# Orbital Relay Station



## Iniquity (Jan 13, 2013)

After reading through Crusade of Fire and the Voidpoint scenario, I thought it would be fun to try my hand at making a space station, thus far dubbed 'The Orbital Relay'. I spent this evening cutting some wood and laying it out in its final setup. I'll pull felt over it all, but I'm unsure what kind of 'walls' I should put up. I'm thinking a ruins like theme, but any and all input is welcome.


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## Calistrasza (Mar 11, 2013)

This looks really cool! As far as aesthetics go, if you're looking for an Imperial station it'd probably be grim and very utilitarian, lots of bulky airlocks and buttresses along the walls (which might be useful as cover from a gaming standpoint). Maybe include a shrine area for techpriests working on the station, cafeteria, crew quarters. Think almost like a submarine- this place would have to be a "home" for the crew as well as performing its functions as a station.

For ruins or a derelict station you could do "decompressed" areas that if you'd like could count as Difficult or Dangerous Terrain, maybe chemical leaks, spraying coolant or corrosive substances, or even electrical/plasma conduits that've been broken by weaponsfire or impacts. Could even do warp-afflicted areas, giving you a nearly limitless palette of ideas to choose from. Lots of potential for in-house rules like low gravity affecting movement speed, or even dangerous areas that are tactically advantageous but could suffer from catastrophic failures if the unit using them takes damage- only takes one bolter shell to blow out an entire observation deck, after all.

Looks like a really creative build- I love the space side of 40k- good luck with the continuation, and be sure to post more pictures!


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## Iniquity (Jan 13, 2013)

Just a little update and no pictures. 

Everything is screwed together and most of it has been wrapped in felt. Some of the angles were a little difficult but I think I'll be happy with it for a first try. I'm an rushing it a little for our new campaign on Thursday, so I might do another one later. For $5 and scrap wood I had lying around though, I'm not going to complain.


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

I'll be watching this with great interest :so_happy:


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## Dakingofchaos (Sep 29, 2009)

Good base from the wood - May I ask why cover it in felt? Roughcoat spray and drybrushing achieves a good effect without having 'soft' terrain. Will be following this.


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## Battman (Nov 2, 2012)

looks good so far waiting to see the rest of your model would be good if you could throw up a tourotial how you did it


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## Calistrasza (Mar 11, 2013)

Dakingofchaos said:


> Good base from the wood - May I ask why cover it in felt? Roughcoat spray and drybrushing achieves a good effect without having 'soft' terrain. Will be following this.


Probably quite a bit quicker and cheaper than painting + protects your models from a (hopefully short) fall, if need be. And you can vacuum it to clean it.


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## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

Totally cool. There's a mission in the BRB that uses a board like this and it totally blew my mind.


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## Dakingofchaos (Sep 29, 2009)

Calistrasza said:


> Probably quite a bit quicker and cheaper than painting + protects your models from a (hopefully short) fall, if need be. And you can vacuum it to clean it.


Cleaning, not something I had thought of actually! I suppose it's too big to keep in a box somewhere, are the sections modular or are you assembling them all as one piece?


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## Iniquity (Jan 13, 2013)

Campaign starts tomorrow, so I took the set up to the game store. I ran out of felt, so couldn't wrap all the legs, either. I'll get some pictures tomorrow night while it is in use for everyone to see, plus the one below with it finished.

Q&A
May I ask why cover it in felt?
_I'm lazy. I wanted it ready for tomorrow's game and I knew felt wouldn't take long, was cheap to get, and easy to clean. One of the gamers asked the same question tonight. I expect when I do a final draft, I will take my time on it._

Are the sections modular?
_Yes. In total, there are 16 pieces. Because of the differing heights, there are a limited number of ways it can go together, but removing a couple pieces offers a number of different 'setups'._

How did I do it?
_I started with graph paper and used each square as 2". Once I created a top down view that I liked, I went through each 'section' assigning heights, starting at 0" and working my way up to 10". I wanted stairs, so I created a section that started at 6" and ended at 9". I then divided it into 2"x2" sections, cutting a 2"x4" to fit the pattern. I then used 1/4" and 1/2" board to create the steps. The rest I just used 2"x2" lengths to set the heights where I wanted and used 1/2" or 3/4" plywood scraps for the bases._


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## The_Werewolf_Arngeirr (Apr 3, 2012)

very interesting set up, very interesting.


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## Dakingofchaos (Sep 29, 2009)

Oooh modular even better - If doing another one later have you thought about magnets? Their always fun.


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## Iniquity (Jan 13, 2013)

Magnets was my first thought for the walls, so I could swap them around for different looks. The whole magnet thing is newer for me, and it would be good practice. I also suspect that I'll follow the KISS philosophy next time. Less height changes and a lot less angles. I'll make sure I snap some good pictures tonight of it in use, plus I'll have feedback on what is and isn't liked in an actual game.


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## Iniquity (Jan 13, 2013)

I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but was busy running around with the campaign. We had about 18 people present and playing games, and my role as campaign organizer kept me busy.


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## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

That looks hella fun. Did you make it so that only fliers/skimmers could move off the space station floor?


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