Lets Build Heldenstone Together

[Ejecutor]

What is Heldenstone would you ask? It is my Cities of Sigmar village, and appart from setting my army on it, I plan to build all the terrain neccesary to give shape to the village itself. That's where the helping bit comes into play.

My idea for this thread was to post everything I own so whoever that wants to get involved can think and propose ideas on how to approach the terrain pieces to build Heldenstone.

To start with I will show you a little description of Heldenstone. It is a mix of some rolls using the post created on 2017 and some personal preferences (who wants a citie where the citizens rolls is Silvaneth *2, Seraphon and Stormcasts?!).

Name Heldenstone
Realm Chamon
Size Village
Inhabitants Humans * 2 - Duardin - Stormcast
Distinguishing Features Site of Great Battle - Mysterious Ruins - Legendary Monster Hunters

Also, this is everything I own kits whise so we can have a rough idea on what are the options we have:

5 * Warcry Scenery – Azyrite Ruin
3 * Warcry Scenery – Azyrite Ruin
3 * Warcry Scenery – Azyrite Bell Tower
2 - 6 * Dominion of Sigmar Statue (I am selling 4 from the 6 I have as I changed my initial idea, but I could consider keeping some more)
1 * Warcry Scenery – Fallen Sigmar Statue
1 * Sigmarite Ruins
1 * Dominion of Sigmar: Timeworm Ruins
2 * Enduring Stormvault
1 * Enduring Stormvault (Gryph Hound Statue)
1 * Penumbral Engine
1 * Realmscape: Cleansing Aqualith
1 * Realmscape: Objective Set
1 * Azyrite Shattered Plaza (fountain frame only)
1 * Realmscape: Nexus Syphon
4 * Domicile Shell (from Realmscape: Thondian Strongpoint)
4 * Guardian Idol (from Realmscape: Thondian Strongpoint)

In terms of STLs:

Printable Basing Bits 1
Printable Basing Bits 2
Towers of Ellirmilborg
Jagerholm (future purchase)

And ofc I would use scratch building with stuff like foam.

I will purchase also Realms of Ruin to use their map builder and take inspiration from their CoS buildings approach.

And in terms of colours I've done this tests that I am quite happy with and I think would fit both the old ruins and the new Dawnbringer structures.



I think the possiblities are endless and I am a slow builder/painter as I have a 9 months old twins, so drop me your ideas. I would consider them all! It doesn't have to be based on gameplay completely, as I am more kind of a collector/ painter profile.

Thanks in advance

Edited October 19, 2023 by Ejecutor

[Ejecutor]

To split a bit the content and do not create a super dense post I separated what I already had in mind for a couple of posts.

With the 5 Azyrite Ruins that don't look like a prison and the 3 Tower Bells I was planning to build a big 3 levels church taking inspiration from the following:



This is the layout of the first floor:



The front has two doors, and above them (on the third level) would be two tower bells one next to another.

All this building would be above two sheets of 4 cm foam acting as a hill and to go there I was thinking on putting a Sigmar Statue in the middle with stairs on both sides. Being able to separate the main structure from the hill in case I want to place it as just the church itself. Maybe creating it some sort of pavement around so it looks good in both scenarios.

As the last touch I was thinking on using the little statue from the Objetives as part of the inner decoration, as it would be an old church in ruins that is being rebuilt and reused.

[Ejecutor]

For the other bit of the Azyrite Ruins (the  ones that looks like a prison) and the rest of walls not used on the church I was thinking on an approach like this:



And maybe even something smaller.

[Greyshadow]

Can't wait to see what you come up with!

 

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

Cool project. I think Cities of Sigmar especially lends itself to terrain building projects. I mean, the clue is kind of in the name.

I have been working on my terrain for a bit. A few observations that might be helpful to you:

Some of the newer Dawnbringer crusades related kits are actually a pretty interesting mix of new, pre-fabricated structures and old ruins on top of which those structures are built. The Aqualith, for example, comes with a ruined staircase that looks a lot older than the Aqualith itself. The Guardian Idols are placed on top of a ruined wall. Those ruins look pretty similar to the old AoS 1 terrain (Numinous Occulum, Ophidian Archway, Baleful Realmgate...). I think this lends itself to some fun environmental storytelling.

