Getting Started?

[Toolian]

Thanks for finding my earlier post while I was recuperating this morning, LoO. 

Yes, it was announced at the "What's up with Catalyst Game Labs?" seminar that they were currently looking at the same company that did the Loki & Thor to do the Leviathans minis, and that the current plan was for a pre-painted fleet that could be used right out of the box as is or be painted directly over by those that wanted to run their own colors.

This is great news. Thanks!

Will the pre-painted be "bare minimum" just a slap of gray, brass and wood color? That pretty much seems to cover most ships colors, but will there be a factory wash?

I'm not a painted so pre-painted is more than welcome. I may paint one because once or twice a year I like to paint something. But my eyes ore too shitty just to sit there and paint a ton of minis.

[Gargoyle117]

I believe that the Chessex 33mm hex map is the right size for Leviathans.  At GenCon '09, they said they would most likely use the same bases that they use for Battletech.  I went next door to the Battletech mini manufacturer, and grabbed a base from him to measure at Chessex.  The 33mm hex seemed to be a good fit.

Recently I made some very nice plastic counters for myself using the ship images from the cards.  They are only 2D, but have the actual hex as a base (which I quite like) as opposed to a box shape.  I brought one to GenCon and measured it against the map they were using for demos.  The miniature was a very good, if not quite perfect, fit.

You can replicate my work by using Power Point to set up the hexes for the mini bases.  I used a height of 3.25cm and a width of 3.75cm.  Stack 2-3 hexes together and you have yourself the base of a mini.  I simply overlaid the image of the ship and shrunk it until the bow and stern fit.

[pianobar]

I believe that the Chessex 33mm hex map is the right size for Leviathans.  At GenCon '09, they said they would most likely use the same bases that they use for Battletech.  I went next door to the Battletech mini manufacturer, and grabbed a base from him to measure at Chessex.  The 33mm hex seemed to be a good fit.

Yes, if I have a load of minis to base and not a lot of spare cash at the moment, the plastic Chessex bases work great on the cheap.

Recently I made some very nice plastic counters for myself using the ship images from the cards.  They are only 2D, but have the actual hex as a base (which I quite like) as opposed to a box shape.  I brought one to GenCon and measured it against the map they were using for demos.  The miniature was a very good, if not quite perfect, fit.

I heard of someone else doing that this year, I've been contemplating it myself actually. Any pitfalls you can warn against for myself or anyone else who'd like to give it a try?

Will the pre-painted be "bare minimum" just a slap of gray, brass and wood color? That pretty much seems to cover most ships colors, but will there be a factory wash?

If I remember correctly, current thinking was leaning towards a 2 to 3 tone coloring. We weren't given any specifics on washes/finishes, however.

[Fildrigar]

Luckily, washes are really quite easy to do yourself.  Even if you're not a painter.  And, they can make a huuuuuge difference to the looks of the miniatures.

[Fildrigar]

-I- don't have that # distribution handy, but I'll look around this afternoon to see if that's been publicly released after I'm more settled in. I just got back from Indy after midnight last night (this morning?) and am still trying to reorganize things. Someone else might be able to get back to you sooner...

Thanks a bunch.  I eagerly and patiently await your reply.

[Worktroll]

A light wash is in the mix - I think it'd add a lot for relatively little effort. I can't speak as to the costs of getting all this done, though.

W.

[Toolian]

A light wash is in the mix - I think it'd add a lot for relatively little effort. I can't speak as to the costs of getting all this done, though.

W.

Can't be any more than FFG's new Deluxe set for Dust Tactics at 300 dollars. Though that is only printed on demand so the same economics can be applied.

3 colors seem to be good enough

gray
brass
tan/brown (for deck)

guess you can add a slight black or red in some cases to paint the funnels. Even then, that is something that is "no biggy" and I can do that.


Do have one question. Are you considering different deck colors for nations/ships? Or just all one color?

[Gargoyle117]

Recently I made some very nice plastic counters for myself using the ship images from the cards.  They are only 2D, but have the actual hex as a base (which I quite like) as opposed to a box shape.  I brought one to GenCon and measured it against the map they were using for demos.  The miniature was a very good, if not quite perfect, fit.

I heard of someone else doing that this year, I've been contemplating it myself actually. Any pitfalls you can warn against for myself or anyone else who'd like to give it a try?

Here is an example of my ship counters:


I simply used SnagIt to copy the images out of the pdfs as a glorified screen grab.  Still using SnagIt, I made the background transparent and carefully set the threshold so that it would leave the ship outline untouched.  I believe a threshold of 15% to 20% worked for me.  I then saved the completed image as a .png to preserve the transparency.

