Sunday 29 June 2014
Dogs, Dwarves & Donkeys
Saturday 28 June 2014
Guide: Pigs for Agricola and Caverna
Next up in my guide to fimo / sculpey / du-kit animals are the pigs. These were the first animals I constructed and are probably the easiest to make. You will need a lot of brown polymer clay for these ones but there's no reason you cant have different colours. It's fun to experiment and draw inspiration from many sources.
As always I have included the original Agricola pig cube, the Agricola/Caverna pig animeeple and a finished version for reference. You might also see my prototype Caverna starting player Dwarf, Dog and Donkey in the background!
Step 1: (Body) Take a nice little chunk of brown clay and roll it with your fingers into a roughly cylinder shape. Using your fingers flatten the bottom of the body and taper the top of the body so that it has a sharply rising front (the face) and a gently sloping back.
Flatten the ball so it looks like below.
Take the pointy end of your sculpting tool (or a butter knife etc), press in and rotate to make nice round nostrils.
Press the snout onto the front of your pig. Leave room for the eyes at the top of the face. You might need to go over the holes you have already made to clean them up.
With your bladed tool cut the clay in half.
You should end up with two pieces like this.
Place on to body right behind the snout as below.
Press and flatten onto face.
As always I have included the original Agricola pig cube, the Agricola/Caverna pig animeeple and a finished version for reference. You might also see my prototype Caverna starting player Dwarf, Dog and Donkey in the background!
Step 1: (Body) Take a nice little chunk of brown clay and roll it with your fingers into a roughly cylinder shape. Using your fingers flatten the bottom of the body and taper the top of the body so that it has a sharply rising front (the face) and a gently sloping back.
Body side view
Body lying flat
Step 2 (snout): Roll out a small ball of flesh coloured clay into a slightly cylindrical shape.
Flatten the ball so it looks like below.
Take the pointy end of your sculpting tool (or a butter knife etc), press in and rotate to make nice round nostrils.
Press the snout onto the front of your pig. Leave room for the eyes at the top of the face. You might need to go over the holes you have already made to clean them up.
Step 3 (Tail): Tail is simple, take a small pinch of flesh coloured clay and roll it between your fingers. Place on the body in a spiral shape.
Step 4 (Tusks): Take a pinch of white clay and roll it between your fingers.
With your bladed tool cut the clay in half.
You should end up with two pieces like this.
Place on to body right behind the snout as below.
Step 5 (Eyes): Take a tiny ball of white clay and put it onto the end of your rounded sculpting tool.
Press and flatten onto face.
Step 6 (Ears): Take a small piece of brown clay, roll it between your fingers a little, cut in half and place on head.
Step 7 (Pupils): Take a tiny amount of your brown clay and roll it into a ball. Put it on the end of your rounded sculpting tool and press into the eyes.
Finished!
Note: If you are having trouble keeping the bottom of your pigs flat, use the flat edge of your sculpting tool and roll it along the bottom to flatten it out.
Next week: Cows!
Saturday 21 June 2014
Guide: Agricola Sheep
As promised here is my guide to making Agricola Sheep (these work in Caverna too). I only made one in this guide but if you want to be efficient you can get a production line going and do multiples at a time. Mix up the colours for black sheep.
Step 1: Take your white clay and roll it into small ball, avoid the temptation to make the ball too large. As a guide I will include the original Agricola sheep cube and sheep animeeple.
Step 2: To form the feet, make a small line of white clay and with your blade cut it into 4 roughly equal sized parts, roll each of these into a small ball.
Stick each of these balls on the bottom of your body and slightly flatten them to form the feet.
Step 3: To create the wooly effect take your pointy tool and jab a lot of little holes lightly into the body.
Step 4: Take your flesh coloured and roll it into a small elongated ball (tic-tac) shape. Add a tail by rolling another smaller white ball and sticking it on the rump.
Step 5: Place the head on the body and then using the tip of your blade lightly press in the snout design.
Step 6: To make the ears get another small piece of flesh coloured clay and make a small line, cut this line in half and using the tip of your blade press lightly into each half.
Step 7: Stick each ear on the head roughly where it joins the body.
Step 8: Take a very small white line of clay and roll it into a small spiral. Stick this right between the ears on the back of the head.
Step 9: To create the eyes, roll two tiny balls (smaller than you think) and place them on the head with the rounded nub sculpting tool.
Step 10: To create the pupils, repeat the same procedure as the eyes but use only the tiniest dot of black.
Sheep complete! To add variety I gave some brown horns, a brown body or brown face. Repeat 20 times, bake in the oven to set and you have a nice collection of sheep for Agricola and Caverna)!
Comming soon: Guide to making cows!
