Welcome to the 28th installment of the League of Extraordinary Riveters Terrain Competition!

This is a terrain building competition, hopefully that's self-evident from the title...

The League's aim is to encourage our fellow gamers and model-makers to up their game while building terrain for their tabletop, be it for wargames, board games or dioramas. We encourage participants to use this thread to trade ideas, inspiration, encouragement and feedback.
Everyone is a winner in a League competition. Because, in the end, your entry is also your prize.

The first place winner, however, will win another great prize. They will be named a member of the League of Extraordinary Riveters, a group of dedicated artists and modelers who put great effort into having their work be extremely detailed (like being willing to glue on thousands of rivets).
The first place winner will also pick the theme for the next round, and become judge for that round.

Each round has a “theme” or other defining attribute(s) that must in some way be applied to the your terrain project, to compete with other modellers.

The competition is open to everyone registered on Dakka Dakka, all are welcome to enter regardless of skill, experience, ability, age or any other attribute someone might use to divide hobbyists up
The winner of each round hosts the next round, and the cycle continues.
The theme, limitations, rules, judging and prizes are all the responsibility of the host, although he or she can get help from others for some of those things...

For those who are returning once again to compete a most sincere and heartfelt welcome back! And to anyone competing for the first time, awesome! And welcome!

If you haven't taken part before, check out the previous rounds below. These are full of interesting, intriguing, entertaining and just downright awesome builds and ideas, a great source of inspiration. The judge for each round was , as should be clear from above, the winner of the previous round, with the exception of the first, set by one of the League's founders dsteinglass.

Contest #1 "Lids" (dsteingass)
Contest #2 "Cookie Package” (Viktor Von Doom)
Contest #3 "Fightin' Pit!" (MrMerlin)
Contest #4 "For the title of Master Shrubber" (Meade)
Contest #5 "Vehicles!" (Bruticus)
Contest #6 "We're Not Worthy!" (Meade)
Contest #7 "Fire at Will" (hk1x1)
Contest #8 "Accomodation" (Camkierhi)
Contest #9 “Elementary" (Littletower)
Contest #10 "The Throne" (Camkierhi)
Contest #11 "On The Road" (Red Harvest)
Contest #12 "Wall me up, fence me in" (MonkeyTroll)
Contest #13 "What Went Wrong!" (OneManNoodles)
Contest #14 "Making something extraordinary from the ordinary" (Dr H)
Contest #15 "The Trapdoor" (inmygravenimage)
Contest #16 "Got Wood?" (Viktor Von Doom)
Contest #17 "The (re)cycle of Life" (Guildenstern)
Contest #18 "The Portal" (inmygravenimage)
Contest #19 "Let it Flow!" (Camkierhi)
Contest #20 "Noise Polution" (Tek Thornison)
Contest # 21 "CARD-inal Sins" (Camkierhi)
Contest # 22 "A Series of Tubes" (Cleatus)
Contest # 23 "Child's Play" (Z-Ray)
Contest #24 "Pimpin' Aint Easy" (Fango)
Contest # 25 "For the war effort" (Syro)
Contest # 26 "Hold the Line!" (Camkierhi)
Contest: Round 27 "Sweet like chocolate" (monkeytroll)

Theme: The Name of the Game

The challenge for contest #28 is to raid your sports kit or old game components to find something you can use to make a sports or game themed piece of terrain. This could be stands for Bloodbowl, a Roman arena, a chessboard incorporated into a store, a statue to a former Olympian (medalist), or even something as simple as a cup and some dice sitting in the bottom of a trench.

The "piece" must be visible, but does not have to look like or represent it's original form (i.e. using playing cards as cardstock to build with would be perfectly fine). Note that Table Top war-gaming bits do not count (you can use them, but they cannot count as the gaming component). You could glue a space marine pauldron onto a chessman, or glue R2D2 to a meeple, but it is the meeple or chessman that counts towards the gaming component. Anything from a board game, dice game, card game, or sporting equipment will count. If in doubt, I will make the final arbitration on fitness for purpose.

Please post your key starting material and WIP pictures to this thread. WIP is the spice of life for a modeler, and your work will help inspire others, spawn discussions, or teach new techniques. Additionally I enjoy seeing them.

All scales and all game systems are welcome. The size of your piece doesn't matter and big vs small will be judged equally. The League wants you to push yourself to the next level in artistic ability and creativity, not size.

One very important thing to do, is post lots of "work in progress" pictures on this thread. This will let everyone enjoy the process of what you are creating. The members of LoER, participants in these contests, and the Dakka community as a whole love to help each other and give advice. A huge part of these competitions are to help you improve as an artist. Let people enjoy your WIPs and give suggestions to make it even more amazing. Constant updates from all of us will also keep this contest easier to find, which will allow more people to come and enjoy everyone's work, and get more people excited about joining in. (If more people join, you'll be even more proud if you win against 20 competitors rather than 2).

Do not post your finished work on this thread They should be PMed to me for judging, but you can still feel free post your finished work on your own P&M blog if you have one (just not here).

Try to take good pictures, if no one can see how good your piece is, how will we know? After all the work you put into your piece, don't slack on the pictures. Use this as a good excuse to improve your picture taking - if in doubt, ask for help, there's guides and articles here on dakka, in the wider wargaming community, and people here are generally willing to give advice - if we help others take better pictures, we can better see what they're producing in their work Lighting, focus, and cropping - 3 things to think on.

