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Greetings Terrans, how goes it? It has been a busy time at balloony HQ! With a ton of terrain to work through, I have focussed on scenario 1 for the time being – Ork huts, rubbish piles and a great big fuck-off temple (BFT for short).
First let’s take a look at the huts:
I reckoned that the map called for something about 12” by 4”, so I needed something in kit form that could be tailored to fit. After some research, I decided to use a kit from Crooked Dice – they have a good generic scrappy look to them, and the kit design gave me plenty of options in terms of size. They were a bit of a faff to assemble, but were worth the effort I think. The tops are removable so it is easy to use the indoor space during a game, so I built them with the idea of being able to use them as a fire base (with numerous openings and such). I also did a load of bin bags & grubby mattresses to use as ‘indoor scatter’:
I went in with a heavily stained & rusted look & added some little humour points – Badyear & Dung-lob tyres, suspicious stains, graffiti, etc. Probably the best thing about these huts (and the crap inside them) is that they turn up in the first three scenarios, so they have great reusability in the campaign.
Next, we have the rubbish piles:
Again, these are from Crooked Dice, and were treated in a similar way to the huts but painted to look even more grungy. Not too much else to say here – these are just generic scatter/light cover, and are likely to turn up in multiple scenarios too.
Finally, we have the BFT…
When I first decided to take this project on, (11 months ago!!), I knew that I would need something MAHOOSIVE for this. The map shows the temple platform as being around 24” by 18”, so I took a punt and sent a letter to GW, asking them to release a suitable kit… they were very obliging with their new Domain of Sigmar Shattered Temple – great job guys, and just in time too!!
Ok, so I made that last bit up, but I was genuinely delighted with the release – it really is the perfect solution. I made the temple in three parts – the biggest central bit and two smaller wings. I chopped the steps off the long edges of two kits, and glued them together to make the big central section. I drilled out one of the round vault bits to make a hole for the grav lift – spookily, the vaults are exactly 3” in diameter, just as specified in the campaign. I glued in a suitable pot to complete the lift, and arranged the pillar supports to level off the sides where the centre section would connect to the wings. The wings themselves were far more straight forward, and are just the basic temple with the pillar supports all down one edge to connect to the centre, (I really like that the kit allows you to do that). Finally, I glued the pillars that came with the temple into sets of four to make six chunkier pillars, and these just sit on the temple platform as required. I decided to deviate from the game brief slightly and not bother with a roof for the temple… I figured that it would be pretty redundant gamewise, and that it would just be in the way. After that, it was just a case of treating the stonework to some texture, and setting to it with spray can, washes and drybrush. Here are all the component parts:
And here’s a mock-up of the first game of the campaign:
And as a reminder, here’s the map:
I reckon that’s pretty damn good, don’t you? Here are some fun shots (please excuse the crappy lighting & awkward floor-based photography):
Phew! That’s it for this post, and with less than 4 weeks to go now, I’d better get cracking with the rest of the terrain! Catch you next time… :-)
Bloody hell Alex! That’s unbelievable. You really done an amazing job of putting together scenery that almost perfectly matches what those guys designed so many years ago. And when I say almost perfectly I reckon you’ve done a better job than they would have done back then originally! 😁😂
😆 Cheers mate – it’s looking ok isn’t it! Of course, it all would’ve been built from scratch back in the day, but the clock is against me on this one so I’m happy to use kits 😊
The whole project is amazing, this scenario comes alive. Thanks to your efforts.
Cheers mate, nearly there 😉
BOSS!!!!
😂 Cheers dude!
Absolutely brilliant!
Thanks mate 😊
Wow! Now I am not going to pretend that I know fuck all about the gaming side but that temple is simply stunning and the huts are excellent too. Great work Alex and I am hooked on seeing what comes next. 😊
Cheers mate – I must admit, I’m pretty pleased with how it all worked out😊
Still lots to do, but having those huts crop up in three different games is a big plus!!😉
Funny how things work out – what were the chances of GW releasing the perfect temple kit? I love those shacks – I could do with some myself, but can’t find them on the Spellcrow website – where did you get them?
Yet again, a perfect addition to the project.
Crooked Dice also sell those huts and junk piles (and a lot of other good stuff)
Yeah, they did actually come from Crooked Dice! Embarrassingly, I got confused… 🤭
All corrected now 😊
Cheers mate – yeah, great timing from GW for once! Let’s just not talk about the magic paints that came out just after I finished painting 170ish minis 😂
My mistake in the post / that gear actually came from Crooked Dice! Oops! Corrected it now 😊
Love it! You’ve really managed to capture something that was made in a different time altogether, as Azazel said above. My hat is off for the dedicated work!
Cheers dude, it really has come together very well hasn’t it? I’m delighted 😊
Pfff … getting GW to release the kit you needed is a bit like cheating, you know. 😉
Naw, it’s awe inspiring. What an effort! Great work on the faithful recreation on the scenario. Those luck enough to play the campaign will be in for a threat.
*treat not threat.
The threat only comes if they are rough with my minis 😉
I know, right?? I’m happy to cheat this late in the project – I need all the help I can get! 😉
that looks great. i’m not really a fan of gw’s giant terrain pieces but sometimes they get it just right!
Cheers mate, it is a very good kit tbh! I would’ve liked to de-AoS it a bit, but time was against me on this 😕
Looks great- love the shanty house.
Cheers,
Pete.
Thanks Pete, glad you like it mate – those huts were good fun 😊
The way you’ve brought that map to life is just jaw dropping mate! Fantastic work, all those hours of effort and your attention to detail is really paying off now. Must confess I hadn’t paid too much attention to that temple kit up to now but you’ve made me reappraise it myself. Those shanty houses are a nice find too.
Thanks mate – I figured that after all the WYSIWYG obsessiveness, it was worth trying to follow the map as closely as possible 🤓
That temple is pretty decent tbh – you could go absolutely bonkers with it given enough time an money… I can easily see it being used in a spectacular display at Warhammer HQ! I wish I had the time to tone down the AoS craziness a bit, but it’ll certainly do the job 😊
Your dedication to the project is inspirational man! Love the terrain and I almost believed you about the letter to GW hehe
Cheers mate – it has been a monster of a project dude… 4 weeks time and I’ll be playing it! I really hope they’re good games 🤣
The games will be magic I’m sure man. I look forward to the reports.
That temple’s great! The rest is (literally) just complete and utter crap! Best complete and utter crap I’ve seen in model form mind you! Well done! Am looking forward to hearing how the games go! :-)
Cheers mate – you are 100% correct! Look closely, and the trash piles are literally piles of old electronics crap & bits that Crooked Dice stuck together & made a mould from 😆
So f***ing absolutely fantastic!! I’m really excited to see how this project takes shape step by step. Really looking forward to the game!
Cheers dude – me too!!
Alex, truly amazing stuff. The huts look great and like the stuff you see from TIM tell a story, especially the lovely stained mattresses! The weathering is really well done and these will make a superb game setting. The temple and the rubbish piles are very nice too, but I am enamored of those two huts! Well done!
Cheers mate, the huts were really good fun to paint – all that lovely texture to play with! I’m pleased with the mattresses too, super quick and easy, but very reusable and they certainly add to the narrative I think 😉
Just awesome! :)
Thanks mate – it was great to see this lot come together :-)
Wow, that is some work! I’m looking forward to vicariously enjoying the games soon.
Cheers mate, not long now!! :-)