Edit: Unfortunately I hosted all the images at the beginning of the thread at Imageshack, which suddenly decided to turn into a pay site and delete everything I had uploaded...
I've reposted MOST of the images further down the thread!

I'm building a new gaming table, here's what I'm planning:

A shrineworld-style, modular table consisting of 18 40*40 cm mdf tiles, arranged in a 3*6 pattern. (This means the final table size will be about 4*8'.)
Main feature will be a large basilica dedicated to an Astartes saint, and a grand avenue leading up to it through the center of the table. On both sides of the road I plan to have administrative buildings, minor shrines and maybe a park section. I'll also make a few plain concrete tiles to accomodate the few terrain pieces left from my old board. (They're based on thin mdf board and can probably be placed on top of the concrete and still look decent.)

My old buildings are mostly made of foamboard and scrap bitz, so I've bought a few of the GW kits to use for the new ones. Just hoping the old pieces won't look too ugly in comparison!

Most tiles will have a 5cm foamboard sidewalk all around them, so you can push two buildings together and still have a 10cm alley between them. Buildings can be rotated in any direction. The avenue will be 30cm wide. I'm thinking of making a few tiles into 90 degree turns and maybe a t-junction, which would allow some variation in road placement.



(sorry for crappy phone camera photos. I'll shoot some proper pictures later!)

First up is outlining the basilica! I'm thinking of letting it cover 2 tiles, which means it's gonna be huge!

This is a side view of what I want the basilica to look like.


I want to build two square towers using the large gothic window pieces. (Sort of like the Notre Dame in Paris.)
The gothic windows on the GW kits come in two sizes, I'll use the ones with the skulls as aisle windows and the smaller ones with the statues for the top row. This means there will not be any large windows except those in the towers, but I'm hoping the building will still look tall enough. The roof will be mostly destroyed to make miniature placement easier.

Thoughts and comments are welcome

Sounds interesting - some collapsed buildings blocking roads would help to break up the long lines of sight you will have.

I'm not entirely sure on how you plan to lay out the board from the description - can you just pencil a quick diagram?

Anyway, I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Something like this (scribbled really fast):



Possibly some more road tiles, a few craters in one of them to spice things up, maybe even an arch over the road if line of sight becomes an issue.
I hope to be able to move everything around, even split the cathedral.



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The cathedral towers will look something like this:

Not bad, though you may find the centre needs something to break it up - the good thing is that the table will be modular so you can move stuff around to suit actual gameplay

And the cathedral looks fantastic

Nice start here buddy. It looks like you have some great ideas that I am interested in seeing unfold.
like Silver said I would add a center point like a park or fountain. If you need any inspiration check out my thread!

Good stuff and keep up the great work

Very interesting indeed, I agree that the road may prove to be too expansive but a broken building, a few piles of rubble or some "Jersey" barriers might help to break up lines of sight and make the board come to life a bit. Just my take on matters, I'll stick around and see how it goes!

I decided to lift the cathedral a bit off the ground (it wasn't tall enough), so now I'm building a foamboard box to put it all on:


There will be some kind of stairway leading up to the entrance between the towers.


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Update: stairs done!

Nice idea, that'll help to make the cathedral more imposing, especially at the end of that long street.

Thanks for the replies, all

Front door is done:

I'm going to try to convert the rectangular door into an alchove with a statue. Just don't know exactly how yet.

That is pretty damn awesome

Very imposing.

Thanks! I'm now doing the floor, and got a fun idea: Since the floor will be 8cm above the base, maybe I could add a hole in the floor with a crypt below...

Crypt underway!

take TONS of pictures of your work im progress this stuf is so cool!

I painted the crypt before putting the floor on:



Next up is putting the walls together, which might take a while since the GW walls are having trouble supporting each other's weight. (I've already broken several of the segments I glued together).
I'll have to come up with some sort of foamboard supports for the roof and back wall.

I just started to assemble the roof support on the cathedral. While the glue was drying, I put this monument square tile together:



I did the eagles using a pen, I hope they'll still be visible after painting.

Hope that the break earlier wasn't too disastrous, your'e making good progress now though . How are the cities of death kits? Not used one before.

Excellent execution! Looking forward to seeing it finished

The bitz in the Cities of Death kits are really good looking, especially the windows, but the contact surface between each wall segment is really small and very dependent on the floor pieces to keep things together (and I'm not using those). Also, the large windows from the Shrine of the Aquila kit didn't line up with the Administratum bitz quite the way I expected. No worries though, I think it'll look good when it all comes together.

