Dice Tower

All posts tagged Dice Tower

I am in the middle of another project but I really wanted to keep my one post a week schedule going, so I thought I would give you all a glimpse at an older project of mine. Before I dove into the world of Orks and 40k, I tested the war game waters with Warmachine. Along with my first miniature painting work, this period also saw my first efforts at a terrain project. Since Warmachine tends to only need a handful of dice, I decided to incorporate a dice tower into its construction.

The basic build consisted of a poster tube and parts from a Bachmann Trains O scale water tower kit. Detail elements and the dice tower internals came from plasticard and parts from my bits bin. The final element of any good terrain piece is the base and I built this one before I had really started playing with HDF board. As a result, it is just two layers of corkboard with a piece of plasticard sandwiched between them for structural integrity. This was also necessary to create a watertight seal for another special feature I wanted to try.

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Inside the water trough/dice catch, I decided to try out water effects for the first time. I went with Woodland Scenics Realistic Water because the reviews pointed towards it creating a very durable surface. I found it to be an easy to use product; you lay down thin 1/8 inch layers of clear resin and give each one roughly 24 hours to cure. I painted the base a light blue to start with and then put down thin streaks of blue ink between layers to give the water a sense of depth and motion.

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Once I was ready to start the actual painting process, I started with a variety of basic browns and metallics from P3 paints. This was also the first project on which I experimented with Citadel’s technical line. In particular, I used Ryza Rust, Typhus Corrosion, and Nihilakh Oxide all too excellent effect in giving the tower a weathered and worn look. I was especially proud of the oxidized effect on the bronze roof.

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There was a lot of experimentation involved on this project and I learned a lot from it.  Never be afraid to try new techniques.