Colossals event terrain

[Peg leg Pete]

so, it was announced earlier that the Colossals even terrain will be a huge-base-sized objective that is themed as a rally point, or sanctuary, or some other place of safety.

has anyone given any thought to what they might be building?

[Iron_Peanut]

I also heard that the Santuary counts as an obstacle, and there will be one per table, so maybe that'll inform some of your design choices.
For Cygnar, I'm thinking about a command bunker, but that seems kind of uninspired. Maybe some kind of stormchamber refueling depot that is covered in coils and lightning rods/pods.

[Peg leg Pete]

that could be interesting. I'm tossing around two ideas right now: either a Khadoran munitions dump/fortified structure with propoganda posters all over it, or else a Baba Yaga hut to go with the Old Witch.

[Lachlan the Mad]

...a Baba Yaga hut to go with the Old Witch.

You will build this and you will build it NOW.

[Peg leg Pete]

looking at the size of the terrain requirements (cd sized), it might be difficult to get the scale right. If i do it, i'm going to have the house resting on the earth, and have legs coming out the side. the difficulty is trying to fit everything i want on to cd. for instance, i'd love to get the fenceposts of skulls ringing the house.

as i'm writing this, i'm looking at a CD and comparing cups and such to try to find inexpensive building materials...and i looks like a big-gulp-sized cup will fit nicely on the CD. I'll just have to cut it partway up so that the hut isn't comically tall.

hmm...if i have the hut standing, but only a couple of inches off the CD, i can put the legs underneath, and make them out of pink foam or something. i might be able to do the fence under there too...

Do you think anyone would mind if the "obstruction" were raised off the base a little? Or should it be solid all the way up?

[Peg leg Pete]

addendum: texturing a cup would be difficult. any suggestions?

[Entiago]

it can be as tall as you want it, I would do the legs under as a standing hut, maybe in a swamp with the skulls fences on the perimeter.

[Peg leg Pete]

after i posted that i started experimenting with orange sticks, and i think you're right. having it standing would be best so i can keep the hut to the correct base size without overlap. i'm going to make it like a log cabin basically, but in a hexagon shape. i'm going to try to sculpt the legs out of clay to add some stability to the hut. i have a cup from a convienience store that has an interesting-looking taper to the bottom that i'm going to use for the roof. i'm going to cut the bottom off to see if it will fit correctly, and then if it does i'll cut notches into it when i place it onto the top so it fits snuggly.

still nto sure how i'm going to texture/paint the cup. think i'll try attacking it with some sandpaper to rough it up before gluing it in place.

[Entiago]

you could use plaster on the outside for a texture, then sand bits of it after it dries. Or use plastic
styrene sheets that have texture on them already and glue to the cup.
http://www.plastruct.com/Pages/OnlineCatalog.lasso
http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/index.htm

just 2 companies I can think of that sell textured plastic styrene sheets.

[captainspud]

Copied from mah blug from a few weeks ago:

My basic idea was this: for each faction, I ask myself what kind of structure its soldiers and generals would consider to be a sanctuary. Where do they feel safe and secure? The first half of my answers are here for you today. I’ll be building at least a few of these myself for our event, and of course anyone out there is more than welcome to borrow ideas or lift designs whole-hog if you think they’d be fun to build.


Cryxians on the mainland operate underground. They have a massive network of tunnels they use to get around, so if a Cryxian army was withdrawing to a safe location, the most logical place to run to would be an access point– some sort of gate that grants access to their underground maze.


Construction-wise, this is probably the easiest of all of my proposed sanctuaries. All of these sanctuaries would be built on old CDs to give them a stiff base. The rocks would be made from foam, cut into spiky forms to wrap the maw in a jagged halo, and blended into each other with spackle (ah, spackle… how I love thee). The maw and the bit of tunnel should be easy enough to build out of plasticard and cardboard.


One thing that would look especially cool on this piece is if I can find a battery-powered green LED to put inside base, which would then glow out through the tunnel mouth and the grating. There’s a really awesome surplus store down the street from me that has all kinds of stuff like that, so I’ll see what I can dig up…


The Cygnar sanctuary is a guard tower. It’s raised off the ground, with a simple mechanikal winch to raise and lower people and supplies.


The lower section would be fairly easy to build out of insulation foam; I’ll leave enough room to walk a heavy ‘Jack through the arches, and use the “scratch with ballpoint pen” method to create the stone pattern. The top part would likely be done in foamcore, with the square tile technique swiped from the Legends display board’s roads– gluing down dozens and dozens of small cardboard rectangles.


