Wrath of Kings: Concept to Completion

Creating a piece of terrain is like raising a child– You pour all of your knowledge and love into it and, when it's all grown up, send it off into the world. There's a bit of anxiety and some empty nest syndrome when it leaves, but you're kind of glad to have it out of your hair.

That's how it is with the Wrath of Kings displays as I prepare to ship them out. They've been the focus of my life for the past two months, which may not seem like a very long time but, in the world of terrain building, it's an eternity. I didn't ever think I'd see the surface of my work table again! My studio will definitely feel empty without them, but the good news is that there's always more terrain to build and models to paint.

I took the time to take plenty of detail shots before I packed them up, and they'll be added to my new Wrath of Kings Terrain gallery shortly. In this week's post I'll show the steps each display went through from concept art to a finished piece of terrain.

For each display I drew on inspiration from Five Houses' environmental art. From there I worked out a color concept for the layout, taking care to incorporate as many flat surfaces as possible for model placement. Then it was on to the construction and painting. Here's how everything shaped up:

GORITSI

NASIER

TEKNES

SHAEL HAN

HADROSS

I'm really happy with these. Each display has its own unique style of architecture and distinct color scheme. They all presented me with different challenges and the opportunity to try out some new techniques. The coral on the Hadross table, for example: I wrestled to come up with something I could use to make convincing coral formations and when the solution finally presented itself it was so glaringly obvious: Wood glue-soaked foliage clusters. The glue hardens the spongy clumps, and then they can be painted to resemble coral.

Well, it's time to send the kids off to their new home...

'Til next time!