Glad to hear that. May have to invest in one to ruin! Mwahaha!

This is an ambitious project and nicely executed so far, I'm very interested to see how it unfolds. Keep it up but don't push yourself for burnout!

Haven't had time to go back to the cathedral yet, but did this yesterday:



One of my old foamboard terrain pieces, rebased on a 40x40cm tile with new pavements and extra rubble. It's going to need a new paintjob!

Great work man. Can't wait to see how this turns out. I love Cities of Death games. Its nice to see some love thrown towards the old girl.

Just a small update to let everyone know I'm still here. Not had much time to work on the terrain lately, mostly due to work getting in the way.
At least I've managed to get some paint on the statue tile and the old building, I hope to have pictures up soonish.

Finally managed to get the back wall and the roof up:


The back wall looks much more boring than I expected, I'll have to add something to spice it up a bit... I'm thinking vertical cardboard strips and some small bitz.

looking good! keep us posted

Well done man. Keep chugging!

Looking good! I wouldn't say it was boring but the plasticard lacks the features the front has so it looks out of place. Some bitz aught to fix that!

Sorry for the lack of updates, life getting in the way as usual.
Started a new piece, a triumph arch. The base is finished, but it's going to get a top section as well, and of course tons of decorations.
Also added some final touches to the cathedral before painting it.

Argh! Giant Space Cow!

Looking good so far though

Looking great so far, the crypt was an excellent idea.

Thanks!
Currently looking for possible decorations for use on each side of the arch opening. The easy way out is to just build a large buttress on each side of the vault, but would it look good? I've been looking a lot at the Fortress of Redemtion tower pieces, but it seems they're bent outwards at the top, and they're also assymetrical with a corner on one side, like the rest of the GW building bitz. This would make them unsuitable to place against a flat wall... can anyone confirm?
I could also leave the sides plain, like on the Arco de la Victoria (http://www.madridteacher.com/fotos/moncloa/arco-de-la-victoria-x.jpg), but it's a little boring tbh. Thoughts?

Get some cheap action figures, saw then in half and stick them around the arch with some GS to fix the joints and so on?

I saw some excellent Eldar/elf terrain with action figures holding up platforms and things.

Examples:

Wow... Best. Terrain. Ever.

Thanks for the tip, those look really nice! I'll dig around and see what I can find!

Added buttresses to the cathedral:

That thing is immense, keep it up, it looks great so far. And it's so big!

You weren't joking when you said that would be huge!

I always dream of buying a lot of CoD stuff and building something huge like that. Looks great, I love the Notredame feeling.

I always did too, so this time I decided to go all in!
It's been a bit expensive, but this is my dream table after all, so I think it'll be worth it.

Excellent roofing as well - plenty of it to give a sense of scale and ruin but more than enough space to reach in and put models and terrain bits inside.

The buttress looks great, my only question is will you add detail to the back of the cathedral? The large white wall seems out of sorts with the level of detail on the rest.

 caminacambob wrote:
The buttress looks great, my only question is will you add detail to the back of the cathedral? The large white wall seems out of sorts with the level of detail on the rest.

I know, I just didn't have enough window bitz to cover the back of the towers. I had hoped the vertical stripes would help some, but it still looks rather plain. I'll try add some small bitz to see if it helps.

Perhaps some "green-stuff" (or equivalent) sculptures or carvings?

I really like that foundation you put the building on, good heigh, It matches what you would expect. Matching up your scratch build and the kit portion are key to good terrain. There are a variety of techniques you can use to blend them seamlessly. If you take a look at the blog in my sig, a little work will pay off in the final look of the piece.

Finally: progress!!

Painting has commenced! Basecoat and first drybrush pass done!

That is seriously impressive. Good job.

I really like it, can't wait to see it with some details! Good work!

Thanks for the replies! Details and 2nd drybrush pass are underway!

Drybrushing finally done! I think I'll go easy on the details, just paint a few bits in gold and metal... suggestions appreciated!
Should I wash the entire thing down for weathering or just add some occasional dirt/rust where appropriate?

Looking good

I think some dirt and rust effectively placed would do the trick.

Would you consider a colour for the sloped sections of the roof to break things up a little?

