Portals - Terrain

I wanted to make some portals for wargaming - be it D&D or Warhammer, I thought it would be a neat idea to not just have standing stones, but an actual "open" portal within standing stones.

I began with pink insulation foam, carved with my utility knife.

I created a "energy" sort of thing using hot glue (tutorial will be posted shortly)

Assembly of the standing stones and texture.

Cut the hot glue to scale

For one of the portals, I carved into the "stone" to make it look more sinister.

Painting the lines red, then covering in black.

Then various shades of grey...

Painted the base and the portal itself - the portal is also painted with glow in the dark paint for effect while gaming.

Ready for flocking...

FINISHED:

Fallout Shack

FALLOUT BUILDING

D&D Scale 

With the upcoming release of Fallout 4, I got the bug to design some Fallout themed terrain, beginning with a basic building. You might recognize this building if you've played Fallout: New Vegas before - it's the basic skin for most small "shack" buildings like The Grub and Gulp and Deputy Beagles shack in Primm.

The wood is tongue depressors and wooden stir sticks.

The base is foam core

The roof is corrugated cardboard

Standing Stones

Standing Stones

D&D Scale

I was looking at pictures of real life standing stones like Stonehenge and I'm fairly certain I was watching something odd on Netflix when this popped into my head. I've never built them before, but I really loved this build - I can add detail and a wee bit of gore, while still maintaining that D&D feel.

Started out with a pink foam base and randomly cut some large stone-like bits to make up the circle of stones. I didn't measure or anything - I just started chopping and gluing. 

Well, the outer stones weren't enough - I wanted to add a ritual space, and thus the stone ritual altar was born. My husband thinks Aslan belongs on it.

Added some stones and painted the foam to match each other, with a sepia wash.

Even added some kitty litter as small scatter here and painted it to match the rest.

I knew I wanted the center to be dirt and the outer to be more grassy, so I painted the base as such.

Finished, I've added the scatter, some rope around the stones, etc.

The stone altar has two pieces of material (baby wipes) draped over it as an accent - blood drops as well.

Side view

Some trees add a nice accent as well.

I bought the tree bits from Goodwill in the used floral section - I bought a big bunch of stuff for $3 and have already started making use of it.

Top down of the whole scene.

Ruins for D&D Mark II

 Ruins Mark 2

D&D Scale

Something that's always in need, either in D&D encounters or for Warhammer games is ruins. Several years ago I built my first ruins and this week I was working on an updated version.

The basis for these ruins is pink foam, bought from Home Depot. I'm pretty random with my sizing. I go willy nilly with my Xacto blade to get a good chunk, and then use the same blade to cut notches in what will become a rock face.

Cutting pink foam is like fingers to chalkboard for me, so I have a difficult time with it, sometimes. 

Then I cut 1 inch by 1/2 inch blocks that would become the stones the ruins were build from.

White glue to stack them. I did this while the husband was away. He kept stealing my bricks and building things with them. Maybe one day I'll get him to build some ruins. For now, he prefers to just play with what I make - haha

Next was painting the brick and rock. I was unsatisfied with the normal black, dark grey, lighter gray and white situation that one normally does for rock. So after I did that, I took some Sepia ink and added a bunch of water and then washed it over the rock. I feel it makes it a lot more natural, colour-wise.

Then I added skulls, a tree - another tree and some odd rock bits and painted the base green before adding my flock

Front view of ruins

Side view

Up close

Back view

Back rock face.

T

Guillotine - D&D Scale

 Guillotine 

D&D Scale

After making the hangman's hills, I was on a mission of gore. From gallows to guillotine - next up will be some torture chamber items - but they haven't made it from my brain to my paper yet.

So I made two actual guillotine pieces - one is a stand alone little piece and the one I'm showing you, which is a full hilltop scene with the stairs leading up to the guillotine itself.

I began with stir sticks and various scraps of basswood I had. I'd drawn a bit of a sketch with the basic idea and just sort of winged it from there.

Beneath the stand

The two guillotines I made - the sides are made from basswood, the places you would put a persons head had to be made from balsa because it was the only thing soft enough to carve a hole into. The blade is cereal box card folded in half.

Stairs made from stir sticks. I was pretty impatient with this project and used hot glue in most instances, even though I probably should have used PVA - I wanted instant gratification, though.

Base the area in black...

Painted a wood effect with 3+ layers of brown and then edged in tan. I then glued it down to a piece of pink foam I've carved a rock face into.

Sadly it started raining as I was taking pictures, so this is the brightest I could get the guillotine itself.

Coffee and tea mix used for dirt - mix of various substrates for the grass from Woodland Scenics.

Side view

Face on view of guillotine, some blood dripping.

Wooden stairs leading up the mountain to guillotine

Ladder/Stairs up to guillotine

Rope hanging down

Fin.