There are a few options with the 3rd edition kits when it comes to how to build them, but they usually require some mild patching or sculpting. For the Aqualith, it is possible to keep the stairs and Aqualith separate, which only requires not gluing in one or two of the chains. You can in theory use them as separate pieces, and it will only look slightly weird. The Guardian Idols are sadly monopose. I wish you could swap around their shield and spear hand, but it is not easily possible. They do, however, come with a cool optional skeleton face. You can also keep the platform, wall and statue separate if you want. Building one of the Idols as a collapsed/ruined version might be worth considering.

The Domicile Shells are cool kits, but sadly very hard to customize. Once you have the big and small variants on the table, I think having repeats of the kit will look pretty weird. The buildings have a lot more detail than the official paint job suggests, and I think they should actually be pretty versatile for expressing different architectural styles just with different paint jobs. Here's one that I did recently:

Spoiler

 

[JackStreicher]

Very cool project!

let me know if you need something special like a crest stl for your city.

 

[Ejecutor]

1 hour ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

Cool project. I think Cities of Sigmar especially lends itself to terrain building projects. I mean, the clue is kind of in the name.

I have been working on my terrain for a bit. A few observations that might be helpful to you:

Some of the newer Dawnbringer crusades related kits are actually a pretty interesting mix of new, pre-fabricated structures and old ruins on top of which those structures are built. The Aqualith, for example, comes with a ruined staircase that looks a lot older than the Aqualith itself. The Guardian Idols are placed on top of a ruined wall. Those ruins look pretty similar to the old AoS 1 terrain (Numinous Occulum, Ophidian Archway, Baleful Realmgate...). I think this lends itself to some fun environmental storytelling.

There are a few options with the 3rd edition kits when it comes to how to build them, but they usually require some mild patching or sculpting. For the Aqualith, it is possible to keep the stairs and Aqualith separate, which only requires not gluing in one or two of the chains. You can in theory use them as separate pieces, and it will only look slightly weird. The Guardian Idols are sadly monopose. I wish you could swap around their shield and spear hand, but it is not easily possible. They do, however, come with a cool optional skeleton face. You can also keep the platform, wall and statue separate if you want. Building one of the Idols as a collapsed/ruined version might be worth considering.

The Domicile Shells are cool kits, but sadly very hard to customize. Once you have the big and small variants on the table, I think having repeats of the kit will look pretty weird. The buildings have a lot more detail than the official paint job suggests, and I think they should actually be pretty versatile for expressing different architectural styles just with different paint jobs. Here's one that I did recently:

  Hide contents

 

That's a pretty interesting colour scheme!

For the Domicile Shells as I would have 4 sprues (2 of each) I was planning to test one being built and a second one fully built. Kind of what the GW team did for many of the background images. If I like the result I think I would be able to purchase more from the Stormbringer issues, but don't want to go too far so it doesn't feels too repetitive nor too big. In the end is a village that is kind of being built rather than a big city.

For the idols I saw Realms of Ruin put them at the top of large walls that follow the Domicile style, so it could be an interesting thing to try.

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

2 minutes ago, Ejecutor said:

For the Domicile Shells as I would have 4 sprues (2 of each) I was planning to test one being built and a second one fully built. Kind of what the GW team did for many of the background images.

Sadly that is not possible. The Domicile Shells have a lot of the scaffolding molded into the walls and can't be removed/left off. The fully-built Dawnbringer houses have to be a separate kit (or internal 3D print or something).

[Ejecutor]

1 hour ago, JackStreicher said:

Very cool project!

let me know if you need something special like a crest stl for your city.

 

This is what I've done so far for the crest. I still have to test the colours on the Steelhelms to decide if it is too dark (black + grey):



Honestly, this could seem to be too big for me (I didn't mention that structure colour testing was the first model I paint since around 20 years, when I was not even thining the paints), but I would like to test a free hand approach for shields and banners. If I get too frustrated after trying it I would give you a shout

Edited October 18, 2023 by Ejecutor

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

30 minutes ago, Ejecutor said:

This is what I've done so far for the crest. I still have to test the colours on the Steelhelms to decide if it is too dark (black + grey):



Honestly, this could seem to be too big for me (I didn't mention that structure colour testing was the first model I paint since around 20 years, when I was not even thining the paints), but I would like to test a free hand approach for shields and banners. If I get too frustrated after trying it I would give you a shout

That's a cool crest. Reminds me of the Leaden Bulls:

https://ageofsigmar.lexicanum.com/wiki/Leaden_Bulls

Might be a cool opportunity for a lore connection? It's worth remembering that in the lore, individual Freeguilds are separate from the cities they work for and can have their own colours and heraldry.

