Imperial City, Mike-lopolis - WIP (Pic Heavy!)

Ok... our local group managed to get a hold on an Imperial City Boxed Set, from a nice fellow named 'Mike'. I have been entrusted with building this thing (as my OCD needs to kick into overdrive! ) The objective was to create an Imperial City in which we could play . So, in honor of Mike, I have baptized it Mike-lopolis. I first began discussing with the guys how we wanted to have the city built. We agreed to have a 'ruined' industrial city (rather than a non-destroyed one) so we could maximized the parts. We also decided NOT to based the buildings because it would give us some flexibility on deployment.


Let me tell you... this thing is 11 lbs of sprues! It took me little more than 3 hours to clip everything down, and re-organize it on zip lock bags... so I could find the parts later! Here is a picture of the packaged parts! HEY!!! I told you I have OCD tendencies!


With the preparations completed, it was time to start building!

Ok... I first decided to test several things. I wanted to create buildings that would allow the 3D aspect of the game to shine. Also, each building should be SUPER modular.

1. Allow 3D Terrain to Shine: Unlike 40k, Death Squads does take full advantage of 3D terrain. We can actually climb and jump. For us, terrain is not just something to block LoS, but a functional element of the game. Mike-lopolis should give PLENTY of opportunity for intelligent players to maximize terrain.
   
2. Create Incentives for Jumpers: One of the coolest things in Death Squads (as well as in Mordheim) is Jumping. In 40k we can't take advantage of this 'basic' premise... in we can! To me it makes the game a lot more realistic, while adding two or three simple rules. When I play, I like to climb and jump... I mean, even Orks with their Initiative 2's become bunny-rabbits when I play them. I just love to jump gaps and fall from the sky in top of things... mostly I die, but I laugh on the process. Mike-lopolis should have plenty of places where player could jump gaps!
   
3. Ultra Modularity: Rather than few 'square' buildings, we wanted Mike-lopolis to be completely modular. We are aiming to have different parts (buildings) to be able to be either removed and used as more terrain or to be able to 'stack' in other parts to make more complex buildings. This would require some planing, but it can be achieved.
   
4. Open Doors: In our group, a closed door on a terrain feature is treated as non-existent door. You can draw LoS and receive no Cover from the door itself. All the doors in the Boxed Set are closed, so we decided that we would open several of them for the cool factor.
   

Following this guidelines, I worked in creating Building A. The concept is a small tower with a door on the ground level and one on the 2nd floor that leads to a damaged 'cat-walk'. Also there will be a separate one story building, with a 'retractable' roof. The roof you can put in top of the building or use at ground level for a barricade. The roof also has a damaged 'cat walk', so it can be placed near the tower's... so players could go from the tower to the building and vice versa with a "simple" jump.



Next... opening the big doors on the building and a picture of the building without the roof!

Sounds like some great ideás with the modular buildings. One of the guys from my gaming group has a city box lying around. Maybe i should snatch it and do something like this.

Looking forward to more updates

If you get it... be prepared to go crazy on it! HA! I plan to make a tutorial on quick painting the terrain. Maybe we could end with Mike-lopolis Sister City; Mud-Land!

Looking great!

Nice planning on the buildings! Some thinking before building really pays off.
I'm starting to get used to "normal life" so hopefully I will be able to pick up the hobby pretty soon!
I've got enough plastic* to build some extra terrain so I'm really excited to start!

*a few CoD boxes, 2 Imperial sector boxes and even a Fortified Manor House

Gatlag Stonetooth wrote:

*a few CoD boxes, 2 Imperial sector boxes and even a Fortified Manor House

That is an insane amount of material! Lots of work!

I just finished Building B... waiting for glue to dry to cut doors, put some lamps and finish pining it. I will take pics today and post. I LOVE the building! It is 90% modular! It can either be three small 1 story buildings, a medium 2 story building with a small 1 story building or one large 3 story building. If follows the Adeptus Mechanicus feel of the Manufactorum. (nice complex!)

The plan for this build was to create some 'bases' (walls) with 'roof' (serve as the floor for the next story). Since we are not basing the buildings, this could allow for some customizations. I finish pinning the 'roof' and make holes (for the pins on the 'roofs') so I can securely place the next story without it shifting or falling. Notice the brass pins. Now you can stack them at your heart content!

I say this is 90% modular because the 1st story must always be the 1st floor (it is longer, so it would not only look odd, but it may topple... unless I can design something for Building C ) and the 3rd story must be either a self contained building or the 3rd floor (I glued the 'balcony walls'.) After I did that, I realized that I can build a self contained balcony (just glue the pieces together and NOT to the floor)... then I could make holes on it to maximize and use the pins, just like the 'bases'! The 2nd story will be able to accept the 'balcony' (if it is a separate building or if it is the medium 2 story building)... if not, the 'balcony' could be used as a barricade. More crap to hide behind! Hheheheh...



Sorry for the 'weird' pictures... this thing is bigger than my photobooth! Comments welcomed!!!

I like that newest building a lot. Good levels, cover and if placed right that is a building that could house an entire Squad with good lanes of fire.

-AK

I love it. It is great. The ladders are a nice addition.

Thanks guys! The cool thing about this is that now we have 5 structures that can make 2 to 5 buildings! The plan for modularity is coming out pretty nice, if I may say so myself.

Next building would be a little more straight forward... kindda. If you look at it from the top, it will be a cross. It will be a 'platform' meaning that the '1st floor' will be accessible, but the '2nd floor will be a cool platform. it will have a 'statue' of... an Inquisitor sized Space Marine Battle Brother Artemis!