Guidelnes:

1. Talk about the competition. Make as many people know as you can. If you have a P&M blog, it's great to mention it there. I think it's a good idea to post you WIPs in your P&M blog as well as here, it gets your post count up faster, and will encourage the visitors of your blog to check out this competition. The more the merrier, and the flow of ideas, critiques and general banter increases exponentially as the number of entrants increases.

One of the best things you can do, is put the League terrain competition banner in your signature:
HTML code for the banner:
{url=https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/769886.page]{img]http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/11/8/429237_md-.jpg{/img]{/url]
change all the "{" to "["
It should look and work like this one:


2. Deadline for the contest will be April 20, 2019 at 8:00pm MST.

3. Scratch-builds, heavy conversions and their like are the order of the day

4. Your model should be a piece of terrain, or a diorama that includes a piece of terrain, suitable for gaming. It should not be a playable model in itself (a crashed tank must stay crashed), but removable models (people) are fine.

5. Any scale, any setting, any game system or board game is welcome. Likewise, it could be for a non-existent game, just so long as rule 4 is accounted for. Also any size for the actual piece you're making is great as long as you can photograph it clearly.

6. Final Entry: Six or more photos of your final entry, showing top, front, both sides, back and all the important parts - not to be posted in this thread. PM me with links to your galleries, albums, P&M blogs, or just the straight up pictures, etc. As said above, please take the time to take the best photos that you can. I would also like to know what part(s) are used for the theme - where and what is the packaging? A sentence or two on what your piece represents should be included.

7. AMBITION: Push yourself. Try something new! Always wanted to use LEDs? Go for it! Fancied weathering powders? Here's your chance! I'll be looking at your galleries for previous work, entries etc. I want everyone to feel that their best has a fair shot at this. The spirit of these competitions has always been about learning, expanding, discovering.

8. Not so much a rule, but it wouldn't be the League of Extraordinary Riveters if there are no rivets. This also means similar small details are highly valued (rivets are the best example of this level of detailing).

9. THE RULE OF COOL trumps all.

Overview I will be judging based on how well I feel the entry captured the spirit of the contest this time around. No special points or fixed criteria for victory.

The Prize
Membership to the League of Extraordinary Riveters as top prize. You will be allowed to fly the League's banner and be recognized as a modeler devoted to impressive detail (or Rivets).
The warm fuzzy feelings inside and the bragging rights that your peers love and are impressed with your work. And as is league tradition, I will also mail you a small modelling/war game based prize as well. This will include various bits that you will hopefully find usefully in your modeling future.

Additionally, the winner of the popular vote, if different form the winner I select, will receive a similar goody bag.

Competitors:

inmygravenimage
Viktor von Doom
Inquisitor Lord Bane
monkeytroll
Syro_
KernelTerror
Commander Cain
Mothsniper

This sounds... complicated but interesting. I have the beginnings of an idea, although no idea what to incorporate into it.

Got an idea already, now i need to find a fitting piece to include in said terrain piece...so in other words... I'm in...!

Cool theme and nice limitation idea!!!

This will be my first terrain competition, so I'm excited! I have a rough idea of what I want to do, just need to head down to the local thrift store and see what I can get.

No ideas as yet, but I'll throw in now and figure it out later

I have the same sentiment as monkeytroll, I have no idea what I'm doing yet, but I'm in

I may not have been super clear. You can use Monopoly money as paper mache to build with, a Bicycle card deck as cardstock to make planks for a bleacher (similar to Syro_ using a box of nerds to make his entry last round), etc. It does not have to be it's original color or 'shape'. For instance you might cut up ticket to ride trains and use them as exhaust ports on a factory.

The material just has to be visible (i.e. not hidden, internal structure to the piece). A Sorry pawn or a golf tee as the nose cone of a rocket would be visible and acceptable. The dimpled skin of an old basket ball as surface texture for a cobblestone road or patio would be fine once painted over. The battleship from monopoly as a trophy in a game room.

Does that help or make it more confusing?

By the warp...A few days ago I was saying "I hope maniac does not come up with a topic that gives me an excuse to turn these pieces of polystyrene into an arena that would be way to large to store anywhere."
I Hope my couple survives this round.


Still need to find some game/sport related item to incorporate to the build though...

I think it was pretty clear Maniac, but it never hurts to throw more explanations or ideas out there.
I'll go hunting for bits over the next few days to see what I can come up with.

Meanwhile in the interest of science here's a few 'questions'

How about puzzle games? For instance jigsaw pieces, or bits from those puzzles you have to slot together to form shapes (like 3d tetris). Bits from a Rubik's cube?

Asking for the general population to help get creative juices flowing rather than for myself at this stage. But would those count as 'games' or not for this?

 monkeytroll wrote:
I think it was pretty clear Maniac, but it never hurts to throw more explanations or ideas out there.
I'll go hunting for bits over the next few days to see what I can come up with.

Meanwhile in the interest of science here's a few 'questions'

How about puzzle games? For instance jigsaw pieces, or bits from those puzzles you have to slot together to form shapes (like 3d tetris). Bits from a Rubik's cube?