I think you need to do the entire thing, a large piece can look odd if you add detail/greebles in small patches.

Wow fantastic work man! A large wash will be fantastic going into all the cracks and corners.

Looking awesome! Loving the crypt idea
I think caminacambob had a good idea, you could paint the thin raised sections on the wall and roofs, would break things up a little. Maybe some bronze colour?

I would weather the entire building. Most of the building in the Imperium are covered in pollution, especially urban areas.
Looking great so far

Haven't had much time to spare lately, but here's an update. Added a few gunmetal/brass details, and gave most of the building a very light dirt wash. It's still much more plain gray than most CoD buildings, but I think I might leave it like this until a get a few more tiles done. Thoughts?

Terrain like this really does add something extra when playing on it, well done. I am eagerly waiting updates Coldsnap. The Cathedral is imposing and realistic; great work!

Miss Ultramar wrote:
You weren't joking when you said that would be huge!

That's what she said

Sorry, couldn't resist

Looks great man, the brass really stands out. It is entirely table worthy, and beyond that, so by all means get more tiles done. Variety is the spice of life and all. Nothing worse than a project that you aren't enjoying any more .

very impressive.

Holy Emperor, that thing is HUGE! Awesome job, keep posting!

Awesome work so far, can't wait to see the finished product!

great work! the chapel looks so good!

Thanks for all the kind words!

Finished rebasing one of my old terrain pieces for the new table. The new paintjob isn't completely finished yet though (pavement/rubble still needs some love).

Looking good!

I really like the use of the Aquila lander in there, the blue breaks up the monotone grey as well, good work!

Small update:
Not much happening lately, I've been painting my Eldar army to get rid of my backlog before the new models arrive! Also, I think I need to build some new shelves in the attic to store all the terrain!
Once the Eldar are done, it's back to table building!

loving the shrine mate. keep up the great work.

The lady next door broke one of her garden statues and donated the pieces to my table project.
Could this work for a "fallen monument" tile? Scale seems about right, the head is 4cm or so across.

Looks good so far! I want to try doing the cathedral with Pegasus Gothic buildings.


As for the statue, it'll fit the 40k aesthetic if you convert it to look like this:



Notice the cyborg putto/cherub with the librarian on the right? Making the statue's face look like that would be loads better.

That cathedral is incredible, and I love city boards
Subbed, can't wait to see how this turns out

That crypt in the floor of the cathedral is amazing. It's such a simple, beautiful addition.

Everything about your table looks awesome!
I'll be following your progress

I have really got to take time to look around more on these forums; the work here is fascinating and gives purpose to the model scenery instead of just plopping the buildings onto a flat board.

Thanks for the inspiration.

Finished painting the monument last night... sorry about the crappy photo quality.

Wow great work! I love the faded eagles carved into the base of the plinth, another nice little detail.

Glad to see some progress again!

Keep it up!

Awesome stuff. Probably too late with this comment, but you mentioned earlier that there isn't a strong join between the wall sections of the Imperial Ruins models. I've found that doing a bit of pinning helps when putting these together.

 Flashman wrote:
Awesome stuff. Probably too late with this comment, but you mentioned earlier that there isn't a strong join between the wall sections of the Imperial Ruins models. I've found that doing a bit of pinning helps when putting these together.

That's a good idea, I'll try that next time!

Added a green wash and some highlighting to the statue, I'm happy with the result!



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Started a new tile today:


I discovered my filler had dried out, so I didn't get very far.
While deciding what I want to do with this tile, I'll try to give the rest of my old terrain pieces a well-deserved rebasing and repainting!! Stay tuned!

This is one of my older terrain pieces, and my first attempt to build a cathedral. (It doesn't have transepts, and it's much smaller than the new cathedral, so it's more of a chapel really.)
I intended it as a place of worship for a small delegation of Sororitas sisters, hence the symbols.
It's built almost entirely out of very roughly cut foamboard, so it's a little unpolished up close, but I think it looks ok from a distance?
I fixed some bitz that had broken off and gave it a new paintjob! (marine included for scale only)

Dude, that's awesome

 Tyranidcrusher wrote:
Dude, that's awesome

Thanks!
Currently repainting and rebuilding an old factory built out of spare computer parts and necromunda bulkheads. Images coming up asap!

Factory is done!

