BSC2021 Wirelizard's Dark Pool of Dark Darkness

[Wirelizard]

Cracking! That looks spot in for your first reference picture!

I'm quite pleased with how the rocks are shaping up. Individually shaping each rock with sandpaper and such is fiddly but does look good.

Turns out that Cheesewring Tor, the location of my first inspiraition shot upthread, is actually even stranger than I first thought! Here's a different angle on one of the rock formations there:


Link: https://runic.com/gallery/wild-places/cheesewring-tor-2.jpg.php

Natural balancing rocks. Excellent!

[Wirelizard]

I think major construction has finished. Maybe?



Going to stare at it for a few days and see what I think. It might need a couple more rocks on the sloped (eventually grassy) parts to tie it all together.

There's going to be at least one more round of Milliput to fill some gaps, strengthen some of the edges where the slope comes close to the edge of the plastic base, and such.

The ring on the left there is for the modular rock feature, because why not? I already have a bunch of random scenery stuff mounted on 40mm bases: trees, standing stones from Fenris Games, etc which could slot in there, but I'm also doing a few new ones designed around this specific project.

Left to right, fairly basic rock, weird rock based on the awesome formation in the photo I shared just above, and wildly over the top huge. fantasy standing stone that's going to get humans skulls in carved alcoves and weird runs carved into it and all that gloriously weird stuff. The dog warriors are North Star gnolls with 17th C weapons from Warlord, on 25mm bases.



The modular rock formations can of course also be used on their own, and one of these days I'm going to do more scenery bases with 40mm "sockets" on them...

[marianas_gamer]

I really like the shapes that you have achieved for your rocks. They certainly give the impression of eons of erosion.

[Bravo Six]

What's the white material you cut your bases from? Styrene sheet?

[Wirelizard]

What's the white material you cut your bases from? Styrene sheet?

Yup. I buy big sheets of .040/1mm plastic styrene sheet from my local plastics/signmaking place. Super cheap 4ft x 2ft sheets of exactly the same stuff the hobby stores want a fortune for for a page-size sheet.

I really like the shapes that you have achieved for your rocks. They certainly give the impression of eons of erosion.

Thanks! I'm pleased with these rocks; normally I don't do individually built up rocks like this but it seemed like the easiest way to build these formations. I shaped the pieces with medium grit sandpaper (120, I think) and then most of the cracks are put in with that readily available sculpting tool, the thumbnail.

I've done another round of Milliput to fill some of the gaps, strengthen the edges where the slopes come down to the plastic base, and smooth a few areas out. I think that's it, but as I said about the rock formations, I'm going to stare at the thing for a day or two and see how it looks. Assuming I am done adding rocks, next step is a thinned mix of plaster/glue/water over all the foam to add a bit of texture to the rocks and strengthen the whole thing. Wargaming scenery needs to be gamer-proof, after all.

[Bravo Six]

Yup. I buy big sheets of .040/1mm plastic styrene sheet from my local plastics/signmaking place. Super cheap 4ft x 2ft sheets of exactly the same stuff the hobby stores want a fortune for for a page-size sheet.

Thanks for the info Brian. I'll have to take a look at the plastics supplier I get my tubing from for flight stands.

[Codsticker]

Really loving the stones; great work with the thumbnail. You are really flying along on this project.

[Andym]

That looks amazing!

What about having a plain base too with nothing on it. It means you can leave that gap if you want to. If you had put one on the opposite side, you could have retrofitted a bridge across it too.

[Hammers]

Ambitious and gorgeous. You have a real knack for this.

[Bearwoodman]

Those rock formations look superb!

[AKULA]

Great work on those rock formations...just like the photos

 

[Daeothar]

The rocks look amazing; this is shaping up really well.

But what we're all waiting for, obviously, is the Dark Pool of Dark Darkness of course... 

[Wirelizard]

The rocks look amazing; this is shaping up really well.

But what we're all waiting for, obviously, is the Dark Pool of Dark Darkness of course... 

That might be tricky, because we're supposed to stop showing off WIP photos after the project is primed and the bulk of the Dark Pool of Dark Darkness is going to be paint/resin/gloss varnish/whatever effects... so you might have to wait for the first round of voting.

Another round of Milliput done last night; that's the entire edge of the slope done except the one piece on the left where I ran out of mixed Milliput. I'll get that tonight, and a second coat on a a few areas that still need smoothing or reshaping, mostly around the Dark Pool of Dark Darkness.

The overhead view gives a good feel for the size; that's a 8 inch by 11 inch cutting mat under it and of course a 25mm based figure top centre.


Next round of Milliput, then first coat of thinned plaster all over especially on the rocks, and then primed (barring any cleanup I think it requires) and at that point I won't be able to share anymore WIP photos but I'll still try to remember to take some to share afterward.

[Bravo Six]

Oh that's looking AMAZING! 

[Wirelizard]

Bit of a pause while I mucked around with other things, but back on the BSC train, I did a coat of thinned plaster & glue across the entire piece to add texture and toughen it up.

I also added a bit of paper towel to the left hand side there, to cover a gap between two pieces of styrofoam that had flexed open.


Roughly miniatures' eye view of the end of the middle gap away from the Dark Pool of Dark Darkness, with my converted gun gnolls.


I realized I forgot to texture the three modular rock pieces while I was doing the main piece, so I'll get to that this weekend; I think I need to do some carving on the giant fantasy standing stone first.

Then it'll be on to paint, so probably only one more round of WIP photos that I'll be allowed to show off here!