Hot off the Desk: Shadows of Brimstone Dark Altar

Brimstone Dark Altar

This is the Shadows of Brimstone Dark Altar, which was originally available at GenCon 2018 and subsequently available on the FlyingFrog web store.  He's a cool terrain piece, and seemed pretty straightforward, so I bumped him up the line and got him straight into the paint booth.

This isn't intended as a detailed how-to, but I'll try to walk through the process with pictures.

Typical start - Stynlrez black primer.  I have him attached to a large pill bottle lid with some blue-tac.  Right here there's no highlighting added, it's just the reflection of the harsh booth light.

Chains basecoated (wet blended) with Scale75 Necro Gold and ArmyPainter Dark Stone.  I've really loved the S75 golds I've used, and the Necro pairs perfectly with the Dark Stone.

Wider shot showing the overall progress. The blue-gray was a 3-color build up of AP Necromancer Cloak, Uniform Gray, and Gorgun Hide.  This is the same color stack I used for my Kingdom Death bad guys.

Reverse shot. I was going for a lot of stark contrast from light areas to dark.

The vines were basecoated with AP Brown Stone and Oak Brown.  Then, I gave the entire "octopus head" a coat of Reaper Black Wash (thinned a bit), and here I'm showing the base, which I washed with AP Strong Tone. 

At this point, I got the Sotar2020 out and very lightly re-applied highlights in Gorgun Hide.  I didn't take a picture, but I also hit the lips of the steps with AP Skeleton Bone (also with the Sotar).  I also started shooting a few inks to push the recesses - Liquitex Carbon Black and Burnt Umber.

Applying pre-shading to the rocks in the back. I wanted these to be glowing Darkstone and lit from beneath. 

I really fussed with the rocks, working back and forth with hand-brushing, airbrush, airbrushed inks (AP Purple), and paints.  Very trial and error.

Almost done. Here you can see the weathering I've applied with inks. The chains have been re-highlighted with S75 Dwarven Gold.  The glowing rocks are about done.

Rocks, done. Not as 'glowy' as I intended, but I wanted the octo-face to be the brightest spot on the model.

Ultimately, the trick with the rocks was to really provide a strong outline with some hand-brushed edge highlights and some careful application of AP Strong Tone.

Finished model, side. Before applying the eye glow, I spent some time applying highlights by hand to his warts, veins, and wrinkles.

First time using blood FX.  Perhaps overkill but wanted to indicate recent use.

Finished Model. 

 If I were using this as a contest piece, I would have omitted the eye glow or done something different.  Comparing this picture with the ones above, the un-glowed verions are perhaps more "pleasing" but wanted to convey how evil this place was.  That chewing-on-tinfoil mental gnashing your brain is doing is somewhat intentional.

Like any project, I learned a few things, screwed a few things up, and would do a few things differently.  I was really happy with how the Liquitex Burnt Umber and AP Purple ink combined to make a really pleasing golden brown.  I liked the amount of contrast, shading, and weathering I did (though I really could have gone crazy with some water drips and runs).  The eye glow - despite the color - was really easy to do and is a technique I'll apply to gems, engines, and other glowy things down the road.

Dog Might Games Wooden Dice

Yucatan Rosewood poly set in the photo booth.

It seems like a long time ago now, but I posted early in the blog about why I like wooden things.  There's really no substitute for one of our most basic resources.

Recently, I was lucky enough to be invited to take a "first peek" at some new gaming accessories from the Viking Warlords at Dog Might Games.  At the time, I was sworn to silence on the pending offerings, but now that the project is public I'm free to type away to my heart's content.

What's pictured are some cnc-carved wooden dice in Yucatan Rosewood with a green inlay.  My set were among the very first runs (I don't want to say 'prototypes' as the fit and finish on my set are very much production quality) and I'm proud to support the project.

They roll very well, though the YuRo is a little lighter (less dense) than an equivalently sized plastic set so the feel in the hand is a little different.  These will be mostly for display, but the D10s may get some use with Kingdom Death.  The D10s and D8 are my favorites with some great inlay work and nice sharp corners. 

After playing for years with plastic, the texture of wood is a welcome change.

DMG is now running production and will drop new dice to the page on Fridays.  Each set is unique, and there are a very wide variety of woods, inlays, weights/densities, and price points. 

On the windowsill, natural light.

Wyrmwood Gaming Dice Tower

So, as a first 'real' post, let's do a quick review.

Wyrmwood Gaming makes some of the most beautiful (and expensive) gaming accessories around.  I first encountered them at GenCon 2014 (our first year) and have been smitten ever since.

