Cancon Sessions: What they all mean.

Here's a run down on all the sessions I will be running at Cancon, along with what they are all about, and some pics of the projects. You can still book into sessions here. Some spaces will be available on the day, but as you can appreciate, I cannot bring all the materials from Melbourne to run ten people through each session, so extra spaces are going to be limited, unless you bring the materials with you.

All the way from Ishoo Nin, please welcome: the bunker!

CONCRETE BUNKERS (for hippos)

Saturday, January 24^th, 10:00apm-1:00pm

Skill Level: Knows which end of the knife is the hurty end

2-3 hours

$15/ticket in advance, $20.00 on the day

10 seats

Join notorious terrain crusader and hippo enthusiast Owen Top of Terrain For Hippos and Terrain Crusade fame to learn how to build a concrete bunker with removable roof and detailed interior.

Students are required to bring a craft knife, foamcore sheet (about A4 size) and any interesting detail-y miniature bits they want to use as control panels in the interior. Owen will provide hot glue guns, steel rulers, and paints.

Space Orks are the greatest of slum hut builders.

RAMSHACKLE SLUM HUTS (for hippos)

Saturday, January 24^th, 2:00pm-5:00pm

2-3 hours

Skill Level: Knows which end of the knife is the hurty end

$15/ticket in advance, $20.00 on the day

10 seats

Join notorious terrain crusader and hippo enthusiast Owen Top of Terrain For Hippos and Terrain Crusade fame to learn how to build ramshackle scrap metal slum huts, as used by 40K Orks and slum dwellers everywhere!

Students are required to bring a craft knife, foamcore sheet (about A4 size), scrap cardboard and any interesting detail-y miniature/toy bits they want to use to detail their building. Owen will provide hot glue guns, steel rulers, corrugated cardboard sheeting, more scrap cardboard, detail parts and paints.

Most ubiquitous of buildings, the peasant's cottage.

MEDIEVAL STYLE COTTAGES (for hippos)

Sunday, January 25^th, 10:00am-1:00pm

2-3 hours

Skill Level: Knows which end of the knife is the hurty end, can spell ‘medieval’ five times out of ten.

$15/ticket in advance, $20.00 on the day

10 seats

Join notorious terrain crusader and hippo enthusiast Owen Top of Terrain For Hippos and Terrain Crusade fame to learn how to build medieval style timber-framed cottages, so beloved of European peasants and those fine upstanding citizens of the Empire in Warhammer.

Students are required to bring a craft knife, powerful scissors, foamcore sheet (about A4 size), and an old towel (or about 20cmX20cm of an old towel). Owen will provide hot glue guns, steel rulers, balsa, and paints.
NOTE: This project has a long drytime – we will not get to paint the thatch during this session.

Ah, topiary. How can I have never done an Ishoo on this?

THE GENTLE ART OF TOPIARY (for hippos)

Sunday, January 25^th, 2:00pm-3:00pm

1 hour

Skill Level: Knows which end of the knife is the hurty end, can expain what ‘topiary’ means.

$15/ticket in advance, $20.00 on the day

10 seats

Join notorious terrain crusader and hippo enthusiast Owen Top of Terrain For Hippos and Terrain Crusade fame to learn how to turn anything into a small, carefully sculpted bush in mere moments!

Students are required to bring a craft knife, and plastic toy animals or miniatures to turn into topiary. Owen will provide hot glue guns, steel rulers, flock and paints.

CREEPY TREES (for hippos)

Sunday, January 25^th, 3:30pm-4:30pm

1 hour

Skill Level: Knows which end of the knife is the hurty end.

$15/ticket in advance, $20.00 on the day

10 seats

Join notorious terrain crusader and hippo enthusiast Owen Top of Terrain For Hippos and Terrain Crusade fame to learn how to make haunted creepy trees of sheer horror and mighty creepiness!

Students are required to bring a craft knife. Owen will provide polystyrene, modelling clay, branches and clump‚ foliage.

How can I have never done an ishoo on these either?

