Cannon Hall Farm/Ghost Archipelago

Took my family out to Cannon Hall Farm a few days ago and took some pictures of "Fairyland" a sort of folly in the grounds of the house, created from the remains of a couple of old churches; Silkstone and Cawthorne.

Made me think of Frostgrave, Ghost Archipelago and the upcoming Rangers of Shadows Deep so I thought I would record them here.

Had to include this amazing tree, may have to create a D&D setting amongst the boughs of a huge wood elf town.

D&D 5e: Palladin Ullan

This is the model I used to play a recent solo game where I took a Frostgrave scenario and crossed it with a D&D Palladin character, (Alone in the Crypt.) Probably not going to happen again and was an ill advised idea. Anyway I finally finished the miniature, an old GW Swordmaster of Hoeth, one of about 30 I own.

The base is from the Gangs of Rome bases Luke's APS produced for the game which I added a load of plaster rubble to conceal the "jigsaw" part of the base.

The javelins are taken from my bits box, from the Warlord Celt warriors box set.

D&D 5e: Smaller Rocky Outcrops using Luke's APS Modelling compound

These are the small rocky outcrops that I made the other day for a game I'm playing tonight in D&D. They are made from Luke's Modelling Compound and took around half an hour to model, then a bit of drying time and then half an hour to paint over with washes, 2 browns and a black. 

The larger pieces like the 2 above I put the compound over the top of some polystyrene scraps to save on materials.

I painted straight onto the plaster mix there was no undercoat at all.

Will do a step by step when I get the chance, but too busy at the moment, sorry. Probably next week now. I used mainly my hands and finished them off with only one tool, so not complicated at all.

What I like about then is that with only a few bits I can create a whole series of different looking caverns and tunnels without too much hassle.

Below are a whole series of slightly different looks to the basic cavern set up

Will let you know how they work out in actual game play.

And yes I am a friend of Luke's and work with him on projects just to be open and clear.

D&D 5e: DM's Station

While I was away I spent some time thinking how to re-organise my stuff to play a game of D&D. I had a look at some fantastic tables and some ingenious hand made boxes to house all the paraphernalia that a DM and players might need.

I don't have the room for a bespoke table nor for anything that can't be broken up into smaller, store-able parts, so for the present this is my solution.

I thought some boxes from Ikea may be useful and since I had 2 I had bought, and not used, I got one down from the loft and filled it with dice, pencils and tokens, miniatures and stat cards for monsters, very tidy.

The legs for the board are made from heavy card tubing, with non-slip rubber matting hot glue gunned to the bottom and top. Will be painting them also.

Will discuss this terrain another post when completed, took me about an hour to make and paint the lot, very quick.

I also, he said cringing a little, decided to cut my DM screen in half to better use the space.

I have remade my playing are for miniatures and terrain, originally I had two 24" by 12" boards but yesterday I set about making a 24"by 24" board, as its far more stable. Needs to be painted and ready to go for Tuesday as I have a game I'm DM ing, then again for the weekend for a mammoth session for my sons birthday(30) eek!

THe MDF board cut and the card tubing ready to be marked out as legs.

Still need cleaning up the grooves take a long time to make as they are cut by hand by me with a Stanley Knife, each one marked very carefully then cut at an angle. Once sanded and cleaned will be painted.