skirmish – Hobbyhoo

Allow me to present the newest addition to my Twisted city: a decidedly whimsical No. 42 Carver Lane house! My first copy of this building, with a distinctly more serious tone, was featured heavily in my Twisted Buildings, Part 1 post.

My initial, more subdued take on this house:

The bright, cheery shop:

It’s probably no surprise if you had a look at my last post that I was pleased with the color scheme from my first Old Corner Shop. I decided to carry on with a similar look, using turquoise accents instead of blue, with this newest house.

Here are some additional angles on the new house:

“Hold up,” I can almost hear you audibly protest. “Isn’t steampunk a gritty, dirty, Industrial Revolution-esque setting? Just what exactly is she doing painting these like this? Surely she can’t think these are done?!? Where is the dirt? The weathering? The dried up tears of laborers returning from the workhouse?” Well, hold onto your hat, dear reader, because I’m about to blow your mind!

The world of Twisted is a truly unique steampunk setting centered around the machinations (see what I did there?) of The Engine, an infinitely powerful and ancient entity that shapes the world and lives of its inhabitants according to its own designs. It can influence the world in any number of ways, and the different factions in the game can tap into its power if they can garner its favor. The Engine is a little like GW’s Tzeentch in that complicated coincidences and events in the world happen just as planned. One of the ways that I imagine The Engine keeps the society of Twisted under control is by altering people’s perception of reality. My inspiration here is from a couple of video games.

Bioshock is one of my favorite video game franchises, and one of my favorite sequences in the franchise is when you get to play as a Little Sister in Bioshock 2 and see the world through her eyes. As a Little Sister, you see what is in reality a decaying and gruesome environment as a stunning, bright, and somewhat trippy paradise. The dead splicers the Little Sisters harvest ADAM from actually appear to them as angels, making their constant chatter about such things finally make sense. They are little girls, after all, and this altered perception helps them to do their job without being traumatized. Sometimes my husband and I joke that our cat has “Little Sister-vision” when he seems to be obsessed with nothing. Who knows what he can see in his little kitty mind?

Another instance of this type of altered perception in a bleak and depressing video game world is in We Happy Few. Admittedly, I have never played this game, but I’m an avid Twitch and YouTube viewer, and let’s plays are one of my favorite things to watch. In We Happy Few, the populace are kept docile and surface-level “happy” with the hallucinogenic drug Joy, provided and in many cases forced on them, of course, by a dystopian government. When your character in the game takes Joy, you have a very different, brighter, and more whimsical experience of the world around you.

All of this is to explain that my vision for Twisted is that The Engine alters people’s perception of the world around them so they believe that they live in an idyllic, cheerful place. By giving them this view, they will continue to work hard, feel satisfied, and be blissfully unaware of The Engine’s influence and plans for them. I think I have executed this vision pretty well so far. I realize it isn’t for everyone, but I want you to know that I have put some thought into it.

And now, by popular demand, due to dwindling counter space, because these buildings deserve to be observed in their proper habitat, and without further ado, here is the complete-to-date Twisted city perched lovingly upon a delightful vinyl cobblestone mat by GameMatz!

much cobble. very stone. so city. such Twisted. wow.

If you’re dying to see some Twisted miniatures to go along with all of these buildings (or you are at least vaguely curious to see them), then please send your good vibes toward my husband, Alex, who has agreed to start painting some up. Why aren’t I going to paint some myself? Am I truly horrible at painting miniatures? Is MDF the only medium with which I can create? Nah, I’m actually pretty good at painting minis. The reason I am, of course, is Alex! He has been gaming and painting much longer than I have, and he always gives me just the right guidance if I’m stuck or frustrated when painting a model. I will definitely paint miniatures again, but he’s a lot more motivated to do it right now. I’ve really regained my painting mojo with these buildings lately. My table full of assembled but unpainted Twisted terrain is looking more and more empty. This blog is keeping me motivated, and I can’t wait to see the project completed.

Next up: I would like a bit of a reprieve from full-sized buildings, so I’ll take a stab at my Twisted Staircases and Twisted Walkways. If I’m feeling especially motivated this coming week, I’ll also paint up at least some of my Twisted Street Lamps.

After that: I’ll finish up the last two shops and the last two houses. I also have two absolutely adorable ~~gypsy~~ traveler caravans (in bow top and ledge styles) and a truck from Sarissa Precision to paint up and add to the city.

