Designing Shroomy Hollow

In my previous posts I've mentioned the Age of Sigmar event which I'm planning for a local gaming centre (The Outpost).  Putting on a big elaborate event takes a lot of time and effort, especially if you're doing it all yourself!  For this project I've produced enough original art to fill a book, let alone the new miniatures and terrain I've been churning out!

Some of these images have been used to produce cards and unit profiles, some for maps and others for new unit concepts.  I've shown you snippets of each of the cards and maps but thought I'd use this post specifically to show some images which are being translated into gaming miniatures and terrain for the event.

Although I don't want to give the game away (pun most definitely intended!), I hope that you'll get a good idea of where I'm going with these pictures and sculpts!

I sketched out a number of huge Mushrooms for the Shroomy Hollow terrain pieces.  The intention was to create a sort of conjured 'Shroom-forest' where a Fungoid Cave-Shaman mixes potions and grows his special shroom crops.  For this reason, the biggest ones had to have a sort of tent shape to the trunk

In order to make the huge Shrooms both structurally sound (as they are intended as terrain pieces) and light, I first sculpted the basic shapes using kitchen foil.  This is a versatile material for quickly mocking up maquettes or bulking out larger models.  As I would be sculpting the final piece in medium and soft grade sculpy, so also needed it to be heat proof.

The next stage was to coat the foil core with sculpey to create an even and smooth outer skin which I would then be able to start sculpting details onto.  I try to keep my sculpy to approximately 2mm thick as this gives just enough thickness to prevent cracking once fired whilst not going crazy with an expensive polymer clay!

Next is the fun stage which is adding details!  The main Shroom bodies are medium grade grey sculpy which is great for structure, but I use soft pink sculpy for some of the details as it's much easier to add without deforming the rest of the sculpt.

As I'm sure you can see from the images, I also used ball bearings for some of the surface boils.  Some of the larger ones would later be removed prior to firing so that I could replace them with lighter plastic balls.  This was to prevent the piece from becoming too top heavy - Sculpy is very light once fired and could topple with the weight of the bearings.

 The whole mushroom has the pleasing silhouette of a gloomspite goblin; I deliberately sculpted the spiky parts on the mushroom's peak to resemble gnarly goblin snouts as well.  The tinfoil packing at the bottom was removed after firing to leave a nice opening for storing arcane potions and implements!

Here's the final sculpt after firing.  Annoyingly, the shroom was so tall that the uneven temperature in the oven burned a couple of the highest spike tips.  Luckily this didn't actually cause any shrinkage or deformation, so this flaw will be hidden once painted.

You can better see the singed peaks in these images as well as some of the details I've sculpted into the cap.  Overall I think this huge Shroom (approximately a foot tall) is a great battlefield centrepiece and I'm very please with it!

This is one of the smaller mushrooms post-firing.  The large Shroom took me a couple of days to produce, but this little fella was done in an hour!

They speak of a huge Dankhold Troggoth who stalks the depths... could this be him?!

Dare you venture Into The Depths?

I've been planning an Age of Sigmar narrative event for almost a year now.  Although it's still at least a few months away, I wanted to give people a bit of a taster of what's to come!

Into the Depths

You are the lord of a growing warband seeking coin and glory for yourself and your chosen Gods. 

Following Nagash’s great Necroquake, whispers of newly revealed dark places, across the known realms have been carried to your ears.  Rarely do opportunities for such riches and power present themselves in these troubled times.  Although you move quickly to gain advantage, you are not the first to overhear talk of these places.

Tracking the source of the rumours is not easy, but you and a variety of your rivals eventually find your way to an isolated mountain shack within Chamon’s desert wastes.  From the outside, the shack resembles a poorly maintained mud hut, smelling strongly of decay and littered with the bones of what you hope were animals…  You pull back the ragged skins covering the entrance revealing what you first thought was a stinking pile of leather and rags until it speaks…

“My most humbled Greetings honoured guests!  The rumours you have heard?  Of course you have, yes!  Come to seek the truth of them?  Yes, yes of course; a much-wise leader would surely not pass on this greatest of opportunities for glory, riches and power!  Wish to hear more you do?  Then be comfortable in my humble dwellings and let me impart the knowings of which I have.

Of the recently discovered dank-dens I speak – by umbral portal, stony pass and hidden fissure have long forgot caverns been found.  For the knowing of ways and the guiding of feet you have come like many before you.  Few have returned from the goings, but those of the coming have given me their wisdoms that I might pass them on to far worthier men such as thee…

Guide your ‘parties’ I shall, to the entrances – but never until the mappings and warnings I have given you!  Of the depths we may know little, but to other more… exotic beings, the caverns are home.

