Hexmap Reminiscences

Nostalgia, in small doses, is a delightful pastime.

And to paraphrase Fallen London, in larger doses it proves one of the very worst ways to die. To finish out the month I have decided to look at my pre-digital mapmaking efforts. Originally my intent was to write a longer philosophical post on the nature of digital versus physical gaming and how Comp/CON represents an existential threat to civilization as we know it, but my thoughts refused to coalesce into something of postable lucidity. These maps are not my earliest, not by a long shot, but they are the earliest I can find.

With all that said, let us begin. The above map is faded both due to being used as the cover for my tabletop binder and because it is in reality two maps. The sketched map is laid across a printed hexgrid, this being in the years before I discovered DrawHexGrid when I had to print out grids found through searching. The game this map covered was a short-lived attempt at remotely running my native Pathfinder 1e during the early days of the Pandemic, notable only for how quickly my players and I became distracted. It was an uncertain time, to be sure. Eventually I ran Curse of Strahd in 5e over Winter 2020 to avoid having to prepare an entire game from scratch.

At first, I thought this map was one from a pre-pandemic game about Sky Islands, but in reality I believe it dates to around Summer 2021. The specific way the biome colours change indicates that I was trying to follow a tutorial about how to delineate climate zones on a map, and that this was a test case. I do not believe it ever saw use in a game.

This map was used as background for an Autumn 2021 airship-focused one-shot descended from the aforementioned sky islands game. The players were tasked with taking a mysterious package West across a mountain range, through the vaguely Great War battlefields of the map, and to the central castle which resembled Mont Saint Michel in France. This game was notable for the theming effort I undertook, having shifting location-appropriate images on wall displays, a fully integrated soundtrack, and a homemade Maconochie stew replica served at the halfway point. It was fairly linear, but judging from the reception it got, still well received.

Here is a map with an early appearance of my cloud-tracing technique, used in Autumn 2022 to create another island for an airship one-shot. In this one the players figured out how to navigate from one part of the island to the other around dynamic weather patterns and an often mechanically uncooperative ship. While less spectacular in presentation than the previous adventure, I preferred it for the less guided and more immersive aspects. The map itself has spine-based mountains where I would start with the spine and draw branching slopes outwards from there.

Hexmap, date unknown. This was never used in a game. I remember little about it, save that it was created during a thunderstorm and that I ate a meatball sub sandwich on the same day. It was a good sandwich.

The island in this map was used for a breezy and low-stakes series of adventures in Summer 2023, which could be called a campaign in a loose sort of sense. The lines here are not roads, but rather the monolithic and overgrown ruins of vast canals and fortifications. These adventures marked the first in-game appearance of some ideas which still crop up in my games, like steam-powered longships and pirate parliaments. The outline was traced from a cloud by hand, which is also the case for the next map.

This map is from what I would consider my last completed campaign, run across Spring and Summer 2022. The game itself took place largely in the top right area, but events from other regions did bleed into play over time. The setting of this map also contained two one-shots, a series of connected short adventures, and the introductory scenario for Curse of Strahd. As of writing, it was the last game I ran in 5e before swearing off the system in favour of strange homebrew and older systems.

It has been over a year since I last ran even a one-shot. Playing Pathfinder 2e is nice, but I really should get back into the game master's chair. It is comfier in there, even if one has to work hard to avoid slipping out. These maps help remind me of the joys that can be found in that position.

Rude Turnip Chaff

Not quite done yet, but close enough for my taste.

These are some Turnip28 Chaff. They serve as skirmishing light troops ahead of the more numerous Fodder. Despite this, they are not especially good shots. Their value as a distraction is more to do with how they act, which is rudely.

Painting was largely the same as last time, but with Vallejo Green washed Biel-Tan instead of red for facing colour. I did this in a nod to Napoleonic Riflemen, but I think it required more work in the end than Red to stand out from the blue. The cross straps here are in Zandri dust, and the hair in Mournfang Brown. For all four figures I applied excessive amounts of typhus corrosion, and as a result had to re-glaze the blue jackets, brown pants, and green facing. In the end this came out well enough nonetheless. The figures still need mud applied to their backs and boots, and my intention is to have some hanging vines added to their long-rifles. The rifles are normal Napoleonic guns crossbred with Jezails for length. Their hats are Napoleonic, and the shields are Persian.

