Octopus Overlords

Gangs of Rome

Before I scrolled down I though you were building this.

And that is? Guessing it's from an old film about an unrealized future, something akin to Things to Come perhaps.

Metropolis (1927)

Ah... thought about Metropolis but what I recalled was more inside than outside scenes. Should have watched the "trailer" for it on IMDB, that scene is right at the beginning of it.

C-3PO origin scenario??

Guess I really need to get it painted so you can see what it is...

It honestly looks like some sort of rotunda - a temple maybe? that is still under construction with scaffolding.

/edit - pulley/crane on the right?

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Jul 09, 2018 1:57 pm It honestly looks like some sort of rotunda - a temple maybe? that is still under construction with scaffolding.

/edit - pulley/crane on the right?

Yeah, it's a Roman temple under construction. And you nailed the crane. It really needs to have a wheel in the center...

Just heard about this game over the weekend. Didn't actually see it, just heard people describing it. You're definitely tapped into some type of universe gaming wave or something.

I currently have a love/hate relationship with this game.

I love the game, the buildings, the figures, the concept, the unique fighters, a full line of inexpensive MDF terrain, and a very active community.

My hate? Well, they make these very nice cobblestone bases for the figures (available separately.) But they have these "pudding" bases on the figures (first time I've heard that term) that you have to clip off of the figures to mount them on the cobblestone bases. So I set to my first set of figs with clippers, clipping away at the base around their feet. That worked fairly well, but left them with these big hunks of base on the bottoms of their feet. Start using xacto knives and files and the like to clean them up...and ended up snapping the foot off of one of my figures at the ankle.

Go online, start trying to find alternate methods. Find this pretty great tutorial about how to do it using a jeweler's saw. Go out and buy one, start in on the first figure...and snap BOTH of his feet off at the ankle.

Seriously, this has about defeated me. I now wish I would have just used their wooden bases, and did some green stuff cobblestone around it. I sat and looked at the pile of lead for about half an hour on Saturday, trying to figure out what to do.

For the first half of your post, I was going to suggest a jeweler's saw.

If the feet broke off of white metal, there was one of two likely causes: too much pressure, or too much heat. Likely both. The secret with the jeweler's saw is to cut slowly and gently, not pushing too hard or going too fast. Let the teeth do most of the work. Too much speed or pressure and you create both bending force and heat (through friction.) The heat softens the metal, then the force breaks it. What pressure you do put on it needs to be carefully angled to push through the base into the table, not through the figure itself. That's a little hard to explain, but it is one of those 'practice makes perfect' things. Part of that is in how you hold it. Mostly you want it sitting on the edge of the base on your cutting board while your hand just keeps it from falling over. All of the pressure from the saw should be on the bottom edge of the base, not on your fingers. Never push upward on it.

One alternative might be to combine methods. Use the clipper method, then use a Dremel cut-off wheel to cut off the platform shoes.

I was following the youtube tutorial that I linked (from the maker of the bases) and pretty much did exactly what he said...and he cuts off between the feet and the base. And I was being pretty gentle while I did it since I had already wrecked one figure, but not gentle enough apparently.

I think what I will end up doing is going back to the clipper method, trimming around the feet, and then use a Dremel grinding wheel to clean up the rest of the crap on the feet. I was trying to avoid dremeling because I would prefer to not spew metal filings all around my game room, but with the number of figures I have to get done, I can't see any other way to do it without bogging down and giving up (where I almost am today. Almost.)

Oh, and the other think that has me hating the game right now? Which has nothing to do with the game itself, but with humanity and my stupid emotions? I bought another dozen figures and a couple of buildings off of eBay to the tune of about $110, and someone compromised my account and had them shipped to some scammer in NJ. Filed a complaint with eBay, their response was to up the security on my account and have a nice day. So when I work on the stuff, I am reminded of this. Like I said, nothing to do with the game, all to do with my pissed offed-ness.

Ugh. What a mess all around. I think I was facing the same issue with Frostgrave minis. I believe I considered the flush cutters and might have on a few, but for the others, I think I just glued the whole damn metal base to a round base and covered it all in fake snow terrain paint. Yeah, they sit a little higher, but the snow theme hides my inability to remove things and wouldn't work on a cobblestone base. That's a real head scratcher for this one. I wonder if the cobblestone bases were a total after thought and future figures will not have any bases at all; I never heard "pudding base" either. Maybe it's a UK thing.

Wait a second...my minis were re-routed to NJ? Just heard about Gangs of Rome this weekend???

Smoove...

I had the same problem with SuperDungeon Explore. My kids picked out a cute Chibi Rogue whose tiny plastic feet broke during assembly.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Jul 09, 2018 3:08 pm Ugh. What a mess all around. I think I was facing the same issue with Frostgrave minis. I believe I considered the flush cutters and might have on a few, but for the others, I think I just glued the whole damn metal base to a round base and covered it all in fake snow terrain paint.

I've done that. I usually use a recessed base anyway, as I usually sculpt the base. But sometimes I just don't want to mess with the sawing/clipping/filing/pinning. If I'm just going to be doing grass/rocks/snow terrain on the base, I'll sometimes just stick it in the middle and use some putty to sculpt the edges smooth so that it looks more like a little hill.