[Ejecutor]

4 hours ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

That's a cool crest. Reminds me of the Leaden Bulls:

https://ageofsigmar.lexicanum.com/wiki/Leaden_Bulls

Might be a cool opportunity for a lore connection? It's worth remembering that in the lore, individual Freeguilds are separate from the cities they work for and can have their own colours and heraldry.

Ha! I had no clue about them. I initially designed it as a crest for a bretonian/ empire TOW army, and updated the horns to be more twin tailed comet like.  And I had no idea about the Free Guilds having a different crest than the city! Maybe it is time to think about a new one either for the city or for the free guild 🤔

Edited October 18, 2023 by Ejecutor

[Ejecutor]

About Realms of Ruin I just saw this video (sorry, it is in Spanish) where I could see some more new interesting structures like the followings:







Even if they end been mostly scratch building, with some one side copies from the Domicile as a base, it could end with an interesting bunch of buildings.

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

14 hours ago, Ejecutor said:

Ha! I had no clue about them. I initially designed it as a crest for a bretonian/ empire TOW army, and updated the horns to be more twin tailed comet like.  And I had no idea about the Free Guilds having a different crest than the city! Maybe it is time to think about a new one either for the city or for the free guild 🤔

Personally, I just view it as an option. It certainly makes sense that there would be some Freeguilds out there that use the crest and colours of the city they are attached to, as well.

 

11 hours ago, Ejecutor said:

About Realms of Ruin I just saw this video (sorry, it is in Spanish) where I could see some more new interesting structures like the followings:







Even if they end been mostly scratch building, with some one side copies from the Domicile as a base, it could end with an interesting bunch of buildings.

The two flat-roofed houses in the center seem to be based on the completed domiciles from the battletome/promo pictures:

I really hope those become an actual kit soon (maybe with the launch of 4th?). For now, builing them out of the Domicile Shell kit would be exceedingly difficult:

Those wooden beams are just not removable and you don't get enough completed wall sections to build a house even out of several kits. Also, you would be missing a roof and the railings and ornamentation seen in the battletome and in Realms of Ruin.

What I think is more easily possible, though, is to build a domed roof out of the Nexus Syphon. It has the right size for a small chapel or something.

 

[Ejecutor]

18 minutes ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

Personally, I just view it as an option. It certainly makes sense that there would be some Freeguilds out there that use the crest and colours of the city they are attached to, as well.

 

The two flat-roofed houses in the center seem to be based on the completed domiciles from the battletome/promo pictures:

I really hope those become an actual kit soon (maybe with the launch of 4th?). For now, builing them out of the Domicile Shell kit would be exceedingly difficult:

Those wooden beams are just not removable and you don't get enough completed wall sections to build a house even out of several kits. Also, you would be missing a roof and the railings and ornamentation seen in the battletome and in Realms of Ruin.

What I think is more easily possible, though, is to build a domed roof out of the Nexus Syphon. It has the right size for a small chapel or something.

 

Good point. I don't have those sprues yet as I would get them from Stormbringer but I was hoping to have some sort of intact and complete wall, but those dammit wooden beams are all around. I could try to copy a big chunk with blue stuff and remove the wood or clone the pillars, that would be the hardest bit. The stone work should be feasible to do with foam.

About the Nexus Syphon I want one, as it is a core bit on any funded city by a crusade, but as it is from Stormbringer as well maybe it is worth getting a second one to have some kitbash fun. Noted.

[Ejecutor]

I've been thinking about the freeguilds crest. From my pov makes sense to have different free guilds with different crests on a big city such Hammerhall, but in smaller ones I guess they won't have much variety. More likely just the ones that founded it/ survived the dawnbringer crusade. So it could be just one or a little few (specially considering some crusades takes units from different cities). But I wouldn't think more than 5-6.

Also, a little church update. For reference this is the corner I would be talking about:



That door is from where I decided to start. It had a problem, the corner of the sprue was placed in the opposite direction of my planned layout. So I decided to make an area where there's more/lower ruins and as I wanted to have fun with green stuff for the first time I modeled that corner to look it is in ruins:



So far I am quite happy with the result being the first time I sculpt with green stuff. The only bit that I don't like is the lower one, where the 3 colums are in each side, but I plan to "hide" it with some turfs or stuff like that. What do you think about this? Apart from that there's a problem. I was focused on just having fun with green stuff and the result ended with something akward.

