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BUILDING HISTORY:
Built in the Forgotten Realms near the Mines of Tethyamar over 300 years ago, the archmage who oversaw the construction had not yet turned to evil. The Tethyamar dwarves assisted in the stronghold's construction and for decades, sent items to the stronghold to be enchanted. Eventually, the Archmage went mad with power and passed from life, and the Dwarves were driven from the mines.
The Year of the Rogue Dragon has come. The Cult of the Dragon has captured this very Stronghold as a staging ground to recapture the Tethyamar Mines and offer them as lairs to their Dracolich allies.
Will my D&D gaming group save the day? As I type this, they are captured, stripped of their gear, and imprisoned in the windowless base of the left Octagonal tower.
ABOUT THE STRUCTURE:
The total size is 24"W x 24"D x 30"T
This stronghold sits on a 2'x2' base of three inches of insulation foam. A dungeon level is cut out of the base, and a river cuts around the stronghold. The outer octagonal towers do not have doors, and can only be entered by climbing or through the stronghold and over the bridges. Each tower can house a catapult, trebuchet, or cannon on top, and up to 8 crossbowmen or archers in the mid level.
The structure is built for three things. ONE - Very strong defensive position. TWO - Channel magic. THREE - In real life, serve as a very interesting game table piece, inside and out.
I worked very hard to make sure that the structure looks as though it continually weighs less as the height increases, and that it looks as though it can support itself. The structure is entirely gothic, but, given a different flavor through repetitive use the Dragon's Teeth mold and hints of steel mixed with the brick.
I based it in a red-brown and highlighted it in tan for a more colorful look and feel. The floors are washed with a dark maroon and the outer lines of the building are all enhanced with paint treatments to add impact to the design. The spiral columns, statues, and parts of the outer columns are given hints of Dwarven Steel for added structural strength and a nice contrast to the red-tinted brick.
The building sits on a quite an investment of time and money in Woodland Scenic products, carved foam rocks, and worked "water".
MOLDS USED:
041 - Gothic Dungeon Accessories
043 - Gothic Panel Accessories
045 - Gothic Dungeon Builder
050 - Wizard's Tower
051 - Dragon's Inn
053 - Bridge Mold
054 - Gothic Church Mold
055 - Bell Tower Mold
056 - Tomb Mold
060 - Prison Tower Mold
061 - Turret Mold
063 - Octagonal Tower Mold
080 - Dragon's Teeth Accessory Mold
201 - Floor Tile Mold
205 - Gothic Floor Tile Mold
210 - Cobblestone Mold
The water is a combination of Envirotex Lite and Woodland Scenic's Rough Water. The ground effects, except the rocks I carved out of the foam itself, are woodland scenic products.
Thanks for reading. I hope that you like my entry because I used up all my dental plaster, fake water, paint and most of my store of earlier castings on this monster.
Thanks to my wife for putting up with me working so many hours on the project, and thanks to everyone who provided inspiration or small mailings of pieces that I did not have (Todd, Isa), it's appreciated.
To anyone considering a project this large and tall (almost twice as tall as my entry last year), be aware that it's more difficult to keep things square at this kind of size. I had to work much harder to produce a clean result than I did on smaller projects.
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Incredible job. I have to agree with Bossman about the attention to detail and design. Those, and the paintjob you did makes this a great piece
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Excellent design, building, painting and detailing on each level. Obviously a LOT of thought and research went into this, as well as care and attention. Very good sharp pics show the pieces at their best. Love the stream/moat (and everything else as well).
Looking forward to seeing any future projects, Abaroth.
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YRM,
Bigger buildings are dissproportionately harder to build with respect to maintaining shape and levels than smaller buildings and you have done an excellent job of absorbing those errors that accumulate due to block size and scraping. When you have so many courses of bricks it takes a lot of care to keep the building straight and in shape.
This whole structure is a great design and you have masterfully achieved the sense of balance and proportion that makes a building work. All those little things like width of balconies, relatative vertical positioning of different levels, balconies, window sills and maintaining important symmatries such as where the crenalations fall relative to the machiolations relative to the apex of windows, as well as defining important horizontal levels amongst key architectural features. Getting these right makes or breaks the design and to achieve this whilst keeping good sized gaming spaces within limited lateral dimensions of the overallstructure is really hard to do well. This is exactly what the HADD stands for so congratulations on such a superb work.
The use of the turret mould has been very well excecuted in a way I have been keen to try out for some time - expect some copying. I also really like the colour scheme which reminds me of a red sandstone castle I saw in Germany. Its great to see such successful experimenting with colours which is also a bold step on such a big building that so much effort has been put into. Sure it can be repainted but detail is always lost the second time around. Lastly the finishing is well done which complements and completes the work.
Cheers
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Excellent piece!! Not only is the building well designed and interesting the paint job is beautiful. The color scheme makes the piece, to me at least. This is a monster of a piece which makes me want to try to build a castle for next years HADD!
Overall this is the gem the crop and worthy of first place.
Excellent build.
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Sorry for not commenting sooner... I started at the bottom of the page and commented my way up. This rocks , It deserves first place for sure in my opinion.
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Aug. 19, 2005, 08:43AM
By: LOCKEX |
Accurat work !!
The dimensions of the stronghold are nearly perfect.
Every level is playable.
The colour shemes are great. Nothing grey in grey in grey.......