The guns are an easy scrounge: I have a ton of extra Cygnar plastic kit bits in my bin, so I have a ready supply of Metal Storm chainguns to turn into pindle mounts. The only part I’m not sure how to build is the winch; some combination of corks, pill bottles, and plasticard seems promising, though.


No, the winch isn’t actually going to work. :P


The Khador tower is along the same lines as the Cygnar one, except much more Khadorified. It’s heavy stone construction from base to cap, with riveted iron windows and emplacements. Where the Cygnaran tower identifies itself with a dainty banner, the Khadoran tower is emblazoned with several tons of steel in the shape of the Anvil.


While I don’t have them on-hand like the chainguns, I don’t imagine it’ll be tough to mooch spare bombards off of local Khador players…

[captainspud]

Stupid image cap...

The next two sanctuaries are less military and more spiritual. In a time of need, I see Protectorate troops opting for the safety of a temple over a military base, shielding themselves in the lawgiver’s protection. Not a true church, this is just a remote chapel– enough room inside for a few individuals to pray, but nonetheless boasting a massive pyre in the top bit that shines out through a cut-out Menofix in the walls.


I’m not entirely sure how to build the walls– the slow curve rules out styrofoam and likely foamcore as well. Plasticard seems promising, but 1) my supply is dangerously low, and 2) it’s kind of a pain to cut out a detailed shape like the Menofix. Cardboard is likely too soft… I’ll need to experiment a bit to find a material that works.


Like the Cryx one, this is a great spot for some lights, if I can find some.



The Retribution are a faith-based organization, so again I opted for a small temple. I really love the design of Iosian architecture, so I drew this up as a mix of the drawing in the IKWG, the cover of Forces of Retribution, and the tutorials in NQ36– simple block forms with dividing lines; mostly made of white stone, but with veined marble in the recesses.
To be honest, the main draw for me here is building one of those cool Scyrah statues you always see broken in the more recent artwork. Scyrah cuts an impressive figure, but she’s built from shapes that should be very easy to sculpt. The statue will be insulation foam with putty outside, and everything else will be clean-cut foam and foamcore.
If I’m doing lights, a green one would look cool to back-light the statue in its recess.


The final sanctuary I designed this week was for the mercs, and specifically for the Rhuls. This one was a no-brainer: a dwarf feels safest underground, in a prepared fortification. This one is intended to be a civilian mine, but like everything with the Rhuls, it serves a dual function as a bunker.


For this one, I’d build the round structure first out of insulation foam, and then bury it in foam boulders and spackle like the Cryx mine. I could try to build the tracks myself, but it seems like it’d be easiest to just buy six inches of track from a train store and call it done…

I'm still working on the Hordes designs, they should be up this week or next week. I'm aiming to build at least half of these for my store's event at the end of August.

[ForestZ]

Those are great designs, captainspud! If I wasn't so busy with my board I'd be seriously tempted to implement them all!

[Peg leg Pete]

wow, those look great! i do have a question though: i'm largely trying to make mine more or less impassable to fit with the obstruction rule, but it looks like a lot of those will be model-accessible. is this by design so they can be used later, or is it possible to occupy the same space as an obstruction and i'm just remembering the rules wrong?

[captainspud]

wow, those look great! i do have a question though: i'm largely trying to make mine more or less impassable to fit with the obstruction rule, but it looks like a lot of those will be model-accessible. is this by design so they can be used later, or is it possible to occupy the same space as an obstruction and i'm just remembering the rules wrong?

By default, obstructions are impassible, and from what we know that will be the case for this event. However, I'm building these ones to allow models to sit on/in them to allow for more interesting terrain at a later date-- a desire has been periodically expressed at my venue for terrain that models can actually use instead of merely walking around, so I'm trying to accommodate that with these pieces.

[Peg leg Pete]

that makes sense. and, taking that into consideration, i'm raising the hut i'm trying to build up to allow infantry to walk under it and the roof portion is getting a "corrugated steel" a-frame that a solo (a widowmaker marksman, for instance) can stand in.

[Dacian]

that makes sense. and, taking that into consideration, i'm raising the hut i'm trying to build up to allow infantry to walk under it and the roof portion is getting a "corrugated steel" a-frame that a solo (a widowmaker marksman, for instance) can stand in.

Sounds good, crack to i want to see a chicken legs

Id love to give this a go as well, i made my own scrapjack in the same vein, a hut on legs for our resident baba yaga, though at that size its more of a dog kennel on legs...

