Final Poll for Terrain Contest 13

[Leif Kicker]

Contestant 1




Notes from Contestant #1 and additional Photo
I'd just like to add that the hut and the torch are all hand sculpted and painted. The torch and the hut fits in the groove between the raised hexes and the hut is three pieces. The two sides and the roof.






Contestant 2




Notes from Contestant #2 and additional Photo
Thank you for considering my entry in to the terrain contest.

I thought I would take this opportunity to give everyone an idea of how all of the custom terrain in my entry was created. The concept for this custom terrain started with many influences from the custom terrain forums here at Heroscapers, but ultimately got started when I was at Walmart and saw this Indiana Jones toy with the idol from the beginning of Raiders.

I had been looking for something for my terrain to be focused on and after seeing the idol in this toy, I knew that this was going to be it. I was going to recreate the idol room from the beginning of Raiders! I bought the toy for $10, took the idol out, and was on my way!

Everything that came next was a result of that purchase. I wanted to make sure that all of the pieces that I created could be integrated in to any Heroscape map, so most were mounted to original Heroscape hexes. The additional picture that I am including shows all of the custom pieces that I created or modified. I put numbers on the picture so that I could reference them and explain how I made them.



#1 The Idol Room. This is the centerpiece of my creation. The first challenge was that I needed a room to put the idol in. Heroscape doesn't really have any way to create a room with the current terrain, so I decided to figure out how I would need to modify the ruins to make a room out of them. It actually wasn't that hard. There are three large ruin pieces in the room. Two of them had to be cut. One of them only required one cut (the left wall) and the back wall required two cuts. I used a standard hacksaw and it cut through the ruins pretty easily. I used a glue gun to mount them to my hexes. Next I used some styrofoam to create the small base that the idol was to be inserted in. It was also glued to the hexes. I spray painted everything with black H20 spraypaint followed by many layers of drybrushing in different shades of gray to create depth. Small plants and moss were added as well as flocking on the base and walls to hide the glue from my glue gun and to add affect. James Murphy makes a great Indy!

#2 The Mayan Pyramids. These were made from green artificial plant foam seen here...


I used a styrofoam cutter and a hacksaw to trim the pieces in to three different levels from large to small. I used a glue gun to attach them, then I used a pencil to carve all of the detail in to them including the brick effect and the overall wear. Same routine for painting here. Black spraypaint followed by many layers of grey drybrushed for depth. I finally attached a couple artificial plants and did some flocking. I made two of these, but the second one was a little big, so I didn't include it in the pictures. It is in the back of this picture. I was very pleased with how these turned out.

#3 The Columns. These were created using this marshmallow foam I found at Michaels seen here...

I had been looking for a way to create columns and came across these. Each on of the 4 columns that I created consisted of 3 of these stacked on each other. Before I glued them together I used my styro-cutter to distress them, including chopping part of the top off to give a broken affect. I used a glue gun to stack them and to attach them to the base. I painted and flocked them as well.

#4 Broken Columns. I bought the pillars at Petco, seen here...

The first thing I did was broke them in half. I used each half for a three hex piece. I painted them, glued them, and then added moss and flock to finish the affect.

#5 Marsh Plants. These came from Petco artificial Bonsai Trees. They were pulled off and I used a hot glue gun to attach them to the hexes. No painting required.

#6 The Large Statue. I saw this at Petco and it seemed to fit will with my theme so I went ahead and bought it. I used some clay to fill in the hole in the bottom and then added a bunch of flock and moss to give it more of a jungle affect.

#7 Jungle Trees. These were created from some jungle plants that I found at Michaels. I used a drill to make a small hole in a hex and then pushed the plant through and used the hot glue gun to secure it. I added a little flock to cover up the glue and give a grassy affect.

#8 Skulls and Rats. Michaels released their Spooky Town accessories a little early this year, so I was able to get these to add a more Indiana Jones feel to the display. If you look closely in the blowup in the upper right corner you can see a rat that was added and some skulls behind Murphy. There is also a rat on top of the front pyramid.

