From the Workbench: Figure Trays

This one was an idea a friend gave me a long while ago, and thanks to our friends at Inventables, I was able to get my hands on some thin MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard).

The idea is fairly simple and one I've seen others do before. A set of modular and customizable trays for holding figures for wargames, board games, and RPGs. I wanted it to be expandable and customizable, so I made the base layer in 6" x 3" pieces that could interlock.

The tabs sitting on top were glued into place and hold the trays when they're all combined. I started off with a set of trays for 1" bases and 1.5" bases. The 1" trays work great for Warhammer 40k figures, and the 1.5" trays work really well for Heroclix figures.

Right now, there are only two down sides to the design.
1) The tabs. They're clued on and it's a bit rough getting them placed just right. I think in "v2", I'm going to use metal pins to keep them in place. I could also use small screws... What do you think, loyal viewers?
2) The base. If I want this to stick together, the base has to be glued together. It loses it's modularity in that regard (you'd be stuck with a 6"x12" if you glued it that way), but you'd still have modularity in the upper trays. If there was a way to get them to lock into place easily...

I've also worked up trays for other 40k bases. 40mm and 60mm. What other bases sizes would you like to see?

And you can Juuust see in the background, some new deck boxes. More on those next week!

(Inventables: https://www.inventables.com/ )

We're back!

Wow, has it really been a month since I've updated the blog? Time flies.

Unfortunately, due to events in my life (some good, some bad), I haven't had much time to get to the shop. So, I don't have any pictures to show off this week. BUT! I was able to get to the shop today, so there are some items that are hot off the presses (or hot off the laser cutter bed, as it were), so there WILL be new pics to show off next week!

But, as I said, there are good events going on for Game Geek Alchemy. One of those is a Printrbot Simple, recently purchased and assembled. So, now we can start bringing you 3D-printed gaming goodies, as well as laser-cut designs! ... Once I take some courses on Blender and SketchUp and come up with a good idea or two.

https://printrbot.com/shop/printrbot-simple/

That's all for this week! Looking forward to sharing more awesome designs with you soon!

From the Workbench: HeroClix

I've been a big fan of HeroClix for years. I haven't played it as much as I'd like, but with the recent Star Trek Tactic sets, I've started to rekindle my love of the game and get others into the game, too.

Naturally, I want to enhance my game with fine laser-cut bits. That means terrain and counters. So far there's only been one terrain piece and it needs major revisions (See this entry).

But for counters, I had a few ideas. the first is action tokens. A character can have at most two actions, so I made a set of action tokens that would link as a pair and span the top of a character's card.

Also seen here are the "Outwit" tokens. When a character has an Outwit applied to them, one of their abilities is nullified until the beginning of the next turn. My thought was that the tokens could cover the entry on the card would keep it easy to remember.

When I showed these to people online, I got some good feedback. Some people don't like having counters on the cards, so I reworked them to sit closer to the figure on the board. I also changed the fonts to try and be more like a comic book. ... I'm not sold on the font change and the next version will probably go back to the blocky letters.

Instead of just sliding together, these will lock in place. There is a bit of wiggle room due to how they were cut, but they'll stay together pretty well.

Here's a show of the new Outwit tokens, too.

Lastly, something I was working on were tokens for "Perplex". When a character is the target of a Perplex, one of their four stats are affected, either +1 or -1. Speed, Attack power, Defense, or Damage. Hopefully, the following are rather obvious.

That's it for now on the HeroClix front. As always, I need your guys' feedback! What works, what doesn't? What could be better? And what do you want to see next?

My next plan is for Light and Heavy objects. In the game, characters with Super Strength can pick up objects and use them as weapons. But, I'm not entirely sure what would work well for objects in the game. I'm thinking of street signs for light objects and lamp posts for heavy. But more suggestions would be wonderful!

From the Workbench: Brony Edition

I'll preface this by saying that I'm what Internet calls a "Brony". I started watching the new My Little Pony series during the first season and I've been watching it ever since (though, I admit I haven't seen any of season 4 yet. I'm so behind!)

My wife, in all her nerdy loving glory, bought me every starter deck for the My Little Pony CCG for Christmas last year. My short review is that, like the show, it's simple enough that kids can get into it and understand it and enjoy it... But not dumbed down to the point where the parents can't have fun. It'll probably never beat out Magic: the Gathering, but it's a solid game.

