Finishing Touches in the Movement Trays

Transcript

It’s Matt. Welcome to the Hobby Nomicon. Today was a big game day. I actually got to play games. I played Pillillage—my introductory game—and I lost. I was doing okay for a little bit, but I think I did a bad job building out my force. I had a great time though. Loved playing it, loved the dudes at the LGS who taught me.

First Impressions of Pillillage

I thought it was going to be Midgard, but it was Pillillage. I think I’ll have to build up to Midgard, which I think a lot of people locally are in the same boat. But Pillillage? 10 out of 10. In terms of fun, way more fun than Warmachine or anything else I’ve been playing—though certainly not as complex.

It’s a very simple system. It’s based on the Viking age, pretty much dudes fighting dudes. The different factions lean you toward different directions—armored or unarmored, sword and shield or spear and shield or axe. It’s a lot of the same dudes, so the difference in gameplay really comes down to your strategy, tactics, and the scenario. It’s very narrative-driven.

My opponent and I both did stuff that maybe wasn’t as competitively optimal but was funny. I had a guy with a sling who couldn’t hit any of my opponent’s figures, but he used that sling to kill one of my own fully armored knights on a horse. That’s the kind of thing that happens in narrative games, and I didn’t realize how much I missed that.

The Movement Trays Are Done (Almost)

I was going to put vegetation on the trays, but I didn’t realize how much space the bases took up. These are the Victrix Normans—specifically made for Pillillage, but just historic Normans. I need to clean them up still, so don’t judge my build too much; I was in a hurry to get to actually playing.

By the time I stack them up for Midgard (I’ll probably use these guys for that too), there’s not much room for foliage. I could put some on the front edges, but I think that might be overkill since I’ll definitely put vegetation on the individual bases. They’re matte coated, magnetized enough that you can move them around—they jostle a bit, but stay in place for gameplay purposes.

The White Drybrush Question

If you watched yesterday’s video and wondered why I was drybrushing with white—after you matte seal it and after the Scale 75 paint dries, that white is not white. Some of them are very subtle. I’ve got a very bright light on this, and at normal tabletop distance you might not even see the highlights. Very subtle effect.

Adding Autumn Tufts

I’m using Gamers Grass autumn tufts to hide my sins where the basing material shrank up on the corners. I super glue them rather than relying on the sticky backing.

Here’s my technique: I flip my X-Acto blade upside down and physically poke the tuft into the basing compound. You can’t see it with your eyes, but it locks it in because the bottom is already sticky and sitting in super glue. Then I use the knife to kind of thread it into the actual base material so there’s no obvious line separating the tuft from the terrain.

And yes, if you have a static grass applicator, you can make your own tufts. Buying them is very expensive. I stocked up at my LGS using rewards discounts and a birthday gift card.

Wargames Atlantic Bases

These bases from Wargames Atlantic are recessed, specifically designed for the blobs that historical miniatures come on. The blob sits flush with the base rim so you can just put your basing material on top. They’re a bit thinner, which works better with historical miniatures since they’re smaller scale than Games Workshop stuff. The cavalry bases get two magnet holes. The only downside is they use 3x1mm magnets, which are kind of weak—they stick enough for gameplay but nowhere near as strong as what I have in my Warmachine figures.

Project Complete

I think we’re done. It was a fun project—took a long time in real terms but didn’t require a lot of focus or brainpower, so I was able to work on these while doing actual work. Sometimes that’s important when you can’t sit down and really paint.

Now that these are done, a lot of the worry about being able to play Midgard is gone. Midgard is model agnostic, all eras—I can throw Normans on, goblins, Lord of the Rings guys, whatever I want. While it might be silly having fully painted movement trays without fully painted armies, it’s another finished project for the channel.

I 3D printed these trays, but you could use plastic card or MDF. It was a $20 bottle of Vallejo that I used maybe 30% of, and now I have cool-looking movement trays that aren’t just standard balsa wood on a rim. Thanks for watching.