Asking for the general population to help get creative juices flowing rather than for myself at this stage. But would those count as 'games' or not for this?

Yes, both would count.

This is useful info, yes. Annoyingly, I just had an idea for last round too lol. I think I have a workable idea too.

i think we will this time see many variations to the theme... i want to build an arena too...and started too...

i am still looking for stuff to use to make it rules worthy...would wooden counting sticks...er...count?

Not sure where I will be in the following few months but this is an interesting enough project that I will throw my name in for now!

Considering making a dice tower constructed from dice themselves, would that be an acceptable creation?

@Viktor: Brilliant, looking forward to seeing what you come up with !

Right, assuming I can find the stuff, I am going to scavenge bits from old/abandonned board games to make a Dice Tower that is also a Commentator's box for Dreadball. There, it's official

@Viktor - I'm not sure what counting sticks are exactly. I am open to ideas though, can you give me a run down on why they might fit?

@Commander Cain - yes, this would be perfect. I like the cheeky aspect of using dice in a dice tower design.

Think Vik means Pick-up sticks...
here

Those would be fine.

Maniac_nmt wrote:

@Commander Cain - yes, this would be perfect. I like the cheeky aspect of using dice in a dice tower design.

dice-tower-off

 Camkierhi wrote:
Think Vik means Pick-up sticks...
here

in essence yes...wooden in material...the sticks are all in different colours and are used as a counting item for school work or kindergarden...but i am currently revisiting the idea...

what i have been doing recently is this:







hpoefully the pics show the basic structure all right... it has a tribune section and apit section...the later is sloped and this is for a kind of terminal effect...a no way out kind of setting... once the fighters are in the mid of the pit there is the classic thunderdome setting^^

more to this soonish^^

cheers, vik

Slowly finding old games and pieces to add to my material pile. Slowly finding ideas for what to build.

The two aren't meshing well at the moment unfortunately

I keep drifting towards the idea of a diorama based around some fluff I had for my old Dark eldar, but that keeps increasing in complexity, and I'm not sure I really want to go delving and pull out whatever DE bits I have left.

There's a couple of variations on arenas (not feeling any that jump out at me)
A 1:1 scale game table - think Trek 3D chess (keeps shifting configuration, and not wholly convinced it technically fits the comp)
Some beastie fighting pits for gambling (again, none have grabbed my attention yet)
A shooting range (not interesting enough yet)
A stable for racing beasties (kinda interesting)
A demolition derby in 15mm or smaller (kinda intersting)
A 40k biker race strip (liking this as it's something I once started putting together back when Squat bikes first arrived)
An underhive gambling den (gets ever more complex)
A robotic boxing ring (kinda interesting)


That's the way I'm rolling currently Feel free to pilfer inspiration

Thats looking really interesting and full on Vik.

Loads of inspiration there Monkeytroll, be a hard pick from that great list of ideas.

I am still trying to come up with something. Not feeling anything at mo, though MT idea of a underhive gambling den is giving me a thought or two.

I was just about to reply that although there's several good ones there, none are really grabbing me, except for those that I can see spiralling out of control very quickly. But then I had a quick thought on a couple of guys I'd like in the biker race sent me somewhere else.

I feel a brief return to my cyborks coming......

Cyboar jousting! A diorama rather than just plain terrain, but I may look at magnetising figures to remove them.

Now to figure out how to use my various game pieces.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also just noticed - the banner link details in the OP need adjusting - that still points to last round In the first section the part that reads posts/list/0/763930.page#10154516 should be replaced with posts/list/0/769886.page#10308335

I love the jousting idea, but that could be because I mostly play historical based wargaming.

 inmygravenimage wrote:

Maniac_nmt wrote:

@Commander Cain - yes, this would be perfect. I like the cheeky aspect of using dice in a dice tower design.

dice-tower-off

Feel free to go ahead with your idea graven! I like the sound of yours more than mine and really want to see what you do with it Dice are basically small bricks so I will come up with a different idea in no time!

Real life getting in the way of the warp these days, but tonight, I managed to work a little bit on my entry, by slicing the arena in 4 quarters, and covering them with plaster, to add strength, texture, and protect the polystyrene from the spray paint.


Also found the gaming component to be integrated to the thing, in some cheap plastic casino chips, a few bucks for a hundred chips. Although it feels like a bit of a cop out, so I'll keep an eye for more interesting parts to add...

Interesting. Perhaps I shall jump in as well.

I actually do not have old board/or/sports game things...
Would golf balls be ok to use?

Golf balls are perfectly in line with the theme.

 Maniac_nmt wrote:
Golf balls are perfectly in line with the theme.

Then Sign me up!

Update:i came across a set of chess figures...but i am still thinking about using nerf darts?

If golf balls are ok, how about ping pong balls?

Ping pong balls would also be fine. They are sporting/gaming items and perfectly legal.

Ooo, Nerf darts, great idea!

Idea I have is a Tesla Powerplant structure inspired by RedAlert 2

Golfballs, cup, sprinkler pieces, old flashlight, used printer cartridge, and pink foam.
2 part epoxy.
This is turning into much bigger piece than original design drawing.

....This is turning into much bigger piece than original design drawing. ....

