FrostHeim Post 003 - The Ruined Hovel...

*Post 003*

The Ruined Hovel...

Rotten Stone

I had this vivid image in my head; my war-band's summoner, The Wretched One, flanked by thick ethereal mists, standing upon the broken ruins of an aged structure long since reclaimed by the unnatural forest... Whilst life conspired to throw me a busy schedule this week, there was time enough at least to bring this image to life, so to speak...

Above: Emerging from the unnatural fog, The Wretched One leads his fanatical followers on their "holy work"...

Purchased for little over £10 from the Ebay-based seller Small Terrain, I was really impressed with this one-piece resin kit. It's quite simple in design and functionally has plenty of space for your average 28mm miniatures to hide within, whilst also showcasing just enough little details here and there to look interesting. 

Above: The autumn foliage collecting on the stairs and around the fallen stones will be a concurrent feature on my future terrain for this project.

Above: I added a spare part clipped from a GW forest to one corner of  the hovel to represent a sapling growing into the side of the ruins...

I wanted the stones to look aged and rotten, this hovel long since abandoned to the hostile elements, collecting mold and moss. After toying with a few ideas I decided to try a simple green wash around the gaps in the masonry. Overall I think this worked well, but I'm going to do a little bit of research into other techniques I could try for my future terrain pieces. 

The earth tones match those on my war-band's bases, which I think helps tie the project together as a whole. I've not mentioned in previous posts, but the autumn foliage comes from Gale Force 9's modelling flock range, and whilst nothing special up close (it's essentially coloured foam), certainly looks striking from a distance when on the tabletop. 

My Thoughts...

Overall I'm happy with the look of this first terrain piece, which has served as a pretty good guinea pig for the look and feel of the rest of my WIP scenery. Whist I like the effect of the green wash between the masonry, I'm eager to try my hand at some more advanced techniques for conveying mold and moss on aged stone. I'm actually a little concerned that the two-tone grey of the masonry is a little on the bright side when compared to the earthen tones of the ground... Perhaps a more liberal coverage, with a watered down green wash would both tone down the brightness and achieve the aged rotten look I'm going for?

What's Next?

I had a lot of big Ideas this week for potential terrain.... abandoned carts left to rot by the roadside, strange cyclopean ruins etched with jagged runes, a blood-stained sacrificial altar and an ever present image in my mind's eye of a seemingly abandoned hamlet deep within the forest... Whilst I couldn't find the time to bring them all to life, I can feel the overall picture of what I want to create become more and more solid. So whilst this week's post has been a small one (lite on miniatures and lore both) it has at least got me thinking...

Up next I think it's about time I started on my war-band's cloven hoofed apprentice, and perhaps I'll pull a wild card and post some hobby work from a different project? 

We shall see... Until next time, thanks again for reading!