Building a world on a budget. Part six

 

Building a world on a budget.

It has been quite a long time since I last put the spotlight on a piece of terrain that I have built, so this week, as an interlude from the tales from the Cantwara sector, I thought I would present the Pleasure Dome.  The Pleasure dome is the sixth piece in my terrain building project and it is another piece rescued from obscurity that had sat in my cupboard gathering dust for nine years. 

As I made this piece nearly a decade ago, I don`t have any pictures of the building process.

Project six: The Udon Pleasure Dome

Construction

The pleasure dome’s main structure was made from a convenience store udon bowl.  My original plan was to keep it transparent and have some kind of garden visible inside.  I was inspired by the geodesic domes in the1972 film Silent Running, but after a few failed attempts I put that idea on the back burner and went for a much simpler structure.

I thought that the overall look of the bowl was great and that it would not need much to make it game ready.  I added a cable tie for a vent on the top of the bowl and I dug out a resin door that had sat in my bits box for an age.  Rather than cutting out a hole in the bowl to accommodate the door I used modelling putty to fashion a doorway.

Like the previous structures that I have made the texture on the bunker was achieved by using a Tamiya texture paint.  I am fairly certain that I used the Tamiya concrete texture paint for this build, but it was a long time ago and I may have used snow or mud.  The building was painted grey, and I then used a Coat d`arms super shader.  I was never really satisfied with the way the structure looked, which helps to explain why the dome sat in my cupboard for nearly ten years, so I decided to repaint it.

For the paint scheme, I went back to basics and undercoated the building in black, applied a dark blue base coat, then a blue wash.  After that it was just a matter of dry brushing several different layers of blue onto the building.  I thought that the building looked a bit boring all in the same blue, so I decided to pick out some different areas in  purple.  The blue and purple paint scheme then gave me some ideas about what the domes purpose was in the Cantwara sector.  

To detail the pleasure dome I turned to my collection of transfers.  These I used for the building designation number, some signage, and the name of the dome. I tried to keep them as uniform as possible, but there are a few sections that could have done with a steadier hand.  Still, I think the effect is quite presentable.

To finish the pleasure dome, I added some flock around the bottom of the dome. 

Overall, this is a piece that I am really pleased with and has already done go service on the battlefields of the Cantwara sector.

 

Engagement at Effingham

The imposing grey edifice that was the fortress monastery of the Wardens of Dubris stood high upon the chalk cliffs of Dubris, its walls battered by the artic north winds.  For millennia the role of the Wardens of Dubris had been to protect the sector from the enemy both within and without.  A role, that the Wardens had not yet been found wanting. 

Deep within the fortress monastery the Lord Warden sat on his throne adjudicating the grievances of the chapter`s churls.   For three long hours the Lord Warden had been dealing with the tedium of chapter duties.  His eyes scanned over another dispute concerning budget allocations and tried his best to stifle a yawn.  Turning towards the chief librarian the Lord Warden spoke softly “Emperor save us from this drudgery.”  The librarian smiled “Wielding a chapter in times of relative peace does not quite elicit the same thrill as wielding a bolter in battle, this quiet will not last my friend, your time to once more stride across the battlefield will come.  This morning I read the auguries they spoke of the release of an ancient enemy, of dark times, and of death.” 

As the last word fell from the librarians lips the audience chamber doors flew open and a vox-caster servitor hurried into the room.  The monitor on the machine-man`s face came to life with a recorded message from inquisitor Grilli.  “During an attempt to purify a profane site my forces were assaulted by the Volkstan.  To thwart my endeavour the Volkstan unleashed a warp entity of untold power.  I was unable to contain it.  I implore you to despatch forces to counter this menace without delay." 

The Lord Warden sat back in his chair “I wonder what trouble the inquisitor has stirred up, I am sure that it is not as dire as he paints it.  Chief librarian Ainger, take a squad of men and see if you can deal with this problem.  I will ready the first company in case the threat is as dangerous as the inquisitor says.”

The settlement was eerily quiet as Chief Librarian Ainger deployed her squad into two sections.  One section took higher ground while the other section swept round the buildings in search of their enemy. 

The Wardens of Dubris became aware of their enemy when frost started to appear on the visors of their helmets and a sinister voice invaded their minds.  The voice spoke in a tongue that the marines could understand, but they knew what it had planned for them.

Brother Borrows was the first to see the demon, and he ordered his squad to open fire.  Superheated plasma and bolt-gun rounds flew through the air towards the abomination.  Gallglut Fatflesh was not fazed by the marines attempt to kill him and strode through the wall of death.