This is me...every time i plan and start to work on a new terrain piece...

Also...one hell of a gorgeous sketch you did!!!

I can't decide if I want to enter this round, or if I do what to make. Pretty busy these days, I might just watch this one. Good luck, all!

Also...one hell of a gorgeous sketch you did!!!

Thanks man, that is kinda what I do

Trying out the Air-Dry-Clay Das to fill in the gaps.
Might shrink and crack. well see.

That is shaping up nicely.

Wood-Glue brushed on all insulation- foam sides for spray painting.
Worked quite well.

Got Whole bunch of "rings" for the coils.
Unfortunately the selection of sizes to pick from is small.
Even a local dedicated plastics shop had very small and overpriced selection.

I think I will go with the Styrofoam rings.

Very nice progress mothsniper, a nice collection of materials you've gathered too.

I've finally gotten started on my piece. It's a small round table that people have been playing cards on, the playing cards will be made from really playing cards.

Starting materials:


The table top as I connect the craft sticks:


The table top after shaping, and with a wash to act as stain.

 Mothsniper wrote:
Got Whole bunch of "rings" for the coils.
Unfortunately the selection of sizes to pick from is small.
Even a local dedicated plastics shop had very small and overpriced selection.

I think I will go with the Styrofoam rings.

have you looked after curtain hangers? in DIY shops you might find smaller more appropriate ones...i found there some for my own needs...

Nice progress folks !

I too have some progress to repord on my arena, adding the main features to all four quarters of the thing :




To fulfill the LoER's gaming related material, I bought some cheap casino chip trays :


That I integrated into the walls. It does not show well right now, as the things are transparent, but they should make nice alcoves where to put statues :


The second tray is located right below an extended terrace, hope the thing will hold...


I still have to flatten the arena's inner walls, but they now have two doors :



Half of the time already gone, better keep building...

I've worked some more on the card table. I feel a little bad that I only thought of such a simple piece. I am approaching completion (though the required element hasn't been added yet), so this is likely my last post here on the competition thread.

I attached some small sections of craft stick on the bottom of the table that I will ne nesting the table legs in


Here I attached the table legs, made from bamboo skewers


Used a brown wash to strain the rest of the wood, like the table top. Here the table is posed with some D&D figures for scale:

Clever ideas guys.

Basing on 4 individual boards let you have a big center piece, or something on the sidelines and the card table with cards made from cards is a brilliant 4th wall breaking bit of terrain.

 Viktor von Domm wrote:

have you looked after curtain hangers? in DIY shops you might find smaller more appropriate ones...i found there some for my own needs...

Viktor von Domm, I have not thought of that... that is a good call indeed! Shower curtains might have larger variants in the diameter.
Well, these styrofoams rings grew on me at this point, because they are so light and easy to install, and they turned out to be the cheapest, 1$ for a pack of 6.

 KernelTerror wrote:
Nice progress folks !
I too have some progress to repord on my arena, adding the main features to all four quarters of the thing

KernelTerror, Epic progress indeed, that is an intense arena! Did not realize how big it was until saw that guy next to the trays.
I am guessing 60X60 cm boards?
I can see this arena with those balconies fit right into Tatooine architecture.

 Syro_ wrote:

I feel a little bad that I only thought of such a simple piece.

Syro, don't feel bad! Because now I wish I could scale down mine.

Speaking of scaling down... not going so well.

1 - Decided to make 3 objective markers type structures. Turned out that 2-Part-Epoxy doesn't hold on to the smooth plastic surface.
Should of though of that... before drilling out the hole on the top... because everything flaked off.
Now the plastic pieces are scored with a rough file. Should hold better this time.

2 - Figured out that these tiny plastic tubes bend very easily when lightly heated, and hold the shape in seconds when cool.
Trying to bend multiples pieces at once failed because the tubes spread out the heat to the pieces next to them and just over melting the tips into oblivion...
However, the longer pieces worked-out quite well and will get used.

3 - I needed a way to cut thin pieces of plastic and small sections of balsa-wood to make details for this Tesla Tower. Ended up making this simple cutting table today.
The L bracket has a bit of give and could be adjusted for exact 90. The 90 and 45 will be drawn on table and the pieces would be held by hand, I don't think I need a rail of guard for pieces that small. And the blade is glued with 2-Part-Epoxy, should not be hard to pry off the old blade and glue in a new one if need be.

That cutter is an amazing piece...got one from a friend industry made as a gift...but yours has that stoneage coolness to it!!! best part is the carved lever...epic!!!

You might use some screws for a quicker and easier change of blades...you will sooner than you think need to change them...

As for your glueing woes...baking soda and super glue...or for that matter pva and super glue...a truly nasty combination to inflicting your will on almost any matter...

And also also: i recently got me good glue gun...hot glue is rather trustworthy...if as you mentioned you prepare the surface a bit with grooves or file them...

 Viktor von Domm wrote:
That cutter is an amazing piece...got one from a friend industry made as a gift...but yours has that stoneage coolness to it!!! best part is the carved lever...epic!!!

You might use some screws for a quicker and easier change of blades...you will sooner than you think need to change them...

As for your glueing woes...baking soda and super glue...or for that matter pva and super glue...a truly nasty combination to inflicting your will on almost any matter...

