Andy's Modelmaking Misadventures

[Andy in Germany]

I have to admit, I’ve been putting this of for a while, as it is the first model “based on” a building that exists in real life on Ascension Island, where it houses the Government headquarters and presumably some administrative offices and reception rooms for serving little chocolate based sweets.

The original building is a bit bigger; there are five archways instead of three, but if I’d aimed for accuracy it would have dwarfed everything else on the table, so some compromise was necessary. Even with this, the first version looked callosal when I added a makeshift roof to get a feel for the overall impression. Typically, I then went too far the other way and made the next mockup too small. This one seems to be in the “goldilocks zone”, and to be honest I’m fed up with remaking the same building over and over again, so this is the size it’ll be.

I’m also aware I’m going to need an interior for the building. I don’t seem to like making interiors, judging by the number of empty shells I’ve made so far, but being a government office in a corrupt boom town on with one of the few open ports in an intercontinental trade war, there has to be somewhere for all the diplomacy, spying, general espionage and corruption to take place.

Just don’t expect it too soon…

 

[Punkawallah]

Cheat and have ‘stand in’ room that bear no relation to the foot-print of the building. Allocate a movement penalty for getting from room A to objective B and you’re golden.
Bear in mind figure scale and ground scale don’t always match.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Cheat and have ‘stand in’ room that bear no relation to the foot-print of the building. Allocate a movement penalty for getting from room A to objective B and you’re golden.
Bear in mind figure scale and ground scale don’t always match.

I hadn't thought of that.

I don't think it'll be an issue in the games because they tend to be narrative based: within the story that's the size of the building, and it's the same for both sides.

 

[Punkawallah]

I hadn't thought of that.

I don't think it'll be an issue in the games because they tend to be narrative based: within the story that's the size of the building, and it's the same for both sides.

Hollywood does it all the time :-)

 

[Andy in Germany]

One minor problems I’ve discovered with tabletop games, is that they tend to be made for more than one player. You will see the issue here at once. The obvious solution of going about and being sociable was dismissed out of hand because that means, well, going out and being sociable.

Left to my own devices, I decided to work on a “solo” adaptation for the slightly bonkers Maximilian racing game I’ve been playing for a while now. I decided to base this in the solo version of Pulp Alley, mostly because I’d used the system and it seemed to work. It is based on a set of “chance” cards that can add a bit more unpredictability and chaos to the game; given that the last time I had a “race” one competitor managed to blow up their car with their own rockets, the need for extra chaos is possibly questionable, but still…

As with the Pulp Alley card deck, I decided these needed to have a good mix of positive and negative outcomes, so a competitor is as likely to get a card allowing them to accelerate faster than usual, or “fix” the damage to a car during a race, as they are to find their guns have jammed or their brakes don’t work. There are also several “wild card” versions which won’t automatically affect the competitor on the current turn but which are specifically targeted at the lead car or other vehicles in the race.

I will try these out at some point when I have time. I’m also wondering if a railway based version of this would be possible, to introduce things like sheep on the line or even represent traffic. I will return to this subject.

Of course, having read this post back, I realise that if this is what my brain does when left to its own devices, it’s possibly a good argument why I should be more sociable…

 

[Punkawallah]

View attachment 799157

One minor problems I’ve discovered with tabletop games, is that they tend to be made for more than one player. You will see the issue here at once. The obvious solution of going about and being sociable was dismissed out of hand because that means, well, going out and being sociable.

Left to my own devices, I decided to work on a “solo” adaptation for the slightly bonkers Maximilian racing game I’ve been playing for a while now. I decided to base this in the solo version of Pulp Alley, mostly because I’d used the system and it seemed to work. It is based on a set of “chance” cards that can add a bit more unpredictability and chaos to the game; given that the last time I had a “race” one competitor managed to blow up their car with their own rockets, the need for extra chaos is possibly questionable, but still…

As with the Pulp Alley card deck, I decided these needed to have a good mix of positive and negative outcomes, so a competitor is as likely to get a card allowing them to accelerate faster than usual, or “fix” the damage to a car during a race, as they are to find their guns have jammed or their brakes don’t work. There are also several “wild card” versions which won’t automatically affect the competitor on the current turn but which are specifically targeted at the lead car or other vehicles in the race.

I will try these out at some point when I have time. I’m also wondering if a railway based version of this would be possible, to introduce things like sheep on the line or even represent traffic. I will return to this subject.