[Entiago]

nicely designs Capt

[Corinth]

These designs are incredible, Cap! I've started casing Hirst Arts blocks for the Khador and Cygnar sanctuaries. I'm going to use the blocks as a foundation, but I'm planning on a using a lot of plasticard and apoxisculpt to give the buildings an Iron Kingdoms vibe. I wish I could start on them now, but I have GenCon obligations to finish first.
Do you have any tips on how to sculpt using pink foam? I have no experience doing that.

[Asp]

Are some very nice designs....seems the hordes one would be fairly easy to concept out too. I really like the Rhulic piece in particular.

Lets see:

• Trollbloods, the traditional round stone hut
• Everblight, Huge spawning pool from NQ or a tower of sorts
• Skorne, ???
• Circle, a huge tree with bolt hole into cave
• Farrow, really just a rundown and trashed version of any other factions cast off fortification
• Blindwater, a deep water lake opening into a cave complex like in the jungles of mexico

-Asp

[darisus]

I want to do a Menoth signal tower. Say like it was on the border to signal approaching armies. I have a long heavy cardboard tube just smaller then then a cd base which i want to textrue paing like stucco. then add an outside stariway built out of bassa wood most likely, with a large fire pot on the flat top... Maybe some menofixes on the side... got to have menofixes on everything just like WH and its skulls.

[Wulfenstein]

Really liking the concepts of the blog captain. Will be following your progress.

[Peg leg Pete]

I want to do a Menoth signal tower. Say like it was on the border to signal approaching armies. I have a long heavy cardboard tube just smaller then then a cd base which i want to textrue paing like stucco. then add an outside stariway built out of bassa wood most likely, with a large fire pot on the flat top... Maybe some menofixes on the side... got to have menofixes on everything just like WH and its skulls.

i like the sound of that...reminds me of one of these:

[comrade]

I'm going to go with something simple just because of the time crunch. I'm going to make a hexagonal pillbox with sloped sides.

[Peg leg Pete]

baba yaga's hut is coming along nicely. sadly, no work in progress pics.

i abandoned the idea of the crow's nest on top of the house. it just didn't look quite right. instead i made some cardboard shingles!

the legs have been a bit of a problem. i used some air-dry clay wrapped around woooden sticks for support. there have been a couple of instances of the legs snapping off, but i've added extra clay along the join. this serves two purposes, added stability and a more "organic" look, as if the legs are actually growing out of the bottom of the house. after the main part of the leg dried i went back with smaller, thinner layers of clay to add the scaly chicken-leg texture.

the cabin was a bit of a struggle as well, it was hard getting the pieces to fit together directly. in the end i just glued it in how it felt and added some more clay to the parts holes. after all, in a real cabin they would do something similar. scratch built a door and glued it to the cabin.

i'm hoping to get it assembled over the weekend so i can start painting. once it's build, i'll try to get a pic up!

[pavel0]

I started on a runed monolith for Circle. I found out the hard way that wet paperclay sucks for detail work. I'll try scraping out the runes after it's dried instead. It's my first attempt at terrain anyway so I'm not expecting anything amazing. I may post a pic after it's done, if that happens.

[MadJack]

Here's my work-in-progress gun tower sanctuary:

[MadJack]

The main guns come are magnetized in order to rotate or be removed in case I want to use them for something else:


Now I just have to paint it.

[Butcher's boy]

Those designs are incredible spud

How are you intending to make the Khador tower, it's exactly what I want for my board

[vvp]

I went with a different mindset for this project (and obv mine isn't as cool)

[Mastershake]

Simple papercraft elf tower.

[Brownboot]

I really like that moss stuff you got going vvp!

[WarlockFiretopMountain]

I went with a different mindset for this project (and obv mine isn't as cool)

I think a magical monument of some kind makes more sense, considering the rules specify that models are protected for being adjacent to it, not inside it. Maybe if I have time, I'll make the stone circle I've been planning, using old chessmen.

Having said that, I've made a bunker/bastion building for my Searforge, out of old toilet parts. I may post a WIP. Planning on getting it painted before my Colossals launch event this Sunday. But hey, I get the points just for having it 'modelled', right?

[Mordjinn]

Great designs everyone! Is there somewhere I can find the rules for the Colossal event scenarios/terrain? Or is it something that will be released soon/later? We've just been playing our little games and all these special thingies are something weird for us...

[WarlockFiretopMountain]

Rules here:

http://privateerpress.com/organized-...-release-event

PS a 120mm base is the size of a CD or DVD.

[PG_DocEther]

I went with a different mindset for this project (and obv mine isn't as cool)

I love it! Going with something similar. Going to try and make it look like the forgotten grave of a lost hero.