Finally some filler on this collapsed floor! Sorry for the awful image quality.
Broken windows in place as well, but they look a bit too thin... Thoughts?
I'm also not quite satisfied with having two identical broken window sections next to each other... should I cut one of them up a bit?

I think cutting one of them up would be a good idea. You can use the cut-up chunks elsewhere as debris. Very cool work so far.

 Talore wrote:
I think cutting one of them up would be a good idea. You can use the cut-up chunks elsewhere as debris.

That's what I'll do then! I'm also trying to figure out how to best make use of the statue pieces I posted a while back. Maybe I can somehow combine them with this remnant of an old terrain piece I found in the attic today! So many ideas, so little time!

That is some great work. I like the cohesive theme you have, and the sheer size of the models you are building is an epic undertaking. With the number of finished (or almost finished) projects you've shared it's obvious you are up to the task.

Excellent work. Your combination of scratchbuild and prefab is inspiring.

You may want to consider some shading, like moss / mold / whatever alien stuff would grow near the base of the buildings. You can also try different shading for the stones. Here's an example. Not necessary for sure, but an idea to consider.


Subbed and looking forward to more.

Loving it!

Looks really cool would love to play on it!

Thanks for all the praise!!

 Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:
You may want to consider some shading, like moss / mold / whatever alien stuff would grow near the base of the buildings. You can also try different shading for the stones. Here's an example. Not necessary for sure, but an idea to consider.

Thanks for the tip! One of my biggest fears it that the table will have too much grey on it, so I'll definitely try to put some additional coloring on it later!

Here's a question: Is there a good way to fixate an existing pile of gravel/sand? Maybe water down some glue and pour it over the pile? (it's about half an inch of sand) Or is building the pile up layer by layer the only way?
I'm working on the collapsed floor again, and pouring sand all over it resulted in a really nice slope that I want to preserve.

I do sand / gravel effects vai 2 different methods, depending on side. First is to mix up a slurry of material and Elmer's glue. I let it set up just a bit and then apply it. It's easy to work with and you have a lot of time to make changes, etc. Once it is dry it's a solid chunk and it's not coming off unless the surface you've glued it to is flat and smooth. If that is the case I make the pile on a ceramic plate (straight from the kitchen), let it fully dry, peel it off and glue it to the surface you want it on w/ super glue.

If it is a larger piece I use pinkboard sculpted into the basic shape I want, cover it w/ glue, and sprinkle sand / whatever on it. Here's an example of what I mean:

Small object:



Large object:



Hope this helps!

@Skalk Bloodaxe: Thanks for the tips! After some testing, I ended up using the second method (building the general shape with foam and stones, and then just applying a thin layer of gravel on top.)

Sorry for the lack of updates! Work stuff keeps getting in the way, but I've scheduled an apocalypse game at my place next month, so I really need to pick up the pace a bit if the table is going to be playable!

Here's an administratum office building I did, I wanted a smaller building that can be placed in any flat space, to add some variety to the table:

Primed and ready for painting!
This is what became of the broken garden statue and the small building foundation I talked about a few posts up. At the moment I'm not really that happy with the result, but I hope it'll look ok when painted...

Two pots of grey paint later....
Parts of the basecoat layer flaked off as I drybrushed it, I'll have to fill in the white spots later. I also need to add something to break up the grey, maybe some more brown spots, a few bitz or maybe some static grass? All in all the tile turned out a little better than I feared, but I'm still not 100% satisfied. Thoughts?


Mini added for scale check. Looks ok?

I'd also reccommend painting the statue up as a slightly different type of stone. Paler would sugjest a marble, darker basalt, etc. It would add a subtle color difference. Also weatherit appropriate to the amount of time its been wrecked.

 Galorn wrote:
I'd also reccommend painting the statue up as a slightly different type of stone. Paler would sugjest a marble, darker basalt, etc. It would add a subtle color difference. Also weatherit appropriate to the amount of time its been wrecked.

I agree 100%. I would also recommend that if you weather it make it look like has been there for some time so you would have bits of grass growing out of cracks in the stone as well as the ground, and some greenish mold / fungus / moss growing around the bottom of some of the broken stone.

Overall it came out very well and all it needs is a few details to change it from good to excellent.

I think I'm aiming for a newly-bombed look, but I'll try some different things and see what happens! Thanks for the suggestions!

Ok, understood. Lighter stone coloring for the statue should give you the contrast that will make it stand out and look completed.

