Tying Up Loose Ends

With the end of the year rolling at us at full speed, it's time for me to follow up, wrap up, or otherwise update some of the incomplete aspects of the ol' blog.

The Last Call crew. It was fun while it lasted.

The Last Call

The end of my Five Parsecs From Home campaign was ugly.

The battle of turn #2 didn't go well. Painting up a set of figures to use as Psychos was taking too long, so I resorted to using proxies to move on with the campaign. The battle turned against The Last Call crew due to a combination of poor die rolls, the opposition performing better than expected, and admittedly suboptimal tactical decision making. The result was a bitter grind as The Last Call crew put up a spirited, but futile struggle.

If I were gamemastering it as a RPG campaign, I might have fudged a few die rolls and had the Psychos fumble around a little to give The Last Call crew a chance to pull things together. Even using the options in "The Stars of the Story" section only mitigated things to a point. The outcome wasn't a true TPK, but was still a demoralizing setback. A hole that big would take a long time for The Last Call crew to dig their way free. I would have to bring in a bunch of newly painted miniatures to represent new crew in order to continue. Why not end it, call the whole thing a learning experience, and start fresh later?

I started a draft of the final stand of The Last Call crew, but left it undone. Few of the photos came out well. This would make the resulting battle report an almost unbroken wall of text. The writing alone would have to keep a reader engaged. I know the last stand has a long tradition, but I couldn't come up with a narrative that made the fight anything other than a depressing grind. I ended up abandoning the draft. Everybody only has so much time. I felt that mine would be better spent doing other things.

Beginning a new Five Parsecs From Home campaign is in the cards for next year. The ubrupt end of The Last Call campaign was rough, but it was fun while it lasted! And it fulfilled the goal of motivating me to paint more miniatures. Next time, I'd like to have a model to represent the ship and more terrain, but neither is a requirement that's cast in stone. Any decisions about the ship model or terrain will ultimately come down to time and cost. Having some more miniatures painted up and ready to go would also be prudent. Or I could just wing it. Let's see what the new year brings!

The Last Call - A Very Short Five Parsecs From Home Campaign:

Turn 0 - Crew generation

Turn 1 - Pre-battle steps, also includes campaign start steps

Turn 1 - Battle report

Turn 1 - Wrap up

Turn 1 - Error correction

Turn 2 - Pre-battle steps

I'm still not sure what I'm doing with this thing.

The YouTube Experiment

I'm still messing around with the YouTube Channel I started this year. Learning how to record audio and video, editing it, and finding ways to present it has been an engaging challenge. I think I'm closing in what to do with it, but I also want to experiment with the subjects I cover a little more.

For now, some links and short descriptions of what I've posted over there as of this post are below:

Coffee Bag Freebie Greeblies & Bits?

Short video on the scratch building parts that can be pulled off a bag of coffee.

Fixing a Squishy Based D&D Beholder Miniature

The base on this unfortunate miniature from Wizards of the Coast was far too soft to hold the figure up. Even a mighty Beholder isn't that scary if it's falling over! Fixing it by replacing the base was a quick and fun little project.

Plastic Soda Cap Greeblies & Bits?

Short video on trash bashing with these parts that come with a tasty drink!

Weathering Terrain with a Silver Marker

A quick guide on producing the appearance of bare metal exposed by wear and tear.

Soy & Teriyaki Sauce Bottle Bits

Short video on the junk build parts that come with a bottle of salty, umami flavor.

Some glass I got on my birthday. Both are helpful in the making of this blog.

More Miniature Photography Posts

Writing follow ups to The Post Where I Go On About Photography Gear and Kenko Extension Tube Set - First Impressions has been an exercise in hitting a moving target. There were several times when I thought that I had a handle on a process and started drafting a post, only from something new to upset the whole apple cart.

The simple truth of the matter is that I'm still learning and refining. How I approach miniatures photography has changed radically multiple times since I wrote those posts back in April 2021. A specific piece of gear might come and go and come back again. The camera settings have gone from one extreme to the other as I play with what works. This isn't a good place from which to teach others. I have tried to document my learning experience, but every draft has been tossed aside as no longer reflecting what I do by the time it's nearing completion.

