New Dwarven Forge Kickstarter kicked off over the weekend...tempted, but...

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I understand why people don't want to pay the prices for this stuff, but it is what I spend most of my hobby money on. I have a life and a family too. Most of us spend luxury money on something. Me, I cannot stomach paying movie ticket prices.

So, yeah, Dwarven Forge is not necessary by any stretch of the imagination, but it is super cool. I will also say you would be hard pressed to represent something on a playing mat that I cannot represent in 3d. It's just part of the hobby that I am into - if you're not that's cool too.

From seeing your amazing minis I'm sure your game table is a sight to behold.

 

[tomBitonti]

I bought them from dungeonstone so I'm not sure what they are using though they say its very dense and porous.

There are several materials which can be used for the casts, from plaster of Paris, to Hydrocal, to dental stone. Certainly, plaster is very porous. It also suffers when the mix has pockets of unmixed plaster, which has no adhesion and can lift off from the surface with just a slight tug. I haven't tried painting the other materials, but the guides say they take paint better than plaster.

For all but the most minimal of painting, I suggest a primer. On the plus side, you should make it appropriate as a base color, which cuts down on the number of painting steps. Also, you can just slop it on with a large brush (but not too thickly!!), and mostly not worry about areas which will need a different color. For many of the projects, there are large areas which will all be painted with the same scheme.

See: http://www.hirstarts.com/casting/casting.html and http://www.hirstarts.com/painting/painting1.html.

For ensemble pieces, say, one of the bridge projects (http://www.hirstarts.com/plans/bridgeplan.pdf), the painting is made easier because it is done after the pieces are assembled. That way, you aren't painting individual pieces, and the painting goes quickly. However, if you are doing a project which has a lot of separate parts (say, this new project for Zombiecide walls: http://www.hirstarts.com/zombicide/zombicide.html) there is a lot more painting to do, since each piece needs its own attention.

Extra overhead with Hirst is having an area setup for casting, plus the time spent doing the casting. Most of the projects need a *lot* of casts. For example, the smallish 8" reound fieldstone tower requires 26 casts of the #78 RoundTower mold. http://www.hirstarts.com/plans/8fieldplan.pdf. I'm thinking that folks who do much of this get multiple of the same molds to reduce the calendar time to do the casts.

To say, there are folks who will do casting for a charge, which is a decent intermediate cost way of getting pieces.

In any case, you would very much want a dedicated area to work. Most partners won't tolerate your tying up the kitchen for casting and painting!

Edit: This is so awesome I had to point it out:

http://www.hirstarts.com/watermill/watermill.html

With:

20 castings of mold #226 wooden beam mold.
16 castings of mold #225 half-timber mold.
15 castings of mold #253 brick panel mold.
10 castings of mold #263 rubble block mold.
10 castings of mold #230 clay tile roof mold.
8 castings of mold #227 tavern window & door mold.

Thx!
TomB

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I don't think I'll be buying molds, dungeonstone prices seem reasonable to me.

I'm struggling with buying the Dungeon Level 2 from that kickstarter. 400 isn't that much....

 

[LordEntrails]

How much painting do you do on the hirst molds stuff? The dungeonstone stuff seems to be a light stone gray, I'm wondering if just doing some washes to pop out the crevices and cracks and all that would be enough or do you find yourself doing a lot of detail work?

Good luck on the season!

Krylon makes a series of textured spray paints. Several are shades of grey designed to look like stone. I'm sure it is more expensive than model paint, but it makes painting dungeon settings VERY easy one step process. http://www.krylon.com/products/fine-stone-textured-finish/

 

[tomBitonti]

Krylon makes a series of textured spray paints. Several are shades of grey designed to look like stone. I'm sure it is more expensive than model paint, but it makes painting dungeon settings VERY easy one step process. http://www.krylon.com/products/fine-stone-textured-finish/

Those are really really great for landscapes. I made a terrain board with a 4x4' piece of foam core, black primer, and two shades of fleck stone. It was very very easy to do and the result was terrific.

Two downsides: Dealing with spray paint (my lawn had some paint patches for a while) and the cost of the paint, which is a lot more than brush paint.

Thx!
TomB

 

[MNblockhead]

I have a bunch of these from when I was doing DM Scotty style crafting. You can make a lot of cool terrain out of trow-away cardboard and some textured spray paint.

 

[pogre]

I was going to pledge for this kickstarter but at these prices I'm now wondering if its not more feasible to spring for a relatively cheap 3D printer and print my own terrain pieces...

Folks are doing some really amazing terrain with 3d printers and terrain. You can get for purchase and free a lot of designs to plug into your machine and crank this stuff out. The pieces do take a long time to make, but you can have the machine going and not pay much attention to it.

Right now, for the cost, the level of detail is not there for me yet. However, within a couple of years I could definitely see me going in this direction.

https://www.printablescenery.com/product/3d-printable-dungeon-tiles/

 

[pogre]

I bought them from dungeonstone so I'm not sure what they are using though they say its very dense and porous.

It's almost certainly Merlins Magic they are using.

http://www.hirstarts.com/casting/dental.html

 

[LordNightwinter]

They are now offering sets of the original dungeon tiles on the Kickstarter, much cheaper for those on a budget!

 

[tomBitonti]

Hi,

I've updated my prior post to add the price of the Khri Colony set:

Dungeon Level V 1900/1325
the above, plus
Menagerie 120/83
Doomroller's Labyrinth 232/158
Dais of the Dead 181/132

Dungeons of Doom 3600/2550
the above, plus
Lava Bridge 949/665
Khri Colony 439/348
Shrine of Sysuul TBD

Based on the price difference (3600 - 1900 = 1700), and the price remainder (1700 - (949 + 439) = 312), the remaining set should cost about 400 dollars.

Thx!
TomB