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sgibson260
Henchman
Joined: 03/24/2009
Location: United States
Posts: 14
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| Posted: 03/24/2009 at 9:16am | IP Logged
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Hi guys,
I play a miniatures game called Legions of Steel that uses interlocking 5x5 tiles. The game is long out of print, but is an excellent set of tactical rules. We use them to pit miniatures of Droids, Stormtroopers, sci-fi humans of various manufacturers, Daleks, 40k alien races, and others against each other.
I tend to run a big LOS game at GenCon in Indianapolis each August. So for this year's game, I will be pitting a group of Terran marines investigating an alien biocontainment problem at an Umbrella Intergalactic Corporation research facility. Here is the event description:
Legions of Steel: Bug Hunt
After a bio-containment alert at the Umbrella Intergalactic research facility on Sigma Hesperus VII, Terran Federation Marines are dispatched to bring the situation under control. As Terra’s finest breach the airlocks of the massive installation, they discover horrors beyond their wildest imagination. Can you discover the fate of the station's 800 personnel, or will the lurking horrors within kill you all?
Sat 7 pm to 11 pm
Anyway,for the game, I have made a bunch of different modular 7 square by 7 square tiles. I printed them as 7.7" by 7.7" tiles (using 1.1" squares) in order to enable me to use bigger miniatures in the games, and have mounted the prints onto black foamcore. The tiles are pulled randomly as the marines advance, so the base is different each game. The jpegs of the tiles are located in my photobucket site at:
http://s701.photobucket.com/albums/ww14/sgibson260/Legions%2 0of%20Steel%20Tiles/
I have included some pictures of a test game in progress at:
http://s701.photobucket.com/albums/ww14/sgibson260/Legions%2 0of%20Steel%20Game%20Pictures/
Since the tiles are easily printed with 1" squares, and use the white triangle symbol for difficult terrain, they are easy to use for Star Wars Miniatures games as well as Legions of Steel
I am using GIMP to process objects and artwork, and Dundjinni to make the tiles. I've gotten a lot of really good artwork form the Dundjinni user creation forums and other sites.
I'd be interested in any comments you guys might have. There's a couple of art objects I am looking for (weapons racks for a security station/armory, bubbling green water tanks for Tyranid breeding experiments, etc.), so I will probably post requests for help with some of that artwork with you guys.
Thanks for your help!
Steve Gibson
Burke, VA
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Bogie
Djinni (Admin)
Joined: 06/19/2007
Location: United States
Posts: 4799
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| Posted: 03/24/2009 at 9:50am | IP Logged
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Hey Steve
Check these links for tanks;
Click Here
Click Here
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Check out my DeviantArt Gallery http://bogie-dj.deviantart.com/gallery/
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heruca
Janni (Moderator)
Joined: 09/28/2005
Location: Argentina
Posts: 6328
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| Posted: 03/24/2009 at 10:05am | IP Logged
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Welcome to the DJ forums, sgibson260.
Those map tiles are really nice and should come in very useful. Thanks for sharing your work.
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Tired of the time & expense involved in printing out all your DJ maps? Skip the printing step, and play right on your maps!
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heruca
Janni (Moderator)
Joined: 09/28/2005
Location: Argentina
Posts: 6328
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| Posted: 03/24/2009 at 10:06am | IP Logged
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Great links, Bogie. 
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Tired of the time & expense involved in printing out all your DJ maps? Skip the printing step, and play right on your maps!
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aegean
Legend
Joined: 03/05/2005
Location: Turkey
Posts: 2201
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| Posted: 03/24/2009 at 12:01pm | IP Logged
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Can't follow your photobucket links 
ae
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Creative Gremlins Creative Gremlins Marketplace
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heruca
Janni (Moderator)
Joined: 09/28/2005
Location: Argentina
Posts: 6328
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| Posted: 03/24/2009 at 12:21pm | IP Logged
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Just take out all the "%20"s and replace them with spaces.
Like so.
Edited by heruca on 03/24/2009 at 12:23pm
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Tired of the time & expense involved in printing out all your DJ maps? Skip the printing step, and play right on your maps!
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aegean
Legend
Joined: 03/05/2005
Location: Turkey
Posts: 2201
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| Posted: 03/24/2009 at 2:45pm | IP Logged
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Ta very much Herc
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mercutio
Legend
Joined: 04/03/2006
Location: United States
Posts: 760
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| Posted: 03/24/2009 at 4:28pm | IP Logged
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I think these are excellent. I've been toying with making my own dungeon tiles, and now I know how.
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ProBono
Legend
Joined: 12/29/2008
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1041
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| Posted: 03/25/2009 at 9:05am | IP Logged
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Hi and Welcome,
Well though out and obviously playtested!
I'm not a fan of the white triangle (or Star Wars minis coloured lines) but, as your game-in-progress pic shows, terrain is clear even from the other side of the table, saving on arguments when you want to play instead! Could be very helpful in a demo / public participation game.
7 x 7 now looks like a much better choice than 5 x 5. Can I guess that you'd have preferred 1 1/4" squares but a 7x7 wouldn't then fit a home printer?
You describe the construction of the boards along with the pics. As you are worried about the artwork wearing away through use, I assume your foamcore has not warped at all even after a lengthy period of time(?) [I remember basing a model on foamcore and finding it U-shaped a year later. Tended to think in terms of hardboard after that.]
You have me now looking at my existing bunker maps wondering what would go on 7x7's!
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sgibson260
Henchman
Joined: 03/24/2009
Location: United States
Posts: 14
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| Posted: 03/25/2009 at 10:38am | IP Logged
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Well, I definitely wanted the terrain types to be clear to everyone, since there could be arguments in a game over whether a chair or console gives a figure a combat advantage.
Most of the games I run, I'm teaching the rules to one or more new players, so we try to keep the rules simple. I also run a huge game (a 10' by 5' table) at the con, so I need a lot of tiles, and don't want to spend too much on the tiles.
I found that a 5x5 tile didn't allow me to create purpose-built modules, like sick bays, labs, or barracks. There's just not enough squares on the tile. I would have had to have several 5x5 tiles that fit together a certain way to make a type of room, which I've had to do for the hangars and wide hallways.
I tried an 8x8 tile, but the squares just got too cramped, even when I used 6 inch wide interior walls in Dundjinni. And having an odd number of squares on a tile makes central corridors and tile-edge matching much easier to manage. But you're right, the limiting factor was the home printer. 7.7" by 7.7" was a good compromise
Normally, to protect the surface from wear and tear, I would go the cheap route, and use contact paper for shelf lining. WalMart sells a big roll for $5. The problem is, on the one tile I tried, the surface turned out too shiny. Looking at the tiles under the fluorescent lights of our local game shop, it was hard to see the details under the shiny reflection of the shop lights. I could spray Testors DullCote on the tiles, but sprays eat away at the foamcore, and the DullCote cans get fairly expensive.
I haven't stored the foamcore for long periods (they were all made less than two months ago), but plan to keep them in a box that is full, with no room for warping, or on a shelf with a heavy book on top to reduce warping. I also used spray adhesive instead of white glue or wet glue types, to help reduce the warp. I preferred foamcore to hardbord to help reduce the weight of carrying all those tiles to the convention.
Thanks for the comments,
Steve Gibson
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Dundjinni Mapping Software - Forums : Tiles
Topic: Modular Sci-Fi Installation Map Tiles
