Idea #2 In Search of Cardstock (MR,BG)

Crafting is, for me at least, a relaxing, unwinding activity. Whether making a PnP game, or crafting a station for my layout, or making a retaining wall for a bridge, it is a great way to relax, relieve stress, and enjoy that feeling of accomplishment.

But to be able to craft, you need materials. After all, that house you want isn’t going to come just out of thin air! So, how do you get those materials, and how can you do so cheaply (or even for free)?

When it comes to making board games, or making structures for a model railroad, having good cardstock on hand is helpful. It is one of those basic materials (at least for me) in my crafting supply. You can buy sheets of poster board, or printable cardstock paper to get what you need, but why do that when there are other ways to get the materials you need?

To clarify terminology, when I refer to cardstock (here in the US) I refer to a sheet of cardboard that is solid, and not corrugated. The cardboard that is used on the back of legal pads of paper are a good example. I realize in other parts of the world, especially Europe, you might have different names for such stuff, “Chitboard” being one such term I have heard of.

Now, how does one find such cardstock, and how do you use it? This is the focus of my thoughts here. First, let’s run through some frugal sources of this versatile crafting material:

Cereal Boxes. (And other “food” boxes)

 

 This is my favorite source for crafting material right now. Breakfast is something most always have on hand, especially if you are like me and have a toddler in the house! (Cheerios are to toddlers what Cheese puffs are to adults.) If you are like 97% of those who consume cereal, you just throw out the box (or recycle) when you finish the contents.

But it is better to up-cycle this material. I have found that the cardstock in these boxes to be very usable (the Cheerios boxes get high marks- they are thicker than other boxes, and bigger.) I prefer them for making nice, thinner tiles for games (like Pay Dirt. A review will be coming soonish)

Legal Pad backs.  These tend to be thick- they are great for player boards or extra thick chits or tiles for a game, like I did for Dune Express:

Shirt cardboard: With some dress shirts (or in my case, my work shirts), the shirt comes pinned or clipped to a sheet of thin cardstock. Typically it has a white, glossy finish on one side. I really like to use this for making thick cards, like for the Empire Engine. The smooth white back nicely complements the card’s appearance.

I have also painted the white side of the cardboard, and scribed it to give the look of concrete. I used this technique for the inside of the bridge I am finishing.

 

 

These cardstock materials are handy for model railroad projects. They can be used as bracing for an interior of a scratchbuilt structure (as I did with this house). 

They can also be used to make textured sheets thicker for walls. The bridge scene on my railroad is cereal cardboard with the textured sheet layer on top. It makes it sturdy and thick enough to be believable.

This cardboard is also good for making the cores of many models. I am planning to scratchbuild some passenger cars in the future, and I believe having a cardstock core should be easy enough to do, that I can layer detail on top of it.

Also, with a steady hand and a good knife, cardstock can be carefully scribed to look like wood siding. This is a skill I am working on mastering, but it sure beats buying stripwood or textured wood sheets. With extra care and attention to detail, I could imagine you could carve/cut brick or dressed stone texture into a sheet of cardstock as well with reasonable results.

It very well may be that you may argue that you can’t get great detail from cardboard as a building material, that styrene is the best choice, or better yet, buy your own stripwood. There is merit to this. I would hope that something you buy be a little better than something I scrounged. But, my point is this: In most cases, you can get a very reasonably detailed, good looking building out of cardstock for a fraction of the price. (Or, if you do use those textured sheets, like I do (they were a gift), cardstock is a good brace and add some more body to the sheet. )

If you look at the great layouts of yesteryear (think John Allen, etc.), many of their great buildings were done with cardstock or similar materials, with great result. Granted they did not have the same selection of products as we do now. But what they did do with what they had is inspiring to us making do will up-cycled materials.

So when you finish that box of cereal, don’t throw it out! You next game waiting to be made, or the materials for a great little station could be in your hands.

Fun for One? (A Review of “Occupation of the Rhineland, 1936”)

Solitaire games…. up until recently I viewed them as a necessary evil. Ok, well maybe not evil…. I just thought it took the whole fun away from being a game. Almost like “Solitaire games” was a paradox or something.

After all, for me, while a lot of the fun in a game is the mental challenge, and the building up of your wealth/resources/civilization/business, a significant part of the fun is the playing with actual people, face to face. It is a great way to connect with people, have fun together, unwind, etc.