To assist old Trelok in recalling knowings, he requests… a donation towards the upkeep of his fine abode!  Rarely after all, are wisdoms gleaned with no risk to self; perils of great magnitude have been faced in the gathering of the truths which Trelok speaks!  And the truths could save you undoings when venturing into the depths…”

Old Trelok collects your offerings gladly in a filthy bowl, coughing affectedly at anyone trying to avoid the giving of coin.  He quickly squirrels the coins away, hiding them deep within his ragged clothing.

In return, Trelok produces a dusty journal and unfurls several large maps.  He explains that 8 caverns have been discovered across the realms.  Each holds valuable treasures but also great peril for any who enter.

Although whispers of a 9^th have been heard, he has no further information regarding what he calls the ‘Greathold of the Trogg-King’.  He muses that any who discover information as to the whereabouts of this cavern might be rewarded for such a contribution of knowledge…

Trelok offers his disgusting hut as a treasury for your most valuable findings.  Each warband is provided with a chest which Trelok explains will be protected by powerful magical runes which will prevent them from being opened by anyone but the pre-determined owner.  After testing the chests exhaustively, each warband agrees and sets off with hastily taken notes in order to venture Into The Depths…

Here are a few of the cave maps and some of my sketches which all form part of the event itself:

King Stolothum's Mine

Chamber of Illumination

Shroomy Hollow

The Beasthold

One of the curious inhabitants of Shroomy Hollow...

Don't eat the shrooms!

Stalagsquigs are right at home in the deep dark places...

Suffice to say that there are a lot of custom miniatures and scenery in progress at the moment along with some other surprises such as special items I've made for the event like this prototype...

Watch this space for more info in the near future... :)

Hounded

Last week I posted some WIP images of my Warhounds; today I wanted to post a quick update showing how I'm getting on!

Fulgur Manus (Lightning Hand)

My first Warhound, Fulgur Manus is now complete and ready to march out alongside Ferrum Domminus at the ToC Walk this coming weekend!  These are just some quick pics that I snapped; I'll be doing a full post on my maniple once I've completed the final Warhound.

Excidium Rex (King of Desolation)

My second Warhound is only about 50% complete, so I only have a sneak peek for you today.  His Carapace is nearly complete and looks a lot better in real life!

A journey into the Dank...

As well as Titans, I've been working on a Troggherd.  I've enjoyed playing Age of Sigmar 2.0 and have started planning a narrative campaign day for my local gaming centre here in Sheffield (The Outpost).

The premise is that the player warbands have discovered entrances to an ancient underground cave network and seeking both riches and glory, have entered the maze of tunnels in the hopes of claiming a worthy prize...

Although I don't want to give away too much about the event, there will be a number of treasures and upgrades which players can acquire through various encounters and battles throughout the themed day.

To represent these powerful artefacts and whimsical trinkets, I've started sketching some little vignettes for reward cards.  Below is a selection of my favourites so far although you'll have to guess for yourself what they represent...

Warhounds, Princeps and Troggoths, oh my!

Previously on Kaiju country... I spoke about the Titan Owner's Club Walk 2019.  It's shaping up to be an absolutely incredible event and in preparation, I've been working on the two Warhounds for my the Titan Maniple that I'll be taking to the event.

With little over a week and a half left before the event, I've been steaming through the project and believe it or not, am actually on schedule to have everything ready in time!

So, how are they looking?  Here's how!

Fulgar Manus (The Lightning Hand)

My first Warhound has taken a substantial amount of time, but is almost complete!  Between the complex pose and base, a considerable amount of time went into the build phase of this titan.  I don't regret it for a second, but it's taken almost as long as my Reaver titan to complete!

Colour Scheme

Working out the colour scheme for my Warhounds was tricky as I wanted to tie them in with Ferrum Dominus, but didn't want them to end up looking like Legio Ignatum whose modern incarnation now confusingly looks more like the original Epic Legio Metalica designs.

With the Adeptus Mechanicus originating from Metalica adopting white as one of their primary colours, I decided to try and shift the focus away from yellow, with my spot colours being predominantly black and white.

That said, I still love yellow and also wanted to tie in with my Knights Raven who feature yellow (How confusing!!)…

So, here are a couple of the initial rough designs I came up with...

Fulgar Manus actually ended up being pretty close to the design on the left as you can see from the following pictures...

The direction of the white chevrons was changed and the cog design was simplified in the final design.  The engine covers, shoulders and arms are not yet complete, but aren't far off at the time of writing!