Step 1: Take your white clay and roll it into small ball, avoid the temptation to make the ball too large. As a guide I will include the original Agricola sheep cube and sheep animeeple.
Step 2: To form the feet, make a small line of white clay and with your blade cut it into 4 roughly equal sized parts, roll each of these into a small ball.
Stick each of these balls on the bottom of your body and slightly flatten them to form the feet.
Step 3: To create the wooly effect take your pointy tool and jab a lot of little holes lightly into the body.
Step 5: Place the head on the body and then using the tip of your blade lightly press in the snout design.
Step 6: To make the ears get another small piece of flesh coloured clay and make a small line, cut this line in half and using the tip of your blade press lightly into each half.
Step 7: Stick each ear on the head roughly where it joins the body.
Step 8: Take a very small white line of clay and roll it into a small spiral. Stick this right between the ears on the back of the head.
Step 9: To create the eyes, roll two tiny balls (smaller than you think) and place them on the head with the rounded nub sculpting tool.
Step 10: To create the pupils, repeat the same procedure as the eyes but use only the tiniest dot of black.
Sheep complete! To add variety I gave some brown horns, a brown body or brown face. Repeat 20 times, bake in the oven to set and you have a nice collection of sheep for Agricola and Caverna)!
Comming soon: Guide to making cows!
Guide: Supplies needed for Agricola Animals
Making animals for Agricola is surprisingly easy, no previous experience is necessary but you will need some simple tools & supplies.
Sculpting tools:
Polymer Clay:
There are many different brands of polymer clay. For my Agricola animals I use Du-kit but there are many other brands such as Fimo and Sculpey. Du-kit comes in smaller 50gram sizes and a larger 250gram. I recommend getting a larger size white and possibly brown.
Colours:
Sheep - (Body, Legs) White, (Most Faces) Flesh, (Some Faces, Some Bodies) Brown, (Pupils) Black.
Cows - (Body, Horns) White, (Spots, Heads, Legs) Brown, (Pupils) Black.
Pigs - (Body, Ears) Brown, (Snout) Flesh, (Tusks, Eyes) White, (Pupils) Black.
The brown is quite dark so if you want to save money you can substitute the black pupils for brown.
Comming soon: Step by Step Guide for Making Sheep
Saturday 14 June 2014
Agricola Animals Are Awesome!
My guide to making these Fimo animals for Agricola is coming soon! In the meantime here is a peek at the finished beasts.
Monday 9 June 2014
Buying Board Games (Cheaply) in New Zealand
Because of our remote geographical location New Zealand can be a tricky place to buy board games cheaply.
Over the years I've found a few sources of games both online and locally that satisfy the cheapskate in me.
Online Stores
For me online stores can be broken down into two general categories: New Zealand based online stores and internationally based stores. Generally speaking the NZ based stores keep all their stock in NZ, they tend to have a bit less selection, be slightly more expensive but deliver much much faster and have far superior customer service.
Fishpond (Internationally Based)
Fishpond sells, many things including books and toys. Prices vary from fantastic to stupidly expensive and selection is large but spotty, you probably wont get the newest of the new here. Shipping times are long, no less than 3 weeks and usually more like 5 weeks but shipping is free! Don't expect to automatically get a deal but if you compare with other sites beforehand you can get some fantastic prices. I have purchased about 8 games through Fishpond and have had minor issues with 2.
Once I purchased a very cheap copy of Power Grid but in reality it wasn't in stock for that price and I ended up having to cancel my order and re-ordering at a slightly higher price. This was about a month of wasted time. I have also received a copy of Takenoko with a split box lid in one corner but it was such a good deal I wasn't worried.
Mightyape (Internationally Based with some NZ Stock)
Mightyape is similar to Fishpond except that its prices are a bit higher overall but also more consistently good. Everything is usually at least a modest deal but you do pay for shipping so factor that in. Mightyape will often have sales and voucher codes that if you use wisely can push things into bargain territory. I have brought 3 games from Mightyape and had no issues but havent been particularly impressed by the prices.
Selection is decent but not fantastic and shipping is on the longer 1-3 weeks side.
NZGameShop (UK Based)
nzgameshop.com sells both board and video games. Prices are very good with occasional sales and shipping is free for items over $50. They will usually have the latest games in stock for a good price. Delivery times can be slow, usually no less than 2 weeks. Overall a consistently good store but you wont usually see the "crazy" bargains like you can see on Fishpond. I have brought 5 games from NZGameShop and had no issues whatsoever.
Seriously Board (NZ Based)
Seriously Board is a dedicated online board game store and a large part of the NZ board gaming community. They host regular conventions in large cities and offer discounts to the many board gaming groups around New Zealand.
As an online store they offer competitive prices, a good selection, fast delivery times and unparalleled service. They don't have the widest ranging selection, many older items will be out of stock and the prices while good aren't potentially the best compared to a lucky find on Fishpond.