That said, a solitaire game offers none of that people interaction. All you have left is the mental challenge, which while good, seemed to me that the game was missing something, like a body that has been decapitated. Take away people and you take away a large part of the fun.

However, after actually trying a solitaire game, I have come to a somewhat different (and more positive) conclusion. To be sure, playing a multi-player game is still preferred to a solitaire, but there is a lot of fun in just the mental challenges a good solitaire can pose.It’s not unlike working a puzzle or even, working with models (Something I certainly enjoy).

So, what changed my mind?  A little solitaire, “Occupation of the Rhineland, 1936”. I had gotten a copy from Todd Sanders, who did the artwork for this little game.

OVERVIEW:

Occupation of the Rhineland is a historical simulation game, meaning it attempts to recreate the scene in Europe during the rise of Nazi Germany. Specifically it emulates the international tensions between Germany and the rest of Europe during Germany’s occupation of the Rhineland (one of the major steps that lead to WWII). Of course, if you are familiar with world history at all, that you already figured that just by the title.

You play the French government as it seeks to respond to the sticky situation on your backdoor. Through diplomatic and occasionally military means, you seek to oust Germany from the Rhineland and avert WWII. Talk about a chance to rewrite history! Of course we know how the story goes, but it is fun to speculate how things could have been done differently.

The game is published by Minden Games, in the their “zip edition” line. Basically, the game is rules, a postcard game board, and a postcard of counters to cut out, all in a 6″x 11″ zip bag. You provide the dice, pencil, and paper.

While I am sure cost effectiveness for the company has more to do with the “zip edition”, I really do like that concept when it comes to buying games. It seems more…. sustainable, and frugal.

GAMEPLAY:

This game is primarily dice driven. After choosing what France’s stance towards Germany is (Balanced, Pro-Britain, Pro- League of Nations, or Leverage), you roll your way to victory….sort of. Depending what you choose, there are different outcomes for your rolls. You are trying to gain influence with Britain and the LoN to back your efforts to oust Germany. Your die rolls determine whether they align closer with you, or move farther away, or if Germany decided to strengthen its forces, or if the crisis deepens. While you can make some choices, you really are at the mercy of the dice.

Where you have choice is when you decide to issue an “ultimatum” to Germany- “Get out of the Rhineland, or else!” The more you have Britain and the LoN on your side, the more likely Germany will pack its bags and head home.

In a way, this game reminds me of Farkle. You are unlimited in how many times you can roll to improve your standing. The better you are, the more likely you can win in the final resolution of the game. However, the more you roll, the more chances you have of exacerbating an already tense diplomatic situation. So this is definitely a push your luck kind of game.

Really the most strategy that comes into play is calculating your odds and taking somewhat calculated risks. At the end of the day, your fate rests primarily on a little cube with printed dots. Some may like that, others may not.

CONCLUSION:

As a strategy game, Occupation of the Rhineland falls somewhat short. The game has more in common with Farkle then say, Axis and Allies.

However, as an intro to the fun one can have with a solitaire game, this game does shine. While I felt that I had only a small amount of control over the progression of the game, it was a lot of fun, and had an enjoyable amount of tension.

Not only that, but it has definitely gotten me interested in looking into solitaire games. While they may not be as much of a game as their bigger, fuller counterparts, solitaires do have a place in your game closet. After all, when no one wants to play games, it is nice to have something to scratch that itch, particularly in mental challenges.

I guess solitaire games aren’t so bad after all.

 

The Family Roster

In case you can’t tell, I am a little excited for the new addition to our family roster.

A Helpful Tool

There are some tools we feel we just can’t live with out. You know how it goes. You find something that you never considered using before, and then you get, and then BAM! That tool is indispensable, and you are using it all the time for all sorts of projects. You find projects just so you have an excuse to use that tool.

Well this tool I am about to link to is kind of like that. Indispensable, no, but it definitely takes your craftiness to a whole new level. What am I talking about? A laminator.

I recently got one from Amazon, and it has been great. I did the cards for Pay Dirt with it, as well as an expansion for Settlers of Catan.

The results are fantastic and beat any method for making cards I have tried to date. With a little corner rounder, you can get a nice, glossy, plastic-y card. I like it so much, I really have to restrain myself from finding another game to print, just to use it. 🙂

So if you are interested, you should check out this laminator. It is currently on a really good sale on Amazon. (personally I am kicking myself a little. I have the same one, but I paid $21 for it…) So, if you don’t have one, you should check this out, while the deal lasts today.

