Skull Forge Scenics Desert Obelisks

Here's a look at the obelisks and objective markers that I painted up for my Tomb Kings army.

 

These resin scenery pieces are are for sale in my Skull Forge Scenics shop–

The Standing Desert Obelisk comes in three pieces and stands just over nine inches tall.

 

 

The Desert Obelisk Objectives are sold in pairs (either as a set of two or a set of four), and they have been designed with a round 40mm bottom, so they are perfect for representing Strategic Locations in games of Warhammer: The Old World.

 

 

These have been available for a couple months, but I finally painted a set for myself. I used the same color scheme for painting desert bases and ruins that you can see in my previous post: Painting Desert Bases.

 

 

I used two of the standard obelisk objectives...

 

 

...and two more that I made out of tops of the tall obelisk to add a little more variety.

 

 

For the full, standing obelisks, I wanted to do something special for the bases, so I scratch-built some stepped bases for them.

 

 

To make the bases, I used a mix of old 20mm bases (putting the dozens of spares that I have to good use) and some 25mm bases. The two tiers measure out to 60mm and 50mm.

 

 

To get rid of the grainy texture on the base surface, I sanded them with fine sandpaper stuck to a sanding block. I added a bit of water and used a "wet sanding" technique to keep from kicking up too much plastic dust.

 

 

Once the tops were smoothed out and washed off, I super glued them to a sscrap of thin styrene. Each base represents a slab of stone, so their outer edges were not perfectly aligned. I also left out the center square, and didn't apply any glue along the inside edges of the bases so I could hollow out the underside.

 

 

Once the super glue was fully dry, I cut a square out of the middle underneath, exposing the underside of the bases.

 

 

Then, I super glued four 25mm bases on top.

 

 

I trimmed off the excess styrene on the bottom, and used clippers to cut away the visible sides of the 20mm bases, leaving an open area underneath. This would allow the base to stand without teetering on small rocks or other uneven surfaces on a modeled battlefield.

 

 

On top, I filled in the gaps between the bases with Aves Apoxie Sculpt, and cut some grooves that they looked more like stones butting up against each other, rather than precisely spaced slotta bases. Excess Apoxie Sculpt was pressed underneath to fill in the voids and provide more stability.

 

 

The final bit of sculpting was to use my hobby knife to carve up the edges and corners of the "stones" to make them appear chipped and worn. I also carved some cracks in a few places.

 

 

I forgot to get a photo before I primed the pieces, but I also applied some sand and skulls, carefully positioned to fit around the obelisk when it was fitted in place. The center was drilled out and magnets were glued in so the obelisk could stand securely atop its new plinth.

 

 

And here are the finished and painted bases, with the obelisks in place:

 

 

One of my next projects is a display board for my Tomb Kings, and these obelisks will make a nice addition.

'Til next time!