We're interested to know what you guys think about this one and if you'd buy it. Basically it is a set of six small "stumps" with 120° holes in them. (Steve Zamboni came up with these.) You'd have to provide your own rocks and pipe cleaners and maybe glue a big washer to the bottom, but it would in theory let you set up Tholian webs on the game table. Tell us what you think. (NOTE, provide your own rocks. Shapeways would want $5 per rock for them.)

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Friday, October 13, 2017 - 05:06 pm: Edit

The stumps are hollow. The idea is to twist a knot in the end of the pipe cleaner, push it into the hole, then slide it down in the notch so it stays put (shown in middle photo).

You can also push the pipe out the other side if you just want it for a mid-point bend.

(This is what happens when you're stuck on phone duty and no one calls.)

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Friday, October 13, 2017 - 05:11 pm: Edit

I would be more interested in an actual web "counter". A hexagon flat counter that is actually a pattern of criss-crossing lines with hollow spaces between the lines, like a grill. I don't know if I explained it well. Something like the counters Xander did for megahex but 3D

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Friday, October 13, 2017 - 05:23 pm: Edit

I may have something like that from when I was tinkering with Tholian ship bases. I didn't think of using for laying out the web itself. Let me check tonight if it's reasonable to print a stack of them.

By Charles Chapel (Ctchapel) on Friday, October 13, 2017 - 06:46 pm: Edit

So, you printed the Crown of Tholia. How did that turn out?

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Friday, October 13, 2017 - 07:21 pm: Edit

It came out pretty good what I can tell (got it yesterday). There's a few extra printing artifacts from all of the different fin angles, but I think they'll come out smooth once it's cleaned and blasted. (I wanted the test how the the printer would handle grid plates at different angles, and the Crown is all angles.)

(Something to pester Jean with for the day she says she doesn't have anything to upload.)

By Tom Talasco (Pvt64) on Monday, October 16, 2017 - 12:02 pm: Edit

I like the web token idea also. However the above could also be useful depending on your taste.

By Tom Talasco (Pvt64) on Thursday, November 09, 2017 - 01:19 pm: Edit

I'm just full of thoughts for today. With all the work that we did on ACTASF Book 2 I have been thinking on something to represent Tholian web. What I propose, if someone could design it is; 1" by 1" sections of lattice work complete with a base so that it stands freely on the table with a small indentation in the base to hold a die to mark the web strength. Sold in sets of multiple pieces.

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Thursday, November 09, 2017 - 02:03 pm: Edit

The ACTA web panels under development are 2" x 2" with a tab to fit into a basic stand. The idea is to show strength by sticking map pins into holes in the top of the panels.

By Tom Talasco (Pvt64) on Thursday, November 09, 2017 - 03:23 pm: Edit

Will the stands be produced also?

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Thursday, November 09, 2017 - 04:00 pm: Edit

Still working on making an affordable base.

Going from a flat panel to a "T" is a massive increase in cost. I'm trying to find a way to stack them into a shape that's less wallet-breaking, but the basic molded plastic bases will likely be much cheaper than anything I can come up with.

By Tony L. Thomas (Scoutdad) on Thursday, November 09, 2017 - 04:50 pm: Edit

I've been talking to Steve about this already.
We've worked through a couple of ideas that worked, and a couple that didn't work, just trying to make it doable and affordable...

I suggested making 2x2 webs (since the ACTASF are laid in 2-inch segments) with a tab that fits into the standard ABD hex base. So far, this seems the most economical method.
I'd love to have individual segments with the strengths from 1 to 4 printed on them, but that dramatically increases the number of pieces you need... and thus the cost.

They are already going to be expensive enough, just having small holes in the top that you can inserted pins into to indicate relative strength.

By Tom Talasco (Pvt64) on Tuesday, December 05, 2017 - 05:50 pm: Edit

Any further progress on these?

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Tuesday, December 05, 2017 - 06:18 pm: Edit

There's a stack of ACTASF panels in the mail from Shapeways. Figure another couple weeks in the mail getting them to the right people for playtesting and deciding if the design is worth submitting.

