From SylvainR: Tray 5 - 6mm WW2 Cossacks (part 2 of 3) + Dice Tower (129 points)

This entry is basically identical to my post from last week. It's two more company of Cossacks to make up a whole battalion, it's not just the same picture with photo-shopped code marks :-).

So all my comments from last week would still apply here as well.

A close up on the 4th company ("teal"). Models are a mix of GHQ and Heroics and Ros.

A closer look at the riders. Same painting techniques, same basing techniques. 6mm armies could be boring, but for me there is something zen in doing many of the same.

Points claimed:

18 foot troops at 1/2 point each = 9

120 mounted at 1 points each = 120 points

Total = 129 points

This will also count towards the "Really Little Guys" duel.

I also want to share we the Challengers the concept of a device I had to create this week.

You see, my son got interest in D&D two weeks ago and he just loves the fact that the result of rolling the dice has a direct impact what is happening on the table. Since his gross motor skills are limited, we would put the dice on top of a small cardboard box that he would then knock off to "roll the dice". However, sometimes the dice would just roll 90o onto their next side, which was absolutely unsatisfactory. And there was not much noise generated, so not much fun. So I designed a dice tower (I know there are many on the market, but none has a lid at the top) that I will be calling the "randomizer" until I find a sexier name. Yes, a bottle of Irish Cream Liqueur was badly hurt in the process... But sometimes you have to make that kind of sacrifice...

So dice are put in the small holder (red arrow) inside the lid of the metal container. Exhaustive testing demonstrated that up to 9 dice could be stacked in there.

Then my son pushes the lid with his dominant left hand (top red arrow), the dice fall, get "randomized" with a very satisfactory tossing noise, then are spitted at the bottom (bottom red arrow) to reveal the result. Another requirement for this device was a heavy base, to avoid the whole thing toppling on its side if the tower itself is accidentally pushed instead of the lid. The whole construct is quite sturdy actually, as proven by initial trials.

Below, a view of the internal mechanism, showing two of the four tossing palettes. I added a little bump at the end of each to maximize the "randomization process" (tm) as well as the "noise making capacity" (tm).

I did not show this little project for points, it's not even scenery. I just wanted to share this idea in case some of the Challengers had an opportunity to include dice-rolling-challenged gamers in their group.

Thanks for reading!

The Cossacks are very nice of course Sylvain but I am really impressed with your dice tower. It's great that your boy is getting into gaming and I totally feel the thrill he must get when rolling that natural 20! That's a cool setup you've got there and I know you guys will have lots of fun with it. 129 points for your Really Little Guys and my admiration for your dice tower project and spending quality time with your son.

Dallas