Arena Rex Forums

I really love the actual 3D pits - I can imagine that you get a really intense feeling of dread from putting your gladiators near them when you play, because you can see that there is a real actual hole for the models to fall into. So cool.

So the idea is that you can put columns and stuff on top of the pit covers?

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So, yes pillars will be able to go on top. More likely the dual sones would go on top. I also have POSTS with lengths of chain, that can go on/near/beside and when a double opens (note it has room for an actual cage and ramp for beasts to be able to emerge as living obstacles. Finally the idea of the covers was to add a random factor to WHICH pit opens. As it's played now, you can see where the pits are from the start and you take care to avoid/manipulate your position taking them into account. THIS SYSYEM however is more 'random' and try to arena matches. So the intent is to have all the pits covered at start of game. Then at the end of that and all the following round, a die is rolled and one pit randomly opens up creating a surprise addition for both players.

We have also decided that should a gladiator be on top of the pit opened, we will displace them to the closest solid edge. Taking into consideration that "the fighter begins to feel the movement of the ramp/hatch opening and is able to dodge to the closest edge.

Wow! The random pit idea sounds amazing, that should be a huge success and very dramatic I reckon. Please give specifics when you have the details worked out. Like, I presume you won't just have a random pit open up every turn, otherwise all the pits will be open after X turns.

And I noticed the animal cage in one of the earlier photos - I really want closeups of that and info about how you intend to use it. And I love posts and chains.

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Any progress on this arena? I also feel like it would rock with closeups of the cage and the pits and stuff.

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They're coming. Been a bit crazy lately. Got most of it covered with sand and the pit covers are stained. Gonna have to re cut them. Unfortunately they expanded and warped (was able to flatten the back out) when I used a water based paint/ink. Live and learn.

Yeah, everything is a learning process. Looking forward to new pictures!

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My Arena Rex painting log

Ok guys, sorry for the long delay in posting, but here we go.

As I noted, I totally killed all the balsa wood pit covers. As soon as I painted them they curled, warped and expanded. After a LOT of cursing, I attempted to get them flattened out, but in the end, I had to write them off and start anew.

A trip to the hobby shop and a bit of discussion with the owner and a modeler who happened to be there at the time (THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS COINCIDENCES) I decided to remake the covers out of 30mil plasticard. Really thick and sturdy, while still light enough.
I was able to recut all the pieces and then began carving a wood grain pattern into the pieces. It was a messy job, but man did it come out FANTASTIC.
HERES THE PICTURES.

The next part to the project was to get the ring-wall smoothed out. When I wrapped all of it in plaster cloth, it left all of the crosshatching visible. I decided I would be able to smooth all of this out with a VERY THIN layer of plaster "painted" on top. I knew this was gonna be messy so I had to wait for the weather to cooperate so I could do it outside.
Thankfully I was blessed with some nice weather the last couple days.

I made a slurry of soupy plaster, about the thickness of cream, and used a basting brush to spread it on the rings walls and top. I had to do it in small batches because the hydrocal has such a short work time. Only 3-4 minutes.
After I spread it on, the same brush helped to add a bit of texture before the plaster really set.
I allowed the plaster to dry for another 5-10 minutes. Then, using my fingers I buffed/smoothed the ridges to give it a bit of a smooth finish. In the closeup you can see the final product.
All in all I am really happy with how it ended up. So it will dry for the night, and hopefully get some paint tomorrow.

Next step:

I realized that, while cool, the way the pits are, could make for possible arguments on weather a model is in the pit or not. So I decided to make borders that sit on top of the pits. If the model hits the edging of the pit, they're in. A bit of a bonus to this, is it visually cleans up the joint where the arena floor and pit walls meet.

So, back to the plasticard to make them. Carving again.

Not sure how I missed these updates - but they look great! The colours look fantastic and the edges around the pits help immensely with the look.

I have started to make some preliminary plans to make a similar arena to this, with the pits carved into the floor and with wooden covers. When I told my friend about the concept, he immediately said that then we should play with the pits randomly opening and closing - exactly what you suggested above. I think that sounds like amazing fun.

Personally, my inclination is to make edges for the pits that look like stone tiles. But your wooden edges look so good that now I'm considering switching to that. Hmm.

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