Fantasy Watchtowers (for hippos)

Monday, January 26^th, 10:00pm-1:00pm

2-3 hours

Skill Level: Knows which end of the knife is the hurty end, can eat Pringles with the best of them.

$15/ticket in advance, $20.00 on the day

10 seats

Join notorious terrain crusader and hippo enthusiast Owen Top of Terrain For Hippos and Terrain Crusade fame to learn how to build a fantasy watchtower from a cardboard tube.
Students are required to bring a craft knife and a large cardboard tube (such as a Pringles tube). Owen will provide hot glue guns, steel rulers, and paints.

It's the world's leading producer of steaming punks.

Steampunk Factories (for hippos)

Monday, January 26^th, 2:00pm-5:00pm

2-3 hours

Skill Level: Knows which end of the knife is the hurty end.

$15/ticket in advance, $20.00 on the day

10 seats

Join notorious terrain crusader and hippo enthusiast Owen Top of Terrain For Hippos and Terrain Crusade fame to learn how to build a small steampunk factory complete with smoke stacks and more rivets than you can reliably shake a stick at.
Students are required to bring a craft knife, an A4 sized sheet of foam core, and a small cardboard tube (such as a toilet or paper towel roll). Owen will provide hot glue guns, steel rulers, more rivets than you can reliably shake a stick at and paints.

Pretty Pictures: The Battle of Coal Creek

It's been a long time since I posted any terrain related content to TFH. There's a very good reason for that - I've been very busy on a secret project which did not lend itself to the TFH Ishoo format. But it can now be unveiled - The Battle of Coal Creek.
This is a 600mm square board, modelled up to replicate an area of Coal Creek Historic Park and Musseum in Korumburra, just down the road from where I live. On Saturday, it'll be used at GeekFest 2015 for participation games using the Fanticide rule set. I've condensed the actual terrain features down a bit - the courthouse and general store are a lot further apart in real life, but to get all the things I wanted onto the board, I had to shrink a few bits and pieces.
First, some reference pictures (I took a lot more than this, but most of them were just pics of details I ended up simplifying out)

The courthouse at Coal Creek

The front of the bank - the back of the building is the Paymaster's Office for the mine.

The General store. I couldn't find anythign near that font, so I decided on a different set of signs - the place has obviously been repainted since the time of the battle.

Taken from just in front of the general store, this gives you an idea of how much I've condensed things. And how I've ignored the tree. I should just point out that, Like Sovereign Hill in Ballarat, Coal Creek is roughly where the mine was, but most of the buildings were not originally there. Most of them have been brought from elsewhere and set up in the park, so actually, the place is nothing like Korumburra during the early coal mining days.

Now on to actual construction photos!

Initial styrofoam board construction on top of a sheet of MDF. It's not solid - only areas which needed to be carved are foam.

The foam is carved into roughly the right shape. Sandpaper was then used to smooth things, and some modelling clay was also used to fill a few gaps.

The foam, with wheel ruts added.

All work is inspected by a professional Bavarian hippo.

Building shells and fences mocked up in place with some figures for scale.

General overview of the whole board.

Another overview, although from a different angle.What will they think of next?

Yet another overview shot.

And still more overview shots.

The bottom of the slope and the back of the bank.

A rioting miner, seen here with his stolen loot slung over his shoulder as he leaves the Paymaster's Office.

A pair of unsavoury characters outside the general store.

It's not easy to spot, but there is an interior in the store. Well, a backdrop photography anyway.

A pair of stalwart constables guard the all important wanted posters.

The front of the bank, with guards. It's news to me Australiasia is a nation...

The front of the courthouse has been simplified to save time and sanity.

Side wall of the bank, with advertising posters.

The general store from another angle, with menacing thug leaning on sign pointing completely the wrong direction (Loch is actually the other way!)

The courthouse.

Surprising many, the courthouse also has a back view

The Battle of Heffengen: For Hippos

The mighty 40,000 point per side Battle of Heffengen was fought and won yesterday. And while you wait for Greg the Hoodling to write the report, here is a re-enactment performed by hippos.

And that took eleven hours.