Here Be Damnation!

  Even with a 3x3 foot board, I still want a heap of buildings. The docks need to be densely packed, with buildings separated by narrow alleys.  This post is a dump of all the remaining buildings I've put together. Pegasus kit derivatives: With the two temples built, I still have heaps of the Pegasus gothic building terrain left.  I've put them to good use in the following buildings. Here, I've used the wall pieces to create ruined bottom story, and then added foamcore/coffee stir stick upper levels.  I tried out plastic tennis rackets for the windows and am pretty happy with how they turned out.  I also added heaps of rubble using cork bricks. Using 2 corner pieces, plus a broken pillar I was able to create a heavily ruined building.  I've added heaps of rubble, sand and grout. More of the same, but this time I included an intact wall too. Recycling old buildings: I have a couple of buildings from a few years ago which I am keen to use for the new board to...

A key terrain element I wanted for the docks board was some warehouses.  I wanted these to be really large multi-story buildings.  I've used the standard "Eric's Hobby Workshop" approach using foamcore, balsa, coffee stir sticks and card to create each building, but added a few twists of my own as well. Warehouse #1: The first warehouse has been built around a humble pringles can, to which I've added sporadic thin cork bricks to the outside and then liberally rendered with a mix of grout and sand.  Internally, the structure acts as a 'ladder' between the ground floor and first floor.  I've cut doorways and added a handful of stairs to suggest a full staircase. Looking at the image, I've just realised the second flight of stairs leads no where!!   The remainder of this building is foamcore and coffee stir sticks, however I did play around with a more interesting roofline to cover the small office above the pringles can.  This is definitely my favour...

 Working on the docks board has definitely lead me to lean into nautical themed warbands more recently.  The Scibor pirate dwarf range was perfect for Dwarf Treasure Hunter's, but it also drew my attention to their Cthulhu range. I thought the Cthulhu model would be great for a possessed model and then there were also heaps of generic cultists.  This would be the beginnings of my "Cult of the Deep", a Stromfels worshipping chaos cult. Possessed: Many, many years ago I bought a Mantic Sci-fi terrain crate which included an assortment of minis. Unfortunately, the quality wasn't great, so they have sat in a drawer until now.  One of the big aliens looked like it had a horseshoe crab carapace and would be perfect for kit-bashing a possessed.  I replaced its head and claw with parts from a 40k ogryn (perhaps a glimpse of its former humanity?).  I did have to sculpt some hooves in green stuff - not 100% happy with them but it will have to do.  I also sc...

I had the best intentions of doing a simple riser using the same cork stonework as the docks board.  As always, the project has grown!  It is now a riser with a large integrated building - another temple no less!  I've used a box with a telescopic base and top (I think that is the right terminology), so that I can use the inside as terrain too. Method is similar to my other pieces - various thickness cork for paving and tiles, with random pieces of card thrown in to mix up the textures and heights.  The buildings are from Pegasus, cut down and damaged where required.  The statue plates are from Scibor. I've added a small courtyard at the top of the big flight of steps.  I've fenced this off using some Renedra spear top railing fencing and added a foot knight statue (mini from Wargames Atlantic - keen to start a Bretonnian warband at some point!!).   The roof structural beams are balsa with stir sticks for the planking.  Unlike the slate ...

Whenever I am nearing completion on a project, my natural inclination is to start working on a new project - I can't help it.  The Mordheim docks board is just waiting for paint, but I've decided to pull together some Shadow Warriors.  I'd originally bought the GW box as they had a reputation for being OP, and I thought they would be a good warband for my son to play.  Fast forward five years and I thought it was time to finally put them together.  I've supplemented them with a couple of Scibor elves, including one who is a dead-ringer for Elrond from LOTR, and the GW Empire Assassin.  It also was an opportunity to try out a green stuff roller for the bases. From L to R: Shadow Walker, Shadow Walker, Shadow Master, Shadow Weaver. I've added a severed skaven head on the base of the Shadow Master, and have sculpted in a tongue and vertebrae.  The Shadow Weaver uses head, arms and trinkets from the Frostgrave Wizards kit. The three Shadow Walkers are all on la...

  With the board largely done I've turned my attention to the docked ships.  One thing I wanted to add was a mermaid figurehead.  I had the perfect model (a Scibor Cthulhu cultist) which I chopped in two below the knee and added a greenstuff tail. I wasn't really happy with the result and decided to hide my shabby work with skeletons chained around the bow.  I've cut up 4 skeletons (Wargames Atlantic) and chained them roughly using fine jewelers chain.  Much better!! I just need to come up with a suitable name for boat now. There is a space on the back to freehand it on.  Any suggestions would be welcome!!

The last couple of weeks I've been using any spare time to assemble my remaining Pegasus buildings and create ruined and "rubbled" bases for them.  Unfortunately, the kits don't come with stairs, so I've had to improvise, and I think they've turned out okay... Process is as follows: Step 1: Cut out your stair material.  This could be foamcore, XPS, or in my case cork.  All the pieces need to be roughly the same size.  Mine are about 4cm x 1.5cm.  Once this is done, I've used an electric drill to drill a hole in one of the corners of each piece.  These need to be in roughly the same place on every piece.  Once this is done you can bevel your edges if desired. Step 2: Grab a skewer and start threading the stair treads - securing each with some superglue.  Based on the height of my buildings, I know I need 13 treads to get from one level to the next. and I've measured my skewer to ensure there is plenty of room. I found the best way to do this is t...

A bank holiday today which means more work on the Mordheim board.  With the paving complete, it's time to add a few skulls and skeletons and add grout and sand.  Managed to do a first pass of the entire board in a couple of hours and its looking good. Step one is to take the grout mix (one part grout to three parts sand) and pile it on top of the paving. Using an old paint brush, I spread it around making sure it gets down into all the gaps.  I find diagonal strokes are best to ensure you are not brushing it out of the gaps. After a quick spray of isopropyl alcohol, I use a syringe to drop watered-down PVA into all the grout lines. It's a slow process but it looks really good!! Prior to grouting I added a few skulls and skeletons.  That way they look they are partially buried in the dirt and rubble when the grouting is done.  I'm using a cheap box of skeletons (not GW) plus the GW skulls box.   I've been pretty haphazard in the assembly as I know it is...

Another weekend has come and gone, and a little more progress has been made on this Mordheim board.  My focus has been on the dock area itself and that means building jetties.  Very straight forward - balsa for the posts and supports, and coffee stir sticks for the planking.  I wanted two separate jetties running perpendicular to the dock - one at a lower level so that it would be more suitable for smaller vessels to dock, and the other at the regular height for the bigger ship.  I think I'm going to have to add some little ladders to the smaller one regardless. I've also smashed out a heap of paving on the top surface.  Deeply regretting cutting the dock in at a slight angle as it means cutting a lot of custom tiles to fit, but it is looking pretty good and almost finished!! The remaining steps will be to add sand and grout between the pavers, and random rubble and skeletons to the board, and also to prep the boats.  I want to kit-bash a figurehead on to t...