Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Building More Realistic Terrain - Imperial Fountain



Have you ever gone to a LFGS and seen a bunch of choppy, chunks of foam quickly slap-dashed with paint and called terrain?  Has it ever made you dream of gaming on tables that are as detailed and as cool looking as what you would see in White Dwarf or in a Forge World Imperial Armour book?


Well if you want something done right you have to make it yourself...

Se here's the thing I love Terrain, LOVE IT. I love all the little details, I love the "atmosphere" it can provide in a game. I also honestly believe that more realistic terrain enhances the game experience. When I see terrible chunks of badly carved foam pawned off as a hill, or unevenly cut cardboard fragments spray painted grey and pawned off as city ruins, I cry a little inside. When my friends or I set out to make terrain we go for the gusto. Case in point the Imperial Fountain below. 


Construction


Preplan The Design
No great piece of terrain was slap dashed together from a bunch of bits. Take the time to think about what you are building, what it's purpose will be, how gameplay will be effected by it, etc.

In this case I wanted the fountain to fit on a 12"x12" tile for my city fight board. I wanted a massive wall I could get a whole 10x man squad behind for cover, and I wanted something old, but regal looking to add to the atmosphere on the board.


Materials
Mix up your materials and think outside the box. The main core of the fountain were Cities of Death wall pieces, lots of pipes and various sheet plastic textures. A brick texture was used for the walls, a cobblestone texture for the floor and assorted styrene strip shapes for all the trim. 1x1" ceramic tiles from the craft store were used for the sidewalk pavement and the understructure was made out of foamcore.

The statue was a modified Chaos Knight repurposed to look like a local Imperial Hero of old and the benches were from Armorcast.


Add Layers of Realism
This is crucial to make a believable terrain piece. Pound some cracks in the side walk pavement. Add some rubble. Add some extra rivets and bolts instead of leaving smooth plastic sections. Especially in 40K, don't forget the skulls! 

The more layers of detail you add the realer your terrain piece will look.













Painting


Don't Paint It All Grey
The downfall of so much Imperial Terrain I see is that it's all grey. Granted Imperial Worlds are bleak… but add a dash of color in there some where. In this case it was the large turquoise pumping tube section. It really draws the eye to that area and breaks up the grey well. I also added various brown colors to the cobblestone floor to break up the pattern. It really adds an extra layer of realism.


Rust, Rust and More Rust.
Nothing Imperial is factory fresh, it's old as dirt, all of it. Which means heavy oxidation. In the case of the Bronze statues with a heavy green patina. The main building received some rust washes for around the rivets and the sidewalks got some dark brown washes to indicate layers of accumulated dirt in the concrete pores.


Add Environmental Effects
I wanted stagnant water in the fountain. Like a partially drained hotel pool that has been growing algae all winter long. (I grew up on an tourist island).

The algae in the water was created by dropping green foliage basing into layers of "wet" wet effects. After about 8 layers it started to look realistic and had depth. Super quick, super easy, super effective.













Until next time. Now go paint something!

16 comments:

  1. Awesome piece, I've been on a terrain drive recently and I totally agree it enhances your games. No-one wants to fight over foam hills and grey plastic buildings!

    Love the patina effect on the statue and griffons, what was the process for the verdigris? I've the big GW marine statue to do and Bronze would suit.

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    1. Thanks!

      It's mostly Vallejo bronze green watered down, and mixed with a little turquoise. Pretty simple really. A second wash with bronze green and a lighter green adds some extra variety to the color pattern.

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    2. Thanks. And love the new Banner btw. Much improved and professional looking.

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  2. I'm with Sith on this, it looks tremendous!

    i want it for my games!

    How do you feel about joining our blog group at:
    http://scifiwargamers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/join-scifiwargamers-network.html

    Be good to see you there!

    Marse

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  3. Beautifully done and incredibly inspirational! Thanks for so many shots to help with our own projects.

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  4. That is just awesome! I must build one.

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  5. Very nice looking. May I ask, how did you do the algae in the water effects? It's a really cool effect I've never seen before, and might like to try myself on some swampy terrain I am doing.

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    1. Thanks!

      How I did the algae effects is in the article:


      Add Environmental Effects
      I wanted stagnant water in the fountain. Like a partially drained hotel pool that has been growing algae all winter long. (I grew up on an tourist island).

      The algae in the water was created by dropping green foliage basing into layers of "wet" wet effects. After about 8 layers it started to look realistic and had depth. Super quick, super easy, super effective.

      Delete
  6. Gorgeous!

    & you're 100% right, we all need to work harder on the terrain. Good terrain adds so much to a game.

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  7. Your welcome to come play at my FLGS any time! I recommend taking a look at the imperial armor master class books for some awesome ideas on terrain.

    I see a new background too! Someone getting board with photoshop :-)

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  8. Well, and there I was just yesterday, posting about how to make quick and easy ruined buildings using foamcore. How awkward...

    The fountain is fantastic, of course! The construction is great, and the paintjob looks marvelous. Extra kudos for the algae, of course ;-)

    Still, I feel compelled to present the other side to this arguement: Sure, seeing terrain of this quality on tables everywhere would be a dream come true, but in many cases it's a problem of money as well as execution: Not everyone can afford to spend so much on GW terrain kits. Or there are people like me, who spend quite a bit of money but prefer to actually buy stuff for their army.

    I also think that knocking up reasonably good looking terrain from readily available household materials is a joy all of its own, so there's that too.

    In any case, I think this isn't a question with a right and a wrong answer. Personally speaking, while I love lavish pieces of terrain like your fountain, I think it's possible to find a middle ground between stuff like this and simpler pieces.

    Fantastic work, nonetheless! Keep it up! ;-)

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    Replies
    1. First off, Thanks for the compliments :)

      Secondly, I want to open this statement by saying I have nothing but respect and admiration for you and the whole DFG crew, so hopefully you won't be taken aback by this statement.

      This is not an argument with sides… I know that for some money is an issue, I know that some prefer to spend more on their armies than on terrain. However, these articles are not meant for those individuals.

      My end goal is quality and uniqueness. I go for a fresh, high-quality perspective on model and terrain making regardless of cost or time involved in executing those projects.

      EOE isn't an all-comers type of blog. I'll never do a "gaming on a budget" or "cheap, simple" type articles. That's just not my thing and if people want to read that, well then there's about 8,000 other blogs that do just that.

      If you want realistically detailed, complex terrain or minis that are not one of thousand overdone Space Marine chapters then this is the place to be :)

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    2. Fair enough, fair enough ;-) I didn't actually take this as a slight or anything, don't worry! And my comment surely wasn't an "official statement" representing DFG or anything, I just contribute guest articles over there, so I wouldn't be justified in going around bullying other people in their name ;-)

      I also don't expect you to build and paint anything less impressive than the stuff you usually do: All I wanted to point out is that it's really possible to take a middle ground here, even if that's not your thing ;-)

      And, in any case, I was just commenting for the joy of having a well considered discussion, not to start trouble ;-) I remain a big fan of both your blog and work, of course. So no offense intended ;-)

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  9. That is so freakin' awesome!
    I definitely really like this piece.
    You've got me thinking about jumping back into building some terrain.
    I really do loathe playing on very boring boards and need to build some to enhance my FLGS

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  10. muy buen trabajo, es impresionante!! me encanta, sorry i dont speak english :(

    ReplyDelete