Wooden Wars: Painted Steel Dragoons, Tesla Guns, and "Where does this plug go?"

“I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.”                                                                                          ~NikolaTesla

 Steel Dragoons: Built and Painted

Here is a built and unpainted example of the Steel Dragoon heavy cavalry for my Wooden Wars: Queen Victoria's Robot Wars expansion.  The dino is really thick and stout, and the rider has two arm variations and the option of a full face mask.

Queen Victoria's Steel Dragoons

Since he is using his sword, I cut the hilt off the scabbard.

I've painted up these based upon the 17th lancers.  The dragoons steer the dino via lever controls on the saddle, which basically guide the head in the direction needed.  Steel Dragoons, being heavy cavalry, count as two attacks (automatic hits) in the first round of melee if they charge.  This means that they can tear up a unit if they make contact. 

Steel Dragoon using his Tesla carbine and full environment mask.

Side view shows control and steering levers

Steel Dragoon using heavy sabre.

This rider fits very well on the Wooden Wars horses too.

Here is a view with three different stages of painting on the dino.  The middle one is blocked in, having been primed grey first, then using Golden brand shading grey airbrush paint (albeit hand painted on) then white to get the form in.  I blocked in the saddle first before gluing it on. I'm really happy that these guys have that "riding a camel" silhouette from the height of the saddle. 

A progression shot. Also shows how you can swivel the head.

Charge up the Tesla gun! 

Tesla cannon. Note cooling holes in upper barrel.

The business end.

Top down. I really wanted the gun to have a unique silhouette.

Units of Steel Dragoons and hordes of robots giving you trouble?  Try our new Tesla industries rapid-fire gun.  We are still playtesting these here at the Fossling Proving Grounds,  but I think the rule will be that you can either fire one ball per gun (like standard cannon) or "power up" the gun to fire up to 3 balls. That means a battery of 3 Tesla guns could potentially fire 9 balls in a turn.  Now, if this happens of course, the poor crew are going to have take some pretty steep dodge ball saves, but I wouldn't let that get in the way of progress and mass mayhem. Did you see the size of those Steel Dragoons??

Former testers of the Tesla gun at full charge...

More Laser Fun!

Assembling my laser cutting machine brings me back the days when I replaced a carburetor on my old Chevy Vega three speed. It came in a box, and you have to kind of figure the placement out by lining up the bolts and the tube lengths to determine which way thing fits. I'm not kidding you. The manuals sent to me had a line schematic, that's all. After some back and forth with the manufacturer, with me sending pics of "is this right?"  they finally sent me a PDF with images. I suggested, in my best nurturing manager voice (via text), that they ought to perhaps include that on the CD they send with the machine...I'm just sayin'.

220 plug- hubba wha???

Maybe it gets cable? 

So after all that, things went pretty well, until I start looking for the power plug that is. Again with the back and forth, and they show me which of the many wires it is. I've never in my entire life seen such a plug.  I've sent pics to my Electrician friends in hopes that they can suss the best way to convert this.  

Official manual picture. Yes, yes that is a rubber band holing the laser in place...

So, in a nutshell- lots of progress, really.  By the week end I am hoping to start it up. Might want to keep an eye on the 10:00 news around that time...

Wooden Wars: Rules, Lasers and Tesla Guns

"You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! ..."

                                                                                           ~ Dr. Evil

 Wooden Wars Rules go to Print!

The exclusive-Executive-pre-release-Kickstarter version of the rules has been printed.  Inside are the Basic rules, the Advanced rules, a few scenarios to get you started and a model assembly guide.

Those lucky 113 (hey, I just noticed that)  backers will be getting these along with the first batch of the Queen Victoria's Robot Wars sprues in the very near future!

For those of you who missed out, you can most likely get your copy in January.

Lasers!

My laser cutter cleared customs this week and is now safely stored in my "evil villain lair".   I am quite excited about this, but feel very much the first-time father as this thing is highly "assembly required".  More on this later... or directions to the Pub for my wake. 

100 watt lasers. For scale reference, those are 11 inch tiles!

Tesla Gun and crew:  

Prototypes of the Tesla gun and crew have exceeded my hopes. For some reason the crew  figure took me a very long time to suss out. Big rubber boots and gauntlets and those cool mutton choppy mustache things, a nod to Grandpa Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; in my opinion, the first real VSF documentary. 

