This is something quite profound in applications for the Crystals, had not even considered playing with reflected light within the Crystals. Thinking too much like a painter

I feel the interest generated is a desire for particularly alien environments, which is why each of your scenery threads hit the mark VetSgt. That and you lay out great articles on your thoughts and how to go about doing similar

- Tael.

What would look insanely cool is if you could somehow work in a LED into the base to have it shining up through the crystals, that'd be one of the most wicked terrain pieces ever.

The big crystals remind me of space gozilla.

Thanks for all the comments! I really enjoy reading them since they give me lots of ideas that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own.


I am glad that you like the crystals and have added them to your “list”. I would like to see them based with the dark grey rather than the rust colored volcanic rock that I use.

[
Yes painting with clear colors on clear plastic changes a lot of things. If you miss a spot while painting you can see it from all angles. That can make it remarkably hard to tell where the spot you missed is.


I currently have no plans to try the LED thing, but if I did I would probably try using a piece of clear plastic for the base. That way the light wouldn’t actually have to be in the crystal and all crystals on that base could be lit by a single light. Just make sure that the crystals are glued down with a very clear glue, and then paint the entire base in silver so that the light has nowhere to get out but where the crystals are glued down at. In theory that would give the crystals a slight glow with no visible source of illumination.

Just a few random thoughts
Combining the crystals with Lava Rivers would also make for a very interesting table to play on.
The Hirst Arts Cavern Accessory Mold #85 has molds for crystals on it. http://www.hirstarts.com/molds/molds2.html

It looks like I need to retract my statement about the crystals being “freakishly large and improbable” . It seems that crystals can naturally get much bigger than I had thought.

I made these with some crushed glass that I found in a craft store. It was being used as part of a candle holder, so I tossed out the candle and removed the crushed glass. The sharp edges had already been removed so I didn’t have to worry about having to use a rock tumbler or anything to dull the edges. I poured some clear epoxy into a pile of the crushed glass and these are the shapes that resulted.

Tiberium anyone?

Anyway.

I believe that, combined with what this guy has done with his bases, your crystal forest could, potentially, look amazing. Just an idea.

-T'Owel

What is Tiberium, is it a movie?




One more experiment for my crystal forest table.



These are definitely in the inorganic life form category, but I like the way they turned out anyway.



These were made using the tines from a clear plastic fork. I got the idea to use clear plastic cutlery after a very long plane flight I was on. The condiment packet that came with my coffee included a small clear plastic spoon. With plenty of time on my hands, and nothing to do but play with the plastic spoon, I concocted the idea to make these.

Hey Vet Sgt!

I've got to say, you have a real eye for finding useful terrain and basing stuff! There is some really innovative stuff across this and your other thread. I have a pair of questions to trouble you with if you don't mind...

Firstly, have you been basing your Tau to match either of your themed terrain sets and if so, can we get a few example pictures?
Secondly, how far are you planning to go with the crystal planet idea? Do you have a size of board you want to be able to cover, or are you going to keep going until you run out of ideas?

Also, if you wouldn't mind, could we get a 'here is all the stuff I've done so far' sort of picture? I'd love to see how all the little ideas work together in tandem.

PS.

It's a fictional crystal which is the resource that drives the storylines of the Command and Conquer RTS series of PC games.

Thanks for the compliment Fi'rios Shi'ur. My Tau army is based to match my desert table which was my original table for them. The camouflage on the models is intended to be usable on either the desert table, or with the orange and yellow vegetation.








I am not sure how far I will end up going with the crystal planet idea. One of these days I will get around to making tree sized crystal formations. I also plan to eventually do some type of lava feature, most likely fishers or pools of some sort. I think that the painted clear plastic should make for a very nice lava effect.



This is what I have so far for my crystal planet table. I don’t quite have enough to make a jungle table yet, but who knows where this will end.




I don’t usually play with it all evenly spaced out on a 4X8 table like this, but it does show what I have so far. If I add in a structure or two and some rock formations then this could almost pass for a jungle table, not quite, but almost. Once I get around to making some larger crystal formations, then I will hopefully be justified in calling it a jungle table.

I made these using the #LR001 Large plastic ice rock from APM corporation. They come with the air bubbles cast into them which makes for a nice variation in the crystals.