Quick WIP shot (wash still drying, still more drybrushing to do.)
I'm adding some contrast by washing some brown into the rubble and lighting the statue pieces up a bit. (using a slightly different grey than the usual concrete one. I think it might be an improvement, I'll see if I can dig out some static grass to thrown in there as well.

Looks great, much better. Have you thought about flock/moss as well? for the dark areas.

Thanks for the tip, I think I'll try some and see how it looks! If I can find the flock bag....

Those damn things are always disappearing.

Well, the thing is I had a break from 40k for a few years, and during that time I also moved, which led to all my 40k stuff ending up in various packed up boxes, usually together with many other seldom-used things. As I dig through my attic storage I find all kinds of "this might be useful for a 40k project" things I've collected, but trying to locate a specific item can be a real challenge.

Yea, I dropped out and have been rebuilding the stocks as it were. It's shocked the wife rather badly at times, but she's finally reached the point where she just asks if I want random things she might throw out like jars and cardboard!

 Bobaram wrote:
Yea, I dropped out and have been rebuilding the stocks as it were. It's shocked the wife rather badly at times, but she's finally reached the point where she just asks if I want random things she might throw out like jars and cardboard!

An update on this section. Primed and textured, drybrushing coming up!

You are definitely sharing a top spot with some of the other terrain modelers on Dakka (and I follow every terrain thread I can find on Dakka for that is worth). Your vision is distinct and your ability to execute it into an excellent model is unquestionable.

I really like your work and when I get back to my larger CoD building I'm going to borrow a few of your techniques.

 Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:
You are definitely sharing a top spot with some of the other terrain modelers on Dakka (and I follow every terrain thread I can find on Dakka for that is worth). Your vision is distinct and your ability to execute it into an excellent model is unquestionable.
I really like your work and when I get back to my larger CoD building I'm going to borrow a few of your techniques.

Thanks!! All this positive feedback is an immense inspiration!

While the paint is drying, here's something completely different:



The pattern in the corner was a result of me running out of foamboard stripes, but I want something to break off the square pattern of the board, so I'm thinking a diagonal building might be a good idea! I have a spare eagle wall left from the cathedral building, if I use it here as shown on the photo I can make a small six-sided building with a short but very tall hall that goes from the bottom left corner of the tile to the top right corner. Maybe it could be an office with a grand hall in the middle separating two smaller sections? I'll try some things and see what I come up with.

I think if you keep the motorcycle wall, it could quite conceivably have been a motor pool for the local arbites. Perhaps throw another wrecked vehicle or two in there, or make a garage door type wall on one side!

 Bobaram wrote:
I think if you keep the motorcycle wall, it could quite conceivably have been a motor pool for the local arbites. Perhaps throw another wrecked vehicle or two in there, or make a garage door type wall on one side!

Lol, that's a great idea! I only threw the wall in there as a temporary marker, but now I that I'm hooked on the idea I need to find some more vehicles!

Find the lost, broken, and bitzified on Ebay

Drybrushing done:



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And here's the end result, minus some detailing!
Thoughts?

That is pretty sweet. Are you adding any hints at plumbing or foundation in the broken layers in the crater? I can't tell if I see little broken pipes sticking out or not. Looking really solid and playable. They seem to line up just as they should.

 Moltar wrote:
That is pretty sweet. Are you adding any hints at plumbing or foundation in the broken layers in the crater? I can't tell if I see little broken pipes sticking out or not. Looking really solid and playable. They seem to line up just as they should.

No plumbing, but there are some loose floor tiles and a few pieces of sprue sticking out. I've deliberately kept the crater clean and somewhat terraced to be able to move minis up there without them toppling over.

Couldn't resist doing this:

See, that photo instantly makes this entire thing utterly awesome!

Those buildings are frankly magnificent. well done! Definitely going into my subbed list.

Thanks for the kind words! Five days to go before the apoc game, ten 40x40cm tiles are more or less done, and two more in progress... I'm going to need about 15 to make a table large enough to play on!

New tile on the way... This time I'll try an out-of-the-box CoD building with a scratch-built foundation. (Kudos to Largo39 for the inspiration!)

Some progress....

Some excellent workl here Coldsnap!
Subbed...

I really dig how much extra your basements give the models. Especially when you add the damage to them. - Makes it feel much more like a long decayed city...

