IFF Podcast: XXI

The latest Pod cast with the new Wave announcement for Star Wars Armada.

Episode-xxi-hold-the-door

Victory Star Destroyer: Replacement Parts

Since I know sooner or later my Antenna's and Probes will break off. I thought I would create a few replacements pieces for when the time comes that they do break. I included three plugs for horizontal probe if you don't want to deal with them breaking off any more. The Probes and the plugs should be a tight fit and may not need glue to keep it in place.

The Antenna's will require gluing. I attempted to remove mine to see how the part fitting into the ship. Needless to say, I quit messing with it because it didn't want to budge and I was damaging the top portion of the antenna.

Since I have seen ship lists with 3 Victory Star Destroyers I thought it would be best to offer a set of 3 replacement parts on one sprue.

Good News! Card Protectors & Standard Ship Control Panels

So this afternoon I drove out to Fantasy's Flights Game Center and picked up all the FFG's Card Protectors for the game.
I can now report that the Standard Ship Control Panel Can Handle FFG's Card Protectors. The Alternative Art Ship Panel should be able to do it as well. Since I used the same card surface area when I designed it.

The Fighter Control Panels on other hand are to small to currently handle them with the protectors.

So my future plans in the next few days is to make adjustments to all of these control panels to be able to accept card protectors. I am also going to bump up the thickness of these panels by another .5 mm - 1mm to strengthen them and allow the card to seat into this space better. Due to the added thickness of the card protector.

I may also cut out a small hole in this area to allow a person to tap/push a card out of this space for easier removal. Plus this will help cut the printing cost down.

Few more Pictures of the Space Station

 

 

Space Station: WIP

Added in more detail tonight. This model is currently sitting around 33,000 polys. Here is a quick picture of what is in place so far. I will take close up shots tomorrow so you can see what features it has.

Ship Control Panel: Pictures

More pictures of the two actual designs.

Ship Control Panels Arrived!

 

Here is a quick snap shot of both the Control Panels, printed in Purple. 

 

Over all I am extremely happy I got my measurements correctly and didn't loose them in the up-loading process. The Fighter Control panel is bang on. There is NO room available to possibly use a card protector with that control panel. The Defense Tokens fit just fine, they are secure and not so tight it causes issues with flipping them around. The finger opening is just the right size to make doing so easy. The Storm Trooper helmet stands out and adds a nice touch.

 

The Ship Control Panel is bang on as well. The Speed Dial region is deep enough and the right size so the dial rests easily in this spot. The Command Dials fit in the groove securely but not so tight to become a problem. Defense Tokens and Ship ID number are the same way as well. The Ship Card area, I built in an extra 1mm on all edges so the card does shift around a bit. However; I did this hoping it would be enough to allow the use of card protectors. I have yet to test that out yet!

 

 

The only down side is the fact these are thin. Max thickness in certain parts is only 3mm, like around the Defense Tokens, Ship ID, Command and Speed Dial's. The card area the lip around it is 2mm with about 1.5mm thickness. Over all these are very bendy because of it. They do hold their shape and lay flat but like everything else done in plastic if you bend them to much they will most certainly break. If you want to know how bendy they are put 4 ship cards on top of each other, now flex them a little.

 

The quickest fix is to increase the thickness by another 1mm which will bump up the price of these by close to $2 plus dollars, if not more. Or glue a card board like backing to them, something like card stock may work. Its not the actual card stock that will give it the rigidity but the glues used to do it will. 

Space Station: WIP

I asked for feed back from the FFG Star Wars Community for input on what changes they would like to see on this new model. The feed back has been wonderful and I have already started to make more changes and increase the level of detail. Still have more I want to do. Once you start putting in more detail you quickly realize how much of a difference it makes.

Melminiatures even shared his input which truly surprised me. I've seen his work on Shapeways before and he does solid work. Was very nice of him to share his experiences as well. Please check out his work on Shapeways!

space station objective

It is beyond late for me, I will post a render of this space station tomorrow.

Link: http://shpws.me/MaVt

This space station is meant to replace the card board objective that comes with the game. The base of this station should mirror the dimensions of its card board counter part ×/- 1mm.

I may offer this in PLA since it appears to be more cost effective. I am not sure if some of the details will stand out as well in this material.

Damage Deck Card Holder: Battle of Endor

 

Never get a wookie angry. Rebel version of the Damage Deck Card Holder up-loaded.

 

Link:http://shpws.me/MaMi

Damage Deck Card Holder: Battle of Endor

Just got the Damage Deck card holder up-loaded this evening. This one is Imperial with a Battle of Endor theme to it.
I also designed a lid that also functions as a base for the holder when in use. This card holder is designed with card protectors in mind. It is also capable of holding the cards with out them to. I may look at doing a Rebel version tomorrow before some wookie comes along and rips my arms off.

