PLAN

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MODELLINGWORKSHOP

In Planetstrike, the ruins and hillscommon to your 40K tabletop arebolstered by grim strongholds,

interlocking defence lines and corpse-strewn craters. As the defending player isallowed to set up the terrain in any way,this gives him the opportunity to create adefence network that an attacker willstruggle to assault. Players who regularlytake the role of defender take a certainpleasure in devising devious traps anddaring the attacker to run the gauntlet ofhis fortifications.

The cornerstones to these fantasticdefence set-ups are the bastions. Bastionsoften play the part of the objectives ingames of Planetstrike, making them fiercelyfought over by both sides. The term bastionis an all-encompassing one; it doesn’t justinclude the massive rockrete Imperial

edifices that are dotted across the galaxy,but myriad other structures and strongholdstoo. Some aliens build their own defensiblestrongholds, while others capture Imperialbastions and make them their own. TheOrks are particularly noted for this, findingbastions to be sturdier than their ownramshackle creations.

Regardless of the actual design of thesestrongholds, they all use the same bastionrules found in Planetstrike. In this articlewe take a look at some of the alienbastions we’ve come across, see how youcan use the plastic kits to make a reallyimpressive and unique building, offer somechoice defensive set-ups, and also take alook at the new Shrine of the Aquila – animpressive kit that will look great on anybattlefield no matter what type of 40Kbattle you’re playing.

STRONGHOLDS GALAXYOF THE

In the first of thisissue’s two ModellingWorkshop articles, wetake a look at the manyfortifications availableto the defender in agame of Planetstrike.

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This Eldar structure makes for a perfect Planetstrikeobjective. Chris Peach made it using the top half of anorange squash bottle with a cheap wooden candleholderstuck to the top. The struts were fashioned from pieces ofplasticard cut to shape. Jetbike canopies were placedaround the base and weapons from the same kit wereadded to act as weapon points. Access to the bastion is viaan entranceway made from the back half of the WaveSerpent kit. The large oval domes decorating the exterior ofthe building are actually wooden eggs cut in half – thesecan often be found in hobby and haberdashery stores.

The whole structure was textured, and then paintedwith a palette of Khemri Brown, Rotting Flesh, BleachedBone and Skull White.

ELDAR BASTION

CHAOS BASTIONThere are Imperial bastions on many worlds that have falleninto the clutches of the servants of Chaos. These bastions havebeen defiled and now sport dark sigils and spiked crenellationson walls where once the aquila was proudly displayed.

The Chaos Bastion kit contains all the frames needed tocreate your bastion, along with two Chaos Tank Accessoryframes. How you corrupt your own Chaos bastion is left to you.

Chris Peach painted this Chaos Bastion. He basecoated thebuilding with Charadon Granite and then lightly drybrushed itRotting Flesh. The rust was first painted with a basecoat ofBestial Brown. Chris then used the Stippling Brush to stipple onsome Blazing Orange. This was followed by another stippledlayer, this time using a 1:1 mix of Vomit Brown and BlazingOrange. Once dry, the rust patches had a light drybrush ofChainmail, and were then washed with Devlan Mud. The dripsand rust stains around the building were simply painted onwith watered-down Bestial Brown or Kommando Khaki.

The Chaos Bastion is available to order; check out page 116 for moredetails. Chris has also added bits taken from the Chaos Icon Bitz pack,available from our webstore.

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We asked master terrain maker Mark Jones to create a coolpiece of terrain using some of the new kits and whatever elsecame to hand. The result was something a bit special…

SKYSHIELD INSTALLATION

For this project Mark used the SkyshieldLanding Pad kit and as many 40K City Ruinsframes as he could get his hands on. Thelanding pad itself was built with littlemodification. The building and liftstructure were then assembled to get thebasic shape and attached to the endof the landing pad.

Mark wanted to give the structure a military feel, so he opted for a grey andgreen colour scheme on the exterior. The top of the landing pad waspainted in grey and black. He weathered the installation to look worn andwell-used, but not dilapidated.

The large archway created by the City Ruins components doubles as the liftshaft. Although the lift doesn’t move up and down, it can be removed andplaced at the top or the bottom of the shaft.

The lift platform was made from texturedplasticard, plus a brass-etched aquila symbolfrom Forge World. Plastic rod was placed oneach side of the shaft to function as guiderunners for the lift.

