Eylau 2007 - Dry Ice Effects review

 Taking a look back at the blog over the past 20 years, I saw that there were some requests to get more details about the dry ice 'blowing snow' effects from the 200th anniversary Eylau game that I ran at the February 2007 Dak-Kon convention games event.

 

a fantastic original image
captured by David Henderson
now updated with the clip2comic effect

I had started off the 200th anniversary battles with Austerlitz, with Kelly Jones' and his 15mm collection in 2005, then moved on to Auerstadt using my own 25/28mm minis in 2006.  Now I had committed to running an Eylau battle at the, then annual, Dak-Kon games event.

I started off figuring out how to represent a snow covered battlefield, now using my new metal base stands, with a 'batting' material as the 'snow effect' on the top of the metal. I would also need to have a full battlefield laid out in 'artificial snow', I had only just got the cloth covering figured out and colored, here now I was going to mess with it using three different types of 'snow' effects to cover it up!
 

wide angle shot of test #1
in the garage of the house we
had just moved into

showing off the home-spun
'geohex" terrain under the cloth

Second playtest I was able to borrow a friend's living room to lay it out closer to what the actual table at the game event would be.

here the table fills the living room and part of the kitchen
fully laid out to get some movement experience

again the home-spun 'geohex' would be under the cloth

this time the newly 'snow covered'
units would get put out

dry-ice fog would be tested out
the many images are now on the
Napoleonic Collection
page on the blog here

what the bases looked like

then with the dry-ice fog

entire new formations would take to the
field for the first time in this battle

the sky cloth would get some feature time as well
in the images from the game

Testing now done, the game was to be staged in the long Saturday of the event.

with the troops all ready to take action

the bare terrain

a wider view of the terrain

alternate view of terrain

again a wider view of the game layout

here you can see the massive layout and all the
boxes under the table that held the terrain and materials
(on the floor to the left is the ice chest holding the dry-ice)

then, after a turn of movement, the dry-ice effect
was put out the first time
David Henderson, learned on the fly as he took
photos with the highly reflective dry-ice fog
using flash photography

This first run of the dry-ice effect, has the backs of
my eldest son (then 8!) and Jeff Hudelson walking
thru frame at times.
The video is also sped up so as to not take overlong
to show the effects

 

there were other games going on at the event
including a role-playing one

we took the left overs from the first display
in the blue bowl, added some fresh warm water
and shared it all on the table with the
role-players
(the dice set makes a neat visual)

 

the many prizes for the games event
note the one in the center
my aim to capture with the best presentation

game then resumed

loads of cavalry were present at this battle

indeed one flank was almost only cavalry

and with Murat at their head, they could form
a Grande Charge!

then came more dry-ice fog!

again the dry-ice reel has been sped up
there was a moment of camera shock and
the video is shifted and edited to remove
the random images from the video

a still shot, showing the plastic 'dishes'
which were from plant pots
that I used to hold the dry-ice and warm water
that was used to quick sublimate
the dry-ice into the fog across the tabletop

sometimes the water 'dripped' out from the dishes
as appears here on the ice road in front of these Russians

more moves happened

then it was time for the dry-ice again

for this third go-round the camera is steady, then does some zooming
during the ice sublimation

 

 

one of the two best images from the event is captured
by David Henderson here with the Guard Chasser a Cheval

 

another shot showing the dry-ice and water
interacting, the water at this stage has cooled
sometimes water ice formed on the water
or the outside of the pans
which is why there were cardboard 'coasters'
under the pans
you can see them sometimes as I lift up the pans
in the cleanup sections of the videos

more battle took place, and I saw an opportunity
photo that I wanted to take with the dry ice
effects in progress ...

now the skills had been set, and many great photos
came during the effects

I captured what I think to be an amazing
photo, of the snow effect (you can just see the trays)
and the minis in combination with the sky cloth
that I had all painted.
Everything I had been working on up to that point
was now featured in a single photograph in action
on the tabletop!

often I was only able to jump into getting photos
as the dry-ice effects were winding down

more game action

more of the swirling mass
Russians attempting to get at the flank
of the massive French line

A Russian command stand on a little hillock
(flash photo)

same command on the hillock
(no flash)

wider angle shot, the many plates
with dry-ice are winding down
their fog generation as the warm water
became cold
(flash on)

same view of the wind down
(flash off)

I am not trying to bore you, 
so this is the 5th run of the dry ice effect

 

certainly some shots just show too much of the plates

 

while others, even with the plates look amazing

the last video
much shorter

again, some shots just do not work out

the wider ones often give away the effect
though they show the means to create the effect
well

my technique of using men from the unit,
tipped over, to show the dead
gives a haunting final image from the battle
likely the carnage from this historical battle
was not unlike this ...

those who have read the blog post
from 19 years ago
know how this turns out
I did win the Best Presentation

a closeup of the mini on the award
I still have the award and plan to re-model
it; combining with a video screen to
showcase all sorts of minis and
games imagery, saving wall space

The event 'theme' was Badlands,
it was reflected in the marketing:

 

keen eyed readers might have seen the
program books with this on the cover

I'll finish here with the clip2comic
conversion of that great photo

At long last the details about the dry-ice fog effects have been revealed.  I have not taken so long with the other things I have done since, as I have been wiser to simply capture it and share it soon after the events, so that I do not have to go through this process.  I can be taught!