Friday, October 18, 2013

X-Wing 3D Laser Turrets



Laser Turret in Episode IV "A New Hope"
Like many I am always looking for ways to enhance my gaming experience.  This is usually accomplished through the addition of terrain and painting models.  When X-wing game out it was obvious that a Death Star scenario would a must and the gaming community obliged by providing down load files for terrain tiles and scenarios.  Later I purchased the nice vinyl Gale force Nine space station Mat.  One thing that I have been lacking is suitable Laser Turrets.  There are some nice 3D ones on the market fro shape ways and others.  The ones I have seen are very costly at $20+ per turret.



My assembled laser turrets in place of asteroids
This past weekend out local group gathered and one of our members displayed some very nice affordable options in the way of a down loadable file to print and produce paper or card stock turrets.  I have since found the file made by Dragon Layers and procured a copy.  I now have 6 Laser Turrets of my own which make a great substitute for asteroids in  the basic game on the Death Star mat.

The turrets can be purchased from FAT Dragon Games.  If you do not already have a Death Star mat the download file comes with Space Station Tiles, 3D Asteroids and the 3D Turrets all for $6.99.  You can print it as many times as you need to make larger battlefields and replace ones that get worn over time.

http://www.fatdragongames.com/fdgfiles/sci-fi/e-z-battlefields-starship-attack-fdg0131

Assembly was very easy.

1. I gathered the materials needed.

Scissors
White glue
Card stock
Styrene plastic card (Optional)

2. Print as many sheets as you need on a heavier card stock paper.  The turrets print two to a page.
Printed File
3. Follow the directions on the page and cut out the turrets and bases.

4. Fold and glue the turrets together.  I was careful not to apply to much glue and make sure you pre-fold/crease all corners before applying any glue.

5.  Once fully assembled I then glued them to the Styrene sheet and cut the base out to provide a stronger base that will not get bent up during storage of transport.


Fully Assembled ready for action
In less than an hour I had six game ready turrets.

Whenplaying I also have a set of squares the same size as the turret bases.  When a ship comes in contact with a turrets (treated like an asteroid for game purposes) I simply replace the turrets with the 2D square so the ship or template can be placed on top and not interfer with game play.

Enjoy!

1 comment: