Hello guys. Here are some pictures of my first completed build, an encounter area from the Keep on the Shadowfell adventure. This is Ninaren's Cabin from the extended encounters from DnD Insider. I have to be honest, I'm a little disheartened that is doesn't look nearly as good as everyone else's builds, but I suppose it is my first.

Anyway, enough crybabying, here are the pics:

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=MapBuild001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/MapBuild001.jpg" border="0" alt="Ninaren Cabin Encounter"></a>

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=MapBuild002.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/MapBuild002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=MapBuild003.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/MapBuild003.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=MapBuild004.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/MapBuild004.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

And the map the encounter is representing:

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=NinCabin.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/NinCabin.jpg" border="0" alt="The Encounter"></a>
Taken from the free pdf on the DnD Insider site. Not my graphics etc etc.

I just can't seem to get my walls to be straight. Also, for the time investment, I don't think I am super fond of the modular tiles. They don't quite fit together right, and I'm sure thats my terrible cutting's fault more than the linkx method.

Do you press you walls while drying? I keep mine under some boards overnight, others us a stack of books.


Its not just you cutting. There is always a bit of movement when using linx tiles. I keep meaning to play with them to see what can be done to tighten them. Perhaps adding 2 or more connectors per side.

I pressed my Caveworks walls while drying, and then mounted them on foamcore bases. They don't curve like the Inn walls I did, but they aren't permanently affixed to the floor like the Inn walls are.

I just need more practice with it I think. I will take some pictures of my 2.5d Keep next time I have it set out, which will be next Tuesdays game.

The layout looks perfect according the .pfd you posted. And it looks really good. The only problem I see is it looks like your walls are not holding together. I recall having to hold some of my pieces together untill the glue completely dried. But once you get it down, it will get much easier.

Keep it up.

I like to squeeze the stuff I'm gluing.

Usually I use these long narrow needle nose pliers. But I also use clamps. Or dowels or other random things to press the seam against my mat.

<a href="http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/reference%20images/?action=view¤t=HPIM1863.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/reference%20images/HPIM1863.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Dude, where's the bearskin rug?

j/k

Build looks good from here!:) It's possible that your printer isn't printing square. Try measuring your 7x7 tiles. See if they're still 7x7 after printing!

Good luck!

Honestly, it looks great. You perfectly nailed the layout, my only suggestion would be to build a set of simple trees to add to the forest atmosphere... not at all necessary, but it'd be cool.

Sacretis

I think this looks awesome, especially for your first build. I was trying to figure out what you meant about your modular tiles not quite fitting together, I think you're referring to the grass tiles not meeting meeting corner to corner just to the right of the house. I don't use the Linx method to hold tiles together, I use Post-it note glue sticks on the bottom of tiles (and other props) to make things stay where I put them. That method may be a bit more forgiving of any cutting goofs. Even if it doesn't, the post-it glue stick is good for keeping props from being easily bumped. Also, if you do as suggested and add some trees, they can be placed strategically to cover any problem areas.

I really think what you did was an impressive job. Don't worry about it not having laser straight walls, etc.. Your players won't see them. My first efforts, when I look at them now, I see all sorts of issues, but when I put it out that first time, my players were taken aback and spent many minutes just looking at the keep (and these are experienced Warhammer players with all sorts of resin terrain).

Have you thought about posting your efforts or a link to this thread on the wotc forums? If people could see that someone who's new to WWG can put together good looking terrain without killing themselves to do it, I think that would be a great way to get more people to take a good look at WWG. Heck, if more people do come here, they can help figure out how to do all the maps from the H series of modules, so you'd benefit too.

Thanks for the vote of confidence guys. I think I will look into the post it method you mentioned. I want to post on the word forums but I didn't want to look like I was a world works advertiser making a new post as my first post ever but I was looking for a more organic way to post it. I may just post it in the Gm section.

I use forceps/tweezers for many smaller areas for sandwich folds like on the wall joints, really easy and works great for keeping a good connection, while the glue sets.

But i got to say the builds look good, the only thing that looks kind of bad is yeah the Links tiles. i never liked the look of them and until really the second most recent project i was working on never used them, used them for that one and, and not 100% happy with them, there are spaces that are just hard to get rid of here and there, so didn't use them for the next project. I think i will try Pershadow's idea as well to link mine up better.

