A Knight's Tale: Base Planning

Hi folks,

I spent a couple of night's worth of free time constructing the legs of my Imperial Knight, primarily so that I could start working on the base! Such a large space could potentially lend itself to some amazing scenery, which I am always interested in exploring.

At the same time, I wouldn't want to draw too much attention away from the walking avatar of the Emperor's will. I have intentionally left the banner off to create some more negative space, through which I am hoping to create an interesting, layered, rainforest/creek landscape.

The kind of look I am going for is something that you see a lot up north in Australia. Where the rainforest creek-beds open out to the ocean you see an amazing combination of crystal clear water, filtered light, sand, ferns and rocks.

For me, this landscape always reminds me of one of my favourite childhood stories: Where the Forest Meets the Sea. If you have kids and want to show them a little piece of Australia, this book will only set you back about $20 AUD (in pounds, that's about... wait, no... we would have to pay you). It is wonderful.

Anyway, that's the inspiration. Wifey bought me a couple of big ferns from Schleich to use. The fully constructed ferns are too large for the scale of the Knight, but the top fronds of the foliage work quite well by themselves.

I am thinking of placing one of these behind the Knight so that it can be seen through the legs, with a small creek flowing to the front of the base with ferns to either side. I'll probably coil a little snake in there somewhere too ;-)

The next step will be to sketch it all out on the base and make sure I have all the little ferns I need. This probably calls for a trip into the big Hobbico in Sydney. YAY!

Once it is all sketched out I will undercoat the legs and get cracking with some metallics. I'll be painting the armour separately and attaching it once the skeleton has been finished.

See you across the table,

M4cr0