Seriously Board is my #1 choice for pre-ordering the latest big box hotness, they can usually get you the unreleased games before anyone else with a nice pre-order discount.
Games and Hobbies (NZ Based)
Games and Hobbies NZ is another NZ Based online store. I haven't used them personally but they seem to have good prices and offer free shipping on many items so I have included them here for the sake of completeness.
Locally
Locally you are really limited to two or maybe three main sources.
#1: Your "friendly local game stores" (FLGS).
Honestly your FLGS is probably going to be the most expensive choice, but they have a couple of things going for them. They will usually have a decent selection and you can get your game home quickly.
If you keep your eye out you might get a 10-25% discount depending on the store and the timing.
#2: Book/toy stores.
Book and toy stores usually will have an extremely limited selection of hobby games, usually you can only be sure to get the most popular of the popular. Settlers of Catan and Carcassone are usually available, you might spot the Ticket to Rides etc too. I have also seen some decent party games such a Snake Oil and Dixit.
The one thing they do have going for them is they will occasionally have large sales. It's not too uncommon to see discounts of up to 33%. But watch out, they may be marked up a bit more to begin with so the discount might not be that great.
#3: Local Conventions
For New Zealand there are two board game specific conventions that I know of: Board Games by the Bay and Wellycon. I cant speak for Wellycon but at BGBTB you will get similar prices to the local online store Seriously Board (see above). The downside is that they only occur once or twice a year.
Armageddon is also a local convention selling board games, I have found that at best you get similar prices to your FLGS there.
Over the years I've found a few sources of games both online and locally that satisfy the cheapskate in me.
Online Stores
For me online stores can be broken down into two general categories: New Zealand based online stores and internationally based stores. Generally speaking the NZ based stores keep all their stock in NZ, they tend to have a bit less selection, be slightly more expensive but deliver much much faster and have far superior customer service.
Fishpond (Internationally Based)
Fishpond sells, many things including books and toys. Prices vary from fantastic to stupidly expensive and selection is large but spotty, you probably wont get the newest of the new here. Shipping times are long, no less than 3 weeks and usually more like 5 weeks but shipping is free! Don't expect to automatically get a deal but if you compare with other sites beforehand you can get some fantastic prices. I have purchased about 8 games through Fishpond and have had minor issues with 2.
Once I purchased a very cheap copy of Power Grid but in reality it wasn't in stock for that price and I ended up having to cancel my order and re-ordering at a slightly higher price. This was about a month of wasted time. I have also received a copy of Takenoko with a split box lid in one corner but it was such a good deal I wasn't worried.
Mightyape (Internationally Based with some NZ Stock)
Mightyape is similar to Fishpond except that its prices are a bit higher overall but also more consistently good. Everything is usually at least a modest deal but you do pay for shipping so factor that in. Mightyape will often have sales and voucher codes that if you use wisely can push things into bargain territory. I have brought 3 games from Mightyape and had no issues but havent been particularly impressed by the prices.
Selection is decent but not fantastic and shipping is on the longer 1-3 weeks side.
NZGameShop (UK Based)
nzgameshop.com sells both board and video games. Prices are very good with occasional sales and shipping is free for items over $50. They will usually have the latest games in stock for a good price. Delivery times can be slow, usually no less than 2 weeks. Overall a consistently good store but you wont usually see the "crazy" bargains like you can see on Fishpond. I have brought 5 games from NZGameShop and had no issues whatsoever.
Seriously Board (NZ Based)
Seriously Board is a dedicated online board game store and a large part of the NZ board gaming community. They host regular conventions in large cities and offer discounts to the many board gaming groups around New Zealand.
As an online store they offer competitive prices, a good selection, fast delivery times and unparalleled service. They don't have the widest ranging selection, many older items will be out of stock and the prices while good aren't potentially the best compared to a lucky find on Fishpond.
Seriously Board is my #1 choice for pre-ordering the latest big box hotness, they can usually get you the unreleased games before anyone else with a nice pre-order discount.
Games and Hobbies (NZ Based)
Games and Hobbies NZ is another NZ Based online store. I haven't used them personally but they seem to have good prices and offer free shipping on many items so I have included them here for the sake of completeness.
Locally
Locally you are really limited to two or maybe three main sources.
#1: Your "friendly local game stores" (FLGS).
Honestly your FLGS is probably going to be the most expensive choice, but they have a couple of things going for them. They will usually have a decent selection and you can get your game home quickly.
If you keep your eye out you might get a 10-25% discount depending on the store and the timing.
#2: Book/toy stores.
