Noises in the Forge

[Claudius Sol]

Regarding hospitals, that mint green actually has strong clinical data and statistical results to strengthen healing. There's no science as to why, really, but there are years upon years of samples. Fun facts.

[Mob of Blondes]

And the exact pigment was cheap and very resistant (chrome based, IIRC, and also called institutional green). No idea what was first, just that they found a product that combined both factors, chemical features and psychological effects. The green is probably related to nature (trees, grass, etc), which also has been proved to reduce stress. Others say it related to after images vs red of blood.

Time ago one common primer with good anti rust properties was orange, but as it was toxic (lead based IIRC), it's not in use anymore. The airplane one I was talking about is zinc chromate which appears yellow or green, depeding on what is below or what was mixed with. As said, they care more about the properties than the color.

[Section9]

Regarding hospitals, that mint green actually has strong clinical data and statistical results to strengthen healing. There's no science as to why, really, but there are years upon years of samples. Fun facts.

Also very easy to see blood and other filth against that green.

Plus it's a cheap color to make, which is why pretty much every institution uses it, not just hospitals.

For the containers, I see lots of red-browns, brown, and blues, with a few off-whites, reds and greens. I don't think I've ever seen a yellow container live, and I live on the Union Pacific rail lines:

[Claudius Sol]

Down here in Texas, we see those yellow containers all the time. Perhaps just my luck as I drive along a train track every time I travel out of town.

[Mob of Blondes]

Probably are of operation matter, as there seem to be places with many yellows (for weathered levels of yellow).

Yellow

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But (non custom, repaint to make a house or so) pink...

[Forgenoiser]

Thank you guys for this example-filled discussion. Really getting inspired over here.
Our philosophy is that duller backgrounds help characters stand out without creating visual dissonance.

More colour schemes:


As you might see, the container's edges are left brown after laser cuts. Do you think they can be left this way or would you prefer them being painted over?

Updates incoming!

[CoveredInFish]

Usually I would say the edges should be painted - but that assumes full shading, highlighting, weathering, detailing. Just from the look of the above picture (and thus from a certain distance) I'd say it looks pretty good with the edges like that. They do not appear as flat as they would when they were full color.

[Mob of Blondes]

Our philosophy is that duller backgrounds help characters stand out without creating visual dissonance.

That is also done in some old cartoons and videogames. Now some modern versions set everything, background and characters, in the same level, same style, same definition and so on... and everything mixes, making it harder to tell apart.

[Section9]

Thank you guys for this example-filled discussion. Really getting inspired over here.
Our philosophy is that duller backgrounds help characters stand out without creating visual dissonance.

More colour schemes:
[ img ]

As you might see, the container's edges are left brown after laser cuts. Do you think they can be left this way or would you prefer them being painted over?

Updates incoming!

Actually, that looks really good! The brown edges look like rust on the spots that get all the wear and tear.

Leave as-is, and maybe include the exact paint/mix description ("Painted with Vallejo Model Color 821" or whatever) you used to paint the containers for those that want their stuff showroom new.

[jherazob]

Our philosophy is that duller backgrounds help characters stand out without creating visual dissonance.

That is also done in some old cartoons and videogames. Now some modern versions set everything, background and characters, in the same level, same style, same definition and so on... and everything mixes, making it harder to tell apart.

I read an actual paper by Valve on this for Left 4 Dead, where it's even more vital to not only instantaneously be able to distinguish friend for foe in those poor lighting conditions and frequently very big crowds of moving bodies, but even being able to know where the hell do you need to go to, they use color saturation and other tricks like that to help the player with this, otherwise they'd just get lost in their huge levels. Same principle here i guess.

[Icchan]

Valve went even further than that. They made sure all the survivors and special zombies had different silhouettes so that even without color or light you could still recognise them from each other. Doesn't really apply to shipping containers, but it's good to keep in mind when you're painting your minis and terrain. For terrain designers, I think that's a good guideline for designing terrain pieces.

[Mob of Blondes]

Yes, some video game makers still have a brain and don't let ego get in the way (you can trace all this color/silhoutte/definition/etc decades and even centuries). Valve even went full cartoon style with the Team Fortress 2 when they could had gone more photorealistic... it was a design decision, and you can also read articles about colours, shapes and such used in it.

[Forgenoiser]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.
Expanding the container collection with some transportable living quarters. Designed to stack with every other container version.
Making the windows realistic is a bit tricky, but black background with some grey reflections seems to work well enough.

Do you think that some sort of OSL fits here? Something like the building in the far left?



Also you might notice the swampy plains playmat we got from http://www.deepcutstudio.com/.
Updates incoming!

[Claudius Sol]

The OSL is nice, but depending on how much the price increases, I'd say its benefit is marginal, at best.

Of course, the base product is good looking, as usual.

[el_presidente]

I really like the look of the new stuff, the only thing I'm missing are some ladders to climb those crates

[Forgenoiser]

@Claudius Sol: Thank you for the support!
@el_president: catwalks with access systems are ready for test cutting.

Realised how many containers have already been made and decided to set up a table, this is the result:


Seems almost like no other piece of terrain is needed. However this is A LOT of containers.


These toy store rails and cars go very nicely too:


Updates incoming!

[Section9]

Seems almost like no other piece of terrain is needed. However this is A LOT of containers.

When dealing with containers, I think the standard set by the real world is to go big or go home.

With all those containers, you should look at the train station mission, #205, from the Campaign: Paradiso book. The scenario fluff puts it in a railroad repair staging yard, so lots of containers, some pillars, and of course a train running through the middle of the table. I'd even include an overhead crane to handle either containers or even lift traincars.

[Claudius Sol]

How expensive would it be to buy those containers for a board like that? It might be worth pricing out some of your example tables to give customers examples of what they can expect for their money.

[schoon]

Well - at a casual glance, there's about 60 containers on that table, and looking at the shop, there's 6 containers for €30.

So roughly €300 for that table would be my guess.

[Forgenoiser]

@Claudius Sol: an interesting idea, will put some though into that. The Battlefields are more inspirational in nature and aren't necessarily practical ;]

Had a practice match for a local ITS tourney, here are some photos of the mono container table in action:


The game played really well in the labyrinth of cargo, lots of close quarter encounters ensued, although few container piles provided almost broken snipping spots. Also noticed the insane advantage the second player gets in the Antenna Field mission.


And last week have been working on these yellow engraved containers as participation gifts for the same tourney. Instead of giving out prizes that just gather dust, why not give usable pieces of terrain?


Updates incoming!

[Section9]

And last week have been working on these yellow engraved containers as participation gifts for the same tourney. Instead of giving out prizes that just gather dust, why not give usable pieces of terrain?

Cool idea!

One thing that the 40k tournament organizers always did was include a "Broken dice award" for the player that had the worst dice luck in the tournament, it was usually a pretty unanimous vote for who deserved it. The prize was a new cube of d6s, but a new set of ~5 d20s would also work well. That and maybe a Maow minis "monster die"...

[Forgenoiser]

The Infinity tournament was really fun, my Ariadna ended up in the seventh place while Mooncat and Geobrodude of the Right Arm Labs grabbed 4th and 3rd places respectively.
A few stylised antenna markers of our production also made their way from our prototyping lab unto the tourney's tables.
Here they are in the container field:





While not necessarily futuristic, last week was working on these dicetowers/terrain pieces which were rewarded to the winners of the local Steamroller. Will be making similar pieces for a X-Wing tourney too.


Updates incoming.

[Forgenoiser]

We are finally back to the Infinity side of terrain. Local wargame store was planing on running a few events and due to Infinity's rising popularity a slight shortage of terrain was felt. So Right Arm Labs were tasked with building some quick and simple buildings and objectives.

Here's most of the stuff we managed to make in exactly 4 late evenings:




These buildings were made from repurposed parts of early Dice Tower prototypes:


Here they are with a little bit of weathering done:


And to top it off, some safe lockers for 40 mm base objectives. Actually had to make smaller versions of previous boxes to fit them on the bases without any corners sticking out.


And on an related note, here's a dice tower we made to be used as a prize in a X-Wing tourney:


Updates incoming!

[VisOne]

Really like those repurposed towers mate and the actual dice tower is really nice too.

What battlemat are you using by the way?

[Forgenoiser]

@VisOne: Thank you for the compliments! Quite pleased with how the dicetower conversion turned out with mostly reused parts and bits. Possibly a new use for unsuccessful projects and mock-ups!
The playmats are by our good friends at by Deep-Cut Studios http://www.deepcutstudios.com !

[Forgenoiser]

Forge is heating up for Right Arm Lab's participation in the Salute 2016!


Updates incoming!

[Forgenoiser]

Testing out new stacking control rooms, branded locker boxes and sliding hangar doors:





Updates incoming!

[Section9]

Really like the hangars, but you might want to make the door panels a little narrower with 3x panels per side. So you'd have a wider access point than you do now.

[Forgenoiser]

@Section9: Well, good news is that the door panels are layered and therefore the access point can be as wide as:

[Section9]

OK, never mind then! Those open plenty wide.

How much is shipping a couple of those hangars to the US?