Venice W.I.P. ("3D"-kitbashed WorldWorksGames tiles)

After finishing the roads and the canal tiles (the T-intersection didn't come out as well as the rest of the canal tiles - due to me being lazy and putting Vallejo Water Effects directly onto the printed tile itself without coating it with PVA glue first as I did with the other canal tiles).

Note: This is not the final version and doesn't contain everything I intend to put on the final board. It's just more of a check of what I still need to do and whether the pieces match with the stuff I had created previously.

Sets used: Himmelveil Streets, Himmelveil Canals, Thoumonts. And no, this isn't how the WWG tiles originally look. The PDFs have been modified ("kitbashed") in GIMP to create the 3D effect, don't expect to get instructions to do this kind of stuff when you buy the files, although the people at WWG forums are eager to help if you want to create something similar.

Actually the WWG stairs are ingenious, as the "vertical parts" are slanted inwards so as there's a space to hold a 1", 1,5" or 2" base. Haven't tested how the minis will hold on the 1" stairs, but 1,5" stairs work well enough.

Oh, I could have finished the city with the pieces I already had, but I was pressed for time. When I get around to playing, you'll get pictures.

I created several "layers" from the bridge image, replacing the bottom with water (probably from the straight canal tile) and blended it in. For the sides I did some creative trigonometry/geometry and calculated the slope and from those calculations made the sides. The texture is drawn and modified from the stone wall tiles in the canals set. I also calculated how much I would have to stretch the bridge image itself to adjust for the added lenght of the bridge due to the slope.

Eventually, when constructing, I found out that I had f*cked up my calculations, so I had to make some last minute corrections with a sharp blade (I haven't done proper math since 12th grade somethng like 12 years ago, so I use that as an excuse - at least my degree in the university gave me rudimentary training in making last-minute corrections with a sharp blade) but I think it turned out nicely in the end.

In reference to this topic:

Pardon for the rather poor quality of the shots. They were taken in mixed lighting conditions rather quickly and the raw material I took stunk, as I was more into playing the game than taking purdy pictures. Anyway, with some white balance correction and levels editing and scaling down afterwards:

My Venice.

What it does need is some general clutter around the rather open central area. Currently there's lots of detriment for moving (as crossing the canal is possible from only 2 areas - that, or jumping/swimming across), which could give a very big benefit for shooting armies. I was wielding the template weapon for my docs, so that really didn't prove to be unbalancing, but from a tournament organizer's experience, "there just should be more stuff". Perhaps if I someday would bother to actually print and assemble 'em..

The Feisty Friar Inn Props does provide with chests and barrels and Thoumont's provides boxes...