The Idea with the octagon towers and a simple bridge is fantastic.
The entrance of a water dungeon is cool.
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Just wish to pay homage to one of the gods of hirst. Been a big fan of your work and always look forward to seeing new work and this year i wasn't disappointed. Great build and a nice change to the colour. I must disagree with Imahilus about the photoshoped images being a form of cheating. I like nice predation, but really any one with a brain will be looking a the build and not how well you did the sky. Its like say that we souldn’t base the builds or use trees to in-hance. Any how just wanted to say wow, what a fantasic entries and look forward to your next project.
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Aug. 18, 2005, 11:06PM
By: YRM |
Heh, I keep commenting in my own comments. I'm happy to answer any questions about this mold, but, ask in the "off topic" or "modeling tips" forums on www.hirstarts.com. Bruce already has a million great tips on doing the waterways and edges of them. Thanks for the kind words.
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Hey, I've been looking at your pictures, and again...this is still the most impressive thing I've ever seen...I'm new at this, and I was wondering how you made the water? I know you can get water-like stuff at train shops, but how did you keep it from running out of your base? Whatever you did, the effect is fabulous!
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Aug. 18, 2005, 11:32AM
By: YRM |
I draw out floor plans and sketch out the end result, but, as I'm building, I change things on the fly. Thank you.
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This is a great looking piece! Again I have to say your sense of color and the ability to lay that color down shines here. Very impressive layout and design. Do you design on the fly or do you draw something out then try and build it? Wonderful wonderful job. Keep up the great work!
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Aug. 18, 2005, 09:24AM
By: YRM |
Thanks. Zurik, to address your points.
1 - You're right about the slight gap between the dungeon and the foam. I intend to pour plaster into that when I get my next order of plaster (sealing off the doorway part of course). I honestly did run out of anything I could have used to fill that nicely. I'm also considering wood putty.
2 - As for the dungeon not supporting all the walls above it, it's more of a practical consideration in that I do not have the stronghold above "locked" into place so that I can use it on other tables if needed. I didn't want all of that weight sitting directly on plaster all around because, if the dungeon is damaged, it's much harder to repair than any other level (as it's actually fixed permanently to the base). The rear wall of the dungeon is the only one that would be foundational, but, the other walls do support load bearing archs (entry) or pillars on the ground floor.
Thanks to everyone who has looked, commented, voted, etc. It's appreciated.
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Aug. 17, 2005, 10:22PM
By: ZURIK |
Excellent work!
well-thought out, both for "realism" and playability
cool design, very good construction
very good paint job, especially the way the colors accent the details and still look like they belong together
if there is a weak point it is where the structure meets the base; gaps between the dungeon and ground could've been filled in; the building itself appears to sit on top of the ground; maybe you could've extended a foundation built right into the ground (but these are pretty minor points)
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WOW!!! This is the largest thing I've ever seen made out of Hirst bricks! This must have taken you forever...it was worth it! Great job!
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Wow. This is amazing. Interesting creative layout, and very nicely detailed. One question - Can I save on shipping by picking it up in person? Ha ha, great job!
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OMG YRM this is just awesome ! Overall presentation and very well presented photo's make this entry a sure winner if you ask me. I love the use of scenery, the river flowing through and under the structure, the straight walls and the nice color scheme; away with these boring grey and black colours ;-)
I drooled over your Arcanist Tower last year but the picture with this tower besides this stronghold entry makes it look like David and Goliath !
(I hope to say this in old English, pardon my dutch accent:)
I salute thee, for thou are a Master Builder !
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Aug. 16, 2005, 10:41AM
By: YRM |
Fair enough, here's where I'm coming from. In previous years, some entries took advantage of studio style setup and lighting which I don't have access to. Close-to-professional lighting with cloth backdrops show up in several top entries. I can't set that up in my house with my digital camera, so, I have to use the next best light, which is sunlight... but that makes it very tough to set up a backdrop, especially on an entry this large. They do this kind of thing to miniatures in movies all the time.
I wanted people to be able to seperate the photos of the model from a messy picture of my back yard in the background, I removed the background in... I think one picture. Seeing my shed or pool behind a title shot, meant to be dramatic, takes away from the model. (is that part of the model? no, that's his tool shed sticking up in the background... doh)
The large majority of the shots don't have photoshopped backgrounds, but simply have a border treatment. I believe that there are around 30 shots available... one has a sky treatment and maybe 3-4 have a minor lens flare, like on the Half-Ogre's axe. It's kind of fun to suspend disbelief and imagine the building is 'real' (for me anyway).
I've tried to include enough pictures and enough variety that you can see the model without any treatment if that's your preference. I hope I have answered fairly. I appreciate the comment.
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Marvelous project, everything looks to be well placed and well put together.
The only thing I could possibly express my dislike about.. is the photoshopped background *rolls eyes* Somehow I see that as kind of cheating =P
Correcting images to suit reality im perfectly fine with and stuff, I just dont quite like it when people add cool ### effects and such.. its about the design imo
Sorry if this sounded offending.. I just had to say this.. =(
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Wow. The design and detail in this project are beyond belief. This joins the ranks with some of Bossman's projects as one of the all time greats. If Hirst Arts had a hall of fame for buildings this one needs to go right in!
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Gak. Wow. Yeesh. Yoink. Eek. Cripes.
10 out of 10.
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Very well done. Good painting and finishing as well. Great design.
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