This one is my favorite. His fingers were originally sculpted, but those broke off and were replaced by plastic fingers from a GW zombie. I considered several finger gestures, but this one seemed the most appropriate for skirmishers. He is shouting "Hey! Over Here! You Missed Me!" very loudly while waving his hat. His rifle is intended to be leaned against his shield, as seen in the earlier image.

In addition to the mud which will need to be added, I also want to add red dots to the top of his tufts. I did this on the Fodder, but it proved to not show up very well so a brighter red may be needed. Alternatively, I could apply dots of glue to the tips of the tufts and paint those, but that seems like too much effort for the easy-bake Turnip style I work with.

The joke with this figure is that he cannot see what he is shooting at due to his face being bandaged. Only one figure in the entire set is actually shooting at a target instead of goofing off. Turnip comedy modelling is one of my favorite things about the whole game.

Here is that aforementioned bastion of competency. I am tempted to clog the barrel of his rifle with plant matter to have a complete set of incompetents and may well do so. Shredded Gauze painted darkly seems like the best option for a seaweed/vine-type material, so my intent is to use that.

Chaff Three is facepalming. He is intended to be placed next to the first one, in reaction to his shouting and rudeness. The angled nature of his rifle pose means I will have to either base him at an angle or on towards the edge, I lean towards the former. His rifle-strap is also broken, which means that plant matter will need to be shoved there too.

They will all have shields, but each shield is still early in development. My hope is for a wicker-type pattern, but Ushabti Bone is a paint which taunts me by drying slowly and mixing with washes. Given that this is Turnip28 I intend to proceed onwards rather than strip and restart the shields. More layers of paint just means more protection for these sorry Sots after all.

The next Turnip figures I intend to pursue will be Brutes, but for their production I will need to delve into casting with Bluestuff to replicate a very specific component.

Microsoft Edge Will Fund Your Hobby

 Or at least, they used to.

This is not a scam I am running. It may be some sort of complex and impenetrable scheme by Microsoft, but I am not party to their machinations. To put it in basic terms, I am paid the Veruzian equivalent of around £60 or $80 each year to use Microsoft Edge. As long as you are logged in with an account while using it, the browser will tally rewards points on the right. I do nothing except search and read webpages as normal, and it racks up points.

As an aside, I was introduced to Dream Theatre through this blog's title, and as a someone who enjoys earlier Prog like Jethro Tull, they are a welcome discovery.

To redeem your Microsoft company scrip, all you have to do is click the rewards symbol that appears when searching and navigate to the shop tab. I have only redeemed for Amazon in the past, but the points can be spent somewhat more efficiently on Sea of Thieves in-game currency or Xbox store points. For that reason, this post is labeled for both Video Games and Wargaming. Amazon's selection of wargames is admittedly somewhat lacking, but they offer enough Perry kits to be worthwhile as a retail site even if leagues behind eBay.

Unfortunately, and in a great tragedy of the age, they seem to have temporarily stopped offering the Amazon redemption option very shortly before I decided to make this post. Since these cards are digitally provided, this seems like a conscious choice rather than one truly of supply. Has Amazon grown weary of this collaboration or is Microsoft satisfied with the number of Edge users? My hope is that they return unblemished, but it seems unlikely. Despite this, the Xbox redemption options remain and are still well worth the while, justifying this post.

Xbox gamerscore can also be converted into these reward points through the Xbox desktop app. You may have a different email associated with your Xbox account than the one you use for browsing Edge, so be sure to check there as well for potentially large sums. In the past I did, which is why the actual value I have redeemed is equal to about double the points listed in the lifetime register in this image.

