Escort Missions are the Worst! Part 1

With ReaperCon now weeks away, it's time to actually buckle down and get SOMETHING painted. Since I've got the diorama minis already cleaned, primed, and ready to go, it seemed like a good idea to start there. But because I never do anything the easy way, and my plan calls for some serious OSL (one source light) from a pair of torches... which I think makes it TSL? Maybe DSL? Or would 2SL be better? Anyway, the 2 torches are going to be the only light sources in the dungeon scene, so I need to know where the walls are, where the figures and torches are before I can really start painting anything if I want to get the effect even close to correct. So, first wall and base building.

Step one was figuring out just how big a base I need. The advice I've read is basically "make the base as small as possible and still be able to tell the story." So, okay, big enough to fit the 3 heroes, the pregnant lady, and the monster cobbled together that's seconds from trying to eat the lead figure.


Next was fitting the wall onto the base that will split the group from the monster. Both the base and the wall are made from pink insulation foam. Once I got the wall cut out, I then cut out the doorway. I followed that up with carving in the stonework of the wall, and giving it a little depth by pressing in some of the stones. I'd be a little further along if I hadn't sliced open my index finger.... and I still need to add more texture to the stonework.



And that's where I'm at now. Still to do:
Carve the floor's flagstones
Texture the floor
Attach the wall to the base
Paint the minis
Paint the base
Attach the minis to base

It sounds so easy listed out like that. 6 weeks? Plenty of time...

Sadly that's JUST the diorama. Still hoping to enter something into Painters. Probably not gonna get anything entered into Open or Ordnance at this point.