A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Malifaux – I've create a few tokens for Malifaux per a clients request. In order we have, (5) dynamite markers, (2) treasure markers, (1) bag of soulstones.
Fairly simple, but having a specific model or token for any of the tasks helps to make every game feel different. However these can also be used for some other things as well, evidence counters maybe?
Malifaux – The Rising Powers book introduced a new type of token used to represent a growing fire in some of the interior locations. The nice thing about the size of the token is it matches up with the size Crid's flame wall spell. Over the course of the game you could potentially need 10-12 of these counters, rather than use generic blank bases I've been working on creating some 3D tokens that will better represent the event.
For the event I'm running Feb 5th, one of the tables will be the Star Theater and will use the growing fire special event. With the event drawing close I needed to come up with a way to quickly create multiple flame counters.
To begin I first sculpted the flames on a 50mm base. I used green foam to bulk out the shape. From there I than sculpted the flames using a 2 part epoxy (I've found the construction grade stuff you can buy at a hardware store works great for terrain). To sculpt the flames I rolled the epoxy into small sausage shapes. By layering the sausage shapes you can create a texture that looks flame-like. Once that base dries use green stuff to add additional detail.
The next step is to create a mold of the sculpt. To do this I use a 2-part silicon and create a simple mold. I mount the base into a plastic cup and pour the silicon into the mold. Once it's cured pop of the master and cast using dental plaster.
Painting is pretty quick. I like to spray the yellow base and than do the blends of orange and red. To tie them together I do a final wash of yellow ink.
Following these steps you can make multiple flame tokens or if you want to save even more time check out the online store.
Game Aids – I first experimented with Shrinky Dinks while playing Warmachine/Hordes. It is so important to keep track of spell effects that some type of counter has to be used. We started off with colored beads and/or noting it on the card but over the course of the game they became difficult to remember. This resulted in lots of bad plays and "Woah, I didn't know that – instead I'm going to..." Around the same time Gale Force Nine made tokens for the game, for many players this was a Godsend. I on the other hand didn't care for them, sure they were easy to get and had most everything you needed; but they were also tiny, hard to pick up and expensive.
As luck would have it I came across Ink-Jet Shrinky Dink paper at a craft store. With my 40% coupon I bought them and figured it wouldn't hurt, I also found self-stick felt that same day. It took some experimentation but I eventually found that if you make something about 2"x2" it shrinks to the correct size. Also when you chose colors make sure to go lighter than you want them to be. They get significantly darker once they shrink.
My first tokens were for my Cryx force and I made them cog shaped and circular. (Bad idea...circles don't shrink correctly and you get ovals). After Hordes came out I made them for my Circle Orboros and Everblight forces. I've been really happy with them, they're easy to pick-up, large enough to be able to read and relatively inexpensive to make.
After our first few games of Malifaux I came to the realization that spell effect counters were needed. So I sat down and read through the book making note of any spells that stuck around. I decided on a simple hexagon shape, Bleeding Cowboy as the font and scanned in the faction symbols.
Once they're printed out you bake at 300 degrees for 5 minutes or so and you're done. Seal them with a gloss spray and you're ready to game. I prefer to apply self-stick felt to the back of them. This not only makes them look more finished but also makes it easier to pick them up.
Malifaux – I finished up my corpse, blood and scrap counter today. I'm really happy with how they turned out. I used envirotex and an ink mixture to create a realistic blood effect.
The scrap counter were made by cutting up wire nuts. I saw this somewhere online and thought, "Sweet! easy cogs." Little did I know, they are a pain to cut and the amount of force you need to slice them results in little plastic pieces flying everywhere. The wire nuts do have a nifty piece of wire that I used as a spring.
I made the blood tokens so the Lilith player in our group wouldn't be left out. I made the bases out of cork and sand, then applied the stay-fresh blood used on the corpse tokens.
I'm really happy with the results, but I made way more than I need so I've listed them in my ebay store. Also I posted picks of some faction specific Soul Stones in the Malifaux Gallery.