 Rinkydink wrote:
I really dig how much extra your basements give the models. Especially when you add the damage to them. - Makes it feel much more like a long decayed city...

Thanks!

Sorry for jumping from one terrain piece to the next.
Here's a test photo of some finished tiles:

It would be so awesome to play on this board.

Great project. Very well executed.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, other things got in the way.
I picked up the triumph arch I began some time ago, here's a WIP image:


I tried experimenting with more Cities of Death bitz (wall sections, lamps etc) on the walls, but everything looked slightly out of place on that huge wall, so eventually I ended up using only a few extra bitz. It's a little boring, but I still think the scale of the arch is turning out ok. I also tried cutout block letters for the inscription, but realized I preferred a more handwritten style. If it looks completely awful when painted I can always replace it. Thoughts?

Looking great! I don't have a translator at hand - what does it say?

Do you have a vehicle model to place under the arch to give us a sense of scale? Also, the walls look a little plain. Maybe extend the details of those arches around the top to the bottom? Or coat the walls in a sand texture gel to give it a poured concrete look? It looks impressive. I've been meaning to make something like this myself. This is great inspiration!

Thanks for the feedback!
"Tu simia et asinus" roughly translates into "you're a monkey and an ass", it's an inside joke, sort of.
I'll get a vehicle in there on the next pic... the tile is 40cm across, and the arch is sized so that a Baneblade can just get through it. I always use sand-textured paint, we'll see how it looks...

That arch looks great, but definitely needs lots more Gothic Esq details,
maybe some statues, or small arch reliefs over the walls, just something to cover up the flat sides.
At least that's my opinion, I'm sure you have plenty of ideas of your own .

Sorry about the break! Both the Arch and the CoD building are now textured and painted (still some detailing to be done), images coming up after the holidays.

Just chiming in to let you know I'm still alive. Haven't had time to work much on my terrain, I got a Hemlock for my Eldar army which has been stealing away my precious hobby time. However, I've taken a few days off from work next week, hopefully I'll be able to get some terrain work done!

instead of adding bits to the wall why not add texture of some kind? maybe even draw bricks in with a pen deep enough that they show once you paint it?

Suddenly, progress!

I need to paint the inside of the arch, but apart from that I think I'm done. Maybe I should have added more details, but I ended up liking the simplicity, it gives the arch a kind of brutal, monolithic look that I'm ok with.




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Also, I finished this one!





Better pictures coming, hopefully.

Just finished up the tile I started working on back in november:

Unbelievable! Thanks for sharing all of this; it's very inspiring.

I just had some 30x30cm boards made for my local club which I intend to begin work on, and you have absolutely raised the limits of what I thought of as possible! I really like the fact that your buildings are largely raised up above the "floor" (and I echo the cool depth and detail that the collapsed basements add); the height to which you have done that is greater than I would have tried.

I also love the standard sized "tiles" that litter the bombed out buildings (like in the cathedral or on the raised "altar" by the statue). Can I ask what you are using for those? Are they just movement tray tiles?

Also, I have never used foam board like you have there (like for the floor of the bombed out cathedral) but I can clearly see how that would be excellent for avoiding the melting of styrofoam by spray paint (or the necessity of painting all foam surfaces with white glue first.

So, awesome! Thanks very much.

 pantheralegionnaire wrote:
Unbelievable! Thanks for sharing all of this; it's very inspiring.
I also love the standard sized "tiles" that litter the bombed out buildings (like in the cathedral or on the raised "altar" by the statue). Can I ask what you are using for those? Are they just movement tray tiles?

Thanks for all the praise!
On my first buildings (like the raised altar) I used cut-up cereal boxes for floor tiles, but they're a pain to glue on. They look a little to thin IMO, but on the other hand it's easy to make nice cracked tiles. On the more recent buildings I just drew a grid on the foamboard floor, then used a scalpel to slice through the upper card of the foamboard. Then I used a ballpen to widen the crack. Crazy fast when you're doing large floor surfaces, but doesn't look quite as good up close. The loose tiles in the cathedral crater section are made of foamboard as well. I drew a grid, same way I did with the floor, but I cut all the way through to make a loose tile, then split it down the middle to make two thin tiles. (If you make the final cut a bit rough you have the option to either put the tile card side up for a smooth surface, or foam side up for a more ruined look.)