Book and toy stores usually will have an extremely limited selection of hobby games, usually you can only be sure to get the most popular of the popular. Settlers of Catan and Carcassone are usually available, you might spot the Ticket to Rides etc too. I have also seen some decent party games such a Snake Oil and Dixit.
The one thing they do have going for them is they will occasionally have large sales. It's not too uncommon to see discounts of up to 33%. But watch out, they may be marked up a bit more to begin with so the discount might not be that great.
#3: Local Conventions
For New Zealand there are two board game specific conventions that I know of: Board Games by the Bay and Wellycon. I cant speak for Wellycon but at BGBTB you will get similar prices to the local online store Seriously Board (see above). The downside is that they only occur once or twice a year.
Armageddon is also a local convention selling board games, I have found that at best you get similar prices to your FLGS there.
Sunday 8 June 2014
Upcoming NZ Boardgame Kickstarters
It's an exciting time to be a board gamer in New Zealand, we have two upcoming Kickstarters that arent far from delivery.
First up we have Manifest from Schilmil Games a charming pick up and deliver shipping game set in the 20s. I had a chance to play an early playtest version of this one at Board Games by the Bay and while I wasn't blown away I certainly thought it was a solid game with a lot of potential and good art.
The Kickstarter campaign for this one seemed a bit lethargic at first. If I have to criticize Schilmil games for anything its getting their name out there. Things weren't looking too great at first but I was happy to see that with some strategic publicity and advertising on Boardgamegeek pushed it through with about 120% funding. I am looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.
As things currently stand we should be seeing deliveries of Manifest in the next few months.
Next up we have Shipwrights of the North Sea by Shem Phillips of Garphill Games . Shem ran a masterful campaign here, combining good value, fantastic theme and great art work. I suspect that art and theme really sucked in a lot of backers and I don't blame them. The Kickstarter finished at 920% of the $8000 goal.
Shem is one of the New Zealands up and coming designers and I keep an eye out for anything he does. He has certainly grown since his first game Linwood was released in 2009. I enjoyed the abstract art style of Linwood but game play tended to be a bit random, being essentially a "Roll and Move" game where you built your own board. We ended up house-ruling the roll and move aspect to "roll two pick one" to even out chance.
Plethora was the next release from Shem that I have played and his growth as a game designer is clearly evident. Plethora features fantastic art and many more meaningful decisions than Linwood. I backed Plethora on Pledgeme (New Zealands local crowdfunding site) and certainly have no regrets, but I did get the impression it wasn't as polished of a game as it could have been. I wouldn't play Plethora with more than three people due to the downtime and I feel like the "draw x cards choose y" aspects could have been streamlined a bit more.
Shipwrights of the North Sea looks fantastic but you can never really tell how good a game is until you play it. If trends continue I think we are set for something good. I only hope that Shem gave this one an extra bit of polish.
Looking at recent Kickstarter updates Shipwrights should be in the hands of backers within the next two months.
First up we have Manifest from Schilmil Games a charming pick up and deliver shipping game set in the 20s. I had a chance to play an early playtest version of this one at Board Games by the Bay and while I wasn't blown away I certainly thought it was a solid game with a lot of potential and good art.
The Kickstarter campaign for this one seemed a bit lethargic at first. If I have to criticize Schilmil games for anything its getting their name out there. Things weren't looking too great at first but I was happy to see that with some strategic publicity and advertising on Boardgamegeek pushed it through with about 120% funding. I am looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.
As things currently stand we should be seeing deliveries of Manifest in the next few months.
Next up we have Shipwrights of the North Sea by Shem Phillips of Garphill Games . Shem ran a masterful campaign here, combining good value, fantastic theme and great art work. I suspect that art and theme really sucked in a lot of backers and I don't blame them. The Kickstarter finished at 920% of the $8000 goal.
Shem is one of the New Zealands up and coming designers and I keep an eye out for anything he does. He has certainly grown since his first game Linwood was released in 2009. I enjoyed the abstract art style of Linwood but game play tended to be a bit random, being essentially a "Roll and Move" game where you built your own board. We ended up house-ruling the roll and move aspect to "roll two pick one" to even out chance.
Plethora was the next release from Shem that I have played and his growth as a game designer is clearly evident. Plethora features fantastic art and many more meaningful decisions than Linwood. I backed Plethora on Pledgeme (New Zealands local crowdfunding site) and certainly have no regrets, but I did get the impression it wasn't as polished of a game as it could have been. I wouldn't play Plethora with more than three people due to the downtime and I feel like the "draw x cards choose y" aspects could have been streamlined a bit more.
Shipwrights of the North Sea looks fantastic but you can never really tell how good a game is until you play it. If trends continue I think we are set for something good. I only hope that Shem gave this one an extra bit of polish.
Looking at recent Kickstarter updates Shipwrights should be in the hands of backers within the next two months.
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