(disclaimer: This is an affiliate link, but don’t let that stop you! Thank you for your support. 🙂 )

Idea #1- Find the Free Stuff! (MR, BG)

This one probably goes without saying, but allow me to elaborate. When word gets out that you like a particular hobby, well meaning people who have a desire to deep clean, sort , yard sale, or trash their belongings  will often find out. I have had this happen numerous times over the years.

They may hear that you like model railroading and so a conversation might go like this- “Would you be interested in Jimmy’s toy train stuff? He has out grown it, and I would hate to just throw it away or yardsale it”.

Typically, this is your run of the mill train set quality stuff- old TYCO and Life-Like cars, brass track, transformers from the dinosaur era, and assorted people and details. Not the kind of quality products you see in MR these days for sure. Even in the 70’s and 80’s it was of questionable and somewhat dubious quality, but now? I think I will pass. Thanks for the thought though.

Hold up! Wait a minute! Put a little love…. oh wait, never mind. (I never was a fan of Family Force 5 but it you are, enjoy that) Anyways, before you turn away from that quality plastic “junk” from yesteryear, why not take it home and sort through it a little later. Sure, those boxcar’s molded on detail look clunky, but with a little work and fresh paint, or just some careful weathering, you have a decent looking car, that while it may not match the individual quality of a boxcar from Branchline Trains or something like that, it does the job nicely.

The two boxcars closest are both scavenged from cheap train sets. With some weathering, they look pretty decent. They may not hold up on close scrutiny but in a passing train, it doesn’t matter.

 

(Like the article I shared in my recent post) Let’s be honest with ourselves. Our goal is to capture the feel of railroading in minature, so we will be running trains, not examining each boxcar very carefully with a magnifying glass.

Or, you could take a sharp knife, carve off the clunky molded on ladders, remove the trucks, and give it a dull coat of paint, and plant it in your rail yard- you get a nice shed at zero cost. Much more economical than paying $9-$11 for a lower quality (by today’s standards) boxcar to use as a shed.

And it doesn’t stop there. I have a drawer full of these “junk” train details and cars. If nothing else, you can salvage some of the items for detail parts for a scratch-building project. Some clunky plastic buildings can be saved for window castings and doors, and if the wall details are not too bad, it could be a good base for a building project. It can be amazing what a little paint, some careful weathering and drybrushing can do to a model.

A Cheap Bachmann train set building with new paint, a new roof of construction paper shingles, and cinder-block loading dock made from an old kit.

Granted, not everything is worth saving. Those ancient DC transformers are really not worth saving (unless you need a power pack for your railroad) save for maybe using to power “accessories” like lights or something. That brass track with the massive ties is probably not worth holding onto either for using as track. However, the rails could be chopped up and stacked in a rail yard somewhere for details. The same with the ties as well. A little trimming with a hobby knife, and some paint, and you can add a realistic detail.

This does take work and ingenuity on our part. If you have the cash to spend, you might justifiably choose not to root through the relics of yesteryear for some salvageable details when you could buy nicer ones with much less effort. But, for me, it is more enjoyable to spend my time this way, and keep my cash in savings. (And my wife appreciates it too)

Now what about board games? Those same, well meaning people might hear that you are into board games, and so a conversation might go like this- “You like board games? My kids played them for years. Would you like to have their old games? They had all the favorites:  Clue, Yahtzee, Sorry!, Monopoly, Risk, etc. I would hate to see them collect dust in my closet”

The typical gamer will likely start to back away at the mention of “Clue”. By the time Monopoly is mentioned, he might be running for the nearest exit. The Euro games of today, these ain’t. Instead, these are the ultimate example of the “Ameri-trash” games frequently bashed on the board gaming forums. (For those who like these games, no offense is intended. They aren’t terrible games…..maybe. 😉 )

But hold on. Anyone who has been reading this blog has noticed that I really like to make PnP (Print and Play) games. Many of you are PnP’ers, but I would wager a good many are not. I would also wager that a good many of you are intrigued by the idea, but are held up on one issue- components. Where do you cheaply get the pawns and the dice and the counters and the money and the cubes for such projects?

Boards, dice, pawns. the remnants of an old game or two can be the makings of a new, better game

That is where these “Ameri-trash” games can come in. Don’t save them for the game itself, but for the components. Those dice can be saved for another game, like maybe Infection Express. The money from Monopoly can be saved for other games like Pay Dirt.

