Khanjira's Revenge

[CreganTur]

Khanjira's a masterful mini and deserves a fitting base, which is why I've taken on a miniature project of epic proportions.

The idea is to have Khanjira rampaging through a section of a fantasy town. The base he came with was the starting point of my design as I imagined that the rubble-strewn section could be underwater. From there I had the idea of creating a river scene with the great beast crashing through part of a shop on the corner of a bridge that will span the water.

The first step was creating the bridge.

This design provides me with the 3 main components I wanted: the bridge, the river basin, and the store area.

The store is going to be made up of a basement and store on the main floor and I'm toying with the idea of creating a second story with a bedroom to maximize the monster's carnage. I also like the idea of a second story because I have a design in my head of something falling from the roof and having a spellcaster miniature below using a spell to deflect the object (but this will come much later. People will be added after the set is constructed).

The beginning of the store's basement started with design. I wanted a false brick wall to be constructed that hides a small area where a treasure chest was stored- the storekeep wanted to keep something tucked away for a rainy day. This little area also gives me my first opportunity to add some wildlife with some rats. The proper portion of the basement will contain boxes, crates, barrels, and the rubble from the just collapsed wall. Also some water will spill in through the opening.

As I looked more closely at the basement area I realized that the rubble that was already part of Khanjira's base was just getting in the way of what I wanted to do, so I pulled out my trusty EDC and cut it out (since none of my other hobby knives could do the kind of clean and flush cutting I needed).

This left me with a rather strange looking gap in the wall since that portion of the miniature's base was hollow. After quickly deciding I didn't want to sculpt replacement stone I decided to sculpt up a bookcase. I also found a treasure chest that looked a but rusty and worn down- it was from an old Rakham set that was a couple of treasure chests with loot inserts. My Reaper Bones rats also looked like they'd be perfect for this job. I slapped in a piece of plasticard as a placeholder for the brisk wall and reviewed my design.

Once I got everything settled where I wanted it I sculpted the brick wall, cut the bases from the rats, and glued everything in place.

Probably the most important decision I made here was to keep the store basement modular. I sculpted the tile floor over a thin piece of plasticard that I rough-fitted into the diorama. It won't get glued in place until after it's all been painted and is ready to be permanently put in place. This means that I'll need to carefully design this so the actual shop and possible second story can easily be built onto this after it's been permanently affixed.

I haven't finished the set dressing, but it was too late to keep going so I did a little more design before turning in for the night.

The river section of the base is going to be pretty simple.

I want to fill in the area with dirt and rocks that have a nice, natural movement to them to simulate being built up and eroded by currents. I also need to put in some nice trash as this river runs through a city, so it will be full of junk.

The hardest part of this entire project is going to be putting in the water. I'll need to find a nice way to create a seal around the base so I can pour in what I want to use.

 

[Meph]

That looks like quite the project. But it also looks like you've got it firmly in your grip.

 

[KruleBear]

This could be awesome. Nice concept.

 

[CreganTur]

My daughter thought my project needed more dragons.

After a lot of design consdierations I finally settled on what I wanted the store to look like. At first I was going to sculpt the entire thing, but then I remembered that I had a gothc building kit I had gotten some years ago that was actually perfect for what I wanted to do. Assembling the walls was easy, but distressing them to look as if a giant monster just put his foot through the wall took a lot of work... and its' not done yet.

You can't tell from the pictures, but the section with the door's floor has been sculpted to look like parquet flooring. The other section has a more intricate flooring design. They'll show up better when I get around to painting.

I'm keepign with the modular design so that it will be easier for me to paint everything. Once I get all the components completed I'll permanently affix everything.

Each level of the store is wider than the one below it. It's a design decision I made with the idea of encouraging people to look closer at the scene.

Here I'm using Khanjira to measure his impact point and plan out the damage to the floor.

I spent an evening creating books for the bookshelf and last night completed them and glued them in place.

Within a diorama I love the idea of capturing a moment in time. For me this means showing items frozen in a moment, which is what I did to capture these books as they tumble from the bookshelf, the top of which has been broken by one of khanjira's claws. There will be a few more books on the floor, but I have to finish populating the basement with clutter before I glue them down.

The impact point lines up perfectly with the broken bookshelf. YOu can also see the post I added to the sculpted stone wall that the store walls connect to. I'll be comign back with a little milliput to sculpt up around it.

Monster foot breaking the parquet floor.

 

[CreganTur]

Last night I settled on a few of the miniatures that will populate this scene.

02873 - This guy's going to be in the 2nd story of the store pointing out the window at Khanjira. I picked him due to the dynamic pose and the fact that he's clutching that bottle. I'm going to create a display table that will have some other bottles and things so it looks like he had just picked up a potion he wanted when someone rudely put their foot through the wall.

03354 - This lady perfectly fits something I've been wanting to do ever since I came up with the idea for this diorama. She will be on the street in from of the store. I'm going to create a magical forcefield effect that will extend from her outstretched hand and a large stone or something falling from the roof of the store will be impacting it. Some poor innocent soul will be lying on the street under her protective spell.

03515 - this one is going to require a lot of conversion. The idea is that I want her to be falling into the water. I'll be removing the swords and sculpting her hands open. Will need to adjust her pose and resculpt the fluttering fabric so it has the directionality I want.

77053 - this zombie will require the most conversion, but will be the best character in the piece. I'm going to sculpt normal clothes on him to hide the undeadness. His pose is perfect for the role he's going to play. He'll be standing with his back to the door on the 1st floor of the shop, staring at Khanjira's foot in pure terror. Will probably paint an obvious wet spot on his pants

Still need a lot more people, but this is a good start.

 

[Darthmarsh]

Wow that looks awesome. Watching with interest dude

 

[redkitana]

Can not wait to see the result!

