Crystalline deeps

And now for something completely different.

A Skaven looting party scurries nervously through the sombre halls of the Undgrin.

I had a random moment of inspiration recently. I was looking at some amethysts and my mind drifted to an old idea I had about making terrain for underground caverns. Regular readers may have observed that I have always been and remain an ardent fan of Warhammer Fantasy. An important part of that world is deep, dreaming caverns and monumental underways. I've always had this vision of vast underground vistas, where soaring crystal formations stand at the edge of subterranean oceans, lit only by the strange luminescence of curious fungi which have never seen the outer world.  This is the kind of landscape which the Dwarfs of old would have looked upon when cutting through the depths to build their holds. My inspirations included Holst's 'Neptune the Mystic' and the beautiful if primitive visual effects of the 1959 epic Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

And a couple of weeks ago, I decided that it was time to have a crack at it. Now, I thought about using clay to make the crystals but decided against it. I wanted to do a few test pieces first. So I purchased some cheap pre-made crystals from an Ebay Seller named Sixtownscenery. They arrived almost frighteningly fast and I set to work.

I made the bases out of 2mm MDF, cutting rough shapes out of a sheet. These were between 3" and 6" long. Now, all GW models have beveled bases and terrain looks a bit funny if the bases aren't beveled the same way. It's easy to do: using a craft knife or boxcutter, you can push through the edge of the base at a roughly 45-degree angle without much effort. New hobbyists - please watch yourself. The MDF doesn't give at an equal rate, and sometimes that blade will move fast.

Next up, I glued my crystals down with PVA and covered the majority of the base with sand, leaving some spaces for mysterious pools.

Now, paintjobs are each to their own, but I'll take a moment to explain the ground effect (the crystals were the normal layer/wash/drybrush combo). I wanted the ground to look a bit darker and a bit colder than if it was just stone. Indeed, I wanted to conjure a certain eldritch mystery. So I went all over with a coat of Eshin Grey. After that, I gave it a wash of Drakenhof Nightshade. Finally, a drybrush of Ulthuan Grey gave it just the right ethereal feeling.

The Ophelian 1034th advances through the eerie wonderland of an Eldar Maiden World.

I finished the pieces with some vivid green static grass. You can get this for a couple of quid from War World Scenics or Serious Play. The idea here was to have startlingly luminous fungus growing on the cavern floor. I think it works quite well.

And there we have it. Dwarf caverns, Night Goblin boltholes, Skaven warrens... or the weird landscape of a distant alien world. All in a couple of hours!