The boards themselves can be papered over for another game board, or if you want nice tiles. It might seem sacriledgous to glue another game board or components onto a Clue board, and then cut out what you need. (I did this to make the unique board for Serica)

I wanted a folding board for Serica. An old Chess board sacrificed itself for a noble cause.

The board and chits for this little game were made from an old Monopoly-type game board

Note to self- have a strong, sharp cutting tool, or have lots of patience.

The boxes from these games can also be used- either for cardboard, or for boxes. With a little playing around on the computer, you can make images you can glue over top of an old box to use for a latest project.

Again, this does take some time and ingenuity, but these old tired games can be what you need to make a new board game with nice components. Between the re-used components and the effort you put into it, people might start asking- “Where did you buy that game? It looks really nice.” Or “I enjoyed playing Serica last night, but I couldn’t find it on Amazon. Where did you get it?”

For both hobbies, there are a two caveats.

1. Don’t save everything. While I would politely receive whatever I am given, I will later go through my “goodies” and determine what can be used and what can’t. Collect all the parts you either have a use for or have a project in mind you can use for it, and then junk the rest. Somethings aren’t worth the time. (Example- I went through my brother’s old toy train stuff. I found some useful things, but others were less useful- Ceramic Christmas village buildings and details, plastic toy train track, an old transformer.

2. Be realistic. If you are like most people, you do not have unlimited space. While it can be tempting to store tons of “Someday” use items like I have detailed, don’t take up a whole room with it. Realistically, you will not use all of that stuff. Really it comes down to the same idea from point 1. Save what you need, and pass along/pitch the rest.

This tip has literally saved me a lot of moolah, and has brought a lot of fun. For me, it is fun to re-purpose “junk” and give it new life. Not only that, it is frugally sustainable in its own way.

How about you? What junk have you saved and turned into something useful? Share your story in the comments below!

Low or No Cost Ways to Enjoy Your Hobby

I’ve talked a bit on some of my philosophy regarding hobbies in regards to cost and size. I would hope I have made a somewhat compelling case for the frugal approach to both trains and games. Admittedly, either hobby is not likely to be a low cost endeavor as a whole, but with the right focus and ideas, you can make it happen.

Thanks to scrap parts, a gift of textured plastic sheets, and lots of coffee stirrers, this nice little house cost next to nothing to create.

But having the right philosophy is only half the battle- you need to be able to make it work, to have an idea or several ideas of how to make it all work. You may want a nicely detailed railroad, with little $$$ put into it, but how to get from that idea to the reality you are envisioning? You want a nice board game that has a unique theme that you think your gaming group will really like, but you don’t want to spend $40, $50, $60 for it. How does one translate his goal into a reality?

Using cereal cardboard, and the paper I had already available, this good little game cost next to nothing to make, save the cubes, which cost around a $1.10

That is why I thought it would be useful to have a series of more practical posts over the next couple weeks on this topic-  a how-to kind of list of some of my tips and tricks to enjoy these hobbies without spending a lot of cash. This is certainly not an exhaustive list but it is a collection of some of my best ideas to date (in my humble opinion, so take them with a grain of salt!)While some tips are applicable to both of my hobbies, others are not, so I will have the prefix MR for a item to indicate it is a Model Railroading idea, and BG for a Board gaming tip or idea

Hopefully an idea or two could be useful to you as you enjoy your hobbies. If you have some good frugal ideas to share, feel free to put them in the comments!

 

 

Crafting on the Cheap

If you are anything like me, you probably have a “bookmarks” tab on your browser that is full of all sorts of interesting links that you found interesting at some point in you browsing history. And, I would also assume that once you bookmarked it, you kind of forgot it, and so, like me, have a huge bookmark folder filled with all sorts of links and various tidbits of useful information (or not)

As I was working on some writing this morning for lessons plans, I found myself scrolling through my bookmarks, looking for useful information for my study. While I didn’t find much there, I did stumble upon one link in particular that, while completely unrelated (Orthodox theology and model trains usually don’t belong in the same sentence), was inspiring (or should I say, re-inspiring) enough that I thought it merited being shared and commented upon.  (click here)

This article really encapsulated some of my philosophy when it comes to hobbies, particularly model railroading. You can get great results from a little bit of time and ingenuity, as DKRickman did in his article.

I discovered this many times with my own layout. In my mind, it isn’t worth spending lots of money on something, when a cheap crafty alternative can do the same thing. Not only is it cheap, but it is more fun, as you craft it.