And also also: i recently got me good glue gun...hot glue is rather trustworthy...if as you mentioned you prepare the surface a bit with grooves or file them...

Screws yes, however I need to make a holder and cut groove in the handle for the blade assembly that will not split the wood, for now I am not sure I will be able to find good pieces for that from my metal scrap pile. In future for sure.

Baking soda, I forgot about that one!
I have a hot-glue gun yet the heat will melt the insulation foam... but it does grip even the smoothest of plastic surfaces. Perhaps brushing on a layer of wood-glue on to foam pieces to prevent the melting and using the glue-gun.

Update

For the structure it self, the gaps are filled in with Das-Air-Dry-Clay around the curved structure and painted.

For the smaller tesla top, in addition to the "golf-ball", some small chess pieces are utilized
Tops melted slightly and dented with marbles.

Some sort of sphere will go on top, something easily pinable and easily paintable.

Thanks Mothsniper, and wow you've been busy. That's a lot of progress. Keep up the good work. That's really cool that you built that cutting table, I like it.

 Syro_ wrote:
Thanks Mothsniper, and wow you've been busy. That's a lot of progress. Keep up the good work. That's really cool that you built that cutting table, I like it.

Keeping up the good work

Cutting bases for the smaller teslas.
And the details.

Fantastic stuff guys. To those who signed up but have not hit a final concept yet, would a longer time line help?

Also, I updated the link to the competition in the first post. I had it linked to the previous competition in error.

Viktor von Domm had the great idea of me adding drinks to my little table with the card game. This is the progress on them so far. They are made from styrene tubes capped with green stuff for the actual drink inside. I bend very small styrene cylinders around a craft stick and applied heat to make the handles.

Cool! Dang...I'm helping the competition

 Syro_ wrote:
Viktor von Domm had the great idea of me adding drinks to my little table with the card game. This is the progress on them so far. They are made from styrene tubes capped with green stuff for the actual drink inside. I bend very small styrene cylinders around a craft stick and applied heat to make the handles.

That is a very clever way to make handles.
Will there be tiny miniature playing cards on the table?

-----Update
A mixture, of: woodglue, mod pudge, acrylic paint, pigment, dirt from outside, twigs and ground leaves, decorative sand, and paper towels, is applied around the structures to provide texture and help secure the pieces together by encasing everything in a hard shelf.
Because the 2-Part-Epoxy is good, and glued in cardboard base is good, and Das Air-Dry-Clay is good, but it possible for those concrete sections to snap off the round shape with enough force. Now, they are not going anywhere.

This is the last progress update on the Tesla Tower as it is close to completion

 Maniac_nmt wrote:
Clever ideas guys.

Basing on 4 individual boards let you have a big center piece, or something on the sidelines and the card table with cards made from cards is a brilliant 4th wall breaking bit of terrain.

Thanks a lot Maniac ! Exactly, either one single arena, four separate weird looking buildings. And if I even get bored at some point, I can add straight sections to the thing so it looks like a racing circus. And I can just remove one section to place the camera.

 Mothsniper wrote:

KernelTerror, Epic progress indeed, that is an intense arena! Did not realize how big it was until saw that guy next to the trays.
I am guessing 60X60 cm boards?
I can see this arena with those balconies fit right into Tatooine architecture.

Much appreciated ! 40 by 40 cm only actually. But yeah, quite eager to see how the balconies will turn out !

Did some progress this weekend, starting by smoothing the inner walls of the arena :


Also added some walls and more plaster to the interior of the opened section :


And finally, all sections now have external floor texture, and the columns were jointed to the walls, again, with plaster.


With all these steps done, I still have to find a way to do some clean seats for the entire thing. For which I do not have a plan yet, should be fun ^^ !
After that, I should be able to basecoat.

@Viktor von Domm: Heh heh, thanks again Vik

@Mothsniper: Thank you, and yes there will be tiny playing cards on the table. In fact I just made them tonight (though not fully finished). I keep thinking that I'm very close to finished with my entry so I'm not posting on here anymore. If you don't want to wait until the end of the contest to see them, you can check out the tiny playing cards on my P&M blog. Very impressive how sturdy your piece should be after the work you put in, it sounds bomb proof

@KernelTerror: Good progress, I'm looking forward to seeing the balconies also.

 KernelTerror wrote:

Much appreciated ! 40 by 40 cm only actually. But yeah, quite eager to see how the balconies will turn out !

For the seating instead of clean plastic molded seats, unless available, how about making seating out of plaster or foam like rock benches, or wire-brush over a foam to make them wooden planks
Have you though about the color scheme for the arena? Gray concrete, brown wood, tan stone, ets?

@Syro_ - Mmmm I would rather leave it unspoiled, and will wait and see nice pictures of everything on the DAY!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
And some more progress... I think I am overdoing it at this point.
Thought to have 4 rings (O-rings) go around the top pin getting smaller in diameter.
In my mind the only secure attachment for them rings are the pins and superglue... after attaching 2 larger rings... yeah... I think I will skip the consecutive decreasing 4 layers of tiny rings. That would be a day of work by it self.
AAAAAaand i broke all of my drilling bits.

Thanks Syro !

