Nostalgia Is A Powerful Drug

Playing X-wing reminded me of another project I’ve been cooking for awhile.  It’s getting to the point in my pimping sickness that I now will start laying the ground work for pimping out a game long before I get it.  As is the case in this 80’s overload game, Lazer Ryderz by Greater Than Games.

image by greater than games

This game takes, essentially, X-wing’s maneuver templates and has players race around the table trying to run over crystals.  First player to run over three crystals wins.

As you can see, unlike X-wing, the templates stay out on the table and in a very Tron Light Cycle-like fashion, if you run over another player’s laser trail, you crash and have to respawn (derez?).

The game first appeared on Kickstarter and I was very tempted to pick it up but while I liked the over-the-top 80s cartoon style of the theme and characters, I couldn’t help but want it to be those Tron Light Cycles.  Since I’m not bound by some restrictive IP clause, I resolved to do just that.

A good six months before Lazer Ryderz ever made it to retail, I went to Shapeways and started planning out how I’d pimp out this game to fit the theme I wanted.

I picked up three 1st Gen Tron Light Cycles that someone made and then painted them up in the standard color scheme.

If I used better paints, the job would have gone faster but as it was, the base coat was easy with a primer then solid color coat. The grey detail covering over those deep solids took a lot of extra coats and wasted a lot of time but worked out in the end.  The model only comes in the “Strong White Flexible” material so the overall flat surfaces aren’t very smooth but they are small enough that it doesn’t really bother me.

After I got my three cycles up and painted, I experimented with some bases.

Ultimately, I just went au naturel and ditched any base.  They stay up ok for the pictures but for gameplay, I’ll need to add a little clear base on the back end. Luckily, I have some small acrylic hexes that will do the trick.

The Light Cycles work pretty well as you get the player avatar to immerse you into the world but don’t get the oversized and awkward clutter of the game’s big character standees.

This is really only phase one of this pimping project. The next phase will tackle the templates themselves.

The stock templates will work fine and the publisher did a good job of adding a foil effect to give the templates some “pop” but the psychedelic color schemes now don’t really match my Light Cycle theme and there is that question of those iconic jetwalls.

These new cycles will do for now but I’ve already begun to plan out phase two for next year.

zoom zoom!