It's going to be awhile before I dial into a preferred method and turn it into a time-tested formula. When I do, I'll be happy to share it so that others can benefit from my experience and improve their own methods.



These three were the glaring examples of unfinished business that I feel I should address. If there's anything else I've left undone that folks are curious about, feel free to fire off a question in the comments. Note that some projects are on hold due to the holidays. They will be resumed when time and weather permits - spray painting in the cold and wet is questionable at best.

My Favorite Stuff 2022

Here's a few things I found handy for hobby stuff throughout this year. I made similar posts to this one in 2018 and 2020. Like 2019, I skipped 2021. Unlike 2019, skipping 2021 was deliberate. I was mainly focused on catching up on existing projects as our group wasn't meeting for face to face gaming. 2022 saw a return to experimentation, new purchases, and the resulting half-finished projects.

This is what happens when I play with Canva.

Green Stuff World Silver Series Kolinsky Brush Size 2

I ordered this way back in the summer of 2021 as I was getting frustrated with the limitations of the synthetic brushes I was using at the time. I was doing more painting than usual throughout 2020 and 2021. Eventually, I felt that I was fighting with the brushes to get the paint where I wanted it to go. A little research suggested that it was time to upgrade my brushes, so I took advantage of a sale at Green Stuff World and ordered a set of three brushes sizes 0, 1, and 2.

This was not the only way I was addressing the issue. I found a local source for smaller Kolinsky brushes. These seemed to work fine, so the set of brushes from Green Stuff World went into storage as replacements for down the line.

This year, there were projects where a bigger brush was useful to cover larger areas. Up until then, I used size 0 and size 1 brushes (or their equivalents) for miniatures painting. The set from Green Stuff World included a size 2, so I gave it a try.

My old size 2 and the replacement (in package) for when I need it.

I wish I had given it a shot before. The larger belly holds more paint, allowing me to work longer before going back to my palette. The tip is good enough for most work, but I do have to break out smaller brushes with finer tips to paint some details.

The size 2 has become my utility brush. The only things I never do with it is drybrushing or other techniques that are rough on a brush. With basic care, it's lasted well enough so far, but I did order another to have a replacement on hand.

Green Stuff World does offer a Gold Series premium brush line, but I'm happy with the Silver Series so far. I also tend to place orders during their sales to offset shipping costs. Orders also take awhile to get from England to the United States.


Star Trek Adventures Rules Digest

Our group got back to face to face gaming this year. The roleplaying game we picked was Star Trek Adventures. We decided to start a new campaign given the long interruption.

The Rule Digest had come out during our group's interregnum. It contains all the rules refinements and errata that had come out since the game's launch. A rule book already incorporating every update was too good to pass up.

One of these is not like the others.

The real value of the Rules Digest turns out to be its compact size. As the name implies, it is a digest sized softcover. Not having to deal with a full sized hardback while running a game relieves me of a hassle. It can be set aside, tucked under my dice tray, or other gotten out of the way until I need it. The core book has been liberated to wander the table as a reference for the players.

The layout of the Rules Digest is done in the style of TOS as it is intended to support a campaign in that era. However, the rules apply to all eras of Star Trek. I many use it as a handy reference at the table. What I'd really like is a digest sized book that is nothing but a Star Trek Adventures rule reference, but I suspect that the market for such a product is too limited to be profitable for Modiphius. In the absence of such a thing, this book will do nicely.


Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Lens

My wife generously gifted me this for my birthday. The idea was to get a relatively inexpensive lens for general photography. Instead, this has become my main lens for miniatures photography.

Before this, I used a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens with extension tubes for miniatures photography. The Nifty Fifty is a great lens for the price, but the focal length is a problem for shooting small objects. The camera has to be pulled back quite a bit for the lens to focus on the subject. This may push the camera back far enough for a tripod to be necessary. Extension tubes allow the lens to get closer, but selecting the right one adds to set up time. I still use this combination when I need high quality shots, but I wanted an option for taking quick photos.

Nothing I read before getting this indicated that it's a macro lens.