Following the layout the pilar from the following image should have a wall, but it has a pristine pilar fully decorated:



Also the roof would end looking odd if it is just placed above with nothing on the side, so I was looking and the tower sprues and I have one that would be using kind of a filler and found this that could sort this problem:

I think it fits pretty nicely. I would just need to fill those 2 gasps on top of the wood. I would approach this with something like the metallic piece a bit under that. Would be an easy sculp. Just a rectangle with some dots and I think it would fit the purpose really nice.

The other downside I am seeingis those two woods that are kind of going off and are a bit out of nowhere, as they don't continue on the back of the structure:



Would you trim them down? Imo they are not a massive problem and with the whole building they won't be too noticeable.

With this solution the corner looks pretty nice, but back to the pilar topic. Would you remove the pristine sculpt so it is not there where the wall should be? Or would just let it be. With the wood scaffolding it is kind of hidden.

And for a bonus point, I am thinking on getting printed the following bits from The Towers of Ellirmilborg. I think they would fit pretty nice the whole church theming. Do you like them?:

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

10 hours ago, Ejecutor said:

I've been thinking about the freeguilds crest. From my pov makes sense to have different free guilds with different crests on a big city such Hammerhall, but in smaller ones I guess they won't have much variety. More likely just the ones that founded it/ survived the dawnbringer crusade. So it could be just one or a little few (specially considering some crusades takes units from different cities). But I wouldn't think more than 5-6.

Also, a little church update. For reference this is the corner I would be talking about:



That door is from where I decided to start. It had a problem, the corner of the sprue was placed in the opposite direction of my planned layout. So I decided to make an area where there's more/lower ruins and as I wanted to have fun with green stuff for the first time I modeled that corner to look it is in ruins:



So far I am quite happy with the result being the first time I sculpt with green stuff. The only bit that I don't like is the lower one, where the 3 colums are in each side, but I plan to "hide" it with some turfs or stuff like that. What do you think about this? Apart from that there's a problem. I was focused on just having fun with green stuff and the result ended with something akward.

Following the layout the pilar from the following image should have a wall, but it has a pristine pilar fully decorated:



Also the roof would end looking odd if it is just placed above with nothing on the side, so I was looking and the tower sprues and I have one that would be using kind of a filler and found this that could sort this problem:

I think it fits pretty nicely. I would just need to fill those 2 gasps on top of the wood. I would approach this with something like the metallic piece a bit under that. Would be an easy sculp. Just a rectangle with some dots and I think it would fit the purpose really nice.

The other downside I am seeingis those two woods that are kind of going off and are a bit out of nowhere, as they don't continue on the back of the structure:



Would you trim them down? Imo they are not a massive problem and with the whole building they won't be too noticeable.

With this solution the corner looks pretty nice, but back to the pilar topic. Would you remove the pristine sculpt so it is not there where the wall should be? Or would just let it be. With the wood scaffolding it is kind of hidden.

And for a bonus point, I am thinking on getting printed the following bits from The Towers of Ellirmilborg. I think they would fit pretty nice the whole church theming. Do you like them?:

I think that piece of wooden scaffolding is a great solution to your problem!

Even moreso than with miniatures, with terrain it is not worth it to lose sleep over the small details. Although of course obsessing about the details is part of the fun, too. What I can guarantee, though, is that even if you just glued that wooden structure on there as-is without gap filling, nobody except you would even notice (and you would probably also forget after a month or so).

The wooden support is a fun addition, though, because it changes the environmental storytelling of the building. With it, it seems like the church was not simply destroyed, but destroyed and then partially repaired later. It really makes you wonder why. Did people continue to use it as a church or did they repurpose it in some way? Or maybe the ruins are of archaeological interest and whoever is studying them has added supports to prevent them from further falling apart. I like this kind of little detail, because it develops the story of your city. We know that there are mysterious ruins there, but why are they ruined and what makes them mysterious?

[Ejecutor]

14 minutes ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

I think that piece of wooden scaffolding is a great solution to your problem!

Even moreso than with miniatures, with terrain it is not worth it to lose sleep over the small details. Although of course obsessing about the details is part of the fun, too. What I can guarantee, though, is that even if you just glued that wooden structure on there as-is without gap filling, nobody except you would even notice (and you would probably also forget after a month or so).

The wooden support is a fun addition, though, because it changes the environmental storytelling of the building. With it, it seems like the church was not simply destroyed, but destroyed and then partially repaired later. It really makes you wonder why. Did people continue to use it as a church or did they repurpose it in some way? Or maybe the ruins are of archaeological interest and whoever is studying them has added supports to prevent them from further falling apart. I like this kind of little detail, because it develops the story of your city. We know that there are mysterious ruins there, but why are they ruined and what makes them mysterious?

