As you probably will have noted, the site has been rather quiet. This was primarily because of private reasons from our group members (mostly involving work or studying).

However, the group finally has time to get together and prepare for our very first campaign. To start we have kept things simple and use existing rules. Some existing rules such as armour and certain combat rules are slightly adjusted. Off course we will post them later on this site as well as our experiences with the rules.

So stay tuned! We are getting atleast a day filled with Mordheim the next week. So our campaign will start with flying colours. Our warbands are getting done paintwise so expect pictures.

See you in the streets!

Recently I’ve been working on a big solid bridge structure for our mordheim terrain. I made this using only a bit of styrofoam that already had an arch-like shape, and cardboard.
I must say that I’m very happy the way the styrofoam part currently looks: like solid pieces of stone. The cardboard part however still looks like cardboard. Something that doesn’t really has a ’solid’ feeling to it.

After thinking about it for a bit with Vincent, we figured that some cheap filler that Vincent bought a while ago might be the solution to this problem. The actual idea is something we based off of this post that Ashton Sanders made quite a while ago about a similar product that we used called ’spackle’.

The theory of using the filler is something like this: you put a whole bunch of the stuff on the area of the terrain piece that you’re not happy with, and you give this part a bit of texture with the filler, covering up whatever type of material is under there.

It actually works quite good too! The only thing that you should be aware of is that in order to make something look older, it’s important that you don’t apply the filler as neatly as you’d usually do. Be as rough as you’d like: you can cover the entire surface to get a really smooth effect, or just leave bits a bit open, like I did, in order to get something that is…Well, less smooth, basicly.

I made two before and afters to show you the difference that occured after just a couple of minutes of work. As soon as the entire bridge piece is ‘fillered’ (heh), I’ll be posting that too. That way you’ll see what the effect is on a terrain piece rather than a small sample.

Here’s the bridge, with already a wee bit of filler applied to the cardboard.

And here are the before and afters for both styrofoam and cardboard. The styrofoam simply loses it’s ‘bumpy’ texture when you apply a thin layer, and the cardboard has a thick layer, giving it a very cool texture.

The pictures also show the tube of filler (called ‘plamuur’ in Dutch) and the tool I was applying it with. I’m pretty sure anything that’s a bit sturdy will work, though.

If anybody knows a better or a different way to accomplish something like this, be sure to leave a message! I’m really curious to see what other terrain builders are using.

I asked my mom if she had some decorative glass marbles, which she said she had, and of which I could have some. Turned out they where green! Perfect! =D I put some in a piece of cloth and gave them a good clobbering after which they turned out like the shattered pieces of glass in the pictures.

Jerodar (Jeroen) convinced me that it can actually pass for a comet shard because according to him all debris from meteorites is sort of buffed by the intense heat that develops through friction when the meteor enters the atmosphere. Also, the impact might Nevertheless I think jagged pieces of wyrdstone would look really cool too (like Ashton’s), maybe even cooler. For now I’ll settle on this.

To mirror this setting I’ve thought about making some scenery that relates back to the impact of the comet. I came up with a rock formation that could pass for a piece of debris from the comet. If I go this way I’d like to decorate it with some green crystals (Wyrdstone/warpstone is green of colour) I’m going to have to think of some way to create some convincing warpstone crystals to do so. My gut tells me that it’s way to rounded off to pass for comet debris, but we’ll see. Perhaps you can help me out on this one.

This will-be piece of rock started out as some packaging foam that was lying around in my parent’s garage. I started sculpting it by attacking it viciously with a hobby knife. First I cut out the general shape of the rocks and then I made some grooves in the sides to give it a more weathered look. The hole in the bottom of the backside was actually an accident; I tend to get a little overexcited with sharp utensils when I’m in an creative mood. (not on people, don’t worry )

I made the base from a piece of masonite that I salved from the attic. Using a jigsaw I then cut out a general shape for the scenery piece and sanded the edges using a sander. Then I glued the scenery piece to it’s base using some universal glue.