The real thing looks much better than this grey render.
Link: http://shpws.me/MaDW

Order placed.

Placed my order for a Ship Control Panel and an Imperial Fighter Control panel.
Now it is just the waiting game to see how functional they are when they arrive.
count on seeing more pictures of the actual printed product after it arrives.

May the 4th be with you.

If you haven't noticed by now. I have been working on some stuff for Star Wars Armada. Most of the items are just accessory peices for the game. I have been kicking around these Control Panels for awhile now. I asked a few of my gaming friends what they thought of the concept back in February and they seemed to like idea of it. They have yet to see the new design of it, since it no longer looks like its original concept.

Everything posted today is currently in Alpha testing at Shapeways. I took measurements of all the tokens, dials, and cards. So everything should fit correctly. All of these are available to purchase but I have them all currently listed in Alpha testing. Once I print out a few and play a few games with them, then I will take them out of Alpha.

I have a few more ideas I need to concept out that could be useful for Armada players.

Until then, I need to place an order and bring them at to the Fantasy Flight Game Center and get a few games in. See what the player base thinks of them and what things they would change.

Imperial Alternative Art: Ship Control Panel

Here is the Rendered shot of how the Imperial Alternative Art Control Panel will look like. This still holds the same features as the Standard Card Ship Control Panel. However; this one does feature a small tray under the Ship ID # and just to the right of the Speed Dial. This can be used for your Command Tokens if you do not want to place them in those vertical slots.
*Note: This control panel was not designed with card protectors in mind*

Again due to the size of this Control Panel, I can only over this in Black or White.

In the near Future I will do one with an Rebel icon and one with out.

Standard Card Ship Control Panel

Here is a Rendered shot of my standard card ship control panel. This panel will hold your Speed Dial, Command Dials, Standard Ship Card, Ship ID #, 4 Defense Tokens and 3 Command Tokens in the vertical slots between the defense tokens. This panel is available in many colors on Shapeways.
*Note: This control panel was not designed with card protectors in mind*

My 1st attempt at creating this sort of panel was simply just to big which meant a big price tag to print. It had a lot of the same features found in this one with exception to the ability to nest up to 4 up-grade cars into the base to help keep them from moving around to much. But it was an $35 plus print so I dropped the design for this more compact lay out.

The 4 Defense Token spots have an opening on the left side to help flip those tokens when used. These tokens will ultimately rest on top of your standard ship card. There is also a small amount of over lap, roughly 1mm, to help keep your card in place.

The Ship ID # Token also features an finger groove at the top to help remove those ID numbers. If this spot is not in use, it should be big enough to hold 1 command token.

Important: For those players that have Alternative art Ship Cards. You still can use this control panel with these cards. Because they are displayed landscape style you will of coarse have to turn this on its side to use. In doing so, the Ship ID # area is going to seem out of place because it would be on its side. If you can't live with this option, I do have an Alternative Card Ship Control Panel already designed. The down side is the Alternative Control Panel is to big to offer it in all the colors so your options are either Black or White.

Imperial Fighter: Control Panel

This is a Mock up of what the Imperial Fighter Control Panel will look like for Star Wars Armada. I have it available in multiple colors on Shapeways. This panel features a place for your Ship card and 2 Defense Tokens.
*Note: This control panel was not designed with card protectors in mind*

Imperial Fighter: Control Panel

This is a rendered shot of how the Imperial Fighter Control Panels will look. This panel features a place for 2 Ship Cards and has an trooper helmet sandwiched between the two panels. This panel is available in several colors on Shapeways.

*Note: This control panel was not designed with card protectors in mind*

Rebel Fighter: Control Panel

 

Here is another rendered shot of how the Rebel Fighter Control Panel will look. This panel features a place for your Ship Card and 2 Defense Tokens. This panel is available in several colors but I must say the red really seems to pop out at you.

*Note: This control panel was not designed with card protectors in mind*

Bounty Hunter: Control Panel

Here is a Mock up of what the Bounty Hunter Ship Control Panel will look like for Star Wars Armada. I have it available in multiple colors on Shapeways. This panel features a place for your Ship card and 2 Defense Tokens.
*Note: This control panel was not designed with card protectors in mind*

Star Wars Armada: Hero Control Fighter Panels

Just a few idea's on how to better organize my fighters for armada. I thought I would jazz these two up a bit with some personalized icons. I still have a few more ideas to do a few more.

Star Wars Armada: Ship Control Panel

In an effort to cut down some of the printing cost. I redesigned the Control Panel to make it more compact and more cost effective. This control panel will help organize 4 Defense Tokens, 1 Ship ID #, 3 Command Tokens, Command Dials and a Speed Dial.