I was thinking of making it a bronze statue, with some nice weathering (including some pigeons!)

OK... Building C is almost done! Simple in design. From the top it looks like a cross (to help those Orbital Bombardments!). It will have a 'giant' Space Marine stone statue as a center piece. The statue will boast a 'golden bolter', which would become a focal point.

In practical terms, the building provides efficient Cover (shooting from windows) while defending from Assault (if players decide you can't assault through it). Also it allows for a higher elevation platform (2nd floor) to shot from. My daughter (she will be 9 soon) made the building, while I concentrated on the Inquisitor model. It will be known as the Hall of Valerium.

The building had to be reinforced on the INSIDE, to accommodate the weight of the Inquisitor model... that sucker almost as heavy as an old school Dreadnought YIKES! The Inquisitor model is pinned all over! I plan to make it removable, so makes for easier storage and transport. I still need to green-stuff the gaps and sculpt the inner part of the right leg. Hands and head will be painted separate, to avoid errors! Here are the pics!

Wow looking very nice and the statue looks like it could be quite epic.

Wow!

Nice work!

Excellent work so far!! My only critique would be the pose of the Inquisitor model. The posed right leg just looks a little.....off to me. I would suggest moving the knee in towards the left leg a little more. Right now it looks like hes spreading his legs for a Sister of Silence!!!

DoZer wrote:

Excellent work so far!! My only critique would be the pose of the Inquisitor model. The posed right leg just looks a little.....off to me. I would suggest moving the knee in towards the left leg a little more. Right now it looks like hes spreading his legs for a Sister of Silence!!!

You mean, while leaving the knee on the same spot, just turn the foot to the left so the legs pivots or just plain close the spread (HA! PUN!) between the legs? I took a 2nd peek at the photos (AGGHHH!!! Another pun!) and you are right. Thanks for the observation. I would hate for me to be the first to start the 'porno marine' scultping!

You know, my daughter is helping me with this one...

Cool update! I like the addition of the Inquisitor model!

Here is the complete update for Building C, Hall of Valerium! It has been insanely difficult to complete the statue. First, I had to repair the 'porno' stance on the Space Marine; that mean breaking the leg and repining. Once satisfied I had to work with green-stuff to seal the cracks and sculpting the missing parts. I'm no artist... so it took me several tries. Then I tried substituting the cardboard base with rock... impossible! So I had a great idea; to make my own rock!

I used the cardboard as base and the cover it with green-stuff thinking it would become solid. NOT! I has a squishy rock-like thing. The statue wobbled and toppled every time. So, in order to make it solid, I drill some hole and fill it with an expanding water activated foam-glue (Gorilla Glue). I let it cure for a week. Then I put pomez stone paste over it. STILL not stable.... so after observing it for 15 minutes I figured out the unstable points. I carved a custom base for it and filled the new gaps with the pomez paste. Put several pins on the statue, with larger holes on the building for easy removal.



Now, I was ready for the details. Bolter, Sword, grenades, knife and heads all in. The pose is NOT perfect, but it is as close as it can be done without sculpting some more. The statue can be put in place (or removed) for play and/or storage. Now the building is complete... ready for priming and painting!



The statue of Valerium is quite imposing! When any model is standing beside it, it looks majestic... larger than life... over the top. I think that, if I manage to paint the building correctly, this will become a nice center-piece.



I started working on Building D... a 3 floor Cathedral, with minimal ruins!

Now what chapter will you be painting him as?

Will you paint him as a true Deathwatch Veteran or will you paint him in his Chapter Colors with the Veteran Deathwatch colors on the sword arm?

DoZer wrote:

Now what chapter will you be painting him as? Will you paint him as a true Deathwatch Veteran or will you paint him in his Chapter Colors with the Veteran Deathwatch colors on the sword arm?

Sorry bro... he will be a granite (stone color) statue, but his Bolter will be GOLDEN.

Time for new update... Building D is DONE! This is another modular 2 story building. It is a complete building, rather than part of the whole structure... it has minimal ruins. The 1s floor can be split in two halves, each boasting an all-around balcony frame. The 2nd floor is a cube; it can be placed in top of the 1st floor or be used as an independent building.



Now... I will stop the build for some time, so I can start putting some color to the buildings. First, prime black... then, only the Emperor knows!

Hay Mord! I never looked at the pics at Tom's and I must say that all of it is kick ass!
Well done!

Oh and may the Emperor be with you!


dwi

Thanks dwi! Igot the terrain fever from DaBank! Muahahahaha!!!

Speaking of fever... I could NOT resist, and I painted the Hall of Valerium! Since this building will (for sure) become a center-piece favorite, I painted some details on it. I still need to dry-brush some bone-white in a scroll and some skulls, maybe some other details and seal it... so it is 98% finished. Here is an update!




You can follow the link and see a Slide Show of pictures. Comments, suggestion, constructive criticism, etc ALWAYS welcomed!

Well That is.... COOOL. I mean thats slap your gandma then slap yourself cool! Well done!!!!

Emperor love ya!

dwi

This is sweet! More terrain to fall off on. LOL...


Watch out as Tim's chaos will want to desecrate the shrine.

Thank you guys! I will be starting to pint the other buildings soon.

HA! I can see Dozer trying to take a whizz!

Or he could take a crap. Ha! chaos crap! now that would be a killer stain on the walls! Two pukes to that!

dwi