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8th Ed. Custom artillery dice tryouts?

Discussion in 'Lizardmen & Saurian Ancients Discussion' started by Qupakoco, Jan 31, 2013.

  1. Qupakoco
    Skink Chief

    Qupakoco Keeper of the Dice Staff Member

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    So a couple days ago I was stomping the poop out of some Skaven with my new dice and my buddy said, "Hey, where'd you get those?" So I told him about our awesome forum and all that, and then told him that the Skaven site did it too. Decided to show him their dice and I just got super-duper jealous when I looked back over the custom Skaven artillery and scatter dice.

    art-dice.jpg

    scatter-dice-runes.jpg

    Anyone up for attempting to design some for us? I don't think we need to have something fancy on every side, but the "misfire" side would be fun. I've got a couple ideas but I haven't put them to paper yet.
     
  2. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    T'hinker'er mentioned he could design some in passing months ago, but then he got busy with real life things.

    I haven't felt like bugging him about it again, but if he can draw like he can sculpt, he's probably the best on the forum to do this.

    I think some of the numbers should be spiny and some of them fiery and the misfire should be a Salamander licking it's lips (or a dinosaur vague enough to be a Salamander or Razordon, but if it has to be one or the other it should be a Salamander).

    I don't know what our scatter dice should look like. It may be worth waiting till our next army book to see if we get something that scatters.
     
  3. ChandlerGriz
    Chameleon Skink

    ChandlerGriz Member

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    Keep in mind they are also about $6 each which is enough to deter a lot of people away from them.
     
  4. Old Mossy
    Bastiladon

    Old Mossy Active Member

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    It's $6, but it's only for a couple of dice. I am soooooo super keen if we can get a good design going. I tried, but couldn't come up with a good idea or execution.
     
  5. Qupakoco
    Skink Chief

    Qupakoco Keeper of the Dice Staff Member

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    Hmm, this is true. We don't have anything in our army that uses one right now, but we could at least work on the artillery dice. I don't think those will go away for us.
    Keep trying! I'm going to see if I can come up with something tonight.
     
  6. spawning of Bob
    Skar-Veteran

    spawning of Bob Well-Known Member

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    Spawning of Bob has pondered the significance of misfires......

    misfire1.jpg

    misfire2.jpg

    In his own special way, Bob has penned some dice concepts. Lots of misfire material is available in Bob's universe.

    Snack, pincushion or flambe in line drawing or silhouette.

    dice1j.jpg

    dice1s.jpg

    Bob and Daughter of Spawning of Bob like the middle bottom row one. Me, because the teeth are more subtle.

    Artillery dice numbers required even more torture of skinks with the following result. I think these only work in silhouette, and the 8 requires a little bit of faith to see. I'll thicken his arms if I do a redraw.

    dice2b.jpg

    dice2s.jpg

    I thought I was very clever using spears to make a combined artillery and scatter die, until I saw that the skaven had already stolen my idea (I think they've got a spell for that in their lore of magic. I should double check my wizard level)

    Numbers could as easily be serpents, Roman numerals or just a groovy font. I like the spiky / fiery number idea from Scalenex.

    Another option for numbers would be to use the "shooting spines" idea from the first set of silhouettes and just vary the number of spines (or alternatively tongues of flame). The target doesn't need to be a skink.

    The bottom right image above is classic Bob scatter, although I see that I could have put the spear the wrong way up for added effect. I've roughed out several different Bob scatter poses, with the one where he has run away, abandoning his spear, being the easiest to draw.

    I didn't think of a "hit" concept better than the impaled skaven example.

    Other options on scatter are glyph style items. My metal movement trays are sprayed black and then engraved (scratched) with geometric patterns similar to these. stegadon, cold one cavalry spears, temple city, swooping terradon. They help me keep track of which trays belong to whom. The other object is my "line of sight checker" which fits on the corner of my unit bases.

    dice3.jpg

    I use the chequers / draughts from a travel games set (red and black, clip together into a stack) as wound, buff and flee markers. Lizardmen specific examples of these might be popular. (Bob knows a lot about fleeing).

    Anyhoo, see what you can make of these ideas. I am wary of being too jokey and alienating the more cold blooded among us, but I think that the Bob stuff or similar, being heavily stylised, probably works well for such a tiny image.

    If you think any of these concepts have some merit I can scale up and clean up any you like.

    (I'm still keen to see your ideas)
     
  7. n810
    Slann

    n810 First Spawning

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    Mayan Numbers
    glyph.jpg
     
  8. T`hinker`er
    Salamander

    T`hinker`er Active Member

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    I did actually sketch a "misfire" icon a couple months ago (it was a salamander licking its lips) but I wasn't entirely satisfied with it, and didn't have the time to keep refining it due to "real life" commitments, etc. Sorry! :oops: I could scan and post it if you are still interested.

    But I have to say that I really like these by our resident cartoonist spawning of Bob:

    dice1s.jpg

    The misfire icon on the bottom center is the best by far (IMO). I also like the spikes flying at the skinks on either side of the bottom row, (although the "3" on the lower left should be changed to a 2, since the artillery die has no 3 on it).

    The problem is when you get into the "6", "8" and "10" the amount of spikes is too great. But we should mix in some flame icons anyway to account for the Salamander. The twisted skink bodies are a good idea for this, but they are a little too abstract. My idea was going to be either a longish cone of flame with the number at the wide end (think: human torch in the fantastic four), a medium cone of flame with the number "6" worked into it and then the number "10" would revert back to the spikes again, since this would be a better razordon result...but we need to keep the concept simple and consistent...