 

These two high-rail trucks are just a few examples of my own. I wanted some railroad trucks for the layout, but didn’t want to pay $10-$20 for each one. granted,t hey would be a little nicer than these, but these probably cost $1 each, plus time and scrap parts. While the white one is not fully complete, I am very happy with the results.

And that leads me to my conclusion: while this isn’t for everyone, I have found that taking time to cheaply craft something is more rewarding. You get the tangible result, and you get the intangible, but great, feeling of accomplishment, of crafting something yourself. That “No, I didn’t just pull this out of a box- I made it myself” feeling. That is a feeling money can not buy.

Now if you excuse me, I have some lessons to prepare! 😉 Time to get back on track.

 

 

The bridge to somewhere…

Let’s face it: bridges are pretty cool. If nothing else they are a testament to our ingenuity to over come gravity, and use the laws of physics in our favor. Not only that, they also can be quite dramatic, which is probably why 99.1% of model railroads have at least one. (did you know that 69.5% of statistics are made up on the spot?)

My little layout is no exception to this phenomenon. I managed, in my small space, to fit two of them in! However, up until this point neither bridge existed. The tracks simple suspended themselves in mid air across the gap. Not the most realistic, I know.

Finally, the time has come, for one bridge at least, to support the track. It is still in progress, but you can see from the photos the general shape and structure of the bridge. It is broken into two parts. The stone/mason part, which is a part of the retaining wall, and then plate girder for the rest. Nothing has been glued in place yet. There are a few more sections to complete, then everything will be painted and weathered, and then glued into place.

We couldn’t save the world, but at least we had our gold…

Tuesday night, I had the opportunity to host a game night at my house with some good friends of mine. As always, it was a good time. And as always, we stayed up way past my bed time enjoying some really fun games!

So what did we play?

To start, three of us played a round of Pocket Imperium, a pnp micro game by Good Little Games.

 

It is a fairly simple game for three players and is a pretty neat little game. The goal is to control as many star systems as you can. I certainly hope to play more of this little game. It is hard often to get just two more people to play sometimes though….

Once everyone showed up, bringing lots of games with them, we played a round of Pandemic, which I have mentioned before in a previous post.

Photo Credit: Amazon.com

 

I really love this game, and this was the first time for a few other players, including my wife, but everyone really enjoyed it, even though we lost. (Which was kind of our fault- we had 6 players instead of the recommended 4. ) The diseases proved to be too resistant to our best efforts.

It was refreshing change to be able to work together, as a team. You really have to learn to listen and think together in a team setting.

 

Finally, we played a round of Pay Dirt, which is a gold mining game that recently funded on kickstarter. It was a really good game, and everyone seemed to enjoy it a lot. It was very thematic, but the mechanics also shone through as well.

 

This is one of those PnP projects that took a lot of effort, but as it turned out, was well worth the time! Having played Pay dirt 3 times now, I can say that this is a good game to watch for (it should be getting published soon). I hope to review it soon, once I get a few more plays in.

So, we could not save the world, but we did pretty well gold mining! 🙂 How about you? What games did you play recently?

Bricks Aweigh!

I have a confession to make.

I still play with LEGO bricks. Yes, those little interlocking blocks with which you can build just about anything you want. I really don’t think it is possible to outgrow them. In the Lego community I am what would be known as a AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO). And, yes, I did really like the recent LEGO Movie. It was quite possibly one of the best animated films I have seen in awhile.

My brother and I as we were growing up played with Lego a lot together. We built towns across the basement floor, had large spaceship battles, at one point “simulated” the Civil War between my room and his, using our LEGO; and even made a model (of sorts) of Mos Eisley from Star Wars. It took up a chunk of the kitchen for a few days.

Now, my brother and I are adults, but we still enjoy LEGO. He recently joined the Navy, and has been assigned to a destroyer, which will ship out next month sometime. So, in honor of his assignment, and in remembrance of all our fun times together building LEGO, I built this destroyer out of my bricks with my two year -old daughter’s “help” (She loves playing with Daddy’s LEGO collection, and is getting pretty good (for a two year-old).  Her “help” consisted mainly of having all the LEGO horses play on the back deck of the ship as I built it.)

The Boat! it is almost 3′ long. It is a compressed version of a destroyer. In LEGO scale, it would be closer to 6′ long if done to scale.

Jeremiah, hopefully you enjoy seeing this as much as I did building it.

On the bridge

A cut away of the sleeping quarters