I have an Apocalypse game coming. It's the culmination of the map based campaign I ran at our local gaming store (R.I.P.) last year. Not having a common venue has been detrimental on getting the original players back together for the last few turns and the endgame. I decided to advance things a bit and go ahead and narrate it a little so that we (perhaps just I) can have some closure on it. I even wrote a little fiction to that end. I am thinking of starting a 2nd campaign, but instead have it narrative rather than map-based. Before I can do this though, I need to have the first one out of my hair.
In this final gambit, there is going to be a defense laser involved. I've always wanted to build one, and this was the 'oomph' to get it done. So despite being distracted by WarGames con photos (I found ProdigalSon's army there!) I managed to get the main gun bashed out. Above is the beginning stage. I wanted a rounded turret something similar to the USS Monitor and had originally planned to carve out 3" worth of the pink foam. Forgetting that it was 1/2" thick and not 1" I soon became dismayed. I don't freehand cut circles very well, and end up with those rough edges and now I was looking at twice as much 
work. I had planned on sanding the edges down smooth once I had them glued together but my foam supply wasn't going to go the distance (not to mention my fingers from all that cutting). I thought for a moment and came up with an alternate plan that would solve the smoothness and supply issue. I wound up using card stock to make the outer edge laid over a skeletal framework as seen here. This doubly serves the purpose of making the turret lighter, because I had every intention of making it swivel. I mean, what good is a defense laser if you can't shoot behind you!
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work. I had planned on sanding the edges down smooth once I had them glued together but my foam supply wasn't going to go the distance (not to mention my fingers from all that cutting). I thought for a moment and came up with an alternate plan that would solve the smoothness and supply issue. I wound up using card stock to make the outer edge laid over a skeletal framework as seen here. This doubly serves the purpose of making the turret lighter, because I had every intention of making it swivel. I mean, what good is a defense laser if you can't shoot behind you! I am finding great success with the tops of containers. Even my swivel mount will be using the top of a shave gel can. I've cut a hole in the bottom of the turret, and will attatch the plastic top to the building and presto. It's large enough to keep the turret from toppling over, yet the 
smooth plastic will allow it to slide. I haven't fully attatched the gun yet, since I'm trying to figure out how to make it able to go up and down with enough friction to keep it in whichever position it's placed in. I considered a counterweight, but I'd have to have a lot of weight in the end of it in order to make it work. I want to be able to carry the terrain for goodness sakes!!
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Well that's all for now, I'll be posting more as it comes along.
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Oh and a special shout out to all my new followers! Thank you for visiting!
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