Battleground Hobbies: How to Build a Ziggurat Ruin for Warhammer Lizrdmen

Monday, March 12, 2012

How to Build a Ziggurat Ruin for Warhammer Lizrdmen

Finally got the Warhammer Ziggurat finished for a Lizardmen army to defend or Goblins to invade!! This was another project started and finished to the point of using it to play Warhammer with, but it needed finishing touches. So we'll take you through building it step by step.

As mentioned, this was a piece started a while back and used along with the jungle terrain we showed you how to make back in October. You can see the previous post here.

Start with basic polystyrene insulation board which can be easily acquired at any major hardware/construction store.The bottom piece is approximately 18" wide by 15" deep. Start by measuring off 1.5" x 1" blocks along the edge and score the board with a pencil.

The next layer is 2" shorter along the front and the back can vary. We are going up to a third partial layer of stone and sloping it down in the back. We also chipped the edges with a hobby knife and carved out some of the seams between stones.

The back was sloped with a hot wire foam cutter. You can also see how some additional blocks were cut.

We were fortunate to find a gallon of latex paint in the "wrong" mix bin that was gray, so we painted the entire structure with it.

Then take some watered down black paint and wash it into all the cracks.

It should look a mess when done, like this.

Then drybrush a lighter gray over the entire structure. We used a can of "Stone Texture" spray paint leftover from another project to give it a little something extra. Then onto the plants. Here's a smattering of foliage getting ready for action. A piece of hardboard was glued to the bottom for stability.

Check your local craft store for small leaved stems that hold a bunch of individual pieces. Get a variety of tropical leaf types.

Once you pull off the individual items you will wind up with a stem looking like this.

Trim it down about an inch for a lower level or a bit longer if you plan on putting plants near the top of your ziggurat. That will allow you to push it down through all the layers

Now attach different individual stems to your main stem to get the jungle look and feel.

We drilled a pilot hole right near one of the seams where we felt plants would sprout...

and shoved it in. We later pulled it out and added glue into the hole and on the bottom of the foliage. Add these bundles around the entire piece.

Next we took our magic mixture of medium gray ballast, spring mix blended turf, old spices (oregano and parsley), coarse turf and stirred till all ingredients are thoroughly intermingled.

Apply hobby glue into cracks where the mixture will be...

and apply a liberal layer over the glue.

In areas of heavy vegetation we added some mossy foliage along with our mixture.

Next we painted a dark green up the back slope where the grasses would be their thickest...

.. applied glue and more of our mix.

Here we applied the glue in the same pattern as the block and then as it would naturally grow out of the cracks.

Lastly we added little extras like lost gold medallions under plants..

and extra chunks of gold dropped by would be thieves. A couple less fortunate chaps lost their heads on a wild treasure hunt and now hang around as omens to those who might try the same.