Tesla gun using British carriage

Build outs showing variation of the model. Note holster on the chap with the Webley!

After doing several sketches of Tesla pistols based upon the Webley Mark VI , I came to the conclusion that the original had the best look and lines and would easily pack the kind of wallop to put down a robot or pesky native. The other thing I had in mind is that, from this gun crew sprue, you can easily create a foot officer. They are also designed to swap arms with the Steel Dragoon - or you could even give one of the lads a robot arm!

These rough and ready gents come with heavy saber and Tesla carbine variants.

Steel Dragoons mount up!

The Steel Dragoon rider prototype is also a "go"! This is the fellow what rides the steel dino robot. I am picturing officers actually riding the organic version, the ferocious V-Rex.  Like above, the Tesla gun crew arms are usable on this model for great variation! 

Inspiraton for the Steel Dragoon uniform. I like the colors too.

Wooden Wars: Robots, Tesla, and fun with Electricity!

"Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas."

~ Field Marshal I. Rommel

This time around we'll look at the progress on the Queen Victoria's Robot Wars line of models. The prototypes are really great to work / play with.  Prototyping really let's me expand on ideas, see where things fit and don't fit, both aesthetically and from an engineering standpoint. For instance, the evolution of the QVRW arm poses and other options meant the length of the bases had to expand by 5mm so that arms didn't overlap no matter how they were placed. As these troops are more "modern" than my Napoleonic models, having them more spread out made sense.  And, with the amount of fire power in the way of rubber balls,  the butcher's bill will still always be paid in full. 

The Queens own! On this model I glued the goggles to his helmet.

Back view showing off breathing apparatus. I've changed this
In the next rev to have dual hoses going up the middle.

Side by side Robot and Human infantry sprues.

Variations on a theme. Human infantry with Robot parts.

QVRW01 - Human infantry:

The mainstay of Her Majesty's troops are human, as represented by this fellow sporting his Martini-and-Tesla model 1899 repeating rifle.  I've made the goggles and facemask individual parts that can be glued on or not to taste.

After building the two I had, I decided that I did not like the silhouette of the backpack so much with the regulator coming over the left shoulder, so I redesigned it to attach to a piece at the back of the neck, and changed the mask tubes to match. Much cleaner. 

Robot build out variants with Human in the middle.

WIP Robots: left is NMM, right is all metallics.

QVRW03 - Robotic infantry:

Another jewel in the crown of  the Queen is her Automaton arm of the service. Here we have the "robotic" infantry used in hostile places like Venus, as well as the home world colonies. Unfortunately, spies working for Baron Bomburst and nefarious notables of other noble nations have gotten the plans to these metal men and have started producing armies of their own.

These models make me smile. I love the grenadier variation. The prototypes here don't have all the areas between the legs and left arm cut out, which, when done, will really help sell the shape.   So far the biggest challenge with these guys is trying to figure out just how I want to paint them. I'm experimenting with actual metallic paints, and a non-metallic metallic style, or NMM.  

I was hoping metallics would be faster, but so far, not the case.

 The jury is still out, but I am finding that I don't like the way the metallic picks up on the wood grain so much. I also thought it would be faster, but in fact I have to put just as much work into it as it is still just a flat surface and doesn't have the shape or definition to catch the light, as one would find on a regular 28mm figure.

Human for scale purposes only, not food.

The sprue: note center head section and detailed right leg.

Steel dragoon WIP. Doing this guy in NMM.

QVRW05 - Steel Dragoon Mount:

Robot dinosaurs.  "'Nuff said" 

This lad is being worked on with NMM style.  Take a look at the sprue and notice the center piece for the head. The curve matches the "knob" on the neck model and allows for you to have some pivot up and down for variation. I should have the prototype for the rider soon, and hope that the saddle will fit perfectly on this beasty!

Electricity!:

As I prepare for the arrival of my laser cutting machine, my workspace is now wired with 220 lines. I was at first going to go with converters, but after talking with an electrician friend, putting in the 220 lines cost a bit more than the converters but will be a cheaper and cleaner power draw in the long run. The things one learns. 

That's all for this week. Next time  I will have more painted stuff, and (hopefully) art for the Tesla gun crew.