Blog The Jade Host: Mayan Lizardmen

That scheme looks really nice!! looking forward to seeing them after all the teeth have been painted, enjoy

 

More projects! This time a siege tower.

This is what it started from:



And here is what it became! It was an absolute pain to put it together this way, and the whole thing is a bit off center... Makes it look extra rickety but I need to figure out a different way to put together the skewers next time to make the frame without it continuously falling over during construction.



Some bretonnian minions for reference inside by the ladders! The inside has two levels for models to scale:







And here is the product with fake foam wheels attached! The drawbridge isn't as long as I wanted it to be, but it does allow units to disembark on the walls.







When it is painted I will post it again. I will make more sometime, but it was so much of a pain to construct it won't be for a while until I am brave enough to attempt making a newer version.

 

That looks excellent!! I asure it is worth the pain

 

Very nice... pretty soon you'll have an scaled down version of the entire Old World!

 

One can dream!

 

When I build the frame of my tower (which I still have to finish... But sadly not before summer holidays...) I used this small rubber bands people use for hairstyles to keep the skewers in place... You get I packs of 100 or so in so called afro shops here for 1€... Don't really know cause I just take what I need from my wife's assortment.

 

A bold and risky maneuver!

 

Siege Tower is painted! I didn't go anything beyond brown though so it is kind of boring, but now completely usable in sieges! The next one I think I will add some bretonnian heraldry too.



Also the Yellow Saurus are done (<90%) to the point that their shields have been added! I decided to make the shields brown (with yellow spots) instead of my standard red.



Very happy with these guys, I forgot how much fun it was to paint basic saurus infantry. They are SO much easier and faster to paint (for my meager painting skills) than Bretonnian knights. Now just got to base them!

Edit: also had one extra shield painted up by mistake, I forgot the musician didn't need one...

 

Now if you paint up some extra weapons you can make a coat of arms sort of decoration with that shield to add some decorations to one of your pieces, or as a unique banner! Seige tower looks great! The paint job gives it the perfect amount of wear, looks like it's done it's job once or twice!

 

Yes really nice job! I like your shields and @Bowser 's idea of a coat of arms...

 

Awesome siege tower!!

 

@Warden : your productivity and results never cease to amaze! With all the great stuff you've created I can imagine that your games are very interesting and fun.

 

This is so awesome! I loved all the seige stuff in the Blood in the Badlands book and this very much reminds me of it. I want a castle too dammit!

 

I think we all want castles now!! Look at what @Warden has started!

 

REVOLUTION!!

 

Glad my stuff is so well received! Business has taken me away from the forum, and so much has happened in the past few days! The short-story contest is over, and I am glad my Pirates story did so well! And a painting contest has started?! I need to figure out what I will use for each category. I have a few projects in mind... and not enough time to do them in! Also most importantly the art contest deadline is almost here and I haven't started yet! I will post some of my ideas on my art thread shortly...

In the mean time, here are my contest distractions: more terrain! For this post here are some images of a three-ramp plaza I have worked on. The plaza has a 2 inch floor, making it about 3 inches high if you include the stone railing. I put it together as part of my eventual dream of making an entire Lustrian-Mordheim city someday, but for now it is actually a paint test for my castle. I spent so much time on my jungle fortress that I don't want to mess it up with a bad paint job, so I made this piece just in case my plans don't work. Here are the WIPs, starting from the initial inception of four foam blocks:



They are held together with duct-tape, lots of glue, and tooth picks (step 1). After they were stuck together I then cut out the ramps (step 2):



Step 3: add railings



Step 4: use a knife to cut out the top of the foam into smaller squares so it looks like a stone patio, in a similar style to my previous stone plaza and stone paths.



Step 5: do the same thing with the sides of the structure so it looks like it is made up of many smaller blocks of stone, even though it is just four big ones.





Step 6 was paint it black (undercoat) and step 7 was paint it grey!





And that's where this one is at so far. Didn't take any more pictures yet, now I need to add the dark grey, brown, and green.

 

Forgot to mention the previous terrain piece was inspired by Long Island Wargaming and their awesome mordheim terrain. I hope to eventually copy many of their awesome designs.

These next set of buildings I also need to break up in two posts because I have too many for just one.

First the WIP shots.

Temple 1: Temple of the Falling God, inspired by artwork done by Frederick Catherwood at Tulum.

Spoiler: Temple of the Falling God

Temple 2: House of Frescoes, also inspired by artwork by Frederick Catherwood at Tulum.

Spoiler: House of Frescoes

Here is a WIP of the backs of them together. Plenty of space for miniatures to hide in, plus ladders to reach the second floor!!



Last: Arch of Labna: Also inspired by more of Frederick Cathewood's art, this time I also have a real-life picture for you too.

Spoiler: Arch of Labna

 

And now the painted pictures! These were SO MUCH FUN to paint! I spent an entire afternoon painting these things, probably the most fun I have had in ages.

Temple of the Falling God:

Front- tried to give the outside of the buildings a "face" appearance. Also added lots of green growth and dirt, little bits of plants, cracks, some flowers, etc.


Interior- Added my typical stone floor, plus glued on a little bit of dirt to the foam for a little more texture. Also tried to add a quick set of "brick" desigs to the interior and exterior of each of the buildings to make them look extra old.



House of Frescoes:

Front-


Side- note the snakelike-stonework


Interior- added some "frescoes" to the inside, just random Lizard script and Lord Kroak's mask. I will add a better picture later to show them better.

Also added a shield and spears leaning up against a wall for fun.

Arch of Labna:

Still WIP, but with all the pieces on and most of the grey-



Completed Arch front-


Completed arch- back


And for those of you who saw the easter egg/BLASPHEMY on the previous pictures of the front of the arch:


I hope the boards keep the rats out...

Regardless of my opinion of these pictures, I really would like some honest critiquing of the terrain painting style. I am afraid they look a bit to cluttered and some of the detail is lost. I know I rushed the painting, but aside from that anyone have suggestions? Stuff I should try next time?

 

Wow... I have no words and at the same time too many...
First off, regardless of anything else, you just tought me that it is possible to make amazing looking building terrain that is not just a pyramid. I had for very long doubted it it would actually be possible to make a lizardmen city that contained something more than pyramids, spawning pools and watchtowers. This is also the first set of "city" terrain I actually like and consider to be nice fitting to our lizards, because I had seen other attempts at this and I had´t really liked any of them.

To be honest when I saw the WIP pictures I didn´t think it would be that good, but after the painting and all the texture you added I have to say I knee before you, this is mastery!! I love everything about it: but mostly how dead simple it was. The building is a master piece, and don´t get drawn back by too many details because they look excellent. The painting is mighty fine, and it is specially over the awesomeness limit at the freehand paintings and that shaven gate. And the bricks and the moss and all of it is excellent. The only thing I will complain about just to annoy you and try to push you further is that you did not add any grass patches on your buildings. I think it will look just that bit better if you added grass tufts in between the wall details and the ground and walls.

The only thing I regret is having a conscience that tells me that now I´ll have to come up with something as awesome if I want to make my own lizardmen city, and that being as non imaginative as I am for terrain I will provably need to ask you if I am allowed to try to copy this for my gaming table.

But seriously, the most amazing piece of lizadmen buildings I have seen in my life.

 

Wow thanks for the review! Glad you liked them. I will try and add some grass/moss to the bases, give the structures a bit more life. Glad you like them though! I really want to build an entire city layout at some point. Of course it will involve temples, ballcourts, spawning pools etc, but I wanted to start with the small stuff first. Best place for inspiration is the real life counterparts!