Some work in progress...

Subject: Some work in progress... Sat 15 Sep 2007 - 23:01

Hi folks.

I've been working on some Mordheim scenery and thought I'd share my work in progress.

I don't have much space in the flat I'm currently living in so am creating 12-inch square tiles that can be stored away on shelves (I've done 4 so far).

I quite like being able to fix the buildings onto the ground as I can then sculpt debris around them. The tiles can of course be arranged in a variety of combinations.

The tiles are made of MDF and covered with a wallpaper that roughly looks like cobblestone.

I have painted just one of my undead warband - a zombie - to help give a sense of scale.

You might notice the inclusion of the GW Chapel; I bought this a while ago to use for Warhammer and although I think it's overpriced I actually like the sculpt so added a graveyard for my zombies to sleep in at night Smile

Some of the buildings aren't that great as I didn't really know what I was doing when I started, but anyway.. here's some clickable thumbnails:

BTW what size gaming board do you folks use for Mordheim (So I know what to aim for)?

Mark.

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sat 15 Sep 2007 - 23:46

Yeah really cool buildings! And I like the tree!

Damn it, I have to get back to work Laughing

And to answer your question: A Mordheim board should be about 4'x4'

Btw: What are these leaves made of?

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sun 16 Sep 2007 - 0:29

Thanks Erkwin. 4'x4' means I have a lot of work to do!

I cheated with the leaves and bought them online from a shop here in the UK:

www.barrule.com

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sun 16 Sep 2007 - 10:09

Yes, so I do Laughing

Hm, I'll see if I can get them somewhere in Germany.

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sun 16 Sep 2007 - 11:50

Great work, Mark! Your scenery looks reaaaally cool! You focused a lot on the little details on the ground (like leaves, debris and stuff) and it looks just great!
Good job on the chapel + cemetery too.
There's one thing I don't understand, though: you made some 12 inch square tiles and you fixed your buildings on them? Are your buildings permanently fixed on the ground or can you swap them as you like?
And how many 12 inch tiles did you already build? If I'm not wrong, you'll need 16 of them to make a 4'x4' gaming table... cyclops

And how do you put these 12'' tiles together? Do you simply line them on a table or do you somehow fix them so that they won't move?

ooh sorry I'm asking a lot of questions, lol! It's just that I never saw something like this before... your Mordheim city is really interesting!
With Tom me made it quite simple: 2 main 4'x2' styrodur planks (for the ground) that we put together to have the 4'x4' gaming table, and then we just place the buildings randomly on this table! Your method is quite different.
Anyway, cheers for the pictures and keep up the good work!

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sun 16 Sep 2007 - 16:39

Thanks Tortiou.

Yes the buildings are permanently fixed to the boards, but the boards aren't fixed to anything so can be placed in any order and direction so as to create a multitude of possibilities. At the moment I just place them next to each other; if movement proves to be an issue I may have to devise a way of keeping them in place. I will probably end up playing on the floor as I don't have a large enough table to play on.

I've built 4 tiles so far, so 12 to go - yikes that's a lot to do!

I'm building a tile with a ruined monument on at the moment so I'm going to get back to it...

Mark.

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sat 22 Sep 2007 - 16:13

Hello again.

I finished my ruined monument terrain tile last weekend and painted a couple more zombies during the week and thought I'd share some pics. My zombies sure are happy in their new home Smile

Comments and suggesions for improvement are always welcome.

Mark.

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sat 22 Sep 2007 - 19:13

Very nice!
Did you use Hirst Arts for the monument?

the zombies look cool as well... Braaaiiiins!

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sat 22 Sep 2007 - 23:53

Thanks Erkwin. Yes I did use Hirst Arts for the top part (pillars and dome bit); the rest I sculpted out of foam board.

Here's what it looked like before I painted it:

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sun 23 Sep 2007 - 20:59

Firstly....Brilliant m8 just brilliant

second.. what did you use for the base of the half torn thing (last pic)

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sun 23 Sep 2007 - 21:30

I am stunned!

Fantastic work! You, my friend, are a wizard Smile

My stuff looks horrid next to what you produce with those 2 magical hands of yours...

When I first thought about building a gaming table, I also thought about that "tiles" system. But I reckoned it would not look good, so I made my table in the "classic" warhammer-ish way (board + scenery). You are in the process of proving me terribly wrong...

Please post more! Your creations are adding a new exciting dimension to the forum.

Thanks for sharing and HAIL TO THE KING, BABY (i.e. You!) king

Take care,
Tom

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Mon 24 Sep 2007 - 0:08

Wow; thanks for the massive compliments Tom and Hellfoot.

I'm really only using the tile system out of necessity to be honest as I don't have the space for a large board. One disadvantage of it is that inevitably you can see where the tiles join up - although it's not quite as obvious as I had feared. Yet I do like the advantage of being able to 'mould' the scenery to the tiles.

Oh and Hellfoot; the base is just MDF board with wallpaper on and sprayed black. Nice and simple Smile

Mark.

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Mon 24 Sep 2007 - 6:23

Wow! I'm positivly impressed by your work! And you do it so fast too. You'll have a full table in no time, and so good looking too.