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I’m making good progress on my Twisted buildings (I got the two Nouveau Archways done, and I’ve started an Old Corner Shop), but before I give an update on those, I thought you might be interested in having a look at some of my previous work on some related buildings for the Wolsung Steampunk Skirmish Game.

Wolsung SSG is a great skirmish game by the very talented Micro Art Studio set in a steampunk universe interwoven with magic where several factions vie for dominance. Just like with Twisted, I first heard of Wolsung SSG during their Kickstarter campaign. Several of the game mechanics are quite unique, and this was the first time I had ever seen a standard deck of playing cards being used to affect gameplay in a miniatures game. I easily fell in love with the Inventors and their adorable robots, and my husband, Alex, was likewise quite taken with the Scylla, a very unique halfling mafia group with ogre thugs to do their grunt work. And the terrain…

Well, you ought to know by now that if nothing else, the terrain will sell me on a new game. The range of buildings and accessories Micro Art designed for Wolsung SSG truly made my jaw drop. The detailed MDF buildings were designed so that you could lift the top off and remove different levels, revealing the inside as additional play areas. This was my first foray into MDF terrain, and I was truly excited. This was basically a bunch of dollhouses, but better!

The Kickstarter rewards are now long past delivered, and we’ve had plenty of time to put buildings together and enjoy the game. Honestly, I’ve been dying to play recently! But back to the matter at hand: terrain. At first, I simply removed the pieces from the MDF sheets and had Alex put them together. He has been a tabletop gamer for most of his life, but I was still relatively new to the idea of putting something like these complex buildings together. As time went on, I tried painting some of them (I started small, with some of the small ramshackle shacks), and then I got up the courage to build some myself. I discovered that I love it!

Alas, I still don’t have all of these delightful buildings assembled and/or painted (we do have quite a lot of them), but here is what I do have ready to show.

XIX Century Shantytowns

You can even stack them!

XIX Century Shantytowns

There are so many ‘XIX Century Shantytowns‘ to show because a set of four was one of the free stretch goal backer rewards during the Kickstarter. Alex and I backed the campaign on two accounts each in order to maximize our freebies. You have to save some money when you can in this hobby; it’s just being resourceful. This is a boutique (read: niche, small-scale, high quality, but a bit on the expensive side) game, after all. These little cuties were the first Wolsung project I tackled, and they were a joy to paint. Like all of the Wolsung buildings, the roofs lift off from these tiny abodes in case you want to use the inside space for additional play area. I still have more to assemble, believe it or not.

Larger, double-sided stands

Six smaller one-sided stands are ready for goods.

These ‘XIX Century Stands‘ were the first MDF pieces that I assembled on my own, and they were also very fun to paint. I started making some wares to display in them, but I haven’t quite finished that task. I’ll return to it one day. After all, as we say in the tabletop gaming hobby: as long as you have unfinished projects, you can never die.

XIX Block of Flats

Level 1

Level 2

This ‘XIX Century Block of Flats‘ is still a work in progress. I still have the roof and the inside to paint. There are even perfect little acrylic windowpanes to glue in when everything is done. I am truly impressed with how easy it is to lift off, and later replace, the different levels of the building. I have two more blocks of flats to paint up once this one is finished.

There are some assembled but so far unpainted pieces as well, but I’ll save those for another day.

One last thing:

If you’re interested in snagging one or two bargain-priced items for Wolsung SSG, Funagain Games is going out of business and has a very limited quantity of Wolsung items in their Warehouse Liquidation Sale. I got a few single miniatures, a dice set, and some templates, but my biggest find by far was the Ash and Oak Club Starter 2 for just $1.99! (#itookthelastone #sorrynotsorry) Both Wolsung SSG rule books, one or two individual figures, and a selection of small scenery items, like crate and barrel piles and advertising columns, were still available when I last checked.

For that matter, if you are a fan of Relic Knights, Achtung! Cthulhu, Wrath of Kings, the Batman Miniature Game by Knight Models, puzzles, Eurogames, card games like Superfight, or Funko figures, you might want to check out that sale! There were many such items listed there for sizable discounts.

Disclaimer: I’m not partnered with or sponsored by any of these companies, but I like to share a good deal when I see one!

Tag: skirmish

Twisted Buildings, Part 3

Wolsung Buildings, Part 1