The Badger's Den

This was a project I built about a year ago for a competition over at TerraGenesis.  I usually build ruins, so this was my first foray into half timber construction.  Also, I play Confrontation, so the things I build are for that setting, though they are very similar in style so totally work for Mordheim. What follows is the write up I did for the competition:

Renown throughout Aarklash, "The Badger's Den" is a frequented stop on the road to Cadwallon. Nestled in the roots and trunk of a giant Quithayran tree, the inn is a frequented stop for Free Companies as they travel to and from Cadwallon.

The inn is made of foamcore as a superstructure, with balsa strips for the timbers, and sculptamold for the daub. The shingles are made of cereal card. The windows were constructed by photocopying a grid onto transparency, then cutting it to shape, and gluing balsa around the edges for the frame.

The tree started as a Quaker Oats tube. It was covered with wadded newspaper to make the overall shape. Then a layer of plaster cloth was applied for rigidity, followed by two thin coats of joint compound. As the last coat of joint compound was drying (after about 3-4 hours), the bark lines were scored into the surface with a pointed stick.

Once the buildings were finished, they were attached to the base and tree. Then a layer of air drying clay was applied around the seams so that it looked like the tree was growing around the building. The tree was then painted with successive coats of brown to light brown.

The woodpile is made of sticks from my yard, and the axe is a carved from balsa with a milliput head. The grass is a mix of Silflour colors and lengths.

The fledgling Free Company in the last picture is the Sister's of Light.

The tree is 45 cm high, the base measures 62 cm x 54 cm. The figures are 28mm scale.

Fantastic construction. The tree is awesome, all is awesome  

Lovely piece, full of character. And it even has a background story. Like it a lot, thanks for sharing!
(now show us the ruins, that's what MH is all about, right? )

First picture I saw I actually shouted: "Wow!"

This is the work of a true master! Congratulations! Everything is absolutely spot on. I particularly find the tree trunk (thanks for the tutorial, by the way), moss on the roof and timbered house bits to be the most impressive in this piece and certainly one of the best things I've seen in modelmaking ever.

Please show us more of your astonishing work!

Joao

That is a FINE Fantasy scene...BEAUTIFULLY & IMAGINATIVELY DONE! 
The Rackham Babes are LOVELY also.  

Wow is right! Really impressive work there.   

I first thought that elements of the house are from Tabletop Worlds awesome resin models but then I read the tutorial and... WOW! I can just say WOW!

Thanks everyone for your kind words.  It is always nice to hear positive feedback about your work.  I''ll try to get some more projects up here very soon.  Is it better to start an individual thread for each one, or do people here prefer that I start a single thread and just keep adding to it with more and more pictures?

You could have two threads: one for terrain and the other for miniatures.

I personally like to put all in one thread to keep it simple and easy to follow (but that's because I usually work on LOADS of different things at the same time).

Either way, we will be here to follow everything you do, now that you've showed us some of your amazing work!

Joao

This is amazing. Wow.