Diorama-rama part 1

A few years back, I decided to make a large-scale diorama.scenic base as part of a Something Awful oath thread.  The requirements were that the diorama be of a clash between at least two models of similar points values/strength.  Since I was painting Tyranids at the time, and because I had a crapload of bits still lying around from the Chaos Terminator Lord (the kit that keeps on giving), I decided to make an epic showdown between a Hive Tyrant and a Thousand Sons sorcerer and his demonic minions.

 I already had an idea of what I wanted - the sorcerer holding a bridge against the towering monstrosity, and I already had the perfect base - a display case for model cars I had bought some time ago just on the off chance I needed to make a diorama. 


An internet search revealed that most 28mm scale bridges were too big for my purposes, but I ended up buying this one from Battlezone.  It was still too large, but after a lot of hacksaw work I was able to cut it in half and add some damage and missing stonework.

I wanted the diorama to tell a story, so I decided that the sorcerer had fought off waves of Genestealers as he retreated, before finally being cornered on the destroyed bridge.  Making the corpse was simple enough, I just cut apart a Genestealer and repositioned it in a limp position.  The Sorcerer is attached to the bridge via a magnet in his back heel.

The swampy ground surface was made from cork tiles I got as a sampler from a flooring store on ebay. The original plan was to have the demons bursting from the earth (something I returned to later), but I decided to just cut base-sized holes to set them flush with the ground.

To add detail to the ground I built up ground leading to the bridge so that it resembled a well-used muddy road. Rocky areas and small pools were added to break up the flat area behind.  To round out the landscape, I placed a couple of resin tree stumps from Zuzzy miniatures at the back where they'd provide detail without getting in the way.

With the build complete, it was time for painting, which I'll cover in Part 2!