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The Stone Circle I've recently realized that I don't have enough terrain at home. Particularly non-technological terrain. My 40k terrain is fairly limited as well, but it ruins the mood of a Fantasy game when you charge past modern bunkers and chemical plants. I decided on a small variety of projects. I planned on some basic hills, which are pretty simple to do. I also wanted to do a swamp with some stagnant water and dead trees and things. But first, I decided that I wanted to do some standing stones, something akin to Stonehenge, but with the possibility of moving different pieces around. I started by grabbing a Wonder Cutter. This is a wonderful tool, available at some hobby and craft stores. It works by heating up a wire, which you then draw through Styrofoam to produce a smooth cut. By angling the wire, you can create a beveled edge and by see-sawing it back and forth, you can produce a jagged edge. Which is just what I and my able assistant Renee did. 
I took a sheet of Styrofoam I had stashed away for terrain-making and visualized the size I wanted my stones to be. I figured the sheet was about the right thickness, and I didn't want the stones more than about 6 inches tall. I then cut off some square sections of Styrofoam to those dimensions. Once that was accomplished, I cut the corners of each block off as well, to get them closer to round. While I was at it, I see-sawed the edges of the cut to give it a somewhat jagged, rough-hewn appearance. I left one end flat, but the other end got a bit of a taper and I cut the edges down, in a haphazard fashion, to keep them all from looking the same. I also picked a couple to be the capstones to a pair of Dolmen arches and cut down the flat end as well, since they would be lying across two other stones instead of attaching to the ground. 
Once that was all settled and I was pleased with the rough-hewn appearance of the stones, I was ready to paint them. I decided it would be easier to paint them before they were glued down, so I did. I picked two shades of grey, in addition to Chaos Black and Skull white for drybrushing. Shadow Grey and Fortress Grey were the greys that I chose, though maybe Shadow was a bit too blue. Basically, each stone got a drybrushing of both greys and then a very light drybrushing of Chaos Black and Skull white. The resulting streaky appearance accentuated the hard edges and pitting on the stones and made them look a bit like granite. 
I originally cut out some bases from cardboard boxes. Unfortunately, I later realized that the glue would warp them and that they wouldn't really be sturdy enough to support the standing stones, so later I added some foamcore underneath them for a stiffer effect. Simple Elmer's (white, that is) glue was used to hold them down. When applying glue, try to limit the amount you use, to give a better bond and not have it squash out around the edges. I generally apply a bead or two of glue, then smooth it around with the tip of the glue or my finger until it very lightly coats the whole surface. When attaching the capstones to my Dolmen arches, I wasn't pleased with the contact they made and I was pretty sure the glue would not hold them. I immediately decided that I'd pin them to avoid issues. I broke up a toothpick and inserted the end of a piece into one of the stones. I then applied glue around the toothpick piece and stabbed it into the other stone. Voila! Pinned capstones. 
I wanted to give the base some texture as well. I added jagged bits of styrofoam as rocks and broken stones, then I applied glue to the base lightly and drizzled sand over it. I used some black calcium sand that I purchased at a pet store. Originally I used it as a basing material for my Dark Eldar, but those 5 pound bags go pretty far. 
After the glue dried, I put a coat of watered down glue over the top of the sand to keep it in place. After that took forever to dry, I painted it as well. I used a simpler version of all the drybrushing I'd used on the stones. I wanted it to look similar, but still have the stones stick out a bit. I used a fairly heavy drybrush of the Codex Grey and then light drybrushes of Skull White and Chaos Black. When drybrushing the colors, I tried to keep all the strokes of one color going in the same direction, to break up the appearance a bit. So, right to left for the Grey, Left to Right for the White and up to down for the Black. I did change this up for the rocks, so they wouldn't have solid colors on each side, however. 
I expect it will be a few weeks before I can concentrate on the hills, forests and swamps, but at least I've got my stone circle to play with! If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know |