A Tale of Two Bossk’s: Cleethorpes Geekabilia 2017

Back in April, I managed to get myself and most of the kids to Cleethorpes in North Lincolnshire (otherwise known as “Cleggy” to us here), not just for a week away with the family, but to attend a small Con they were holding there. I thought I’d share some pics of the event and some thoughts about it!

Now, me and the kids love any kind of attendable Con, so we were quite happy that while we were there enjoying the time away, we’d also get the chance to get to visit the event. Now, amongst the attending guests, I’d heard that Allan Harris, the actor who’d  played the bounty hunter Bossk in Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, was attending, so being that Bossk was always one of my fave character in Star Wars, it was an opportunity to maybe grab a selfie with the guy to add to my Bossk selfie collection!

He’s da Bossk!! My mate Bossk. My collection of Bossk Selfies caught so far!

Having arrived we caught a few selfies with the Cosplayers with the kids (and Bossk, who I’m pretty sure is the same guy from before) as the kids really love getting some photos with the various characters in costume!

 

As you can see in the above pic of the girls with Harley Quinn, the guy in the top left-hand side of the photo is Alan Harris. unfortunately, my plans for a selfie with him were scuppered when I found out that grabbing a selfie was going to cost me £5! I’m far too tight for that I’m afraid (having three kids with you intent on emptying your wallet does that for you!) Look, I know the guy has to make a living doing these gigs, but what really put me off was that he was so goddam miserable! It even put me off having a chat to him.

On the plus side, whilst outside, I did spot him having a crafty ciggie which gave me the chance to grab this excellent photo. The pic speaks a thousand words!

Q: Which one is the real Bossk? A: The one having a crafty fag outside!!

Anyway, I’m not going to lie, it was a good day out, we had a laugh, the kids enjoyed it and we got chance to stick some pics in the family album (and you also got to see my Blue hair Mk2, which is now Mk4 by the way!) Not the best of Cons (It was pretty small) but a good effort none the less. Plus, I did come out with a pretty sweet haul of Tees (Punisher & Walking Dead) so I’d say it was worth going!

I’ll be attending Sheffield Comic Con in a few months time, so I’ll take some pics there to hopefully share with you lot, so if you see me there, don’t be shy and come and have a chat with this blue-haired bastard!

Grim’s Dungeons of Doom: Realm of the Dead; Metal railed walls.

This time in the realm of the dead themed terrain set, we are going to tackle some simple metal railed walls, using an easy to find and mostly free material, packaging foam.

Sorry about the delay in the latest installment of Grim’s Dungeons of Doom, I must say that I have been taken up with some side projects, so I do apologise!

This is quite an easy make, nothing too taxing for these, but the end result is quite pleasing.

So, you’ll need some packaging foam, cocktail sticks and a few other things, so lets get started…

Grim’s Dungeons of Doom: Modular Scooby-Doo-esque wooden stairs…

Well, I hope that the new year is treating you all well, and that you enjoyed your festivities. I’m back with another Grim’s Dungeons of Doom article/tutorial this time dealing with some rickety old wooden stairs to connect your upper levels and platform risers to the rest of your other components we’ve already dealt with.

Grim’s Dungeons of Doom: The tables are turned (or constructed…)

Now I’m back off my recent holiday, I wanted to get back into the further adventures of fleshing out my dungeon creation. Since my last related post was the Free Books PDF, I wanted to show you how to make stuff that you can display your newly constructed pieces upon.

This project is easy-peasy, really simple and will get you loads of nice tables for your dungeons, RPGs and Wargaming. This is just one simple way out of many. Remember we are just creating a flat top with four legs, I’m just putting the creation of tables here, because its for completists sake (Plus there would be those out there who ask me to give a run through, so here they are.)

For this, you’ll need some lolly sticks, cardstock, glue (PVA, Superglue) and something to form the legs (we’ll get to those in a bit)

First,cut your lollysticks to form your tabletops. I used 3 lengths here,but you can use two. It depends on just how big you need the tables. You don’t need to measure, I do this by eye, but if you prefer measure them if you like (if they are uneven you can trim them after the next bit.)

Cut a piece of cardstock and white glue it on to join the slats.It should be smaller than the width, but still wide enough to glue all the slats. You can join the pieces side on, but this way is quicker and makes the tops sturdier (Plus, you wont see the underside anyway) You can trim them up when the glue has set.

For the legs, I’m using skull beads that I got for a couple of pounds from over on ebay. Stick on the legs with strong glue (superglue I used here)

Since the height wasn’t sufficient enough, I added some little glass squares I had, taken from a christmas bauble that was destined for the bin, although its up to you what use as risers or legs for that manner,use what you have (matchsticks, dowel, cigarette filters, junk etc) Since theres not much to the tables, adding character to the legs is a good move.

Now, stick them down with superglue or any strong glue to the base (cardstock) and leave to dry.

Next, Spray/paint them with a black undercoat (or your preferred method) and leave to dry.

Base coat with a dark brown (mine was Burnt Umber) or your choice, and slowly build up your desired wood colour to lighter shades.

When the basic table is finished, paint in the base to match your set up.

Now its time to add your decorations. I added my patented homemade mini candles since I’d imagine if there were something being used on them, they’d need light to see! Then just add your books, scrolls or maps to your hearts content! After this, they are ready to go. I made a few tables, and from the PDF I got quite a few variations as you can see below.

The table above is straight out of Fighting Fantasy! A dungeon map and a map of the FF gameworld Allansia. A few scrolls and maps and books and its all ready for any dungeoneers to come across it on their adventures!

This arcane table has magic books and tarot. I think Mr Crowley would approve!

See, easy as pie. You can add all sorts of bits and pieces in addition to the books from the PDF, Skull beads can be used, as can weapons or anything you like. Its an easy and quick project that can give a great end result,so why don’t you give it a go?

I’ll be back next, with more tiny furniture, and more to stick your PDF books on, so I’ll see you then!

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Grim’s Dungeons of Doom: Books, Scrolls & Maps Vol 1, Free PDF Download!

 

Ok people! I thought long and hard about a decent way to tackle some material in this article series, and rather than the usual, I’ve opted for this.

So, what is it? Well, I wanted to share with you how I made my books, scrolls and other small 28mm accessories for my mini dungeon, and since I had it already half made for myself, I thought I’d finish it as a PDF publication and give it away free for all on Wargames Vault. Yup, that’s right, Free free free!

I’m quite proud of it to be honest, each method for constructing the parts of this paper kit are fully explained with pictures, and with this ebook you’ll be able to reproduce hundreds, if not thousands of tiny books and stuff for your games and models. See, I’m that generous!

I’ll be posting a link on the side of the menu later to direct everyone who wants a copy, but for now I’ll be available here: Grim’s Dungeons of Doom: Books, Scrolls & Maps Vol 1 Paperkit direct from Wargames Vault.

If your not a member of the site, go and sign up and get hold of your copy. It costs nothing to join and the PDF is totally free, so what are you waiting for!?

I’ll be back later to show you how to construct some furniture to place your new 28mm books on.

As ever, likes, comments etc are much appreciated (I’d love to see what you all think of the kit, if it’s popular I’d be tempted to make some more….)

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