The Goblin Caves

Deep beneath the Dwarven mines lurk all manner of strange beasts, and woe to the foolhardy miner who wanders off alone.

Here are a couple pics from the cave set I just finished, modular scatter terrain for underground battling.

Badlands Complete

The Badlands scenery set for Wild West battles is complete. I developed a new technique for creating natural stone and rock formations using a sheet rock knife, bread knife, box cutter sculpting rasp and propane torch. Behold the results here: a table full of inhospitable scenery for your gunfighters and Gorkamorka / post apocalyptic mayhem.

Coming next: Caves and Chasms.

Badlands WIP

In the works: Badlands desert terrain set for the Wild West and anywhere else you'd find inhospitable arid rock formations...

This stuff is made of EPS foam, glued in layers with wood glue, shaped with bread knives and sculpting tools, then lightly shrunk with a propane torch. Paint comes next.

Painting the Quay

The 4th phase of the quay was painting and adding water fx. I also used Apoxie Sculpt to add some final stonework in the sewer and over the tunnel openings on the outside. The water fx is acrylic heavy gloss gel medium. It appears milky upon application, but later dries clear. I mixed a bit of green in to give it some mrukiness. Prior to adding it I painted a dark greenish blue on the water areas.

The Quay, phases 2 & 3: Stonework

There is a small corner in hell where they send you to cut tiny pieces of card to make the stonework for my quay project. Don't EVER get sent there.

Phase 2 & 3 of the quay involved the addition of masonry to the surface and the sewer. Why did I choose to use card for the flagstones? Durability and speed. I had no desire to get in to casting in plaster, which is the other way I had wanted to do the street, and foam would have been too delicate. I make my stuff as pretty as possible while still being tough and gameable, as that's what it's for.

The big scissors are tin snips, which I also use to make magnetic movement trays. Those two little buildings are a sneak peek at the modern zombie apocalypse stuff I am designing; it's acouple of warehouse pieces. More on that much later... for now, the docks.

Building the Model Quay: Phase One

I've been eager to build docks for Bogenhafen for a long time. After some scavenging in my basement "Mordheim style" I was unable to uncover any Warpstone, but did discover a bunch of musty old lumber. A day of power saw usage converted the best of it in to several game table surfaces, and the Quay for the docks of Bogenhafen. This piece is in truth a prototype for my future design: a modern day 4x4' city table, with underground sewer and subway along the outside edge. More on that later.

The basic concept for the quay was to have it run the edge of a standard 4x6 Warhammer table, and have it be as versatile and modular as possible. The overall size is roughly 4'x15", with a height of about 6". This piece could be combined with a duplicate to form a canal, or longer riverside section along a table edge. With additional raised table pieces, it could be placed with the river-edge facing the outside end, with the large, flat battlefield covering the majority of the table. I think you get the idea...

Wooden Pier Model in Progress

After a great deal of research I have begun to construct the first pier for the docks of Bogenhafen. The pier will be comprised of individual sections that can be moved around to create various configurations. This first pier is the prototype, and stands the same height as the quay pictured in the previous post. After several weeks of searching the web in vain for clear reference on the construction of wooden piers, I finally checked out some books on deck building and dock building, which proved invaluable.

River Barnacles: Bogenhafen is situated on the river Bogen, miles away from the sea. So why the barnacles? Just an experiment with this prototype, I may or may not apply barnacles to all of the pier pieces.

The Docks of Bogenhafen

The city of Bogenhafen is one of the richest in The Empire. I thought it only fitting that the docks be the next thing on my personal project list. This one features removable street panels to reveal the basements, as well as a sewer running beneath the outside edge. Once the quay is finished, modular wharf pieces will be added. The first progress pic shows a wood frame measuring 4' by 16" by 8", on which the stonework and everything else was attached.

(For anyone reading this blog who doesn't already know Bogenhafen and the Empire are part of Warhammer, a miniatures game by Games Workshop.)

SPACE JUNK preview

I'm just stopping by to say that I have been too busy to blog! I've been making a lot of terrain and have had no time to post pics on me site. The good part about that is I'll have a stockpile of pics to release periodically in the coming weeks.

What is to come: the completed Pygmy Islands, Deep Space Sci-Fi Pulp, a Wood Elf Mighty Forest, and the beginning of ZOMBIE HELL, an urban terrain project based heavily on the level design concepts from the video game "Left 4 Dead". There are also a few dozen more pics of "The Bing" that will eventually appear.

I need some minions or oompa-loompas to help build all o' this stuff, and a web designer to work with. :)

For those of you who have signed up to this blog, thanks a lot, and tell all yer friends.

"Shoot it in the head!!"

I'm starting to update the individual sections of The Bing web pages, starting with the Stairwell page. While editing pics I made a couple of quick Photoshop web comics using some of the pics and had way too much fun; time to get back to writing fiction again!!

The Bing

"The Bing" was created on commission by Nikolai Ruskin in June, 2009 as a terrain piece for miniatures gaming

http://nikolairuskin.com/miniatures_pages/the_bing.htm

The design is an interior for use in a "bar brawl" type miniatures game using 28mm scale miniatures. The Real "Bada Bing" is a strip bar from the popular HBO series "The Sopranos", and became a big source of inspiration for this project about half way through building it. What began as a run down bar / pub suddenly evolved in to a Jersey strip joint while I was tinkering around with the layout for the stage. There is a staff only area for the dancers and an office for the mobsters that will be pictured here soon- check back again shortly.

MORE PICS of "The Bing" COMING SOON; Check back again

SCI FI scenery updated

Sci Fi Scenery section updated; lots of new pics!!

http://nikolairuskin.com/miniatures_pages/sci_fi_platformers.htm

http://nikolairuskin.com/miniatures_pages/chem_plant.htm

http://nikolairuskin.com/miniatures_pages/power_plant.htm

http://nikolairuskin.com/miniatures_pages/launch_pad.htm


http://nikolairuskin.com/miniatures_pages/cliff_door.htm

Cargo Bay

http://nikolairuskin.com/miniatures_pages/cargo_bay.htm

Cargo Bay page added. This is part of a set of sci fi pieces done on commission, assembled from kits by Pegasus Hobbies. These kits are incredibly tedious and time consuming to build, but pretty flexible and look nice when finished. They would also be great for kit bashing (looting the kit for parts to use in scratch built terrain).

More of the sci fi set coming soon!

Flash Gordon Rocket Ship

"FLASH! BOOOOOM AAAAAAH!"

http://nikolairuskin.com/miniatures_pages/rockets.htm

Flash Gordon Rocket Ships and new sci fi terrain pieces have been added to the Valley of Isk.

These were done on commission in April 2009. The Cargo Bay, Cliff Door, Chem Plant, Launch Pad, and Power Plant pages will be posted in the beginning of June.