M&SU Workbench - Malifaux Counters

The scratch build and homemade alternatives in the wargaming hobby is what originally got me into table top gaming in the first place. Last year I was running a fairly successful and popular Youtube Channel that shared some of my homemade cheaper solutions to things as well as my painting and battle reports. In the end the channel just became more of a second job for me and the fun of it was lost somewhere along the way. The wargaming community itself has always been great to me and I am hoping I can still feel a part of that community with this blog, but without the stress and demand that I had with my video channel.

My personal goal for this channel and my other D&D channel is to attempt to post at least once per week on each. This week I am actually posting two with a third very possible as I am working on several things. Last weekend I created some Corpse and Scrap counters for me and my friend Keith for our Malifaux game. I thought I would post an entry here explaining how I made those counters. This will be the first post in my M&SU Workbench series which will feature scratch builds, homemade solutions and terrain building.

Ratty Counter Print Page

I started by printing out duplicates of the Ratty Counters. For this example I am going to create a counter that will have a Blood on one side and a Power on the flip. I needed the smaller counters to print out into 1 inch size which I will explain in a later step. It took me a few test pages before I got the size I was looking for. I started by shrinking the page to fit printed area and then had to manually shrink the page to 94% of that. You may have to mess with your print settings to get the desired size you want. I printed my test pages on regular paper. Once I got the size right I then printed my counters onto photo paper which gives a crisp and clean look to the finished product.

Glue Stick, Washers, Scissors & Hole Punch

The only other things I used was a Glue Stick (UHU Stic), 1 inch Outer Diameter metal washer, scissors and a 1 inch hole puncher.

• Glue Stick is easy to control and does not over saturate the paper token to cause warping or wrinkles.
• Scissors are used to get at the tokens on the printed sheets easier. Only used for rough cutting.
• I chose the metal washers because they just seem very durable. I have used plastic ones for D&D tokens and they work well too but I never have to transport them like I plan to with these.
• 1 inch hole punch is used to cut the counters out of the printed sheets. Just make sure you get the same size washers to match the hole punch.

Glue Stick, 2 punched out Counters and washer.

Once I cut out a couple of strips of counters from the printed sheets for ease to get at, I punched a Power and Blood counter for each side. Now all I have to do is glue the counters to either side of the washer and wait for it to dry.

Power Counter Side (and a closer look at the hole puncher)

Blood Counter Side

I hope this tutorial helps someone else either in making their own this way or simply inspiring someone to do something differently on their own.

What's in the soulstone bag? #1

I have decided to make my first reoccuring topic today. What's in the soulstone bag is going to be an update of purchases as I continue to build my crews, my collection and my most recent addiction of Malifaux.

I don't currently have a set gaming budget but I may need to establish one after this week. What I am about to share are only the purchases that I made at the local shop or that have arrived in the mail at the time of posting. I still have a couple of things in transit.

As I am building my first two factions of Arcanists and Resurrectionist I picked up the Rasputina and Nicodem boxes. These will be nice additions to the Ramos and Seamus boxes that I purches back in January. I also picked up a copy of the newest rulebook Twisted Fate to round out my set which already consisted of the original and the Rising Powers books. I plan on doing a personal review on the original rulebook some time soon. I realize this won't be recent news for the system or hobby but I just want to voice my opinions on the books layout and content. Look for that in the next week or two.

The next purchase made this week was towards obtaining some counters. After surfing the web for various gaming counters I stumbled upon the Chessex brand gaming counters/tokens which were nice looking glass beads. The down side is they are fairly pricey at $5 and up for 25 to 40 counters. I knew I had seen similar items somewhere. I thought for sure I could find something similar to use at craft stores using some type of glass or plastic bead but then I saw a picture of aquarium gems and they looked almost identical to the gaming counters I had previously seen. I did some shopping online and at local stores and found the ones pictured above for less than $2 per bag at a local pet supply store. I haven't counted the number of them in the bags yet but I would say they are easily 40 or more which is less than half the cost of similar count name brand gaming counters. I wanted the dark blue and green so I could have a color to represent both of the factions I am building but they didn't have green. Of the colors currently available I ended up with the teal, cobalt and ruby colors pictured above. These will represent soulstones, tokens and counters until I figure out how I plan to print out and use the awesome looking ones that Ratty has come up with. I am thinking of printing them on regular paper or card stock and mounting the cutouts onto foamcore. I just haven't quite decided yet.

The only other notable topic is the fact that I am beginning to grow a nice relationship with a brand new local gaming store in my area named Gaming Grounds which has only been open about a month now. I like the fact that it is only a 5 minute drive from where I work and they open at noon. I can go in there a couple of times a week on my lunch hour and just see whats new, talk gaming with the owner and discuss product orders and new releases. I think that concludes this What's in the soulstone bag for today. I have some resin bases and clam shell packs yet to arrive but once they get here I will share!