What i would do would be to actually mount the building on a seperate foamcore base, and just use a single solid foamcore sheet (or two) for the "map" make it like a big poster map of just grass land, you can use over and over (look at Uncharted space for the idea, but that uses 4!). This way you get a grass matt, and a seperate building on Foamcore you and drop it down or remove it and still have the big open area to use for varied encounters, need a forest in there add in some trees, need a campsite add a campsite, hill add a hill etc... But i try to go with versatiliy as much as possible (saves space).

I got a nice glossy mat that was 28x28 (From Caveworks) made at Staples. It was about 20.00 as I recall. I love it. We just tack it to the table with glue-tac. Because it's just dirt it usable for a lot of different stuff.

I much prefer modular tiles to the master boards or printed maps.

I know other have experimented with Velcro or magnets to hold modular tiles in place. But both of those are far too expensive for me. What I think I'm going to try is pins/nails pushed trough a base of foamcore or even cardboard. The idea is to have the pins stick only say 1 or 2 mm. Then I'd lay the foamcore tiles overtop it.

I like the tiles for certain things. Like "streets" for example. Just so you can change it around. But a dirt, forest or metal grating I like as one big mat.

I built the spiral stairs from the Castles and Keeps set tonight and it turned out much better. For such a complicated model, I'm really proud with the way it turned out, due in large part to the fact that I found some brush on Super Glue. I would post a picture but it's just the staircase and that would be boring, but it will be in my picture of the 2.5 D keep that I post next week.

Anyway, felt like sharing that I'm gaining confidence in my builds.

It's Iolo's hut from Ultima!!!

I like those spiral stairs. But I found when I built them that the steps start to pull away from the column. Next time I build them I'm going to make each step separate.

The other thing I'd like to do is to shrink them. As they are now they take up an entire tower room. I want to be able to have props in the tower too.

Well I've finally finished almost all of the walls for my build of winterhaven, the village starting point for shadowfell. I've just got to do the kitbash pieces to connect the angled wall.


1) City walls are stone with a small Crenelations on both sides of the top.
2) Inn/Tavern that is the main meeting house for the area, It's probably two stories tall.
3) A French market with no permanent structures.
4) Stables
5) Smithy
6) Five Story Tower. Tallest and oldest structure in town. Bottom three levels are abandoned, top two are in use.
7) A general goods shop.
8 ) House for leader of Town militia. (Is also a recruiting office)
9) Tenements for non farmers
H) Single family cottages for non farmers
10) Temple for the town (multiple gods here)
11) Inner gate
12) Supply house in case of Siege.
13) Barracks for the 10 town guards.
14) Town grand manor house[/quote]

<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://w248.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/reference images/1e472c4e.pbw" height="360" width="480">

I'll post some new pics later after I charge my camera. Since these older pics were taken I built 2nd levels for the rest of the towers, 5 more tower tops, 15 additional sections of complex crenelations, a couple columns and halfwalls, and some outer shells for some villageworks stuff to replace the CWU buildings.

I'm going to pick up exteriorworks to do the ground tiles. Then I've got to work out the designs of the village buildings. I think going to take out all the buildings from CWU, they just make the interior and the walls look too small. I suspect that a lot of the larger structures, like the manor, inn and church, could be made using standard pieces of village houses. But I may make some custom ones and submit them as a kitbash.

Right now I'm also having issues keeping everything aligned. The castle bits I started with use linx tabs. i haven't decided what way I going to go with the exteriorworks tiles. But I plan to use removable double sided tape to fix in place the village buildings. I may use it to keep the ground tiles perfectly straight too.

It's looking great. To keep things aligned, have you tried using Post-It glue sticks? I use it a lot to hold props and such in place, and in a recent Caveworks build, I used it on the walls, etc to keep them where they were supposed to be and aligned with the Masterboard's ground tiles.

I get what you're saying about the CWU buildings making things look cramped inside the walls. The only issue I'd bring up is if this is being done as a showpiece to demo all that WWG stuff can do, if the buildings wind up being kitbashed, that may turn off some possible new buyers. Maybe you could do a "core" build, and then contrast that with one that has the kitbashed buildings to show how WWG stuff can be customized to suit specific needs. I don't want to make you do a ton of work, however, what you've done so far is pretty awesome.

Thats really nice. Like what you have done.

Really like it - inspiring stuff.

Once I get over my City of Heroes fix I will have to set about the Villageworks frenzy again.

(Only thing is 3rd or 4th edn - No! Do not highjack this thread)

Love the layout and gives the players something to relate to in the game.

Thats why I plained to submit kitbashes for any buildings I kitbashed. So long as the parts needed are available to buy I don't think it'll be a problem.