The demon turned its head left and right sniffing the air as if it was searching for something.  Its head stopped as it picked up the scent of a psyker, the chief librarian.   Gallglut Fatflesh grinned as it bounded towards the librarian. 

Ainger let loose with her bolt-pistol, the rounds exploded on the demon`s chest blowing chunks of flesh away, but they did nothing to slow down Gallglut.  The librarian tried to raise her force sword to defend herself, but the demon reached up with preternatural speed and wrenched the marines head clean off of her shoulders.

The Wardens of Dubris laid down a withering barrage of fire as they tried to pulled away from the abomination, but a wayward shot from brother Brown`s heavy plasma gun caught brother Fuller on his right leg fusing his armour and leg into one molten lump.

Gallglut Fatflesh tore through the section of marines like he was swatting flies.  His hands punched through power armour, breaking bones and crushing limbs.  Brother Broadley was the last marine to fall, in the desperate combat the indomitable warrior blew two holes in the horror facing him.

Brother Brown set his heavy plasma gun to maximal fire and took careful aim at Gallglut as the demon charged towards his position.  The marine pulled the trigger, but instead of discharging superheated plasma the weapon vented the built up the energy.  Brown threw down his gun in disgust and pulled out his bolt pistol.

The demon slowly smashed brother Harvey`s head into the shipping containers the rhythmic banging sent a shudder through the remaining members of the squad.  

The marines steeled themselves to their fate and emptied their weapons into Gallglut Fatflesh.  The demon was thrown off of the containers by the weight of fire hitting it and landed with a crunch as its neck broke.

The battlefield fell quiet as the final empty cartridges bounced off the shipping containers.  Brothers Jones, Borrows, and Brown went around their injured comrades to see who could be saved and whose gene seeds needed to be returned to the chapter.  The cost of the fight had not been as high as it could have been.  The only fallen marine was chief librarian Ainger, she would be entered into the hall of heroes, and her deeds would not be forgotten.

The Thunderhawk gunship returned to take the marines back to their fortress monastery, they would all need to recuperate from their encounter with Gallglut Fatflesh.  As the gunship was taking off brother Jones looked out of the window and saw the demon sit up snapping its broken neck back into place.

 

Summoning at Samphire

Inquisitor Grilli sat quietly his face blank of any expression as the astropath considered the proposition that the inquisitor had put forward.  It had taken the inquisitor years to put all of the resources together for his ritual, he would bring forth a powerful tool to help fight the deepening heresy that was developing in the subsector.  The last part of the puzzle was to be a powerful psyker who could create the demon host without any complications.  The psyker that he had chosen for the task had been snatched from his grasp by rebel forces and now he had to rely on damaged goods, a heretic, a moonskin addict, but still the astropath was undoubtably powerful.

Christopher Tracy knew that it was a deal that he could not refuse, be burnt for his supposed heretical actions or become a tool of the inquisition.  The astropath turned his eyeless face towards the inquisitor “I am a true citizen of the Imperium and would be happy to aid the inquisition in any way that is needed.  What deed would you require of one such as myself?”  Grilli smiled a predatory grin “I have a tasked that I think you could help me with.”

The Volkstan war host, guided by their leader Antonin, approached the ritual site. They knew that they had to stop the enemy from being released from its prison in the void whatever the cost.

The Volkstan tribesmen were upon Sergeant Ioannou`s position before he had any time to react.  A savage melee broke out between the two sides knives clashed against shields, and maces smashed into flak armour.  Two warriors fell on both sides, which was too much for the tribesmen and they broke and ran.

While the eyes of the imperial forces were on the first group of tribesmen a second group broke out of covered and charged toward the ritual circle.  Their charge was cut short by a fusillade of fire from lieutenant Ward`s squad. 

The astropath concentration was absolute as he fitted together the memory fragments gathered by the research team at Aycliffe.  The pieces slotted together like a puzzle and as they took shape, they guided his Will to the correct formula for the ritual. Christopher Tracy smiled briefly in triumph as he completed the ritual, before his body started to twist, spasm, and writhe.  His bones split and cracked in protest as his whole being was reshaped by the creature possessing him. 

 The demon sniffed the air and turned towards inquisitor Grilli “You will be judged”. 

The demon batted away inquisitor Grilli`s attacks and knocked him to the ground, its preternatural speed and strength were too much even for the inquisitor.  Bending down, the demon picked up the fallen inquisitor and thrust its fist towards the inquisitor`s chest.  A bright flash of light erupted as inquisitor Grilli`s displacer field engaged and teleported him away from the demon.

A second wave of the Volkstan war host appeared as the Vegetables turned to face the demonic threat.  The tribesmen fired their archaic weapons at lieutenant Ward`s squad hitting two members of the squad including the lieutenant.

