I've been thinking that it would be neat if, once the shields are down, you could show hull damage via flames and smoke. Granted it is space but, so long as they are venting atmo and munitions, continual plooms of smoke would appear.

I don't mean as a damage marker where you place 1 ploom per damage against the hull. Just a few once a ship is hit so that, as the battle progresses, the table looks dynamic. Otherwise it strikes me as if pristine ships battle and then dissappear.

Now at first I thought it would be neat if you could place a nano-magenet at the base of a fire ploom that would attach anywhere to the model -- except they aren't magnatized. I think something like this would be cool:

But how would you attach it without damaging the model? Any ideas? Again, it's not to be a damage counter but just to create the sense of an actual battle. Maybe a couple light smoke plooms for initial hits, darker ones for major damage, and firey ones when they're severely damaged/have a cirtical hit. Just think it would look fun.

[There is a tutorial for making fire like this here but is meant for making debries, not something that can be added to show damage. Another one is here showing how to make smoke for terrain, as shown above.]

We did/do this with several games (wings of war, flames of war, 40k etc). It looks great, but could be tricky to attach on these ships. I'll give it some thought and speak to our resident modelling genius, see what he can think of,

Maybe magnets secretly hidden in various possible damage points.

Maybe magnets secretly hidden in various possible damage points.

This was my first thought. Very small magnets in suitable dramatic locations could be used as "anchor points". The fire/debris plumes (i wouldnt use smoke so much tbh as this is in space....fire could be burning venting oxygen though) would be small given the scale, so even tiny rare earth magnets would be more than enough.

I like it!

Since it's going to be small, you could just have the cotton (or whatever) attached to a little lump of putty, which you then stick on the model. You can then easily remove it afterwards.

I was thinking something similar, puddy would likely be safe and easy to use. But the use of strategicly attached nano magnets is also a good idea. Hard to evaluate without the models in hand, I'd worry the shine of the magnets would make them stick out. Yet surely each model must have a few unobtrusive points. Unless you can paint magents to match the hull or at least a dull generic color? Can you paint magnets?

For the squadrons I think it would be especially easy though. Puddy or a magnet attached on the bottom side of each fighter would be perfect. As the squadron takes damage you can add flames to each subsequent fighter to show acruing damage.

Would you be able to place the magnets on the underside of the ship? If the ploom is small enough, it wouldn't take much to stabilize it.

The putty I have is a petrol base -- which can damage the finish. Not sure I want to do complete repaints, so I am debating doing this with a very small pin holes -- stick-pin /push-pin size or smaller. Then anchor the tuft of fluff to about 1/4" / 5mm length of wire, and slide it into the hole to show damage.

Now there's a good idea, pin holes. But what would be sharp enough to make such a fine hole? Would a push pin work? I wouldn't wanna be trying to force a tack or sewing needle and risk cracking the mold.

I have a pin vise: A tiny, hand held drill with very small drill bits.

Similar to this.

Resulting holes are pretty much invisible -- unless I hold the mini right up in my face.

But will you have time to do yours after doing mine?

But will you have time to do yours after doing mine?

Heh! Not sure when I'll find time to do either -- since I must first paint the squadron markings on my Reb Fighters...

Crap, that's one excuse I completely agree with. And I'll be looking forward to seeing your tutorial.

I like this Idea

You could even make the number of holes equal the hull points. So that as you victory slowly gets chunks of it blasted off you add a smoke and flame effect for each hull point lost.

I like this Idea

You could even make the number of holes equal the hull points. So that as you victory slowly gets chunks of it blasted off you add a smoke and flame effect for each hull point lost.

And lo: Behold wisdom.

Maybe use something like this in the holes

http://www.micronwings.com/Products/NeodymiumRound1.0mmX1.0mm/index.shtml

drill 1mm holes, stick one of these in until flush. Use the same or bigger ones on your flame effect. voila!

1 mm rare earth magnets? sweet!

hmmm.... Since 16 are needed to do smoke for a Victory, at 89 cents each, that's an additional $14.24 per Vic to add battle damage.

Maybe you could use the Verpine means of counting in base 12. Or simply make smoke count for 1 damage, firey smoke for 3.

The magnets are going to be the "go to" of the hardcore modeler, I believe.

For me, I think pin holes will do -- if I ever get around to making this really cool idea happen

I would actually use the 1mm magnets as the embedded ones in the model, and larger, flatter ones as the base for the removable damage effect. That way you wouldn't have to line them up so precise when placing them during a game

There's no reason you couldn't paint over the magnet if you wanted to.

To be honest, we use smoke and flame colored fiber in our historical mini group, the fibers being lightweight will attach to protuberances on the model without glue or magnets. Just snag it on there.

Also, the fires would be small on a capship, but would look BAD-ASS on the table, I think.

Just gonna give this a small bump since ships are here and wave 1 is incoming. Any more thoughts on this?

I do Dystopian Wars and magnetize those turrets. Started out using the rediclously tiny magnets but found the larger ones much more cost efective (and stronger). I'm frequently able to buy 1/8 × 1/16 N48 cylinders on amazon, they run about $5 for 100. If you're already planning to repaint a model, this is no big deal.

For increased smoke and flames realism:

Attach a firecracker to each model as it takes hits.

Attach and M80 firecracker if it's a critical hit.