A follow-on posting from my previous “Ruins” build – these towers are again made from nothing much more than 5 mm foam board.
For each tower, you will need:
A pile of 10 mm strips to make the “bricks” (if you don’t know how to make them, see my earlier video Ragiggman’s Ruins – starting about 5 minutes in.)
4 pieces of foam board 20 mm x 40 mm for the body of the tower.
1 piece of foam board 30 mm square for the top platform.
A hot-melt glue gun.
Prepare your “block” strips and chop them into equal amounts of 10 mm square blocks and 15×10 mm rectangular blocks.
The 10×10 mm blocks should have half the card on the rear side removed as well.
Prepare the top platform by stripping card entirely from the top surface, and shaving a 5mm strip of card away from the under surface.
Then begin by gluing together the four 20×40 mm rectangles to make a 20 x 20 x 40 block.This is the internal support for the tower.
Attach your “cladding blocks, gluing the first 15×10 mm block flush with one corner. Next to that, attach a 10×10 mm block – it will protrude 5 mm around the “corner”, in such a way that you can position the next 15×10 mm block up against it. Stagger the blocks in alternate layers until you have laid 4 “courses”. Add the top platform to the main section of the tower, and whatever base you want – I used a single Heroscape terrain tile.
Blocks with card removed from both sides, and one side with edges chamfered can be used for the crenellations.
Prepare two 15×10 mm blocks but do not chamfer the edges. Instead cut a full 45 degree angle off one of the long sides, and leave the other edges alone. These will be the “steps”.
Attach the steps to the 1st and 3rd courses with the flat and level edge uppermost.
(Optional). I cut two lengths of 2×2 mm balsa wood to serve as “hand rails” – just glued on.
(Optional). I also carved some “crazy paving” lines into the top platform surface, using just a pin vice with a heavy needle in it.
Construction over, its time to decorate to your own preference. My technique is:
- Mask off the base.
- Undercoat all over with black acrylic (touching in after it has dried to ensure all crevices have paint.)
- Heavy dry-brush using mid grey.
- Lighter dry-brush using light grey.
- Very light dry-brush with pure white.
Finally, just having fun with various scatters – gravel, rubble, dirt.
I like to apply a light green heather which – after I dribble green and brown inks down it, looks like lichen or moss.
I painted the rails sort of half-way between wood and metallic, so they could be made of anything…
In Game
Of course you can use these as you wish, but I think it would be fun to invent a house rule so that the steps & rails affect the strategy. How about this? :
“Three sides of the tower are deemed to be height 5 units – so a medium 4 or 5 figure cannot climb the tower sides, since it would require 6 moves (5 to climb, and 1 to access the platform). If adjacent, the medium 5 figure would be engaged with any figure on the top, but a medium 4 would not be. However, if a figure approaches the tower from the hex exactly adjacent to the steps/rails, they may climb up and onto the top in only 4 moves (3 for the steps + 1 to access the platform).“
Either way, I reckon the Sentinel Tower could be a fun place to position Syvarris!
Peter Vodden 