Thanks for the kind comments!
@Scott, a miniature movie set is exactly what I'm thinking with the campaign, and this is probably why I won't do any video batreps - it's too much fun to stage as movie-like still photos of the scenarios as possible!
Here are two pics of the columns - the material used is basically 5cm thick styrofoam, plus 3mm foamboard. The bottom part is 9x9 cm square, 5cm thick. On top of that, a 7x7 cm square, also 5cm thick, topped by a 25cm tall part with a cross-section of 5x5 cm. Some beveled corners, plus 36 polygons cut from 3mm foamboard, and we're done!
For Helm's Deep, I've finished the eastern half of the stairs leading to Hornburg from the Deeping Wall:
...and added half-round trims to the Deeping Wall upper edge using Evergreen half-round styrene strips:
I've cut a number of blocks from styrofoam - these will be used for two representations of the breach in the Deeping Wall... firstly, the post-explosion ruined opening, made from these blocks:
...and secondly, these blocks will be used to model the section above the Deeping Stream culvert during the explosion:
My plan is to build the separate section of the wall in the process of bulging upwards and outwards, with model figures flying about, and billowing explosion clouds emerging from the culvert on both sides. These clouds are done by first forming suitable-sized, roughly tear-shaped armatures from chicken wire. A dumbbell was a very nice template to be used:
The chicken wire is then filled with white poly fiber, spray-painted, and lit from the inside. Here's a pic of the first lighting test, using a very powerful (but small) LED torch; note that the cloud has not been painted in any way yet - I'll test a couple of different variations of paint later:
I'm also planning the overall contours of the board - starting with the Deeping Stream. I originally gouged a trough for the stream, thinking of lining it with rocks and grey ballast, followed by Woodland Scenics realistic water. However, since the water will be opaque grey, I will save ballast by first leveling the stream with plaster poured into the trough. The surface of the plaster will then be painted grey, and on top of that, I'll pour a layer of realistic water. To prep the process, I glued styrofoam dams into the ends of the stream sections.
To help figure out how high the terrain level rises along the Hornburg, I'll glue cardboard to the bottom part of the outer walls (later on, I'll glue the 3mm depron with embossed brickwork on top of the cardboards). But before gluing anything, I added a few more support parts to which I can then glue the pieces of cardboard.
Once the overall contours are set, I can fully focus on the singe 80x90 cm section, finish the stream and ground, build the bulging section of the Deeping Wall, test suitable colours for the explosion, paint the wall, and convert & paint a large number of figures. Piece of cake!