Power Point was used to set up the basic hex pattern.  I used the AutoShape hexagon and set the height to 3.25cm and a width to 3.75cm.  I colored the turning Hex blue, but if I were to do it again, I would choose Red, since it should stand out better.  The laminate seemed to darken the colors such that blue and black were similar.

Once I laid out all the ships that I intended to use, I printed the ships on good printer paper.  I took the printed pages to a FedEx/Kinkos (actually Office Max) and asked them to use their heaviest laminate.

To cut the minis from the sheet, it is best to use a nice heavy pair of scissors.  I started using what I thought was a nice pair, only to have my hand go numb half way through.  I picked up a nicer pair from the hardware store that claimed to be good for vinyl tiles.  They looked like a heavy, but regular, pair of scissors.

The resulting counters feel almost exactly like they are heavy plastic punch out counters.  I am quite pleased with them.  The only complaint that I have would be that they reflect a lot of glare and can be difficult to read at times.

[pianobar]

-I- don't have that # distribution handy, but I'll look around this afternoon to see if that's been publicly released after I'm more settled in. I just got back from Indy after midnight last night (this morning?) and am still trying to reorganize things. Someone else might be able to get back to you sooner...

Thanks a bunch.  I eagerly and patiently await your reply.

Sorry for the delay, some personal issues came up the last few nights.

d4 & d6 should be fairly straight forward (3 of each number, 2 of each number)

Randall gave the following data at http://monstersinthesky.com/2009/11/24/leviathans%E2%80%99-lieutenant%E2%80%99s-manual-pdf-now-available/

Yellow: Facings 1 to 8 remain 1 to 8; facings 9 = 4, 10 = 7, 11 = 5, 12 = 2
Red: Facings 1 to 10 remain 1 to 10; facing 11 = 4, facing 12 = 7

[Fildrigar]

Thank you very much for that information. 

[purplephoenix]

I hope its ok, if I add some questions here as well.

(1) I'm going to print the marvelous and very fitting maps from the fleet pdf's. I've read somewhere in this board, that here in Germany the appropriate size of the sheet should be DIN A 3, due to the original size of 11'' x 17''. But in comparison, the German DIN A 3 is more then one centimetre short of the original. Some help would be great.

(2) I'll buy some dice as well and therefore asking all of you, how many should be enough. The box will contain 12 in total. One for each colour and one slot die. That makes 6. I assume, the DBlue will be required more often, since some movement dice are all DBlue and many guns are using the blue one as well. So let's add another two of the blue. Makes 8. Additionally, at least two DRed are required for the initiative roll. Makes 9. What else to add? One or two DGreen and DYellow as well? What do you think?

[pianobar]

Regarding (1), I don't have the knowledge you seek so I will have to leave that one to someone more knowledgeable in printing sizes help you there.

As for (2), I have 4 of each in the Polyhedral size so that each side has 2 of each, and I can still get into moments of a side needing to occasionally borrow dice. I'm even probably going to add another range or two of Green-to-Black for each side over the rest of this year.

[Van Gogh]

For question 1), I would suggest two ways:
    - try to print on a slightly larger B3 or C3 format (though you may need a professional printer to do it), then cut out the excess (yes, they're exotic formats, but still ISO-compliant).
    - try to manually set a reduction factor of 96% or 95% for the map, and use the same reduction factor when printing out the counters.

[purplephoenix]

As for (2), I have 4 of each in the Polyhedral size so that each side has 2 of each, and I can still get into moments of a side needing to occasionally borrow dice. I'm even probably going to add another range or two of Green-to-Black for each side over the rest of this year.

Thanks for that experiental report. I assume, a range of three from Green-to-Black plus a Slot Die should be sufficient since my opponent and me share the same set of dice.

For question 1), I would suggest two ways:
    - try to print on a slightly larger B3 or C3 format (though you may need a professional printer to do it), then cut out the excess (yes, they're exotic formats, but still ISO-compliant).
    - try to manually set a reduction factor of 96% or 95% for the map, and use the same reduction factor when printing out the counters.

These are both excellent suggestions! I'm a bit ashamed that I did not figure that out by myself.  I guess, I'll print it on C 3, that should be big enough.

[pianobar]

Thanks for that experiental report. I assume, a range of three from Green-to-Black plus a Slot Die should be sufficient since my opponent and me share the same set of dice.

Sure, I guess I just like having extra dice. With having four of each range right now I can give four players their own set, and the two sides can handle most dice rolls OK without having to share.