I received a #custom order about a month ago from a friend, asking for playing peces for two distinct board games. Planning out the design and meeting the requirements was challenging, but I've finally finished the entirety of the first set.
This first complete set of pieces are for #Tak, a strategy game derived originally from a book series called The Kingkiller Chronicle. (You can read the wikipedia Article here )
Tak is an abstract strategy game, with a total of 62 pieces. 30 "Stones" and 1 capstone for each side, designated either by a difference in color or shape. I opted for colorway distinctions, the two sides are traditionally white and black. In this case, "White" is represented by a "print" of subtly blue-tinted stones with pale grey/concrete-colored mortar, accented with metallic gold trim. The "Black" pieces have a pattern of French grey stones and black mortar lines. These are trimmed in metallic silver. For the purpose of various game dynamics, the "stone" pieces needed to be horizontally stackable, and also be able to stand vertically on at least one edge. The stones can be placed wither horizontally, which I wrote in my order notes as "Cobbles" or vertically, customarily referred to as "Walls."
I had a few challenges to overcome for this project, among them was precision/regularity. Pieces for a #boardgame, particularly those which must be stacked or stood on edge must be very regular in shape and size. Both the medium itself and my artistic tendency is very much toward freeform work and organic shapes, so making 60 of the same shape, as well as maintaining consistent patterning for each colorway was a lot of work!
This project probably took around 3/4 of a pound of raw #polymerclay to complete.
They're technically not 100% - the entire set will recieve a coat of transparent satin-finish bvarnish to protect the metallic gilding from wear.
Next up: Tafl - a viking strategy game!
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