The EF-S 24mm is clearly marked as a macro lens. I can push it in close enough to not worry about setting up a tripod or extension tubes. This makes setting up a shot much easier. The quality isn't as sharp as the Nifty Fifty, but the trade off is sometimes worth it. The EF-S 24mm is currently my workhorse lens for miniature photography.

Kenko Extension Tube Set - First Impressions

The vagarities of product delivery dates, my weekend schedule, and the appearance of a family emergency allowed me a whole hour to try out the extension tubes from Kenko. This is not a proper review, but my first impressions and how I see using this product for shooting the photos posted on this blog. I'm going to be tossing around some camera jargon like aperture settings due to the nature of this post.

The three extension tubes come attached to each other. It makes storage easier.

I purchased the Kenko Teleplus DG Extension Tube Set as an alternative to buying a macro lens. All lenses have a minimum focusing distance. This means that most lenses won't get close enough to a small object for the subject to take up most of the image without getting too close and producing a blurry image. To put it another way, most lenses work fine when taking a photo of a field of flowers, but a photo of a single flower might get lost in the background or be out of focus. Macro lenses can focus on very close objects, but tend to be expensive. Extension tubes change the minimum focusing distance of an existing lens, allowing the lens to get closer to the subject.

All of these photos were shot with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens using the same settings: f/16, ISO 200. The images were cropped from 3:2 to 4:3 to fit this blog's format, but no other editing took place. All ranges were measured from the focal place mark to the subject.

For these test shots, I used a Reaper Chronoscope 50274 Sarah Blitzer, IMEF Sniper placed on top of a Warsenal Small Shipping Container. There was no particular reason for me to pick these as subjects. They just happened to be within reach in the short time I had to spare.

Lens only, 14 inches.

This shot is typical of the ones I've been taking for this blog for awhile now. It is good for shooting a scene or part of a game in progress. The shot is wide enough to show multiple figures with terrain. It is not suitable for showing off a paint job without cropping. It's not bad. A shot like this is useful for certain things, but I've been looking for a way to get the camera a little closer.

12mm extension tube, 12 inches.

Moving the lens a couple of inches towards the subject makes a significant difference. The figure fills more of the shot. Finer details of the sculpt are more clearly viable. Even the texture of the MDF used in the terrain piece is viable. This extension tube will likely see the most use.

20mm extension tube, 9 inches.

Getting in this close means the figure fills most of the shot. This is the equivalent of a close inspection of a miniature without picking it up. The details are clearly viable. So are any flaws in preparation, assembly, or painting.. I'll use this one when I'm feeling confident about the job I did.

36mm extension tube, 7 inches.

This is a little too close. I wasn't able to get the focus as sharp as I'd like - the auto focus refused to work outside of a narrow range and manual focusing was hit and miss. I'm not sure that I need a shot like this for this blog, but I'll keep playing with this as an option.

At this point, I have a rough idea of what each extension tube does. I'll be getting a better grasp of how to best use them as I shoot photos of upcoming projects for this blog. I'll share those more in-depth thoughts after I feel that I've gotten the hang of them.

The Post Where I Go On About Photography Gear

I'm in the process of trying out my new extension tubes and I'll be posting the results with commentary soon. In the meantime, it occurred to me that I never covered the gear I use for the photos on this blog. My process has evolved over time, so I'll start with the constants. Then I'll go over the camera I ended up phasing out. Finally, my current gear.

The Constants

The Table
When I use the term "tabletop gaming" on this blog, this is usually the table I'm referring to. This well-worn surface has seen plenty of wargames, board games, and role playing games. It provides a steady surface and I can work undisturbed as long as I avoid meal times. The main reason I shoot here is the natural light from the nearby windows. That light is supplemented with overhead lighting. I tend to get the best results when I shoot here during the day.

Skubb Laundry bag with stand from Ikea (white)
I admit that this is a quirky inclusion, but it works as an inexpensive light box, diffuser, and backdrop. Lay it on its side, place a couple of light sources around it, and position the subject inside. The white polyester material diffuses the light, providing even lighting around the subject. Place a strong light source inside the Skubb and it softens the light directed at the subject. I often just stand it up or lay it on its side behind the subject as a backdrop - it's the white background often seen in the photos on this blog. Finally, it folds up for easy storage when I'm not using it.