Good idea MothSniper, maybe I can build a tool that would let me replicate the same bench shape in plaster over the whole thing....
The Arena will probably be in the same dark tints as my previous entries, but I'll try to add more contrasting notes, such as on the columns, arena sand or the benches...Still need to decide on which colours to use.
Excellent progress on these coils, RINGS FOR THE RING GOD !

 KernelTerror wrote:
Thanks Syro !

Good idea MothSniper, maybe I can build a tool that would let me replicate the same bench shape in plaster over the whole thing....
The Arena will probably be in the same dark tints as my previous entries, but I'll try to add more contrasting notes, such as on the columns, arena sand or the benches...Still need to decide on which colours to use.
Excellent progress on these coils, RINGS FOR THE RING GOD !

Hahaha. COILS FOR THE COIL-power-coverter-unit-regulator-system
The reason I asked about the colors, because luckly the ground for the Tesla towers got based (in whatever paint I had laying around, happened to be red-ochre) and dry-brushed in dusty ochre-tanish sand. And it turnedout way cooler than I expected. Especially how the dust from the ground blends into the structures. That Tatooine look man. Base it, then drybrush lighter or wash darker and done

Never worked in plaster me self, would guess sort of armature and a shape scraper would work? maybe.
I was also thinking of that Greek poerty stadium thing, Epidaurus, just rows of stone stairs that act like benches. Possibly.

Fantastic progress guys. Your compatriots have a lot of catching up to do.

Thanks Syro_, much appreciated .

Thanks for the advice MothSniper, as you will see below, I indeed went the Epidauros look. After spending way to much money on random plastic bits from the hardware store, and looking for spoons that would be small enough yet not too recognizable, I finally gave up and built a tool to make seats :


And here is a first quarter of the arena with some seats rows. Once dry it will need a second pass in order to make it look cleaner, but quite happy with how that turned out :

Note that the steps are of different heights, thought that would make the thing more interesting, hope that'll still look good.

 KernelTerror wrote:


Thanks for the advice MothSniper, as you will see below, I indeed went the Epidauros look. After spending way to much money on random plastic bits from the hardware store, and looking for spoons that would be small enough yet not too recognizable, I finally gave up and built a tool to make seats

Spending too much money, yeah, I can relate, its funny how - no matter how many years are invested in the craft or how much experience has been accumulated over the years, with each new project its like relearning the techniques and trying to find a "optimal" Different way of making same thing.

Those rows look good man!
HAahaa the tool is very simple yet proves to be quite effective, nice!

I wondered if the cracks in the stone could be applied before the material dries or painted in with dark lines afterwords.
Or just left as a uniformed circular "bench" Like it has been carved out of the stone in that way.

Exactly mothsniper ! I know these impulse buy at the hardware store are bad ideas, and that I alread have accumulated more than enough material over the years, still, these plastic wire holders looked perfect. Damn no, they dont bend. Well back to the shop, this shower door joint looks perfect ! Damn no, it does not bend either, and cutting it with pliers worsens it ! Still, at least these failed experiment give me more confidence in my last attempts.

Regarding the cracks some happened while drying, definitely keeping those, but I'll refrain of reworking the plaster while it is not perfectly dry, I risk ruining the flat surfaces or edges at that step. Maybe I can texture them later once dry. But yeah, my general idea is a stone carved look anyway.

And as of tonight, there are now rows of seats all over the arena !


Tomorrow, I should get some time to power up the sander, and work on the contact surfaces of the four blocks, in order for them to connect properly, then finally, on to basecoating !

Smashing work. Once you buff it up some it will look lovely.

Thanks a lot Maniac !

Sides sanded, base coat applied, and a quick and dirty drybrush to have a better view of the textures and of areas that need improvements.

Now I can start adding details to the thing !




And @MothSniper, I am more and more considering stealing your sand recipe for the sand of the arena ^^ !

One month to go, will be a close one !

Thats looking great KT. In fact all looking good. Lets see some WIP guys.

Guess I better get my finger out and sort something.

How is everyone coming along? Is the 31st still looking achievable for folks?

I've already received one final entrant, and there are a couple others that look like they are closing in.

On it boss...

31st still works for me, I just have to get around to setting up my paint station to put the finishing touches on one part.

OK Bit more done on the current distraction.

Theme is "name of the game" and we are meant to use playing pieces, so to start with a slight cop out using playing cards.


Also scored some nasty cheap dominoes, going to see what I come up with them.


And after a couple hours messing about.


Thank you for looking.

Playing cards are 100% a-ok. That is off to a nice start.

I know it's a little late (and some people look like they're almost finished!) but I think I might give this a shot. I've recently found some old Shadowrun modules so thinking of starting back up with that, so might make some terrain (which could also double up as 40k terrain).

Thinking of a futuristic arcade/ game shop kinda thing. If that's not legal, then I'm sure I could find some bits of games lying around to build it with. Might not get it done in time, what with university and all, but I need some inspiration to get painting (and building) again. Good luck to everyone!

Well my idea collapsed like a poorly made souffle. So I think I'm out of this one, alas.

Impressive start cam ! You make it look easy, while I am convinced it is not ^^!
Will you keep the playing card pattern one way or the other ? Makes me think of azuleros...

Sorry to hear that graven, we are talking about a litteral collapse ?