    I should end by saying that I would gladly pay $6 for a single dice if we can nail down all the die faces to something really cool and characterful. I'm sure a few dozen on here would agree with that too. IMO, Spawning is about half way there right now - kudos! Feel free to run with this further. I'm a bit stumped. Excellent first effort!
     
  9. Qupakoco
    Skink Chief

    Qupakoco Keeper of the Dice Staff Member

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    Agreed! Not bad, Bob. I must say that your Salamander drawing is pretty good (and hilarious). Think you could make one of those licking his lips? And without the... eh... chocolate starfish. :rolleyes:

    I also like that bottom center misfire icon. The Skink might have to lose some details like the pupils, but it's pretty good.
     
  10. spawning of Bob
    Skar-Veteran

    spawning of Bob Well-Known Member

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    Bob says "Hi".
    Joe says "Aaaargh!!!"

    Have been dialling the whimsy down, and thinking about what the archaeologists might find carved into the wall of a temple city (if they start digging in the right place).

    Started with glyph-y depictions of everyone's favourite war beasts (in line and silhouette)

    glyphline.jpg

    glyphdark.png

    and then went to town.

    glyphlinedone.jpg

    glyphdarkdone.jpg

    Bob is far from happy with the flames, especially the second 8. I was aiming to show the flames licking around the inside of the box. It doesn't even look like Sparky eating an octopus anymore (which is where the concept art seemed to be heading).

    Wife of Bob thinks it is too tricky to count up all of the elements, but Bob himself sees 2 groups of 5 (for example). However, Wife of Bob is always correct. Or else Bob suffers. In miriad subtle ways. You might think it is tough being Joe. Try being Bob for a while.

    The blank glyphs / skink toilet graffiti are deliberately included above. If you can insert better flames (or human torch numerals) please do. Improving on the Glyph monsters will be easy if you abandon all realism. Bob has an advantage over you there!

    As for the misfires: I include an enhanced one, with added scatter and reduced whimsy; and another which goes with the glyph concept. This is the first thing I have ever drawn which makes me feel sad.

    misfire2.jpg



    Your critique / improvements are welcome.
     
  11. spawning of Bob
    Skar-Veteran

    spawning of Bob Well-Known Member

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    Last misfire concept

    scan0008c.jpg
     
  12. Arli
    Skink Priest

    Arli Moderator Staff Member

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    I see what you are going for and it is a good idea. I still think the middle one with the teeth is the way to go.
     
  13. Old Mossy
    Bastiladon

    Old Mossy Active Member

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    haha brilliant! Bob, I love them. For the misfire, my favourites are the 3 running lizards, or any of the first 3 :D
    I would love to buy a set of these.
     
  14. T`hinker`er
    Salamander

    T`hinker`er Active Member

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    Agree with wife of Bob that counting up the flames/spikes is a bit dodgy, especially considering the size of the die face. As for misfire, I still like the running skink as seen from within the Salamander mouth the best by far.

    I have some art but no time today to upload - I have to jump in my car and get to a meeting and will be gone the rest of the day. Hopefully I can scan something tomorrow - but certainly by the end of the week. Excited to see this project being resurrected :)
     
  15. n810
    Slann

    n810 First Spawning

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    This is what I came up with so far.... (Using Mayan Numbers)
    Dice-1A.jpg
     
  16. Rettile
    Ripperdactil

    Rettile Active Member

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    mayan numbers are nice for our army, but try to explain to an opponent that the two lines mean "10" and not "2" :D
     
  17. Old Mossy
    Bastiladon

    Old Mossy Active Member

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    I agree with Bob, I don't think the dice would be too small to make out the symbols. Tallying the images quickly would only be an issue for the first few games, and I don't think it would be too bad anyway IMO.

    Anyhoooo, any new ideas for the flames, Bob? Maybe with a flame that ends in one point?
     
  18. lbisson
    Cold One

    lbisson New Member

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    HI All,
    I would love to get a set of these as well. My favorite misfire is the 3 running skinks so far! Great stuff!
     
  19. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    I think I'd want to mix and match parts of Bob's sketches. I'd take the non-stick figure version of the Skink at the center bottom and pair with the burning Skink on the center top of the rounded teeth view of the top right. Maybe add some more curves and less uniformity to the fangs. I also think the Skink should either be facing forward or have only one eye visible. Two on the side of the head is a little off putting in my humble opinion.
     
  20. spawning of Bob
    Skar-Veteran

    spawning of Bob Well-Known Member

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    adoniz.jpg

    Sometimes Spawning of Bob is not the optimal choice....

    How about everyone with a custom artillery dice concept throws it out there.

    If you can picture it, but can't draw it, Bob would enjoy having a crack at roughing out your ideas (if they are within his (limited) ability to draw)

    After Easter, we can poll a few dichotomous questions to narrow down the designs, eg:

    1. Silly or serious ?
    2. Geometric or Organic ?
    3. Using regular numerals or symbols ?
    4. Should some Skaven get hurt or should we hurt some Skaven ?

    Once we narrow it down, somebody (? Qupakoco) can tell us all what the specs need to be for the final images, and somebody (not necessarily someBoby) can do 2 or 3 final drafts for selection.
     

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