Here is a WIP shot of the carapace in progress.  It looks pretty rough at this stage, but it gives you a good idea of how everything is laid out

I'm super pleased with how he's looking; in particular, the base is coming together well.  It will need some light flocking but the destroyed knight is complete

WIP Images of the legs and base:

You can just see the Waist magnet which is invaluable for transport



Freehanding the Malinax symbol on the tilt shield was fun :)

Anyone for Chess?

 

Excidium Rex (King of Desolation)

By comparison, I thundered through the build stage of Excidium Rex, taking just over a week including his base!  He's now base sprayed silver and is in the paint phase, although I don't currently have anything outside of WIP build images to show you.

Unlike his hound brother, I actually built the base first, with a pose in mind then constructed the Warhound to fit.  This was also a far quicker build because there was far less pinning to do - both of Rex's feet would be taking the weight of the body instead of just one!



I wanted the City base of Ferrum Dominus and the more rugged base of Fulgar Manus to be tied together with this guy, so he's posed with one foot on a defence wall which separates the city side of the base from the outdoorsy side

I deliberately posed the hips at a slight angle to imply that the foot on the wall is actually clinging on with the toes rather than just standing bolt upright

Aside from a pin going up from the base, through the feet and into the ankle ball, the only other part which I decided to pin was the hips given that they would take a fair amount of stress with this pose

Again, I magnetised the waist to aid transportation

With the toes and pistons in place, the build is far more convincing

As with my first Warhound, I had to hide the hip pins with a cap on each side.  I simply used some spare Imperial Knight components on Rex.

As well as the toes gripping the wall, you can also see that I have added a crotch banner in this image; again take from an Imperial Knight kit

I wanted to make my hounds noticeably different, so carefully shaved off the existing details...

...and added some new ones!

Sub assemblies held in place to gauge how the final build will look 

When adding the waist magnet to the body, I found it necessary to drill all the way through.  In order to hide the hole and add a nice little detail, I made an attendant servo skull attached to a magnet topped with matching kick-plate

This servo skull was actually taken from the Tech-priest Dominus kit with a piece of extra cable and an arm from one of the skulls which came with the Warhound kit.  I chose this one as it's large enough to still be seen within the cramped interior!

SERVO-SKULL GETS TO DRIVE...

...and reminds me a lot of Ed-209 after his head pops!

And finally, here's a quick sketch up of how I want Rex's colour scheme to look.  It will probably all hinge on how well the Legio symbol translates into a stencil!

Princeps costume

Previously I showed you some images of the Princeps Cuirass which I made - well, I didn't stop there.  To really get the most out of the armoured Cuirass, you'd need to have a greatcoat underneath.  Despite searching high and low, I couldn't find a suitable garment which would work right out of the box so had to resort to a good old needle and thread.

To begin with, I managed to find an old burgundy coat at a charity shop for just £3 - bargain!  Once I had put it through the washing machine (as it stank of old ladies and cabbage), I started by removing the belt which was made from the same material as the jacket.  I kept this for use later on.

I think removed the buttons, sewed up the pockets and repaired a couple of seams on the basic jacket.  Now that I could test the fit, I found that the jacket was a bit short in the arm, so extending the cuffs was the first order of the day!

Here's the jacket mocked up with the collar, cuffs and some other bits including buttons

In this picture, you can see that I have added a black leather Aquila shape on the chest along with edging in black and white leatherette for the buttons. You can also see the black leather cuffs which now extend the jacket perfectly to fit me!

As I wanted the jacket to look like an actual officer's dress uniform, I decided early on that it would need both frogging on the chest and some pretty fancy epaulettes.  Note that the Aquila shape in the above picture was added as a base for the gold frogging in the final incarnation.

The cloth belt which I had originally removed was perfect for making epaulettes.  I cut both ends off, made a spatula shape from thin EVA (which would fit inside to give it some stiffness) and cut out some black leatherette to act as a cover.

The basic components of an epaulette

I started by sewing the leatherette over the round spatula end

Then I added the belt end sock thing with the straight leather section on the outside

After folding in the edges, I pinned and then sewed the leatherette in place

Next I sewed the end of the edging securely underneath the round end of the epaulette.  Note the taped end was snipped away once it was secure

I then sewed the edging all the way round and fastened it in place under the circle on the other side

I then pinned on the gold frill...

...and carefully sewed it in place

And the finished product with a button added

 In my next post, I should have some more pictures of the jacket along with the Cuirass and some other little accessories that I've been working on!

And finally...

If you're still reading, then you probably came for some hot Troggoth action as hinted in the title of this post.  Well, your reward is this heavily converted Aleguzzler Gargant which is being added to my Troggherd!  Enjoy! :)

So many shrooms...

Hi pet dragon was clearly loved

His interests include nights out clubbing

Toe crack spores.  Yum.