet37 | 21 Dec 2014 11:19 a.m. PST |
Wild Wild West Imagi-Nations VSF 1/72 Plastic (~25mm-ish) Would be beautiful at Armand-esque scale. I don't know about never. But not this year, Otto. I do spend a lot of time thinking about it, though. I've already selected all the figures, planned the "factions", picked out the uniform colors, built a backstory with a campaign map, and chosen rulesets. I'm thinking Black Powder, TSATF, Die Fighting II, Zouave II, 1870/66/59 and V&B: RtG. With some Armand-esque house rules added, to distill the entire project into a long term campaign, set up in the basement and played out every year. Using any plastic figures available for conflicts from about 1860 to about 1890. Eventually moving very VSF, but initially very Western Spy, with an emphasis on cavalry units, exotic-sounding unit types, and industrial weaponry. FPW-meets-VIC-meets-7Cav. TMP link |