MEST Tactics - on YouTube

Avausim - The Four Humours

 

As of this morning, I've uploaded some YouTube videos regarding MEST Tactics, including several dealing with how to use Tabletop Simulator on Steam deck.

These are the four:

• MEST Tactics - 01 - An Invitation
• MEST Tactics - 02 - Acquiring the components of the game
• MEST Tactics - 03 - Introductory Scenario
• MEST Tactics - 04 - on Tabletop Simulator - Introductory Scenario
• MEST Tactics - 05 - on Tabletop Simulator - Overview

As I get more time, I'll build out more videos, but those above should be adequate for starters.

I set up the keywords to be the following so that you can easily find the material on YouTube:

• MEST Tactics
• Tabletop Simulator
• Noble Pursuits
• TTWG
• Skirmish
• Wargaming

Visit this Downloads section to get the free and printable materials and guidelines to get started on local copy of MEST Tactics, including rules, missions, and scenarios:

https://sites.google.com/site/mesttactics/downloads

As always, visit the main MEST Tactics page for a general overview to learning about the game system:

https://sites.google.com/site/mesttactics/home

MEST Tactics :: Tabletop Simulator Update

Overview

I updated the Tabletop Simulator modules for MEST Tactics.

1. Removed the older QSR rules and reference charts.
2. Added the new QSR rules as a PDF. This of course has a pop-out.
3. Updated the Basic set characters profiles.

Gates of Huyuk scenario for MEST Tactics.

Getting Tabletop Simulator

It can be purchased here via Steam, which needs to be first installed if you don't already have it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/286160/Tabletop_Simulator/

MEST Tactics Modules

Once Steam is loaded, either visit the Community Hub at https://steamcommunity.com/app/286160. Or, click on the "Community Hub" button as shown in the image below:

Afterwards, click on the Workshop tab:

In that bottom-right search field, enter "MEST Tactics - Baseline" and hit ENTER to see results:

The MEST Tactics items

Click on the "MEST Tactics - Baseline" result to get to the details page.

Details page for MEST Tactics - Baseline

Click on the Subscribe button to add this to your Tabletop Simulator library of games.

Loading Tabletop Simulator and MEST Tactics - Baseline

Go back to your Steam interface and your list of games. Click on Tabletop Simulator to get to that launch interface. 

You can see here that I dabble in the excellent Card Hunter game, and I've got a bunch of other modules as well. None of those yet have MEST Tactics created for them.

Click the big green "Play" button to launch Tabletop Simulator.

This modal dialog appears. Click "Play" again.

On this next screen, you can either choose to Join an existing server, or Create a new game server. Since this will be your first attempt, click "Create"

And then, these choices appears "Single player", "Hot seat", "Multi player". Choose Single player because you'll be attempting to learn too many things at this time, and the priority is to learn to use Tabletop Simulator with MEST Tactics.

This next screen comes up, and it provides to you a matrix of all of your subscribed games. One of which should be MEST Tactics - Baseline.

If you ever want to get back to this matrix, it appears as an item at the top of your Tabletop Simulator display:

If everything goes well, the MEST Tactics - Baseline is loaded and will appears as follows:

At this point, you'll need to go through the exercises of learning how to use the navigation controls for Tabletop Simulator. Those unfamiliar with 3D controls will struggle for a bit, but the cheat menu is accessible from the tray at the top as "Menu".

Click that, and then click "Help Menu" to see the cheat sheet.

Step by Step Tutorial - Part 2 - Weathering Powders for the Rest of Us

Well here is Part 2 which is more of a weathering powders tutorial.

Here's where we left off.

These are the first miniatures I tried powders on. They came out pretty good, but the powders were a little too bright for my tastes.

I used these powders only on them. Afterwards, I decided it would be better if I had more colors to use.

I invested about $6 USD in this Pastel set.

First I grounded off a little brown. Even this is way too much by the way as a little goes a long way.

I then liquified the powder with mineral spirits, mixing in some of the orange rust powder residue. I wasn't sure at this time if you could mix colored powders. Luckily it worked. I have been told that turpentine also works as a liquifier.

Without powders.

After the powders are applied.

Liquified powders on the breast plate.

I then made some green for the brass areas.

Liquified green pastel powder. Next time I will be a little more gentle scraping at the Pastels to avoid the big chunks.

Green Powder applied. Next time I will mute this green more as it was a little too much.

A yellowish tan powder for the base.

I ended up blotching the tan and the brownish red liquified powders on the base. Here the applied powders are still wet.

Here's the reddish brown after it fully dried for a half hour or so and I went back and dabbed on some of the Secret Weapon Rust Orange. It's important to note that the colors will dry much brighter after the mineral spirits dry.

Blotches of Rust applied and dried.