I am not sure about submitting the wall piece though. I must custom fit one, but what I'm going to make is to fit the actual build. Not the size I calculated in my Sketchup model of winterhaven. The build walls don't fit perfectly flush like they do in sketchup. I just don't think that there is going to be any interest in a such a specific piece. I doubt many people will be want to duplicate this entire build.

Although I plain to do a layout map and parts list for it like I did for CWU promo layout.

Well here the newest build pics. I don't know why there is some variation in the picture colors.

<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://w248.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in progress pics/890bfd21.pbw" height="360" width="480">

I got exterior works to do the ground, but I don't think its going to be as simple as I thought. I had hoped that the exteriorworks roads were overlay tiles like the shellendrak paths. The 7x7 tiles are going to be far harder to use in such a confined space. To get it to work I think I'm going to have to cut the paths off the ground tiles. I may even have to apply a custom aligned grid over top. Which is a definite drawback for promoting WW.

Actually the road tiles look like they're going to work out well as is.

<a href="http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/?action=view¤t=HPIM0018.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/HPIM0018.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Wow that is really shaping up. It looks fantastic, I'm jealous

Well I had the keep set up tonight so here are my 2.5 d pictures. Feel free to take these and post them on whatever WOTC post you have been putting them in.

The Keep and some room closeups:
<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=KOTS001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/KOTS001.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=KOTS002.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/KOTS002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=KOTS004.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/KOTS004.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=KOTS007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/KOTS007.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

And some close ups of the excavation area in the NE section of the keep:

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=KOTS005.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/KOTS005.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=KOTS006.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/KOTS006.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Some in game shots of the encounter. The archers stayed low and peppered the players from the cover the Stalagtites offered, while the PCs worried about falling near the two Guard drakes. At one point 3 of 5 PCs were down, but they prevailed in the end. A very entertaining encounter. May favorite part was when the ranger ran up to the archers and missed. The goblins have an ability to shift back when someone misses them, so one moved back out of range and the Ranger took three arrows to the chest. From almost full HP to down in one round.

Thats what happens when the lightly armored people leave the rest of the party behind.

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=KOTS009.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/KOTS009.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=KOTS010.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/KOTS010.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/?action=view¤t=KOTS008.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/upchurchmichael/KOTS008.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

If you like building 2.5D you should look at the dungronlinx set. Its got some fantastic textures.

That looks great! How did you create the actual floorplan like that? It doesn't look like floor tiles from the pics, it looks like a big map actually printed out onto papers.

The floor plan was made in a mapping program and printed out on cardstock. The forum has rules on advertising so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say what program it is, but it is one of the two most popular D&D mapping tools.

Honestly I would rather have used WorldWorks for the whole thing, but time was an issue on this particular dungeon. I had discovered worldworks only 2 weeks before the players were to enter the keep, and a build of that scale was out of the question.

The printouts are held together by post it noted underneath, and then after the session they pick right up and go into a folder for easy portability.

Well I've finally finished doing the ground tiles for winterhaven. Actually the parts I had that where built made doing the tiles much more complicated. Some of the castle walls and towers where based on foamcore, bases made for 6x6 tiles. So I spent a lot of time custom fitting the scraps of tile to make things meet.

<a href="http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/?action=view¤t=HPIM0077.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/HPIM0077.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

The inner wall area was where most of the based parts where used. Since I'm using hinterland grounds instead of CWU stone I had to cover the textured foamcore bases. So what I did was take vinyl tiles and cut them to the shape of that courtyard. That whole stretch is a single long piece that lays right over the castleworks bases.

For the larger area the walls are all free floating so I could uses pure hinterland tiles. Although I did need to use a couple strips around the outer edges so the roads where centered through the gatehouses.

<a href="http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/?action=view¤t=HPIM0063.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/HPIM0063.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/?action=view¤t=HPIM0065.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/HPIM0065.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/?action=view¤t=HPIM0067.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/HPIM0067.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/?action=view¤t=HPIM0068.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/HPIM0068.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/?action=view¤t=HPIM0070.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/wwg2062/winterhaven/in%20progress%20pics/HPIM0070.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Ironically the imperfections of my physical build made doing the walls easier. I didn't have to custom make a custom piece to close the angled wall. The walls didn't come out exactly 6" and that extra width brought the walls sections close enough to meet.

Now what I've got to do is work out the buildings. I'm going to try and do them using the villageworks sections. But I'm open to any ideas about which pieces to use for each structure.