The only thing I don't like about the game is that it uses these little cardboard counters to represent your points for the turn. That wouldn't be so bad if they used thicker card like the old Pirates of Spanish Main game, but they used the same cardstock as the game cards... And as bright and colorful as the main cards are, the counters are just bland white-ish circles with a black number on them. "1" or "5". 

Naturally, I thought I could do better. I designed these a little while ago. Counters for the six main Elements of Harmony, but going for "resemble but are legally distinct".

 Done in craft plywood for a starter. Fast forward to last week when I bought some purple acrylic for my favorite of the Mane Six...

The starbursts don't show up well in the picture, but they stand out fairly well in real life. The acrylic looks a little too dark for me, and I may go for a lighter purple next time. However, they look GREAT against a light.

So, that done, I'm at another dilemma. How do I carry it? Just have a little pouch with my tokens and then use a deck box? Nuts to that! I have a laser, an imagination, and a good source for MDF!

There! Now everything goes into a nice stylish box. And I'm wearing my Brony nature on my sleeve. 

This of course leads to the next natural thought. This makes for a nice box for MLP cards, and could easily be used for Magic: the Gathering and other CCGs. I think I could sell these and offer some custom art on the top... Since, I really can't sell copyrighted art.

Deck boxes with a side area for counters. Coming soon to Game Geek Alchemy!

~~~~~

All My Little Pony images are copyrighted and/or trademarked by Hasbro. I'm claiming "Fan work, fair use" on the deck box.

Product Spotlight: X-Wing

Wasn't able to hit up the lab this week, so we're showing off more product photos already in the store. As always, we're looking for feedback! What do YOU want to see?

One of the first products I was asked to make was tokens for the game X-Wing by Fantasy Flight. Personally, I thought this was a bit odd since Litko already makes a darn fine set of tokens and they're reasonably priced, but give the people what they want...

Starting off...

I started off with a set of target lock counters. I tried to give them a Star Wars vibe, rather than using the typical "+" style reticles. Fairly simple, but effective.

To go along with it, I made some sets of Focus, Evade and Stress tokens, using some spare neon green and bright orange I had around. They look better on a dark background.

And here they all are together:

They don't look so good in the pictures, but they look pretty good on a tabletop.  Right now I only have one set of each of the colors for sale, and about 10 of the target lock sets. I can easily make more, but I want to hear from YOU, loyal viewer. Would you want a set of X-Wing tokens in your own custom colors?

From the Workbench - Feb 15th 2014

I fnally got back to the lab this week! And what a productive week it was! Finished a gift for the missus, but I was also able to work on a couple ideas I've had for a little while now, and get even more ideas for the next big thing. :)

Starting off, I was looking through the official Warhammer 40k Terrain and I admit that I'm intrigued by the "Zone Mortalis" boards offered by Forge World. But oh my goodness, that stuff is expensive! I mean that's Forge World and Games Workshop, so that should be expected, but still. I'm a Do-It-Yourselfer. I also saw someone on Thingiverse offering up files so that you could 3D Print your own Not-Zone-Mortalis pieces, but I wondered if I could do it quicker with cutting pieces of wood and assembling them. I started with a simple column.

It looks... Okay... Not great. Actually, it looks less like a Zone Mortalis column and more like the TARDIS with a slightly 40k/goth bent. This one definitely needs some rework...

The other bit that I started work on was some defensive terrain for 40k. I know that in 6th Edition, fortifications are a big deal, but unless you're playing Imperials your options are severely limited. And while I love my Space Marines and all their grand skull-covered terrain, I also like my Tau... My poor, fortification-less Tau. So, I aim to change that.

Starting with the Aegis Defense Like. Ironically, with a Space Marine standing behind it. I don't have the Marine ADF myself, so I'm not sure how the measurements compare, but it can easily be scaled up or down as needed. I was more going for the Tau "feel" more than anything. This is made with a 1/8" sheet of hobby plywood. Looking for comments on what I can do to make it more Tau-y or what can make ti better in general.

That's it for now. Hope to have even more to show off next week!

In the Pipeline - February

Well, I haven't had the chance to get to the lab lately, due to weather and illness. But, there's still plenty that needs to go up on the Etsy shop, and I'm starting to dabble in 3D modelling... More on that in a bit.