And yup Maniac, the 31 is still potentially achievable, I have placed the 20th as the deadline to finish detailing and start painting...

Speaking of which, detailing work is almost done on one quarter of the arena :

Snazzy!
Sort of. My plan involved harvesting Moustetrap, but it never really worked. Much like mousetrap itself, I suppose

Go for it Ferrous695! I joined my first LoER contest when the original deadline was already over and there was only two weeks left in the extended deadline. You'll push yourself to get it done

Cam - Great start! Kinda want to see that card pattern show up in the finished piece as a structural decorative inset. mayhaps?

inmygravenimage - Did those verminous skaven had anything to do with it? I have in the plans to slay a few of em in V2

KernelTerror - Are those tentacle gargoyles on top of the pillars? Solid work on the green-stuff man, those faces read quite well!

Ferrous695 - Jump in man! And remember, like one great man once said- "9. THE RULE OF COOL trumps all. "

Fantastic greenstuff work.

@Ferrous695 - welcome to the party.

Much appreciated folks !
Although disclaimer, those are not sculpts I did from nothing but molds of various demon heads then reworked to fit whatever I am attaching them to.

Hope that is not against any rule.

Excellent work guys.

Little progress...




Work continues...

Looking good Cam! I always enjoy it when you make buildings

Good job the the floor especially! That is going to look so good with some color washes

Little more progress.


Keep it coming folks.

Lovely work with the matches, I never thought of that as a good source of framing material. Should be cheaper than buying the bits at Michaels.

Card wall texture fits perfectly. Looking good!

Received a few more components for detailing earlier on,




And managed to complete a second quarter of the arena, aside from some final texture detailing at some spots. Still, my plan to start painting on the 21st got completely sidetracked by me needing to build a wrestling belt for a bachelor party, and this weekend, attend said party.
So I know have two options, start painting that half, and consider it my entry, or...beg for a deadline extension ^^ ???

Fantastic KT, really hope you manage to get it all done. But even what you have so far is brilliant bud.

Little progress.

KernelTerror - The arena is turning out beautifully horrific! The arena has that Heavy-Metal feel, dig it! Finding more stuff to add to it I see.
Just an Idea (If pressed for time, I can see one quarter, all painted up, serve well for final entry)
In any case, extending the deadline is a good call.

Camkierhi - Damn that wood work looks good! Now I want to find my balsa box and some glue.

I am willing to extend to the 20th of April if folks are in agreement.

 Maniac_nmt wrote:
I am willing to extend to the 20th of April if folks are in agreement.

In agreement indeed!

I'll grab that straw like a mad man

Thanks a lot Maniac, I'll do my best to make this count ! Update on the third quarter soon...

The ayes have it. Extended to April 20th.

I just submitted mine, good luck finishing everyone.

Looking brilliant Cam!

Awesome, I might even have a shot at finishing this thing ^^ !
Third quarter done, not a lot to do on that one though, just a few addition to delimit the balcony properly (more jointing will follow), some alcoves, and a mass of wires...

Looking fantastic KT.

OK well not a lot done, been a bit meh....but here you go some progress...

So started on some furnishings...





And then took a look at the stairs....






And obviously the stairs need to go somewhere..




Keep it coming folks.

Wowsers. I recognise those skulls!

Yep I have a bag of same skulls. Don't remember where I got them from though.
Solid work on the stairs Camkierhi! Absolutely brilliant!

Gorgeous furniture and woodworks Cam, !

Finally finished the detailing of the fourth quarter of the arena. Some more joint work to do to properly integrate some of the pieces, then on to painting !

Reworked the arena floor today, making it completely flat. While the original setting with kind of a platform was interesting to let some models have the higher ground during battle, it also proved terrible to have the different quarters properly fit together. With a bit of cutting and the addition of aluminium pieces, it now connects better. I just have to redo the texture...Which is already drying.

the competition is fierce, can´t say it enough....

but i am still..."in the game"...:
stages...


the two stairs are for audience and gladiators...seperate to ensure that no paying spectator gets attacked by the soon to be maiming themselves^^

the coloured wooden sticks could count as gaming pieces...but i think i want to include something else as a countable item soon...stay tuned !


cheers, vik

Good lord this competition is fierce!

well...even more updates....first drybrush it is...:






i am planning to make it look deserty sandstone like...we´ll see how the next drybrush will turn out...

cheers, vik

Wow! that looks great Vik!

Viktor von Domm A proper dwarven stonework!

Looking fantastic KT.

And Vol, that is stunning bud.

Amazing work folks.

Friendly reminder, the contest ends this coming Saturday. Please send me a pm with a link to your photos.

I've received 2 final entries, which are both fantastic pieces, and it looks like several more should be equally stunning.

I've been out of the country for a week, but sprinting to the finish, hence the text only update.
I am currently applying paint to the last details of the arena, and am reasonably confident that I'll be able to turn in a finished piece, even if that means cutting some corners ^^ !

But really, I have been such an idiot to take on such a big piece ^^ ! Really hating all the wiring I have added to the statues right now...

Good luck finishing KernelTerror!

Uni work got on top of me, not going to be able to finish in time. Might partake in another challenge in the future, and I should probably build something a little less time consuming/ ambitious. Good luck to everyone still building/ painting, some fantastic looking WIP throughout the month.

