The second Cold City/Hot War report is out now! These regular free PDF reports will bring you behind-the-scenes info, extra historical inspiration, and ideas on things to read to learn more about the Cold War period in the run up to the release of Cold City/Hot War Second Edition.
In Report Two author Malcolm Craig talks answers the question “Will there be any changes?” in the new edition. And the answer is yes. And in History Report Two, Malcolm has further reading recommendations on the topic of all history being provisional…
In the Jon Hodgson Backdrops books we mention that there’s a guide to making a scenic plinth to use with your backdrops on our website. And here it is!
In all of our own shots we boost up the model on a small piece of scenery to more easily cut the bottom of the book out of shot. There’s a guide to setting up your shots here, which includes the use of just such a plinth.
In this article we’ll run through the initial steps of hand-making a plinth. We should say in advance there are many, many ways to make such a thing. This isn’t necessarily the very best, or quickest way – it’s just how we do it. And you are of course to alter any of these steps, replacing any you see fit, or doing things in a different order. We find this way works well for beginners and is quite inexpensive. It also makes a great project to try with younger gamers/modellers. It’s a very forgiving technique.
Following last month’s Episode Zero, we bring you Episode One of History in Games, Games in History. Following Malcolm and Jon’s successful talks at UK Games Expo and Liverpool John Moores University, we decided to bring the same themes to a more widely-accessible format, and make it a series.
Let’s take a look at some tips for how to make good use of the Jon Hodgson Backdrops books. It’s actually amazingly convenient and easy to take some really good shots of your miniatures with these books. And once you have your set up in place, it’s simplicity itself to grab the book, turn a few pages and select a different backdrop!
So for this walkthrough we’re shooting outside. We’re using a digital SLR, but if you’re using a phone camera nothing changes – the principles remain the same. You might like to find something to lean your camera on to keep it as steady as possible. Here we shot hand-held because there was plenty of sunlight. Remember, the gloomier it is, the longer it will take for your camera to gather the necessary light, so you’re more likely to get shakey shots.
Here’s the equipment we need for maximum convenience. Technical stuff!
We’re in the process of remaking all the art for our tabletop roleplaying game Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland. Jon takes delivery of a box of new things to be used in the new artwork. Hilarity ensues:
We were delighted to help our friends at Fenris Games provide some props for a BBC kid’s TV show “Lagging”. The episode is live now on BBC iPlayer for those of you in the UK/with a VPN.
For those without, here’s some screenshots!
As you can see, also featured are some excellent scenery pieces and minis by Fenris Games and some awesome miniatures from Bad Squiddo Games.
The digital versions of our tiles are currently reduced for a very limited time at DrivethruRPG, and remain reduced on our website as we make space for… could it be more, new tiles?!?! Stay tuned.