The ancient race once known as the Necrontyr erected cyclopean structures on hundreds of worlds. These tomb worlds are barren, dead rocks... but the temples and pyramids still remain, tempting explorers to cross the stars to plunder their secrets.
Rick: The Necrons hold a particular interest to me. Always one for ancient evils and long-dead secrets, the idea of a slumbering army of robotic warriors awakening to do the bidding of their hungering gods, is loaded with so much imagery that I couldn't help but make my own Necron scenery! Hopefully this article will give you some ideas of your own.
The first thing I ever do when I attempt to tackle a scenery project is to look through the existing material for the army in question. Codex: Necrons is full of evocative illustrations (see above left) and these really help in the formation of ideas. After I was through perusing the book, I considered what I really wanted to accomplish. The first thing that came to mind was the 'creepiness factor' of a single Necron obelisk. A huge edifice of questionable purpose would be really fun to make, and simple because of its shape. I hit the sketchbook and roughed up a quick set of drawings (see page 3). After I talked to Nick and brainstormed a bit, it was time to get busy.
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The first thing I did was to take my drawing, resize it to my liking and draw it out with nice clean lines. Once this was done I could use it as a template. By doing this, I could create a veritable army of obelisks if I so desired. Since all the sides would be the same width, I only needed to draw it out once. Obelisk Template: [PDF was unrecoverable] |
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Once my template was finished it was time to transfer it to the material that would make up the majority of the scenery piece. I choose to use foamcore with a thickness of 1/2". This would be durable enough that I wouldn't have to reinforce the interior. Using the template and a push/drawing pin, I marked out each corner of the drawing. After this was done, I connected the dots to make it a little easier to see what I was aiming for when I began to cut out the necessary pieces. |
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In this illustration, you can see how many of each side you'll need before you're ready to assemble your obelisk. You will need 4 large sides, 4 small sides, 3 squares and 1 hollow ring for the indented centre of the obelisk. You may have noticed that some of the pieces have bevelled edges. These are to create right angles when you assemble your obelisk and add a bit more strength and stability. These right angles are accomplished by using a very sharp X-acto knife and cutting only partially through the foamcore. The unwanted foam is then ripped from your piece, leaving behind the card on the opposite side. |
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After I had cut out all my pieces, I selected one of the long sides and picked up my template again. The Necron icon I had drawn would be difficult and time-consuming to redraw on the foamcore. To avoid that inevitable horror, I simply took a pencil and rubbed graphite all over the back of the template. This would make it easier to transfer onto the foamcore. |