For more views anddetails of Mark’sawesome Skyshieldconversion, check outour website.

ORK BASTIONInstead of building their own fortifications, Orks typicallytake captured buildings and make them their own intypical Orky fashion. This gives greenskin players plenty ofopportunity to convert anything from bastions covered inglyph plates (see the bastion on page 18) to Ork landingpads littered with corrugated iron and debris.

Studio artist Alex Boyd has taken another approach andbuilt an entire Ork defence network from scratch. For thisbastion, he used a Stompa as the base! He cut the mainbody components into a rough circle, and then filled in thegaps with plasticard and spare Stompa plates. Extrasections of plasticard and various bitz from the leftover

Stompa components were then stuck on until Alex thoughtthe terrain piece looked finished (you can never quite tellwith Ork structures). Doors and guns were added last of all– it’s easy to get carried away when you’re busy ‘Orkifying’something, after all.

Alex sprayed the bastion Mechrite Red, and thenapplied a wash of Devlan Mud across the surface beforegiving it a rough drybrush of Chainmail and Tin Bitz.

Alex used the Stompa chest plate on thissection, feeding the balcony struts throughthe nose and eye sockets.

This Tau turret was made by Mark Jones, based on amaster model by Ray Dranfield, one of the guys whobuilds the great scenery for the gaming tables at the UK’sWarhammer World. The original model was made fromconventional materials, such as a large plant pot stand for

the main base of the turret. The upper section was castfrom a mould made from a large plastic dome. Theweapon array – a rather potent twin-linked rail gun – was a little more straightforward to make; it comprises twoHammerhead rail guns mounted on top of a Sky Ray turret.

TAU BASTION

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SHRINE OF THE AQUILAWith all the great Planetstrike terrain out this month, we’re in danger of lettinganother brilliant scenery kit be overshadowed. The Shrine of the Aquila is a large,ruined building that will form the centrepiece of any terrain collection.

The Shrine of the Aquila is a massive building kit designedby Dave Andrews. It can be assembled in multiple waysand is completely compatible with the Warhammer 40,000City Ruins frames, so you can either expand the kit or haveit as part of the battlefield set-up with other city buildingsfor a great looking table.

A squad holding the shrine has a considerableadvantage, as the building is so high, so it affords modelson top a commanding view of the battlefield for those trueline of sight shots. Assaulting squads on the uppermostfloor will prove troublesome, as you’ll need to roll a sixwhen charging just to reach them!

Gold – The gold on the eagle and window frames started with a basecoatusing a 1:1:1 mix of Tin Bitz, Dwarf Bronze and Scorched Brown. Thiswas highlighted with a 1:1 mix of Dwarf Bronze and Tin Bitz. For thefinal highlight, Mithril Silver was added to the previous mix in equalparts. Finally, Gryphonne Sepia was washed over the whole area to dullthe colours back down.

Black – The areas of black weresimply basecoated Chaos Blackfollowed by a layer of ‘Ardcoat,giving the eagle a glossy finish.

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Stage 1 – Nick started by using a3:1 mix of Graveyard Earth andShadow Grey. This was appliedall over the building with theSpray Gun.

Stage 2 – The building was thendrybrushed with a 4:3:1 mix ofRotting Flesh, Graveyard Earth andShadow Grey. Nick used the largedrybrush, applying the paint incircular motions to make sure allthe detail was picked out and nobrush strokes were visible.

Stage 3 – The next step wasanother drybrush, again using thelarge drybrush but this timeapplying pure Rotting Flesh.

Stage 4 – The final stage used a1:1 mix of Skull White andRotting Flesh, drybrushed on tothe building. Chaos Black waslightly stippled on using thestippling bush around the bulletholes and the damaged edges ofthe walls.

Painting WallsThe shrine featured here was painted by Nick Bayton. The main walls were painted in four stages:

Steel – Nick didn’t want to use both silver and gold on the shrine, as this would look toogarish. Instead he went for a blue steel effect for the floor plating and entrance steps. Theseareas were first basecoated Fenris Grey and then washed with Badab Black. Nick thendrybrushed the areas in three stages; first with Shadow Grey, followed by Codex Grey andthen Fortress Grey. Finally, watered-down Graveyard Earth was painted into the recesses.

For more about our new Warhammer40,000 scenery range, log on to:

www.games-workshop.com