A little background is perhaps in order.  Before I was born, my father apprenticed in carpentry with his neighbor.  I suppose he'd consider himself a hobbyist, but he developed his skills well enough that when I was little, he worked part time at a shop that refurbished antique furniture and to this day still takes the occasional consignment.  Some of my earliest memories are of working with him in his basement shop, or travelling with mom and dad to various crafts fairs to sell toy trucks and shaving mirrors.  One of my prized possessions is a solid cherry toy box that he made for me 30+ years ago that is currently sitting at the foot of my bed.

Anyway, I typed all that so I can type this:  In our plastic-and-disposable modern civilization, I have a longstanding affection for wood furniture and woodworking in general, and after dabbling in some of my own garage highjinks, I can appreciate fine craftsmanship when I see it.

This Wyrmwood dice tower qualifies as "fine craftsmanship." But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Wyrmwood logo, on the top front piece.

Background:
As we planned for GenCon 2017, my annual bonus came through.  It was a nice, fat, bonus check, at least in my line of work.  I'd worked hard, and decided that I was going to take 50% of it and spend it at GenCon as a treat (the other half went in the bank).  When thinking about all the goodies I could drop money on, Wyrmwood came to mind.  I had just backed Dog Might's Component Collector on Kickstarter, and the idea of a semi-matching, upscale dice tower to round out my gaming space sounded like a good plan.

Arriving at the Wyrmwood booth on Thursday, I immediately reached for the Black Walnut specimen (side note: another special place in my heart for this particular tree; we have a stand of Walnut on our property that I've enjoyed cultivating towards future lumbering).  But there, under the pretty lights, the Bolivian Rosewood really popped.  After a short conversation with the saleswoman, and a smile and a nod from Mrs. Zoxe, we picked the prettier of the two Rosewood versions to come home with us.

Features:
Wyrmwood towers are available individually.  What you see here is the "Complete System," which includes the tower, Dice Vault, Personal Dice Tray, and leather carry strap.

The tower is magnetized, and collapses down into the tray nicely for compact storage and protection.

The tower is also a nice compromise in compact size (preserving precious tabletop space) and allowing for sufficient volume of dice and interpreting of results.  Games like Shadows of Brimstone sometime result in buckets of dice being thrown to resolve a single attack, and I'm confident that the Wyrmwood design will handle them.  Playing only briefly, I've been unable to cheat/tilt/sway the dice results while dropping "normally."

The Personal Dice Tray provides a soft landing for your throws, with enough roll-out room to not hinder most rolls.  The pad at the bottom is precision-fit leather with the Wyrmwood logo stamped in.  The corners are all mitered at 45 degrees.  Rubber feet suspend the bottom and protect your table from scuffs and scratches.

Wyrmwood Dice Tower, Complete System

Fit and Finish:  

Each piece is precision milled to size; all angles, corners, edges are flat and crisp.  The wood is milled to perhaps 3/16" thick - the pieces have some pleasant heft but are neither frail nor overly chunky. 

The thinness also adds a tonal quality not unlike a guitar top - the pieces click and clack with a tonal note you don't get from plywood and MDF.  The comparison to a musical instrument is probably the best I can make; the amount of precision demonstrated in the Wyrmwood manufacturing process is found in few other wooden products.

The magnets are installed precisely and tightly in their holes and ground flush; no obvious slop or misalignment.  

I don't throw this word around lightly, but the craftsmanship is perfect.

All of the pieces, ready for assembly.

All assembled minus the second side panel.

Assembly:
The magnets used in the tower are nice and strong; pieces snap together with a smile-inducing clack, but they're easy to break apart when it comes time to tear down.

I start with one side panel, then usually grab the back piece.  The back has 3 magnets, with the middle one installed off center so that the magnets only line up one way.  From there, I add the ramps and front pieces in whatever order I happen to grab them.  The ramps are installed with 3 magnets to avoid shifting under load.  The first/top entry ramp has those 3 magnets strung very closely to take the brunt of the initial dice throw.

The Wyrmwood staff make assembly look so easy.  While they can assemble and disassemble in seconds, my first foray was perhaps 5 minutes of trial and error.  The pieces are stamped with numbers, so if you truly get lost you can always find your way to a successful assembly.  With a bit of practice, I'm getting better.  It's almost impossible to assemble incorrectly - the pieces just look "wrong" when they're in backwards or upside down.

Dice Vault with KDM Death Dice.

The Dice Vault:
This came as a surprise to me.  We don't play D20 RPGs, so I wasn't exactly sure what I'd fit in the Vault, but got it mostly because it fit so nicely with the other two pieces and I wanted the complete set.

But when I got the tower out to take some pictures (and giggle as I threw dice down the tower), I grabbed the KDM: Death Dice that I also bought at GenCon and am happy to report that they fit brilliantly inside the vault.  Bonus points.

Final Thoughts:
Do you need one?  Of course not.  MDF and acrylic dice towers are available on Amazon for as little as $15-$20.  But if you're an avid game fan and enjoy the fit and finish of fine woodworking, then this Wyrmwood piece is a worthy addition to your collection.