Fantasy Terrain - Barrows and Mushrooms

Let’s have a closer look at the new scratchbuilt terrain you saw on the table in my last post, the Cauldron report.

The three Barrows were inspired by the burial mound from issue 153 of White Dwarf. You can have a look at that particular article here: LINK. Here is how I made mine:

After painting I sprinkled them with green and beige flocks for more colour and texture variation.

The mushrooms below are also modelled after a classic of old Warhammer: John Blanche’s Undead Assault diorama from the 1980s. You can find photos of it here: LINK.

Unfortunately I either forgot to take pics while making them, or I misplaced the photos- either way I sadly can’t show any WIPs. But I’ll at least tell you about it. The bases are cork, with wooden skewers planted into them as armature for the mushrooms’ stalks. The skewers were then covered in air-drying clay. The caps were sculpted separately out of air-drying clay and then glued on after curing. The smaller mushrooms were done using the some of the same techniques described in my Nekroplanet fungi post (HERE).

The terrain got used since that Cauldron game at Black Queen -my brother Ivan and I played our first fantasy battle a few weekends back. His undead army and my orc horde descended upon the sleepy human village of Windcroft, built on an ancient burial site. The forces of Wight Lord Ladislaus emerged victorious and are now in control of the village. Defeated, Morgul and his green demons crept back to their swampland home with only a small heap of loot.

We used the OPR Age of Fantasy Regiments system. It was fun and not overcomplicated, just what we were looking for. We'll be exploring other systems in the future to see what's out there. Ivan has written a lovely battle report, but I’m not happy with the pics I have of the game. I wasn’t planning to do a report at the time we played so I hadn’t set up proper lighting for photography. My plan now is to shoot a bunch of scenic shots to illustrate the report because I think it deserves it. It’s the start of a campaign we intend to play and document as it unfolds.

As always, thanks to my paying Patreon members! Making this stuff takes time and effort, and becoming a paying member is one way you can reward it.