Thanks so much, that is awesome! I do hear you about "looking thin" but it's a good use for that thin cardboard, and it is very easily sculpted to look cracked (like in your "altar" pedestal piece) which is great. The scoring with hobby knives & ballpoint pens I also can see now that I look at the cathedral floor again. I think it looks great, and if you "loosened" a tile or two somewhere in the middle, like you describe above, it would break up the smoothness. But for large surfaces, I definitely see how that is a great way forward.

I secured some foamboard today from the art department (I'm a teacher) and am pleased to know about that and see how you have used it; I would have used Styrofoam all the way and that's a lot of work as you have to paint it with white paint before painting. Now I need to spring for some Citadel scenery, of course, but that's just something I've been waiting for an excuse to do, in honesty.

So, I'm excited to get to work--thanks again for the inspiration!

That boards looking great now it has some paint on it.
cant wait to see how it evolves.

New tile: Some more CoD buildings and a prefab crater!

Looks fantastic, you have inspired me to get to work on my new display board. Just need to get the imperial terrain.

More broken road!

I noticed some of the tiles aren't lining up properly... Time for some cutting and repainting.....

That sucks that it doesn't line up properly. But that statue is amazing!!! Your painting skills are jaw dropping

Holy Emperor Snot, Batman!

Wow....giving me lot of ideas for projects.

Thanks & Subbed

How did you paint it? Did you just use spray paints? Basically how did you do the grey-black. It looks really good.

 MadMaverick76 wrote:
How did you paint it? Did you just use spray paints? Basically how did you do the grey-black. It looks really good.

Thanks!
Plastic buildings are spray-painted black (or in some cases, gunmetal), foam parts are painted with black water-based wall paint. Then everything is drybrushed with citadel greys, then splotched a bit with ink, washes and brown paint, the drybrushed again. After this, detailing as needed. (still lots of detailing to be done...) The ground is just painted with the same wall paint, then drybrushed with a lighter grey wall paint. After that, it's citadel greys all the way, with some brown washing here and there. For the entire table I've used about 5 pot of mechanicus standard grey, and 3 pots of the lighter greys. (mostly administratum grey and dawnstone)

Sorry for the lack of updates, summer is here and the only thing I'm painting atm is a cabin roof and a boat hull. ><

Winter is coming and it's Warhammer season again! No further progress has been made on the table yet, but I recently played a game on it, and it worked pretty well!
As you can see, there are still a few tiles missing. I think it might be a good idea to use these for open terrain, tbh it was a little too cramped for tank warfare.

(Attaching the images directly to the post, since imageshack requires premium these days...)

This has really taken shape, seems to have all come together at once!

My only suggestions to you, which are really nit picking personal preference stuff, are that the archway seems very "flimsy", maybe some buttresses could make it look more substantial? And that the blank tiles are no bad thing, maybe just a few craters or barricades? Looks out of place amongst the rest of your fantastic creations.

Once again, well done!

Again, sorry about the lack of updates! I've played a few games on the board, and it actually ended up being too cluttered! I need to make a few new tiles with more open space on them...

When I was making shrine world terrain i had a puplic exacution faclity. Made of open air seating, a set of stocks, a pulpit and a devive made of three heavy flamers. And I made a burnt skeleton sit in the stocks presumably a heritic.

Long time, no activity. Unfortunately I've noticed Imageshack has deleted my account, (They seem to have turned into a paysite and I didn't pay attention), so most images in this thread are gone.
If anyone is still interested, I can upload some more. Here's a new tile I made a while back:

Welcome back! Sorry to hear about your photos! Good to see you are still working on this, turning into a sizeable project!

Great tile.

If you're willing to put in the time, I think it'd be worth going back and readding all the photos. I love looking back through these blogs and seeing the years of progress. Either way, welcome back

Painted the GW forest kit the other day, threw a tile together to put the trees on.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any of the old photos, they're on a disk... somewhere....
I'll have to take new ones.

Looks really good, would be nice to see the pics on the last 5 pages as i was late to the party.

Ok, lots of people asking for repost of images. I don't have all the old images, so I'm going to repost some of them here. Some of you may have seen these before, apologies.

First up is the crashed Aquila. I had the cockpit piece in one of my old foamboard buildings, which has been rebased to fit my new table:

Here are the rest of the Aquila bits, based on road tiles together with the GW crater kits:

Aquila lander bits, triumph arch in the distance:

Closeup on the triumph arch, behind it is the main basilica:

This is another of my old terrain pieces, I've rebased it to fit the new table and added a pile of broken statue pieces.