Last time, I promised to show off some items that are in progress, or coming soon to the store.

The first one was part of an effort to add an 8-bit flair to games. Particularly for games like Super Dungeon Explore. At first, I made all the items in clear acrylic. They're a bit hard to see, so I tried upping the contrast...

A "?" marker, a potion, a heart and a key. Each one is just a bit smaller than a 1/2 inch square. I had a bit of scrap red acrylic, so I tried to make the hearts with that...

... and I think it turned out really well! Shown here with a Super Dungeon Explore mini for scale.

This, I thought, was just a nice artsy pic if the hearts. Unfortunately, they won't be available by Valentine's Day. This test run was done with a scrap and the acrylic had plenty of scuff marks and scratches. Not the quality I like to ship out to people.

These definitely could go up on the Etsy shop, but I need feedback. I need to know there's a demand for them before I start making a bunch of them. Also, if there are other 8-bit goodies that would sell, let me know in the comments!

The last items for today's post are going into the shop very soon. I took textured plasticard and cut them out into small circles with the laser cutter, and they fit just perfectly onto Warhammer 40k round bases and Warmachine/Hordes bases.

From top to bottom, Diamond plate, grid, brick, and cobblestone. Brick and plate are already up on the store, and the cobblestone will be added soon. I am a bit iffy on the grid pattern, since it will require a bit of trimming (the laser didn't quite cut it all the way through). But, here's an example shot of the brick pattern:

I'll try to get painted examples of all four up and onto the Etsy page soon. I think they add a lot more than just gluing random sand and static grass to a base, and they can be used with slotted and non-slotted bases alike!

I'm always looking for feedback. What do you think of these products? What products would you like to see? Let me know in the comments below or on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/gamegeek.alchemy

And don't forget to check out the Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GameGeekAlchemy

From the workbench

So, not everything I make goes to the Etsy site. There's plenty that's just for me, or still in what I like to call the testing grounds. So, here's a couple from the past few months that I'm either tweaking or I need to gauge interest before I start putting them into production...

This little building was originally made for Heroclix. It's 6" x 6" with markers on the top and on the interior's floor for the standard Heroclix 1.5" grid. I wanted to give it a sci-fi storefront vibe, but I'm not sure I'll be keeping that design, since Heroclix is usually more modern. If I decide to go for terrain for, say, Infinity or Warhammer 40k, then I may stick with the sci-fi vibe.

Whenever I cut something that has conveniently 25mm or 1" holes, I add a few square hols in the base so that I can make a variety of shandees later. Things like doors, walls, and the ever-wonderful "Don't Enter Dead Inside" doors. I dig how the sci-fi doors turned out and I may use this for my Heroquest remake when I get back on that.

One thing I've wanted to do for a while is make a good life counter for Magic the Gathering. My wife and I both play and while using a d20 works just fine, I'd rather make something using lasers! This was my first attempt. The pointer points to your current life. Not great, but it works well enough for now. I have plenty of other ideas for life counters, and most look better than this..


That's it for this week. Next week, I'll have even more to show off, including some goodies coming to the shop soon!

Introduction

My name is Jim and I like to make things.

That's the easiest way to say it. When I was a kid, I was drawn to art. When I got older, I got deeper into art and was drawn into computer programming. The idea of turning a blank page into a working product that could actually do something was... magical, in a way. Making something from nothing. Not just art, but something useful. I took programming as my profession.

Fast forward a few years. I had heard a lot about things like laser cutters and 3D printers. But such things were way out of my price range. Then came places like Maker Spaces and Fab Labs. For a while I had some hope, but being from a small town in the Midwest those seemed to be like a dream.

Fast forward a couple more years and life had me moving from town to town... and just an hour's drive from a Maker Space. Once I got the hang of the laser cutter and tried out the 3D printer, I had that same feeling I used to get from programming. The feeling of making something from nothing. Turning something lifeless into something with character, personality, and function. It reminded me of alchemy.

Thus the name. I like to make geeky things and things for board games and tabletop games, so Game Geek Alchemy just had a nice ring to it.