This process is something I have told many people about, but not a single one has been willing to use Edge as a result. I can hardly blame them. My initial reason for switching to the service was only that other browsers triggered arcane instabilities in a browser-based application I was trying to use, but have long since forgotten. It is not an especially impressive browser, but free miniature money is free miniature money.

Foxhole Airborne Experiences

 It has not been my intention to cluster posts at the end of each month, but it nonetheless happens.

Foxhole is not exactly a wargame, but I apply the label regardless. It certainly has a reputation for sucking the life and free time from an individual, but this month I found the time to play for only an hour or two every few days. Miniatures remain the apex predator of leisure in my life, and I would have it no other way. This most recent rash of gameplay stems from the airborne update, which somehow managed to introduce planes into a top-down game.

But first, a quick overview. Here I am, a proud Warden as always, setting off in the early days of the war from Endless Shore. Foxhole has been in my library since 2021, but until now I have almost always played for brief periods as an infantryman before moving on. In all these years I have only racked up 123 hours in the game, which is absolutely pitiful compared to more invested players. The simple nature of the footslogging appealed to me above other roles. It was easy to jump into, let me dig some trenches when I felt the hole-digging urge, and occasionally rewarded me with amusing voice chat interactions. Being told that you are "a real one" for volunteering to load artillery shells is quite heartwarming.

This time, we quickly lost our hold of the Endless Shore region and were pushed up to Stlican Shelf, also known as "The Shitcan". The remainder of my war would be spent on that windswept hunk of ice and spite, save for the very end. I found that our forces were continually pressured and bled for supplies. Something had to be done.

The update had included a type of light freighter which I used to begin teaching myself the ways of the Logiman. In Foxhole, first you get the crates, then you fill the stockpiles, then you get the commends. My efforts were not any sort of lynchpin in the defense, but Foxhole is not that type of game to begin with anyway. Several reviews I have seen criticize it for the inability to produce a battleship or turn the tide of war by oneself, which I feel rather misses the point of the experience. But willingly becoming a nearly worthless cog in a vast and practically incomprehensible machine is an experience not exactly suited to every person.

The changing of the seasons brought no relief to Stlican, only mud.

I delivered shells to the front and was conscripted to help man the guns. This position lasted for days before the Colonial enemy overran it.

There was a brief holiday to visit the Great Crane Wall, which was made in protest to a jury-rigged hotfix released by the developers. The update as a whole has seen much controversy, but as a casual player I can comment little except that the whinging is extensive, justified or not.

Famed YouTubist I Saw a Bear was sighted briefly. It was odd to see him, as most multiplayer games I play lack this sort of figure.

Manufacturing somewhat eluded me, but I managed to lean both how to harvest resources and transport finished goods around the map. Much of it comes down to etiquette. Certain containers are not to be touched when being used by others. Luckily this lesson was the sort of misunderstanding that ends with an apology and impromptu tutorial rather than a vengeance-oath.

This ship was certainly my largest single contribution to the war effort. Two of the containers I built and mined fully on my own, while the other three were already on the dock waiting for transport. If my calculations are correct this single shipment could produce around fifteen light tanks in optimal conditions. It is unclear to me where exactly the resources went after my delivery.

An interlude followed, where I was unable to play very much due to travel. Upon my return the month-long stalemate coincidentally broke, and we pushed once again into Endless Shore as the war wrapped up. Kindly players let me tank with them for a time, and it was quite exciting. Overall, I enjoyed this war. My intention is to regularly play for another and then assess if I want to keep going or not. To access more of the game, since there is a notable dearth in certain areas for solo play, I intend to join a regiment. Currently I am looking at SeaScum, since their name reminds me of pirates and they seem to participate a wide variety of gameplay.

Foxhole is quite a game. But could I be forgetting something?

Well, it is called the airborne update, even if my plane performance left much to be desired. Takeoffs are easy, landings not so much. Planes more complex than the Scout are also less accessible to Solo players, so a better idea of their style may be found following regiment play in the next war. Before then I might want to find a mouse with buttons on either side, as the control scheme for planes is difficult to handle otherwise.

Victory for the Wardens! Caovia Stands!