The World Of Twilight

Do people tend to paint their combat stones? I'd think they'd look better with a grey-ish paint job & rune detail rather than bare metal, but it would have to be a very durable paint job. Any suggestions or experience on what works/what doesn't?

I haven't yet but I'm sure I read on a post somewhere that its a good idea to paint the rune to make distinguishing them easier but not to bother painting the rest of the stone as the paint will chip off.

HN

I simply inked the runes in red and green to make them a little bit clearer. I played a game over the weekend with tuffskull's kit, and he has painted the stones black. They did look good, and the runes stood out nicely, but I think they'll chip very quickly.
It's up to you whether you mind regularly retouching the chips... Thick varnish might help a bit though.

I have always wanted to try dice instead of stones.

These 4 sided dice have that quirky Twilight feel to them:
http://www.gmdice.com/crystal-shaped-swirly-4-sided-d4-dice-1439 (http://www.gmdice.com/crystal-shaped-swirly-4-sided-d4-dice-1439)

I could probably custom order 4 sided dice like this, have 2 sides with Oran or Erac and 2 sides blank.  Could probably have made with a cool marble effect and have Erac maybe printed in red and Oran in Blue?

Downside being your opponent knows what you rolled, even if you failed. Which can be half the tactics when it comes to rerolls and stamina use.

Not really, if the dice are the same color, it would be no different than throwing stones.  Only the imprint would be different color (Or can have them the same color).

You'd still have 3 faces visible, though surely, and one of those has to be an Erac/Oran face...

The uncertainty of what your opponent rolled is a nice addition, but not vital. Suitable dice could do the trick nicely, but I personally like the stones.

One thing I've toyed with would be culture-specific stones. The Empire ones would be the current form, Delgon's would be more angular and the devanu would be rougher. Don't hold your breath on those though! Slightly larger resin stones could be a realistic option though.

As stated, by mike, I've painted mine. I gave them a coat of gloss varnish, then 3 or 4 sprays of matt varnish over that. 3 games in now, and they're already chipped quite bad. I still like them painted, but I'm not sure I have the dedication to continually re-touch them. They'll probably just develop a battle-worn look and remain that way I'm afraid!

larger resin ones might be good though. Less likely to chip against each other at least, if notmuch better against the table etc.

Phew! I'm glad I'm not the only one who hasn't painted their stones! I might give mine a black ink wash jut to make them super clear but other then that I'm pretty content :D

Give them a coat of clear epoxy glue/resin. They will last for years.

Is my memory playing tricks or were there nice large combat stones being used on the larger demo table? They seemed pretty damn nice.

Your memory is not playing tricks - Steve made a set out of air hardening clay for the big game so they could be seen across the table.

I made some out of Fimo, using different colors and they worked out nicely. I think they came out a bit too big though, so someday I may go back and make some smaller ones.
(http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb16/LaughingFerretStudio/Twilight/021.jpg)

They look quite nifty. Certainly an easy way of having more individual combat stones.

HN

quick question on combat stones, what do the signs mean on em?

Check out the rule book on page 6. Erac is (offensive), Oran is (defensive).

HN

They look great. The ones at Salute were pretty similar, iirc. I'm going to buy myself some more fimo.

Did you paint the symbols on, or did you do them in fimo? Nice basing, btw, is hat etched brass?

The color symbols is just different colored fimo. pretty easy- I'm no fimo expert. I just cut the symbol into the fimo and pushed some 'strings' of other-color fimo into the cut, then push it back together. I went with blue & red as pretty universal colors for safe & danger, since the symbols are kind of similar in shape and to make it easy for people playing that don't know the system already. one set in light and one set in dark stones in case they get mixed up in casting, still easy to see who's are who's.

I've used etched brass before and like it, but I haven't used any on my Twilight minis. I used some seed pods of different types from my back yard for plants and branch bits.  and cork, real rocks & making rock from green stuff/miliput mix.