Great addition to your resource article Vet, though I am beginning to think you're a closet Necron

I initially missed the plastic fork idea, and have to say, that's an inspired bitz spotting.

Having those real world crystal structure photos really helps in selling the concept of such a place.

dying to get my hobbydesk back and use some of your ideas here

- Tael.

I have to say Tael that you questioning my devotion to the greater good was a severe blow.

Let me be very clear on this! I am not now, nor have I ever been a “closet Necron”, however I do frequently play against one. Please do not confuse my preference to fighting the enemy on his home ground to some perverted preference for the ancient evil. It’s bad enough that I have to live with a Necron lover in my own household, but to have a fellow Tau player accusing me of committing vile despicable acts is disheartening. Seriously though I thought only those first two crystals looked Necronish, the rest of them have gone off on an entirely different tangent.

I am glad that you liked the fork idea. These particular ones look more like plants than they do like crystals to me. I like both the crystal look and the inorganic life form look, but I am not sure that I like them together. Because of this I will probably eventually end up with two separate but similar terrain sets to play on. I have a few more ideas on how I might use the forks to make a more crystal like formation. This is all uncharted territory for me many of my ideas don’t work out, however the ones that do usually give me some more ideas to try. I love playing games on tables that have a very alien look to them. For me the table that the game is played on is half of the fun of the game.

haha, hopefully you're pasting the Necron lover on his home turf. (shards?) I've taken note never to question where your blue heart lies

I completely agree, the table scenery is easily half the fun (such is my passion in making a fully modular dungeon in another thread), and I thoroughly enjoy your unique takes on materials. The latest collection of crystal rocks and fork 'plants' went straight to Inspiration folder before I even read your rationale.

Really rough not having my hobby desk at the moment, still packed back in Brisbane while I'm half a continent away from it in Melbourne working. Suffice to say, I shall be raiding the picnic fork shelves in my local supermarket asap.

- Tael.

Unfortunately I seem to lose more games to my son (the Necron Lover) than I win. Fortunately I can make the claim that he learned everything he knows from me.

I completely understand your pain on not having a hobby desk. My work schedule is such that I only get to work on hobby stuff for one month out of every four or five months. It is very frustrating to have a lot of ideas and not get to try them out for a long time. I have found several sources for different sizes of plastic Ice cubes, and have plans to try some sort of cubical crystal structures, something along the lines of these Pyrite and Fluorite crystals.



I am also planning to make a crystal shaped mold. I would then fill the mold with crushed glass (or some other similar material) and cement it together with some clear resin. Giving me a very interesting internal structure for the resulting crystals that should let me make large tree sized ones. That’s the theory anyway and probably worth giving a try.

Another Idea I have is to try using Plastic Icicles. They come in very large sizes that could be used to make tree sized ones as well.



There are lots of very interesting shapes in natural crystals that I just need to find a way to replicate cheaply. Anybody have any good ideas?

The Large Crystals



I finally got around to making some tree sized crystals! Now I truly have a crystal forest and not just a bunch of crystal bushes! Crystals that will provide cover for my vehicles are always useful to have on a Tau battlefield.






These were actually very easy to make however they did require a lot of time to do.




I started with some wooded crystals that I made to be about six inches long. The larger crystals were made from ¾ inch stock, with the medium ones being made from ½ inch. Yes the thinner ones are actually made from pencils. The ones I made have eight sides and the pencils only have six but you would never notice it without my pointing it out. I also used a saw and a sander to “sharpen” them so that I had the required angles on the ends. All of the sides were kept strait and smooth to keep the molding and casting as simple as possible. Since six and eight sided objects didn’t match up perfectly I had to use a little clay to fill in the cracks.




Next I made some very simple one part silicone molds from them. The crystals were coated with petroleum jelly to act as a mold release, and to give them a uniform surface texture since the pencils were painted and the wood was bare. I kept the side walls of the mold at about a quarter of an inch to half an inch in thickness. This enabled the molds to be durable enough to survive the casting process multiple times while still being flexible enough to get the casting out.




Then I began casting up a lot of large crystals. Once they had hardened I cut them to different lengths and at different angles. By gluing the four pieces together in different ways I was able to get a greater variety of shapes.