The soldiers of the 85^th Astor regiment poured fire into the demon facing them, but their weapons had little or no effect.  In the blink of an eye the demon was once more in melee with inquisitor Grilli.  The demon rained blows upon the inquisitor its hatred of the inquisition fuelling its rage.  At the last moment the inquisitor was saved once more by his displacer field sending him far from the creature.

While the imperial forces were engaged with the creature that they had tried to enslave the Volkstan leader Antonin finally caught up with his war host.  Seeing that his brave warriors had failed to stop the creature from being released he signalled for them to retreat.  The soldiers would be needed in the fight that was coming.

The remnants of Lieutenant Ward`s squad stood their ground as the demon bounded towards them.  Their las-gun shots seemed to twist and bend around the creature as they tried to bring it down before it reached them.   In close combat the demon ripped the guardsmen to pieces in a matter of seconds.

Although, the brave Vegetables had not lasted long against the demon they had bought vital moments for Sergeant Ioannou and his men to escape with some of the wounded including inquisitor Grilli.

The demon strode around the battlefield plunging its claws into the dead and dying, savouring the fear, terror, pain, and death around it.  A large grin broke out across its face this realm would scream before it was judged.

 

Captives at Crabble

Bolts of excess electricity arced across the work bench as the tech priest adjusted the controls of the cognitive extractor.  Extracting the memories from a servitor that had been so extensively converted was pushing his black-market equipment to it limits.  The tech priest disengaged the safety inhibitors from the machine and turned it up to eleven. 

A surge of power coursed through Agros Cannon forcing his back to arch the cracking of his bones as they strained to form an unnatural curve were mingled with a continuous electronic scream ushering from his voice-box.  The tech priest looked at Gudrun Ure “He cannot take much more of this without suffering permanent damage.  Look, my equipment was not built for this sort of subject.  We could spend the next month trying to access his memories but I cannot dig up what is not there.  The conversion process was just too complete there is little left of the man that he was.  The only thing that might work, and I do not like saying it, is a psyker.  You`d need a powerful one, though.”

Gudrun Ure scoffed at the tech priest “A psyker?  You`d know where I could find one would you?”  The tech priest smiled avariciously at Gudrun Ure “Well, I might, but the information does not come cheaply.”

 The night air was crisp as Gudrun Ure, Bowen, Zilog-80, and Argos Cannon approached the Death Jack`s camp.  They hoped by attacking late at night they could catch the escaped criminals, from the Iso-cubes on Balfour, by surprise and  grab the psyker that was being held by the Death Jacks.

Argos Cannon started to move forward, he was to swing round the left flank and neutralise any targets that he found, before he could penetrate the camp he was startled to feel auto-gun rounds bounce off his plas-steel plating.

With the element of surprise lost Gudrun Ure, Bowen and Zilog-80 spread out to try and engage the gang at range.  Gudrun climbed onto some wooden pallets and from her vantage point aimed her las-gun at Locke.  Her shot sliced through the night and struck the Death Jack squarely in the chest.

Alerted by the sound of gunfire the Death Jacks came rushing out of the buildings only to be met by the combined firepower of Bowen, Zilog-80, and Gudrun Ure.  Their shots all hit a target and a trio of Death Jacks fell to the ground.

Three members of the Death Jacks stood and watched as Argos Cannon engaged in combat with their comrade.  They all held their fire until Cannon had finally dealt with their comrade.  As the Death Jack fell to the ground, his head removed from his shoulders, they opened fire, hitting the cyborg three times.  The impacts of bolter, auto-gun, and las-gun rounds did not phase Argos as he turned his attention to them.

Argos Cannon, the unfeeling man-machine, lashed out with this bionic leg.  The hydraulic powered leg smashed through the groin and up into the abdomen of one of the Death Jacks facing him. 

The firefight was not going well for the Death Jacks, but Russell was not going to let some small-time gang muscle in on his territory.  Russell stealthily moved up through cover to flank Zilog-80 and gunned him down with his auto-pistol. 

Before Russell could enjoy his moment of triumph Gudrun Ure swung her Las-gun round in a fluid motion.  The ancient warrior locked eyes with the gang leader and gave him a millisecond to contempt the Will of Doubt before she gunned him down.

The loss of their leader took the heart out of the remaining Death Jacks and they took too their heels.

Bowen, the space barbarian, looked confusedly at the control panels of the containment tubes.  Looking at the two women in the tubes he smiled weakly as he pressed various buttons.  After a few minutes he remembered what Zilog-80 had said "stay out of the black and into the red, nothing in this game for two in a bed".  The sequence was a simple one, but it unlocked the containment tubes.