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The Giant Turnip of Doom!
Well, got this amazing version of
Apples to Apples
(which if you've never played, grab the cheapest version you can find and give
it a spin) that comes with a giant plastic apple container. If I had attempted
to turn that piece into terrain, I would be writing this from beyond the grave
right now. But, as the Fates sometimes allow, there was a form fitted plastic cover over the apple piece itself. Glee! The Fates (or my kids) also ate the
photo I took of it from my camera, so you'll have to imagine it. Not too hard,
I think.
So, what do you do with ~9" diameter plastic apple top form? Make a giant
turnip for 28mm wargaming, of course. I set the apple down on the baseboard
and traced around it. The I laid a snake of
Crayola Model Magic
clay along the outline, and pushed it down into a ridge. The apple top piece
was used to cut a groove for the finished top to sit in.
Model Magic is not the best wargaming clay, as it doesn't hold a lot of details. It does air-dry and is pretty cheap (compared to other modeling clay), so it's ideal for large areas you want to cover with rough grain detail. Like dirt clods.
The top and base were finished separately. I primed the apple top with Krylon Fusion white paint. I am a cheap guy by nature. However, I swear by Krylon Fusion for priming (gives an even painting surface for anything, including mixed materials) and Krylon Matte for final sealing (minis trapped in amber, without the yellowing). Then just painted her up. For turnipy effect, I used strokes that circled the apple top with the different colors.
This shot just gives you an idea of 28mm minis (Ex Illis mangonel operators)
against the piece. So, what are they so excited about..?
The base is also pretty straightforward. Since the piece is hollow, I put
a couple of stir stick pieces as a pseudo staircase and a mound for no
particular purpose. There are also a couple of extra globs for variety,
including one "in front" with a hole for a potential later added mailbox
and porch combo as a front door. A good scattering of talus helps make it
look dirt-esque. Again, it got a Krylon primer (black this time) and a few
layers of a few different browns, including a light drybrush of "nutmeg"
(a color name, not the spice!).
The figures, plants, and furniture give you a sense of scale. And they also indicate that beyond gnomes and anthropomorphic voles, you could easily get away with a pulp criminal mastermind (and his lackeys) living in the Giant Turnip of Doom!