A quick vignette showing our well-loved gaming surface and the Skubb acting as a backdrop.

In Honorable Retirement

Canon PowerShot A3100IS
My first digital camera that didn't come with a phone attached. I got it around the time I started this blog, so it's elderly in technology terms. Most of the photos on this blog prior to last year were shot with this camera or using whatever phone I happened to own at the time. Both are valid options for anyone starting out, especially given the increasing quality of cameras that manufacturers are incorporating into smart phone designs these days. The only reason I moved past this camera was my desire to get into the settings and lens that a DSLR or mirrorless camera could offer. This camera is currently in storage.


The Current Stuff

Canon EOS Rebel T7i
This is not the best or latest camera, even when I purchased it last year. However, it has all the features I need at a price I could afford. Photography is a side hobby for me at this time. Breaking the bank on something moving up from "vague interest" to "hobby I do on the side of my other hobbies" just doesn't make any sense.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS STM
The kit lens that came with the Rebel is surprisingly good. It is versatile, produces sharp images, and comes with auto focus and image stabilization. I was even able to get pretty close to miniatures and other subjects for macro photography, but I did notice some distortion. It still sees use for the photos I take for this blog when I can't get good results otherwise. A good general purpose lens that I'll be hanging on to for awhile.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM
Plenty of sources recommended this as the first prime lens when expanding beyond the kit lens. I can see why. I switched to this for most of the photos I take for this blog soon after getting it. I have to shoot from further away than with the kit lens, but using this lens has taught me about the effects of different aperture settings in macro photography. A nice lens at a reasonable price.

Lume Cube Panel Mini
Even with all the natural and artificial light available in my favorite spot, I still need a little extra from time to time. I bought this so I could stop dragging my desk lamp over every time the light wasn't quite right at the kitchen table. This is the first light source that I bought specifically for photography. It came in handy a couple of months ago during the four day blackout in this part of Texas. I also sometimes use it for lighting tasks around the house. Kinda pricey for what it is, but the ability to control the brightness and color temperature have been worth it.

Dinkum Systems ActionPod Pro
This is a camera mount at the end of a flexible arm held in place by a spring clamp. I mount the Rebel on the ActionPod, clamp it on the edge of the table, and adjust the arm until its in the position I need it to be in. Much quicker than dealing with tripod. It's strong enough to hold the Rebel without sagging and doesn't take up much space. More reasonably priced than many of the alternatives.

Hasslefree and Effigy - A Couple of Quick and Fun Photos

Two exploration teams encounter each other on the surface of a barren world.

I had a little fun the other day with these figures, a GW Moonscape Crater terrain piece, and my camera.

The Figures

After finishing all three figures in Hasslefree Miniatures' "Retro Sci-Fi Crew" set, I wanted to see how they went with some other figures using a similar paint scheme. The other figures are from the now defunct Effigy Miniatures' "Havoc Girls" set. I painted them a few years back using the division colors of a later generation of space explorers.

Both sets hit some of the same notes. They are both all woman teams. There's a member posing with her sidearm. Another member is equipped with a portable device, although one is a handheld scanner and the other has an input device on the arm and a display visor. Of course, the influences are different - 1960s for one and anime for the other.

The Havoc Girls set did serve as an Away Team in our Star Trek Adventures campaign. They may return to the table when play resumes. Or I might offer to go old school with the Hasslefree Miniatures set. I'll have to give it some thought.

The Terrain

The GW Moonscape Craters are coming in handy. A surprising number of sci-fi miniatures look better on a barren, blasted landscape. I had my misgivings about them, but they are holding up well.

The Camera

I'm hitting the limits of what I can do with my current camera gear - a Canon Rebel T7i, a kit lens, and a EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens. An inexpensive tripod helps, but there is no way I can justify the expense of a macro lens just for taking photos of miniatures. I've got a set of extension tubes on the way - they attach to lens and change their focal length, allowing the lens to get closer to the subject. They might do the trick with the lenses I already own.

But that's enough fun with the camera for now. I've got miniatures to put some paint on.