Yeah. I didn't develop those Distinguishing Features yet, so I don't have a lore behind to add more flavour, but I was thinking about the church as being used back as the religious center of the city. CoS is a religious heavy based faction, hence why I thought about it as it is being reconstructed.

With this scaffolding, the altar from the Objectives Set and the torches and benches I was planning to give it that bringing back to life flavour. I could even add some of the Domicile Shell construction bits around, like the following:

[Ejecutor]

Today I found something super handy for the church in the Jaggerholm KS that I was planning to get:



I think they would be the perfect solution for the 8cm that I have to cover on the cliff where the church would be placed.

Also, a proof of concept with the statue (that would have a stait on each side) and the first floor planning:

Edited October 26, 2023 by Ejecutor

[Ejecutor]

 In order to have inspiration I've screenshoted all the buildings/ items I thought could be interesting to take inspiration from Realms of Ruin:

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198048667112/screenshots/?appid=0&sort=newestfirst&browsefilter=myfiles&view=imagewall&privacy=8

There's some interesting ones, like the well or the area with plants.

Edited November 14, 2023 by Ejecutor

[Ejecutor]

I've been playing around with midjourney to get a cool pic of he idea I had in mind for Heldenstone and is hard to get something inspired by AoS, but after some tests I did this, that kinda represents what I have in mind for the church. I like how some bits are supported by archs, rather than all being full rocks. So I could take that bit as well. Thoughts?

Also, which realm would you say this is placed if you see a terrain like that and you have no extra info?

Edited November 29, 2023 by Ejecutor

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

On 11/29/2023 at 2:41 PM, Ejecutor said:

Also, which realm would you say this is placed if you see a terrain like that and you have no extra info?

I would have said Hysh, because to me Hysh always has this feeling of ancient civilizations lost to time. I don't know if that is just me, though, but I always imagine Hysh as being filled with the ruins of all kinds of ancient cities that nobody remembers the names of anymore. I think its the lore connection to philosophy and the kind of sterile feeling you get from the realm that makes me think of the ruins of ancient high cultures.

Maybe for this picture it is the bright sun and white stone that do it. Although any realm can have any type of geography, of course.

[Ejecutor]

10 hours ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

I would have said Hysh, because to me Hysh always has this feeling of ancient civilizations lost to time. I don't know if that is just me, though, but I always imagine Hysh as being filled with the ruins of all kinds of ancient cities that nobody remembers the names of anymore. I think its the lore connection to philosophy and the kind of sterile feeling you get from the realm that makes me think of the ruins of ancient high cultures.

Maybe for this picture it is the bright sun and white stone that do it. Although any realm can have any type of geography, of course.

That's an interesting pov. I would imagine Hysh less rocky, but it is true that every realm could have any terrain type.

I am trying to figure out the best approach for the lands/ bases that screams Chamon without it being fully grey floor and metalic rivers and trees. So I would go for something rocky as it fits dwarverns, which is like the predominant order faction over there.

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

23 minutes ago, Ejecutor said:

That's an interesting pov. I would imagine Hysh less rocky, but it is true that every realm could have any terrain type.

I am trying to figure out the best approach for the lands/ bases that screams Chamon without it being fully grey floor and metalic rivers and trees. So I would go for something rocky as it fits dwarverns, which is like the predominant order faction over there.

Maybe some cubic metallic mineral deposits could be a good visual cue? Should be fairly easy from a hobby standpoint, too.

[Ejecutor]

1 hour ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

Maybe some cubic metallic mineral deposits could be a good visual cue? Should be fairly easy from a hobby standpoint, too.

Yeah. That's interesting. A mix of rocky and shiny minerals with intereting shapes like that could work nicely. A cool contrast as well in terms of colour.

[Snarff]

Just popping in to say that I love seeing what fantastical things people can come up with in the mortal realms.

 

On 12/6/2023 at 8:32 PM, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

Maybe some cubic metallic mineral deposits could be a good visual cue? Should be fairly easy from a hobby standpoint, too.

To add onto this, I would consider Bismuth. The fractal-like patterns it forms would fit perfectly IMO, and they can be both quite colourless or very colourful.

And even though it might be a little cliche, I really like the thought of a small metal waterfall somewhere. Or an (autumnal) birch tree with some small metallic highlights, such as the leaves being copper and/or either the bark or the lenticells being silver/lead-like respectively.