I went over some of the dried areas with a brush dampened in spirits to smooth out some of the spots where the pigments dried a little too  abruptly. The dampened brushing along the edges created a smoother transition. I noticed there was a little powder bleed over into some of the areas I didn't want. This was an easy fix, with spirits and a little lining with a black/brown wash in the grooves of the mini.

And here's the finished model in better light, after a little clean up.

So what did I learn?
Powders are pretty damn easy to use.
A little does go a long way so start slow, you can always add more later.
Powders dry much brighter than they look going on wet, so be careful.
You can make cheap powders with grounded down pastels.
You can mix your powder colors. The Secret Weapon powders mixed just fine with the ground pastel powders.
You can clean up your mini afterwards with brushed on spirits and some fine lining work.
Finally (I learned this last time) a sprayed on matte fixer doesn't seem to effect your completed work.

So give them a try!
With a set of pastels and some mineral spirits or turpentine you too can have a go.

A Step By Step Tutorial For the Rest of Us - Part 1

So I thought I would write a tutorial to describe how I paint minis these days.

First off, I think everybody reading this should know, I am not a great painter. I am generally cheap, impatient and easily frustrated. On top of that, I lack the patience, eye sight, fancy brushes and hand eye coordination to do fine detail work.

So is everybody excited now?

On the flip side, I think I do a pretty good job at selecting simple earthy color tones that make the minis I paint look much better than they would with a brighter palette. I am also constantly trying to experiment with new techniques in an attempt to improve my final results and make them both more efficient and esthetic.

The Marauder Chaos Thug I will be painting in all his 80's glory.

This is my wet palette with a clean sheet of parchment paper freshly laid down. I suggest that everyone out there reading this make yourself one to try out if you haven't all ready. They are basically free and save you lots of time and paint.

These are an example of the cheap craft paints I use. They don't cover as well as expensive miniature paints, but I like them because they go on with a semi-transparent quality.

So here's where I start. The mini has been fixed to a base, primed grey, dry brushed white and the base has been sloppily painted and dry-brushed.

These are the colors I use for "creepy guy" flesh tones. Flesh, cold brown and a little pale blue. I add white to the mix for the final highlights later on.

I apply a mid tone flesh color, painted on fairly thin, with the above colors, to the skin areas of the mini.

Next the hair. I decided red to make the mini stand out more and because red is more aggro. Again, this is a slightly thinned paint not meant to be opaqe.

The same thinned paint, this time in a dark silver, to the metallics. I am using a larger brush to do all this, and I am not too worried about being overly neat.

The browns. I start with the lighter browns and go darker. No shading is being done here though, just thinned base colors with the same thick brush.

Finally the golds complete the base coats on the model. Total time here is about 15 to 20 minutes on this mini.

Next are the washes. I didn't used to do washes. I would start with very dark base coats and add highlights on top of them. I have found that washes speed things up and look better as a final result.

Here, all of the washes have been done. I mostly just used thinned standard paints as a wash. Sometimes I do thin the paint with some Secret Weapon brown and black washes I bought a while back. I used a thicker brush to apply and I still wasn't too concerned about neatness. This took maybe 5 to 10 minutes.

This next method is often called black lining. Here, I used a thinned brown black mixture and a smaller brush to darken in the eye sockets, mouth and to separate area's on the mini to make them stand out more. This also cleans up the mini and corrects a lot of mistakes I made earlier. This step probably took about 5 minutes. I have tried "the dip" but to me the 15 minutes or so, it takes to apply washes and line the miniature are worth doing by hand.

Whited out eyes.

First layer of flesh high-lights and metals. I like my metals to be dabbed on to make the armor look uneven and weathered.

more high-lights

I usually do one layer at a time over the entire miniature. I then go back with a secondary lighter layer and sometimes a third. This is where the wet palette really comes in handy, as the paints don't dry as fast and you can keep adding lighter colors where you last left out.

Some where in there I added pupils with a black micron pen.

This was really only about two layers of highlights over the entire washed miniature. My highlights are pretty much done by now.

I love this next step. It's super easy to do and looks great. Unfortunately, you can't see it to clearly in this photo. I add a very thin wash of red to the model's nose,cheeks and bottom lip, followed by a very thin wash of a blue-black for a five o'clock shadow.

I tried playing around with the color balance for this final picture so you can see the color and layers a little better. The only thing different in this picture and the last is I went back and did the leg studs on the mini's left leg. Dark silver, black wash on each stud and a final dot of plain silver for a high-light.

So that's it for part 1. The highlights actually go very quickly. They probably took about 15 to 20 minutes to complete, plus an extra 5 to go back and do the leg studs. I am debating adding two streaks in his hair like the original model and a simple face tattoo.

Part 2 will be very experimental for me as I will be trying some weathering powder techniques, but more on that next time.

I hope someone out there found some of this useful.