If the print quality is good, then the flat counters for SFB and FC can probably be submitted sooner.

I fully expect these to lock up the checker for a couple days if Jean tries to upload them, so were having to do a bit more prep work making sure there are no stewpot events after submitting them.

By Tom Talasco (Pvt64) on Tuesday, December 05, 2017 - 09:46 pm: Edit

Fair enough.

By Tom Talasco (Pvt64) on Wednesday, August 29, 2018 - 09:01 pm: Edit

Steve,
Any updates or progress on these?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, August 30, 2018 - 12:25 am: Edit

No. Didn't seem to be much interest. This was a Steve Z project not one of mine. I didn't see a market and no one has worked on it. Absent more than one person asking about it, I don't plan to pursue it.

By Tom Talasco (Pvt64) on Thursday, August 30, 2018 - 06:19 am: Edit

Fair enough.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Thursday, August 30, 2018 - 09:22 am: Edit

Rereading through the topic I think it got a little derailed and needs to be split into three topics.

A couple people want some sort of 3D web counter.

A couple people want a asteroid web anchor that holes could be drilled into for the adding of pipe cleaners for web. (These asteroids might also be usable as Jindarian asteroid ships.)

A couple people want a Web Anchor Buoy. I would suggest a design made up of the triangle greebles used on the web tenders. These might also be released concurrently with the Defense Satellite designs as I am guessing they would be similar sized.

I would buy all the above items if eventually designed and released.

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Thursday, August 30, 2018 - 12:44 pm: Edit

I think the web markers and panels proved to be more practical than the pipe cleaner stands.

There's a set of web panels out there being tested for ACTASF. The tricky part has been finding an easy way to keep track of web strength on the individual panels using pegs or pins.

There is a model for a stack of 1" web tiles for SFB/FC but interest was limited at the time. (We know the technique for printing stacks works, so we could come up with all sorts of paintable terrain markers.)

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Thursday, August 30, 2018 - 12:44 pm: Edit

The same thing happened with the tiny stands I proposed for small units. The thread had basically no comments about the proposed item and plenty of proposals for other things, so they never happened.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Thursday, August 30, 2018 - 12:59 pm: Edit

Concerning the size of a web anchor buoy; I believe the actual size is approximately that of a shuttle craft, so the "triangle greebles" would seem to be too large. On the other hand, there's no reason that a miniature for the buoy has to be at exactly the same scale as the ship scale, anymore than drone miniatures need to be made to the exact scale of the launching ship.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Thursday, August 30, 2018 - 02:49 pm: Edit

I would think that the greebles would need to be scaled down, but they would add to the "Tholian Look."

By Tom Talasco (Pvt64) on Friday, August 31, 2018 - 10:22 am: Edit

I personally as an ACTASF player, think that any of the proposed game aids would be useful and I would buy them.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, August 31, 2018 - 03:07 pm: Edit

Understand... I have no problem with this I just have too many things to do and it didn't seem to have enough support to be worth the bother. If you guys come up with something Jean thinks will sell, I'm not going to block it. I never blocked this one, I just didn't give it much attention.

By Steve Cain (Stevecain) on Friday, February 08, 2019 - 08:02 pm: Edit

1. I like the inexpensive set of bases approach and suggestion to get your own rock. Personally, I would pick volcanic stuff used for gas grills. Others will want smoother.

2. The base could doubles for Jino Astroid ships.

3. I would personally be more interested in seeing actual spar material (frosted red would be great if they can do that) for the web; but anything would work if painted

By Tom Talasco (Pvt64) on Friday, August 23, 2019 - 10:53 pm: Edit

I agree with Steve Cain.

By Tony L. Thomas (Scoutdad) on Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 01:17 pm: Edit

Here is what the Tholian Web Tokens for ACTASF look like:



Web Tokens

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 03:00 pm: Edit

I did model a version of these with built-in bases, but a set of 8 of them is a few dollars more than 12 without bases. (You also don't have the option to pack them flat if carry your minis to battles.)