Erol Otus' Miniatures

Here's a neat link to some D&D miniatures created and painted by Erol Otus.

From the link go Gallery and then Miniatures.

Sweet.

Northern Reaches: Session 21

We played our 21st session of the Northern Reaches prior to me going on holiday.

Again, another near TPK as an evil magic-user cast sleep on the party.

Check out the details in our Session Summary.

Punta Cana

Just returned from a week in Punta Cana

Regular blogging will resume shortly.

I've read the OSRcon reports at Grognardia, I'd be happy if you could point me in the direction of other posts on the subject. Cheers.

OSRcon

I'm a bit pissed off that I can't make the OSRcon held in Toronto this weekend.

I'm in very close driving distance, which makes it worse.

The date for the con came out too late for me, as I had already made holiday plans to the Carribean on Friday.

It just sucks donkey-balls. I'll also be away from the Conan premiere.

Why the hell does cool shit happen during the only holiday sans-kids that I've had in five years?

It's a cruel fucking world at times :)

I hope everyone has a great time at the con, and I hope the date next year is picked early enough that I can work around it and attend. I hope it's a great success this year.

Hirst Arts Molds on Ebay

For all those interested, I've listed some Hirst Arts molds on Ebay.

The auctions end in 10 days. Buy from me and save some bucks.

Just search for hirst arts in ebay or by seller sggillespie

I'm Selling some Hirst Arts Molds. Interested?

I'm selling five Hirst Arts molds.

This isn't a fire-sale, so make me a solid offer I can't refuse :)

I just thought I'd try to sell them here first prior to going to Evilbay.

These were bought by me from Bruce Hirst at GenCon last year.

The molds include:

Water Cavern Wall Mold #82($34 from website)
Cavern Floor Mold #281 ($29 from website)
Cavern Floor Accessories #282 ($29 from website)
Fieldstone Accessories Mold #71($34 from website)
Fieldstone Octagon Mold #77 ($34 from website)

Buying from the HA website would cost you $160.

I'd prefer to sell them as a group, but I'm open.

You'd pay shipping. I recycle packaging whenever possible. I'm not responsible after it goes in the mail.

These are in like-new condition. Paypal only.

kilted dot yaksman at yahoo dot ca

Custom HA Molds

In the last couple months I've been creating custom molds from RTV Silicone.

I started with a small mold of shields, and then some custom bases.

Finally I progressed to larger molds of the HA fieldstone and cavern floors.

I've come to the conclusion that, if I didn't have kids, I would stick strictly to the HA materials because I like to custom-do most things to suit exactly what I want. However, with two kids under 5 running around there's just not enough time to devote to it (sucks that I'm also a perfectionist). So I'm going to buy a few sets of Dwarven Forge and see how that goes. I'll let you know how I make out.

Overall I love the HA molds , and building etc but part of my larger gripe is that they are too bloody small. It takes eons to have enough of anything to build your shit. That's just the reality. So, in order to change the situation I recommend learning about and creating your own molds (from the outset) from the HA blocks (Bruce Hirst doesn't have a problem with this) to increase your block production.

Also, I took a few of the single floor blocks and carved out some puddle pits - to later puts some drops of resin water after painting etc (pics shortly).

You can see from the pics below I used lego blocks with a bead of Aleene's Tacky glue along the edge. Don't chince or you will have leaks and waste material. I find that glue takes an overnight to dry. I also glue down the pieces with the same glue. I use the small lego blocks 1x2 or 1x4 to ensure equal spacing inbetween.

Before and after you mix and pour your RTV you need to make sure your surface is level or you will have a lopsided mold and that will mean headaches when you pour it later.

I use the motor from a baby bouncy chair to power my shaker table - works great. Leave that on until you don't see anymore bubbles rising. You can see a few bubbles in the next pic.

The last two pics are of my molds in action, one devoted to cavern floors and the other to fieldstone floors.

This is the basic process. If you have questions fire away. I use Mold Max 30 and Excalibur diestone plaster.

Dwarven Forge

I'm curious how many of you own, or play in a game with, the Dwarven Forge terrain?

As you know I've been using my Hirst Arts fieldstone dungeon. I'm happy with it, but I'm finding the production process more of a labour than a labour of love.

So, if you are familiar with the Master Maze or Caverns sets can you tell me about the quality of the pieces? Do they chip easily? Obviously they look great, but I'm interested in the durability.

Also, what sort of financial commitment is there for a decent set? 1000 bucks or more?