Thanks Syro !
One quarter of the arena finished at time of writing, and two more following closely...

Entry submitted, damn that was a close one. Lesson learned, not an 80by80cm base for the next one !

See you in round 29 folks !

How long have I got?

Final pics will happen tomorrow...a tube load of washes needs to dry over night and then i need to take daylight pics ...

`m still in the game

 Camkierhi wrote:
How long have I got?

Until Saturday, 8:00pm MST, I think that should be 3AM GMT if you guys are still 7 hours ahead of us.

...and....submitted...*pheeewwww* (wipes sweat of brow...)

I recon that is the closest I have come to the dead line, but submitted.

BZZZT! There goes the buzzer! Great Googly Moogly these are some fine pieces. From the deliciously small to the massively huge, and several that are multi part.

Public Opinion poll is up, and your job of voting will be as difficult as mine. Fantastically well done guys.

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/774448.page#10421351

Good luck everyone. And Maniac, best of the luck, judging is stupid hard.

So true about judging being hard, Cam. Great job getting your entry in on time. Good luck with the judging Maniac.

He won last time...that's the price you have to pay for winning a comp...

Yes, if only I paid more attention to the warnings. I love each and every piece submitted. Very excellent work guys. I'll have to spend some time going through each gallery, write some notes up, and then publish the winner.

Well done everyone.

I was absent from this round, even for commenting, as I neglected to follow the thread and only realised when I wondered why it had been so quiet.

Good final products though.

Judging may be hard, but it's nice to take a deep dive into how different people approach a model and a theme. Good learning experience.

Good luck all.

I look forward to the next round, and I'll attempt to miss less of it...

*restless ruffling of rambling roots*

Sorry, today got away from me. I will have results up tonight.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Final decision is in on my part, but first my thoughts on the pieces. Overall these were really well executed with lots of heart and soul put into them. It is difficult to choose just one, but as the judge I have to.

Kernelterror:

Fantastic multi part terrain piece. Making a tool to finish it up was stellar and very creative. The gribblies on the the posts were a nice touch, and this looks very Chaos-y. Modularity is fantastic, you can play with this all as one or in pieces as the table dictates. Heck, you could play mini games just inside the terrain itself. It can anchor a corner, be a center piece, or man one of the flanks.

Viktor von Domm:

I love RE Howard's Conan, and this screams Conan to me. Beautiful brickwork, and I love the sliding grate. Like Kernelterror, you could play a game with just the piece submitted. Very lovely use of verdigris on the chess pieces.

Syro_:

Love the simplicity of this piece. Good things come in small packages, and this was very well executed. I love the meta textual use of playing cards to make playing cards on a playing card table. I would drink a beer/mead/cider/flagon of wine (red please) here. Easily portable it can be used in so many different games.

Mothsniper:

The spires are fantastic. The use of not one, not two, but three different 'game' pieces was spectacularly pulled off. I also love that you used chess pieces on a 'russian' piece of terrain inspired by a video game (chess often being thought of as a popular Russian game, and ping pong being a popular sport in another communist country). A most excellent layer withing a layer within a layer. Very well done capturing multiple aspects of the theme into your piece. I also liked that you found a way to go big and go 'small' with the out-lying towers much like Kernelterror did. Plus building your own tools is true dedication.

Camkierhi:

Love that you chose two different gambling pieces to make a gambling house. I was initially a little skeptical of the card wall paper, but it turned out brilliant. The fact you also managed a multi purpose piece with a full or damaged building was amazing. The wood work you did is utterly brilliant, and it is pulled together very well.


In the end though, I have to pick one winner. I would love to pick each of you, but sadly there can be only one. In that spirit, I have decided that the winner of the 28th LOER Contest is none other than:


Camkierhi. The use of multiple gaming pieces in a very overt way, show casing a gambling den was the perfect marriage of required material and theme. While a beautiful piece (and really all of these are beautiful pieces), it was this marriage of parts and theme that ultimately secured the victory.

And with that, I will close out round 28 saying I wish I could play on any table showing these pieces. Thank you all for playing and following along, and best of luck in round 29.

What a round this has been, congratulations to all entrants and especially to you Cam !
Thanks a lot Maniac for the organizing, the topic chosen played out great !

Looking forward to the next round !

Thanks for the Conan referrence...that is a huge compliment!

As for Cam... There is no way around him... He is a master of so many trades...and he has the will and the skill to use everything for his works... This dedication is unparalleled...thus: congrats to the winner...
One of these days i hope to best you
Also...i hope you haven't run out of ideas for the next run...

Congrats gang, well done all and a fascinating contest from Maniac_nmt on to the next!

Congratulations Cam! Stunning work as usual, and the amount of time and effort that went into the piece shows

Also with you judging again, the rest of us will have more of a chance to win now
I also think it's funny that you are judging around the same time of the year as last time, last time it was end of May through the summer of last year.

Thanks for the kind works Maniac_nmt, and excellent job judging. Great work everyone, a lot of beautiful pieces.

Bugger!

Well done to all of you guys, brilliant work. Honestly did not expect to win that one, you all had such excellent pieces.

Next round up soon. Thank you Maniac.

Next round is up...