1st Mordheim Building - Laser-cut "Terror Tower" by Flying Tricycle

A table's worth of Mordheim terrain has long been one of my "some-day" projects tucked in the back of my mind. Then recently there were two unconnected events—finishing painting a long-WIP undead Mordheim gang, and wanting to have a go at a laser-cut building—that let lead me to make one of my signature project detours. I actually finished this detour, though, which is less characteristic. And in less than a month, start to finish (mid-Dec to mid-Jan), which is even less-so.

I picked the OOP "Terror Tower" kit from Flying Tricycle (which was released when Mordheim was in print, I believe) and started right in. And after quite a journey, I finished it:

It's a nice kit, even though there are aspects that are hard to explain, for example too many windows without room for shutters, and what are those balconies for. The railings, if  I was to make a railing from square dowel to go around, would also be too low, (plan to come back and do something about them if/when I think of a good solution—or can you think of one?).

There is more detail, or laser-time invested, than the average kit today, most notably the whole of the outside walls beside the visible timbers has been engraved to make the timbers raised. It's also cut from plywood, which is more expensive than the more common MDF. This is a mixed bag as it's great where the grain of the wood aligns with the grain of the engraved wood planks of pieces that represent wood, but less helpful when the grain cuts across the planks the other way, or is mean to represent daub, brick or stone.

WIP shots:

Seems like a unqualified success, right? The thing is, though, it took me 23 hours 40 minutes. 5 or 6 is closer to what I would have liked. Recording all the time you spend on your hobby has its perils, I warn you.

Part of it can be chalked up to learning something new and experimenting. I went to lengths few would think necessary, such as designing, cutting out and installing a sheet of window frames for the inside walls (no engraving on that side, I'm afraid), texturing the walls with acrylic paste (the kind made from powered marble), and texturing and rescribing all the stone and brickwork.

Love the result (do take a look at the high-res version) and I answered my question, can I make laser-cut brick look the way I think it should, but also confirmed that if there's a next time it will need to use a different method. A big part of the reason I went ahead with this is that I take a very long-term view and I want to get a sense of how much time a full-size Mordheim table would take. This experiment proves I need to go back to drawing board and come up with a faster means. I have a few other less-complex resin ruins in the works too, which so far are less demanding.

Medieval Village Workbench WIP

Here's a medieval village I'm working on at the moment. Have had these for some years but they got to the top of the list as I need them for the D&D campaign. All are Vatican / Hudson & Allen light but sturdy foam except for an Armorcast well and unidentified resin 2-story house. Really fine sculpting and, for the most part, casting. The fortified farm does have air bubble cavities in a few places. The Hudson & Allen line are made by Vatican Enterprises. I have a large (multi-set) Hudson & Allen castle to get to some day as well. I've been tempted by the keep and the watch tower on occasion as well, though I keep telling myself not until I finish the H&A stuff I already have.

Some spray paints/primers will eat holes in the foam and partly because of this I put down a uniform black undercoat of Dupli-Color, which I know to be safe. Next a full coat of Rustoleum flat camo dark brown and then a dusting of the Rustoleum flat camo tan. At this point I can use them in a game in a pinch, and can finish them out at my leisure.

Also on the workbench is a Zvezda wooden palisade fort. The party is at such a fort at the moment, and remains to be seen if I can have it ready (enough) for the next session.

Two Dwarven Forge inn layouts

Plug and play "floor plans" for your games

When it comes to Dwarven Forge layouts I don't even aspire to the kind of crazed inventiveness typically on display on the Dwarven Forge forum. But I was playing around with the blocks one day, making two inns for my campaign, and think they're worth sharing, as, unlike most layouts you see, these are easy for anyone to duplicate and throw in their own campaign. If I remember right I used two basic sets (one was not quite enough), the bar set and the stairs, bed and fireplace from the additions set. Click through to flickr for room labels. If you're in a pinch for inn names the one can be the Sword & Guisarme and the other the Odious Ogre.

Dwarven Forge: Filling in the Bow-tie Connector Sockets Tutorial

Even if you've only considered throwing your lot in with Dwarven Forge, you may have encountered the older sets that have little bow-tie connectors to knit the dungeon together. Dwarven Forge is beautiful stuff on the whole, but the ties are just plain unsightly and unwieldy. I never even considered actually using the ties as I build-on-the-fly rather than set up the dungeon ahead of time and don't have time to fiddle with little ties, and those empty little empty sockets are a blemish that I notice in-game.

And filling in those tie sockets is one of those projects you mean to do but don't get around to… Except I'm pleased to say I did get around to it back in January and here are the results. The pic shows a partial set but I got a whole basic set done. You can also click through for full-size pics if you like.

Sorry, no fancy step-by-step photos here but I do have the steps, paint formulas and a wip shot for you in case you're considering trying this. Be advised there are no easy shortcuts here and you're in for a few hours of work. Definitely have an audiobook at hand.

Step one, I filled in the sockets 2/3 full with pre-mixed concrete patch. Anything archival will do, and you could honestly just skip this step and go right to the DAS clay if you prefer.

The stuff I'm talking about:

Step two, I filled in the remaining space with a mix of DAS airbake clay and white glue. I used the spatula end of a basic sculpting tool and my finger for this. When this was dry I carved the lines between the stone slabs back in with a box cutter and did some detailing with a sculpting needle. You can see I used terracotta DAS but white would probably leave your fingers less colorful.

Here's what DAS looks like in the package

And here's the sculpting done and the painting yet to come:

The last step is painting over the patched bits. I use cheap craft paint, brands Delta Ceramcoat, FolkArt and Americana. Just a quick aside, my local Michael's no longer stocks Ceramcoat and I'm getting a little nervous as certain of my colors run low. Let me know if you have a source for these in California. Maybe Jo-Ann fabric and craft? Anyway, here's the process I used:

1. Base coat: 50/50 mix of Ceramcoat Charcoal and Americana Charcoal. The Americana is very brown and the Ceramcoat very blue-grey. Mixing the two is a good match for the Dwarven Forge floor base color.
2. Then do several progressively lighter passes, adding the following to base coat mix. I do the lighter passes a little splotchy but not quite a dry-brush technique.
3. Add FolkArt Raw Sienna and Ceramcoat Hippo Gray. The dark brown-gray + Raw Sienna = greenish and the Hippo Gray can pull it back toward Neutral as needed.
4. Then add Americana Light Avacodo. This color is the closest match I've found in a single paint to the green tone in the Dwarven Forge.
5. Add Ceramcoat Mudstone or a light neutral of your choice. Ceramcoat Territorial Beige may be of use somewhere around here too. I tend to have a number of paints on my pallette and feel as I go.
6. Wash of base color. That's a thin wash made with opaque paint and lots of water. This is important as it brings the colors together.