Two more shots of the cathedral piece:

That Cathedral looks great.

A couple weeks ago I remembered this thread. I wasn't on Dakka, I was just out and about doing something mundane like grocery shopping. For no explainable reason I said aloud "I wonder if that guy on Dakka ever finished that massive building project". Digging though subbed threads tonight lead me here again for my answer.

What you have accomplished here is incredible. It's disappointing that your original photos were deleted but the finished models speak for themselves. The cathedral is simply staggering. All of your scenery is impressive. Your work is an inspiration to me and I'm going to try my hand at much larger pieces next time I build. Looking forward to seeing what happens next.

 Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:
A couple weeks ago I remembered this thread. I wasn't on Dakka, I was just out and about doing something mundane like grocery shopping. For no explainable reason I said aloud "I wonder if that guy on Dakka ever finished that massive building project". Digging though subbed threads tonight lead me here again for my answer.

What you have accomplished here is incredible. It's disappointing that your original photos were deleted but the finished models speak for themselves. The cathedral is simply staggering. All of your scenery is impressive. Your work is an inspiration to me and I'm going to try my hand at much larger pieces next time I build. Looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Thank you for the kind words! Work and family has limited my 40k-time severly, but I still have the table and work on it now and then. It's now complete enough to be playable on a 4x8 table, and I manage to play one or two games on it every year. I would like to improve it by adding more variation and revisit some things I'm not happy with, but so far I have not found the time. I've looked everywhere for the old WIP photos I had on ImageShack, but so far I haven't found them. But most of the finished tiles are in the photos up above.

Ok, time to finally get some proper paint on that table (everything is drybrushed grey at the moment)!
This building is in dire need of some paint... I'm thinking gold, more or less like the box art.

And done! Better?

That looks fantastic! The gold finishes it off nicely.

I’ve had a look through your whole thread and you’ve a lot of great work!

Some prefab stuff, can't believe I've had this for years with nothing but boltgun spray on it...
I'm not going to do all the little details, maybe pick out a few things in different colors and then drown everything in wash.

Lots of wash later:

Hoping to give this scratchbuilt ruin some love from the bitzbox:

Bitz and signs added... maybe some wash on the lower wall would make it pop a bit more?

Another prefab getting some poster love:

If you could add some window sills to the bottom of each window, it might help the scratchbuild?

 Fifty wrote:
If you could add some window sills to the bottom of each window, it might help the scratchbuild?

Good idea! Cardboard strips might work, I'll give it a try later!

Wow, a great mix of GW building and scratch-built ones! I really enjoy seeing a good scratch-build, as that's what I saw when I first got into the hobby (WH40k 3rd ed.-era). Adding some color to break up the grayness works really well, as do the extra details like posters.

Getting some gold details on the cathedral:

Inspiring stuff! Loving the scratchbuilds you have made.
The posters add a lot of life to the buildings and make them look much more realistic.

Good work!

Thanks for the kind words!

Went to my local GW store to buy some paint, ended up buying a Sanctum box..
I've no idea how this happened, but damn that is an awesome kit! It can even be glued together at 45 degree angles without much cutting, which is what I'm going to do:

Only raising the floor 1cm on this one:

Everything glued together and textured!
I've only attached the curved part of the building to the base, the rest can be removed for variety.

Beautiful terrain Coldsnap.

Cheers,

CB

Captain Brown wrote:
Beautiful terrain Coldsnap.

Thanks!

Base coat done, going for a sandstone look for contrast compared to all the grey:

Building completed!
Next up is a Xenos containment facility using some old Zone Mortalis bitz from Forgeworld I've had in a box for 10 years or so.

Some pictures of the Sanctum build:

Work has begun on the containment lab. The Archivist Station kit is one of the coolest scenery bits Forgeworld has ever made, and FINALLY I've found a use for it!

Rocks, rocks everywhere!

Textured and basecoated:

Floor painted greenish:

Archivist station painted!

All done! I think there is still room for improvement, so comments and suggestions are most welcome.
40k game scheduled for next week, will be most interesting to see how the new additions hold up next to the old stuff!

I recently played a game of 40k on the board, and seized the opportunity to take some photos with a proper camera! Comments are welcome: