Kicking the rocks

I have always liked supporting the "little guy".  Often when I buy games at Origins or Gencon, I'll buy them from some small companies - sometimes more just to support them more than any other reason.  I've also found that I tend to support people doing a lot of webcomics - I love the medium but seem to find these people care about what they are doing more.

I first started supporting Mantic before they even had a real game out - my first Abyssal Dwarf army box (I've only bought three over the years (so far)) came with a xerox'd booklet of the King of War rules - this close to two years before the 1st edition hardback came out.

I have also found I like supporting small businesses via kickstarter - probably too much.  However for the most part I'm very happy about it.

One thing I've found is there are some kickstarter projects with cool terrain for your wargames out there.  I thought maybe it might be a good idea to let people know about them while the kickstarter is going on, and not just after it is done and I've gotten my goodies.

The first one is Stone Textured Foam Sheets for Wargames and RPG Scenery.  Anyone who has been making any kind of terrain has encountered blue or pink insulation foam - light and fairly easy to work with - I have found it ideal for making hills.  I haven't had much luck with it for buildings however, and this is where this kickstarter comes in.

They are making textured styrofoam sheets that can be combined to make your own terrain.  So building stone buildings becomes much easier with pre-textured stone walls.

This would be 1/4 of the finished sheet

Sample skirmish terrain, unpainted and painted

Many kickstarters add free stuff to 'sweeten the deal' and this is no different.  They will add some metal extras (scrolls, chests, piles of coins) to use to add some character to your dungeon!

Of course any building needs at least some types of doors and windows - and they are including both resin and metal windows and doors as additional add-ons.

Add on components

I figure this will let me create some new towers or buildings for my Kings of War tables, and I'm going full in on this one.

One reason I like some of these kickstarters is they provide some things that I just am not good at building myself.  

Resin Wargaming Scenery and Terrain: Ancient Ruins

This kickstarter is a "cafeteria" style - you pledge based on whatever combination of items you want - so if you only want one piece you can get it - or three of another.  There is one pledge for one of everything as well.

One interesting idea is to make all of these ruins removable from the base - so they can, if necessary, be moved out of the way.

Ancient Temple

Low Ruins

High Ruins

Scattered ruins

Temple Arch

Flooded Ruins

Ruined Foundation

I like the flooded ruins.  And the ruined foundation.  And the low ruins.  and the scattered ruins.  and  and and . . .

Yeah, I can see spending too much on this (not that I have ever done that!).

These are just two of the interesting campaigns going on right now.  Check out kickstarter for more.

Because it is all fun and games . . .