To make this piece (this far at least) I used:

• A piece of masonite / hardboard
• Some polystyrene foam
• A hobby knife
• A jigsaw
• A sander
• Some universal glue
• Paint / brushes

Here are the rest of the pictures:

The temple is made from the packaging material of my mom’s new netbook. My parents got the netbook when they bought some new furniture their living room. I kindly asked them if I could turn the Styrofoam packaging case that came with the laptop into a will-be sacred ground for the acolytes of Sigmar. The good part is that the polystyrene foam which the casing is made of is much more flexible and durable than ordinary packaging Styrofoam.

As you can see this project is just starting out, but you get the gist of it I guess. Loek told me some Sigmar related stuff which inspired me to make a stained glass window to make it look a bit more like a sanctuary of some sort. Also, Koen, Loek and I had a chat about the strategic aspect of the scenery piece and how it sound be balanced game-play wise. With this in mind we decided to make 3 possible entrances into the building, namely a destructible window, a destroyable wall and a main gate through which the building can be entered.

So, how did I get this far? Well I used:

• The polystyrene packaging material of my mom’s netbook
• A hobby knife
• A pocket tape-measure
• Some black spray paint [±€ 2,-]
• The plastic packaging of some sliced Gouda cheese
• A permanent marker
• Some acrylic paint
• total investment: [±€ 2,-]

I started out by marking where the main entrance would be cut out. We decided to change the storage compartment for the netbooks adapter and the compartment as back rooms. After I marked the Styrofoam piece in the center of the wall using a tape-measure, I drew the contours of the gate and cut it out with a hobby knife. (The excess Styrofoam piece is used as an altar in the picture below) I added some flavour to the entrance by carving out some steps. I did the same for the window and cut the foam. I made a vertical slit in the foam to hold the stained glass window. After that I marked the other side wall and cut out the destroyable wall piece. I used some cheap black spray paint to undercoat the temple.

I made the stained glass window from the bottom of the plastic packaging of some sliced Gouda cheese. I guess this temple is meant to attract Empire followers and Skaven alike. Noticed how the piece of plastic has ‘wings’ which fit in the slit I made in the window frame of the temple. After a quick Google search I found one of Sigmar’s logo’s: the twin-tailed comet. I redrew the image on the piece of plastic I had cut out by using a marker. Then I coloured it using some acrylic paint. Lastly I used some glossy varnish to brighten the colours and help preserve the layer of paint.

More on this piece soon. Feel free to let us know any ideas you have on what the interior of the temple should look like or how this piece could be used in a campaign setting.

- Vince

In order to make the game come to life we’ve put on the task of making some scenery (mostly from scrap material).

My first attempt in doing so has been to reproduce Ashton Sander’s Mordheim ladders.

My camera isn’t the best, none the less here are the pictures..

Let’s run through how I made these.

In order to make the ladders I needed:

• Icicle sticks (around 9-10) [in house]
• A sharp hobby knife [in house]
• Some black, yellow and red acrylic paint [in house]
• Some varnish [±€ 2,-]
• Paint brushes (duh ) [in house]
• Wood glue [in house]
• Universal glue (transperant after drying) [in house]
• Some sewing thread [in house, my mom's ]
• A looot of patience while winding the thread
• A teabag for colouring the thread [in house]
• total investment: [±€ 2,-]

In preparation of our little Mordheim project I’ve ordered my relatives a few weeks ago to let no icicle stick go to waste, thus ending up with a couple of dozen icicle sticks.

I cut the sticks lengthwise, and then roughened them up a little with the blade of my hobby knife. I figured that in the plague ridden streets of Mordheim ladders wouldn’t look as if they came straight out of an Ikea. Then I cut some smaller pieces from the some unscathed icicle sticks, to be used as the steps for the ladder. Then I glued them together to make the ladders.

After the glue hardened I mixed some red, yellow and black acryllic paint I had lying around to paint the ladders. When the paint had dried I used some varnish to protect the paint from wearing off. Then I drew some nails on the steps, and used some white thread to decorate the other ladder. I affixed the thread with some transparent universal glue. Lastly I gave the thread a worn look by colouring it with a wet tea bag.

Tadaa! I’m pretty happy with the results for a first try at scenery making.

Let me know what you think.