Of course, having read this post back, I realise that if this is what my brain does when left to its own devices, it’s possibly a good argument why I should be more sociable…

While commending your ambitious nature, I feel obliged to point out the (to me) obvious problems with railway train races - I.e, the train that starts on the track first, will likely arrive first. Or am I missing something?

 

[Reynard]

View attachment 799157

One minor problems I’ve discovered with tabletop games, is that they tend to be made for more than one player. You will see the issue here at once. The obvious solution of going about and being sociable was dismissed out of hand because that means, well, going out and being sociable.

Left to my own devices, I decided to work on a “solo” adaptation for the slightly bonkers Maximilian racing game I’ve been playing for a while now. I decided to base this in the solo version of Pulp Alley, mostly because I’d used the system and it seemed to work. It is based on a set of “chance” cards that can add a bit more unpredictability and chaos to the game; given that the last time I had a “race” one competitor managed to blow up their car with their own rockets, the need for extra chaos is possibly questionable, but still…

As with the Pulp Alley card deck, I decided these needed to have a good mix of positive and negative outcomes, so a competitor is as likely to get a card allowing them to accelerate faster than usual, or “fix” the damage to a car during a race, as they are to find their guns have jammed or their brakes don’t work. There are also several “wild card” versions which won’t automatically affect the competitor on the current turn but which are specifically targeted at the lead car or other vehicles in the race.

I will try these out at some point when I have time. I’m also wondering if a railway based version of this would be possible, to introduce things like sheep on the line or even represent traffic. I will return to this subject.

Of course, having read this post back, I realise that if this is what my brain does when left to its own devices, it’s possibly a good argument why I should be more sociable…

Oooh, the car on the packaging is John Cobb's Napier Railton - on the Brooklands banking.

The car was built / designed in the Thomson & Taylor workshops at Brooklands, and is powered by a fairly rare variant of the Lion W12 aero engine. I've actually catalogued some of the original engineering drawings for the car, including the engine. And I've photographed the car too, albeit quite some time ago.

A little informational gift from one nerd to another.

 

[Andy in Germany]

While commending your ambitious nature, I feel obliged to point out the (to me) obvious problems with railway train races - I.e, the train that starts on the track first, will likely arrive first. Or am I missing something?

Ah, I see the point. The cards in that case would say things like "signal failure at station X". or "Extra container wagon to main station" which then have to be accomodated in the system.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Oooh, the car on the packaging is John Cobb's Napier Railton - on the Brooklands banking.

The car was built / designed in the Thomson & Taylor workshops at Brooklands, and is powered by a fairly rare variant of the Lion W12 aero engine. I've actually catalogued some of the original engineering drawings for the car, including the engine. And I've photographed the car too, albeit quite some time ago.

A little informational gift from one nerd to another.

Thank you for that: to be honest I chose the picture because I liked the car and the way all wheels are just off the ground. I did wonder about adding offensive weaponry but I didn't have time...

 

[Andy in Germany]

Back in the mists of time, also known as November, I mentioned a souvenir I’d brought back from the UK in the form of a model Bugatti Type35 racing car. The plan was to adapt it for “The Races”, the mildly bonkers and highly lethal motorsport on the Island.

I’d also been waiting for a driver who goes around twirling his moustache while dreaming up ways to steal from the Widow’s and Orphans fund just before Christmas, and with the arrival of “Charles Vane” on the island, I had a perfect candidate.

Most participants in “The Races” on Ascension started out with whatever vehicles they could find; It takes a considerable fortune, like that of the Limpton Sisters, to transport a car several thousand kilometres over the Atlantic. This is why the other independent teams are driving a clapped out Rolls-Royce and some battered trucks. Thus, it says a lot about Charles Vane that he imported a Bugatti type 35 racing car; an older vehicle by 1937, to be sure, but still not cheap.

Of course, this being “The Races”, the car needed to have some kind of offensive weaponry, and so this classic of the European race scene is now equipped with a forward facing machine gun, operated by what appears to be either an air hose and plunger or a piece of string.

On the back is a pair of grenade launching tubes: apparently Vane doesn’t trust the rockets he sold to the Limpton sisters so he’s going for a “safer” alternative. These will of course be wildly inaccurate in a race; there aren’t any rules in the official rule book, so I’m going to have to work out how to simulate them bouncing off in all directions before exploding…

 

[Reynard]

I can just see the VSCC bunch muttering into their craft ales right now...