Returning to The Borderlands – Behind the Scenes
Recommendations: 13
About the Project
This is the sister project to my "Returning to The Borderlands". In this, I will be going behind the scenes into what miniatures, terrain and scenery I need to acquire and paint in order to play out the events in the main campaign. I wanted to separate the two sides as I was concerned that things may get a tad wordy and messy if left lumped together. Besides, not everyone wants to wade through a set of battle reports and campaign notes just to see some pictures of painted wee men getting the snot beaten out of them, or conversely need to know exactly how/where I acquired that big beastie that's currently beating said snot out of our poor Hero. This project will probably contain (in no particular order): [1] Various minis (bought physically or 3D printed). [2] Many items of terrain and scenery (again, either bought physically or 3D printed/scratch-built). [3] Some terrible paint jobs (but hopefully no mould lines, praise be to Avernus!). [4] A few rambling insights into why I did what I did and why I now regret doing it!
Related Game: Five Leagues from the Borderlands
Related Company: Modiphius Entertainment
Related Genre: Fantasy
This Project is Active
Well that was easy. Not.
After two full days of rummaging through multiple Reaper Bones Kickstarters, the contents of innumerable fantasy boardgames, lord alone knows how many storage boxes of minis collected over the past four decades and finally just shy of 4TB of STLs – I have only come up with four of the six figures I need. Grrr.
I have set aside a shedload of other stuff that I’m pretty certain will come in handy going forward, but for now, those last two figures are eluding me. However, I shall not be defeated. I have a weekend of gaming ahead of me and so my search will pause until Monday, but then I’ll be back with a vengeance!
Putting the warband together
At the heart of any Five Leagues game, the warband is pretty much the first thing you need to create. Here’s what my warband, “The Fellowship of Exiles” (or ‘Ranold’s Company’) is comprised of:
- Cer Ranold – human male, Noble (Avatar)
- Hurgon (the Grey) – human male, Zealot (Hero)
- Bertolo – halfling male, Frontiersman (Hero)
- Merlara – fey-blood female, Mystic (Hero)
- Nedrik – human male, Brave Villager (Follower)
- Tobin – human male, Hopeful Youth (Follower)
This means I need to source some appropriate miniatures. My first port of call will be my collection of existing painted minis to see if I have anything suitable that takes my fancy. Failing that, I’ll delve into my pile of possibilities (unpainted minis), scour my digital domain for suitable STLs (to 3D print) or, failing all that, go shopping. Like I need an excuse to buy more stuff!
I’ll post the results of my search tomorrow once I’ve had a good old rummage.
What's this then?
Quite simply, this is a shadow project to my “Returning to The Borderlands” one, found here. It is meant to be like the Doctor Who backstage TV shows. I’d like to use it to show what goes on behind the crafting curtain as I blunder through my Five Leagues campaign.
In it, I’d like to explain why I made the choices I did (both on and off the table) and what I think I could have done better or differently. This should allow me to keep the main project very much focused on the narrative side of the campaign and have all of the immersion-breaking stuff here. That way, anyone who just wants to see a Five Leagues from The Borderlands campaign played out in battle reports can follow the main project, while folks that are more into minis, scenery and rules/gameplay can follow along here. If you’re a masochist, feel free to follow both!