Your zombies are great too!

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Mon 24 Sep 2007 - 17:54

Thanks John. It's a pleasure to share my work with such an eager audience Smile

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Mon 24 Sep 2007 - 18:27

Your terrain looks absolutely great ...makes me want to try my hand at craeting some stuff of my own ...though right now I think I should concentrate on trying to assembly and paint my dwarven band first ....

On a sidenote I just painted my very first miniature ever (pic in avatar) ...12years ago I used to play WHFB but I never got past the point of coating my chaosarmy and on to actually painting it .....but after falling victim to the attraction of Mordheim ...I decided to give it a try again as Im collection my dwarven band ....

claus
_________________
He who gathers money little by little makes it grow.
- Proverbs 13:11 (Dwarven Treasure Hunters)

Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold. - Euripides (Dwarf skill "Extra Tough")

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Mon 24 Sep 2007 - 18:40

Thanks for the compliments Claus. I must say you've done a fine job with your dwarf - especially if it's your first ever attempt! Are you going to do anything to the base as I reckon it would look even better with a bit of texture or something...?

Right now I'm comtemplating building a cylindrical tower type of building but I think it might prove to be quite tricky. I've also got some water-effect stuff that I'm not sure what to do with. Maybe I should just paint a bit more of my warband instead...

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Mon 24 Sep 2007 - 18:53

@Mark ...yes I think I will try to do something about the bases too ...the thing is that I was thinking that perhaps it would be easier to both give the figure a good coating with the spraycan and paint it too ...if it wasnt attached to a base yet ...so the base isnt coated ...but then afterwards I got to hey I need to have something to hold only when I paint ...so I attached them to bases ...anyway yes I do intend to go back and do something about the bases ...nothing fancy I imagine probably just glue on some sand ...coat it black and drybrush it with something grey-ish ...

...Looking at the picture I just realised I forgot to paint the darned boots ! *g*
_________________
He who gathers money little by little makes it grow.
- Proverbs 13:11 (Dwarven Treasure Hunters)

Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold. - Euripides (Dwarf skill "Extra Tough")

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Tue 25 Sep 2007 - 16:05

im referring to the stairs and pedestal

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Tue 25 Sep 2007 - 18:27

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sun 6 Apr 2008 - 16:28

Hi Mark,
Some very nice work there; very imaginative. The cemetry is just beauiful, * I like the home grown tree. Excellent stuff. cheers

I use quite a lot of pink foam for virtually everything I do scenery-wise. Like you I base up my buildings et al on a standard foot print; in my case I use "fan" insulation foam. It looks like a accordion with each panel 4'X2'X3/8". For a base [table] I mount two panels on a double panel, which allows the base/table to be folded for storage. Before join the panels I cut foot prints into the separted panels to allow flush placement of the buildings.

With a pencil or a sharpen dowel I engrave paving/cobble stones into the bases. The "fan" foam is two layers glue together & the layers can be separated with a little care & a sharp hobby knife/box cutter [BTW the grain of the two foam boar sections go left to right on one top to bottom on the other for strength] , I cut out 1'X1" squares using a GW 25mm base in the top layer of the foam & insert grates made of wooden fire place match sticks for the outer edges & thinner kitchen match sticks for the bars [ther are a lot of similar things you can do with the base].

I hope that wasn't too confusing; desciptive text is NOT a strong point with moi. confused

If you have any questions or would like more info/ideas, I'd be delighted to be of service. Sir, yes sir!

Thanks for the cool photos.

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sun 6 Apr 2008 - 17:18

Wow!

Thanks for bumping this mark, I never saw this before. Freaking amazing job, mark! Just outstanding. It's such a perfect piece for Mordheim too! Easy to walk "through" it, and yet it still can provide good cover. Well done! cheers

Just as a side note: Would it have been possible not to glue it to the MDF? If you didn't glue it to the board, is the foam strong enough to hold itself together? then you would be able to put this terrain in between panels, and cover the cracks. Just a thought.

I'll definitely be stealing this idea. Wink

_________________
-Ashton Sanders
-Mordheim in Montana Blog

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sun 6 Apr 2008 - 18:27

Ash,

The "fan" foam is tough enough that I also use it for movement trays. Normally the combination of a decently accurate cut & the effects of the spacing between the paving stones is sufficent to mask the crack. on some pieces that I want to entend beyond the 1'X1' boundaries [like the Memorial Garden pieces & the stuff for St Vollar's graveyard] I do a standard foot print with a larger base over it; as it overlaps the slot the foot print fits in it totally covers the crack. You could use a footprint smaller than a the building & either plug the slot or glue it to the bootom of the building. scratch

Mark,
Sorry if I borrowed your spot. Again Very nice work. cheers

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Thu 24 Apr 2008 - 2:45

You guys are getting me inspired...keep up the good work.

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Thu 24 Apr 2008 - 20:43

wow man, just wow. I can't add anything to the conversation except keep up the good work!

Subject: Re: Some work in progress... Sat 7 Jun 2008 - 23:30

looks great!! i think i can learn much from you!! Smile