 

[bgcdazzler]

The scale and scope of your ambition is enormous. Can't wait to the see the result. At this rate you're going to need a masonry brush to do all that painting!

 

[Dragonsreach]

Ooooh I'm going to be watching closely here.

 

[KruleBear]

Some cool ideas with the additional figures. Nice work so far.

 

[CreganTur]

Got a bit more done, but the holidays took a lot of my time and attention so it's not as much as some might expect.

Most of my effort has gone into the second story of the shop. I had bee considering a number of different things I could do with it but settled on this.

There are a couple of display tables with different goods on them. I needed something to have a selection of containers since the miniature going here is clutching a potion. I decided on adding the carpet because the wood sculpting had some issues that I didn't feel like fixing. Used a rubber stamp on some green stuff to get the design and glued it in place.

Originally I thought about using the altar from one of the Bones kickstarters as a display table, but it was way too tall. I thought about cutting it down and reconfiguring it to make it the size I wanted, but realized that it would be far easier to just make my own... so I did that.

The runes I sculpted into the stonework are from the old Confrontation game's Worgen information, along with a few I came up with on the fly because they looked good. The display box is holding one of the inserrts from Rackham's treasure chest set which have a bunch of different inserts you can use. This one has a bunch of crafting tools. The containers are from Bones 2. At some point I'm going to make a little placcard to go with the altar which will read: "Evil Altar cleansed by Paladin Darius. NOT FOR SALE" - this is a nod to one of my friend's favorite characters that he played in a Pathfinder game I ran a couple years ago.

The weapons display table was also sculpted from scratch (sculpey) and I used weapons from one of Reaper's accessory packs.

Started sculptign the costume on the zombie who will be playing the part of 'Store Patron who had the piss scared out of my by the monster stepping through the wall.'

The boots are in a horrible state at the moment. I've got a bit more cleanup to do on his clothes, but he's close to finished.

For the main base I've also started roughing in the riverbed.

On the original Khanjira base there's something that looks like a shattered well or the like. I decided to have a treasure hidden inside that was revealed by the monster.

There's also a skeleton in the mud- evidence of battles long past.

I plan to add a lot more detail to the riverbed. I want a good assortment of junk, rocks, and sand to also be mixed in with the mud. There will also be some plant life and, hopefully, some fish. Findng the right kind of fish miniatures in the scale I want has been difficult.

 

[CreganTur]

There are a lot of excuses why a project is put on hold for 8 years, but this time it's because I was intimidated and uncertain of my abilities to do justice to this dream. Also, video games exist.

I picked this project back up in November with the unrealistic goal of completing it for the Miniature Monthly Masters competition. Now it might make it to next year's competition. Regardless, I am continuing to make progress. This includes a few big changes and some work from my 3d printer.

For those who may not remember (and don't want to scroll up), my goal was to create a diorama of Khanjura rampaging through a city. Part of this will be visualized by his raised leg smashing through the wall of a store. This store is going to be a magic item/adventurer store filled with details and nods to my D&D group's adventures.

The shop is built on the edge of a river running through the city. A bridge spans the water. This also gives great sight lines for Khanjira.

The interior is a 2 story building with a basement.

To get myself back into the project, I decided to start painting 2 of the sales tables: a defunct evil altar brought back by an adventurer, and a simple table with magic weapons on display. This is a WIP shot that gives an idea of how they'll look and their placement in the 2nd story.

I also started painting the basement. It still needs a lot of dirtying up, especially where the rats are hiding, but the intention is clear. Water will be spilling from the opening in the wall into the room.

I wasn't happy with the bridge and river bed. I've learned a lot since the last time I worked on this, and decided some improvements were needed. I removed all the clay that made up the river bed. In truth, sculpey was a terrible material to use for this. I ran into multiple areas that hadn't cured from being baked all those years ago, and other areas were in bad condition from absoribing moisture from the air.

The bridge was also cut off and the rubble pile which was part of Khanjira's original base was cut down. The bridge was inspired by the ones found in Dragon Age: Inquisition, which I was playing at the time. However, I now dislike the blocky design. A new bridge was modeled in TinkerCad, which will be shown in later images.

The riverbed terrain was redone with plaster rocks from molds I made, and the ground from celluclay- it's a paper fiber and plaster mixture, like sculpt-a-mold. It has a much more natural appearance and isn't as thick, meaning there's more room for the water when I do a resin pour at the end of the entire project.

I scratch-built a roof and did a lot of seam cleanup on the buildings. The column next to the broken walls actually got removed- my measurements were wrong. It was blocking the placement of Khanjira's leg.

Wooden slats encase the roof, but are obviously broken. The 2 missing boards will be featured later in the diorama with a magic user casting a shield spell to protect themselves from the falling debris.

The entire building is still modular- I can take the stories apart for easier painting. The basement section is also still removable. I also designed some parquet flooring in tinkercad and printed it out. The bottom floor will have other broken sections added later.

Khanjira proved uncooperative as a subject. He didn't want to stand on his base for painting. His stance also widened over time, so I had to heat up his legs with a hair dryer to get them into position. In an effort to prevent further issues, I'm keeping him on the base most of the time with the help of a leash. This provides just enough stability to keep him from falling over backwards. Also, you can see part of the new bridge.

This is my current progress as of a couple days ago. I've begun painting different sections to block out the colors and make sure the composition works well together.

I had an idea to paint the triangular plates on Khanjira like table coral, to add pops and flairs of color. This is an early color test on the leg.

The upward arch of the new bridge is much more appealing than the old blocky one. Getting things painted is also helping project to feel more alive.

Khanjira himself has a lot of work to be done. I want to add a lot of color and visual interest to this beast. Overall, I'd say the project is going forward nicely. There's been a lot of progress made, and a lot more to come!