So there it is, my Indiana Jones jungle creation. I hope you liked it!




Contestant 3





Notes from Contestant #3 and additional Photo
Unfortunately this contestant was unable to get back with me with any further info.




Contestant 4



Notes from Contestant #4 and additional Photo


"Pool of Balams
Long ago a pirate and his men found this pool hidden in the jungle while looking for somewhere to store his booty. On one occasion they encountered a tribe ready to kill them. Being outnumbered the captain sought to make a deal with the chief: they would bring them food, and he and his men would never harm or tell the whereabouts of this tribe in return for safe passage. The chief liked the captain and agreed. So the pirates went on for years pouring their extra jewels and gold over the cliff and into the waterfall, and bringing food to the natives. Until one day there was a mutiny onboard and the captain ended up dead. The new captain's first thought was that of the gold, so they went and purposed to kill the tribe. Expecting nothing, the tribe was slaughtered. The final words of the chief were a curse, that the Jaguar Spirits would cause the men to never find their gold again. And so for many many years the Pool of Balams has been lost to the outside world.
Rules
Protection of Balams
All characters on or adjacent to the pool receive on additional defense die
Construction
Almost everything is hand made. The base is pink insulation foam, which makes the hight 4 tiles high. The water is poured resin topped with clear 5 min epoxy. The gold was put in before the resin & epoxy and made from layers of hot glue and roundish glitter accented by red, blue, and green hi-gloss beads, and an old wooden box(like an old treasure chest) made from a popsicle stick. There are also 12 Koi-type fish under the resin at different depths varying in color. The cliffs are HS pieces(for playability and battlefield building) w/flocking, vines, and custom ferns. Inside the cave is a custom casted resin water tile. The splashes at the bottom of the falls were produced before the falls were in. The waterfall was really fun and took me quite some time to come up with the idea. It is not a Woodland Scenics or any other "waterfall specific" product, but something I discovered on my own with a nudge in the right direction by Hirst-Arts. I'm still amazed how I can look at it and it looks like it's moving. Please take some time to really look at the detail of the piece.

And yes I'll try to work on a tut."




Contestant 5




Notes from Contestant #5 and additional Photo
Chosing another picture for the final poll was really a hard decision. I had no idea which one to take. Maybe the one with Sonlen standing at the lake with the nice reflections on the water tiles that add so much atmosphere? Or other perspectives of the pyramid? Or maybe a picture giving an overview off all the used tiles? But then I took a look at my last picture and it was clear that I will go with this one, showing nearly nothing but a detail (for those without imagination - it´s a mushroom ):



I don´t know why I chose this one. Maybe because I like understatements.
It tells everything about my Ticalla Jungle I want to tell. Except one thing: The size.
The jungle contains 268 self designed spaces, covered with a handmade forest soil mix. On these 268 spaces you find a pyramid made from polysterene, one wall made from wood and polysterene (flexible, not glued onto the spaces), 3 handmade palm trees (I bought just the leafs), 8 jungle trees, 6 idols/statues, lots of bushes and: some mushrooms.




Contestant 6




Notes from Contestant #6 and additional Photo



It's Big! It's Scary! It's Utgars' Dark Secret.

We find our heros making a tactical withdrawal from the field of battle. With Utgars' forces seeming all around them they move into the jungle, hoping they can lose their pursuers in the thick underbrush.

Each time they think they may have finally given them the slip, fresh sounds of pursuit arrive forcing them to turn and flee in a new direction. They soon find themselves moving deeper into the jungle then any have ever been before.

The plant life has grown so thick that they can not see any further then the length of an arm holding a sword. They hear the ritualistic chants long before they see where it is coming from. Yet they push forward towards the chanting as they can also hear the sounds of Utgars' forces closing in all around them.

Suddenly they break through the jungle foliage to stumble out into an open clearing. They are both amazed and horrified by what they see.

A massive ancient structure rises up before them, possibly a temple of some sort. It's design is clearly intended to draw their eyes to it's apex, where they witness the final and brutal end of Agent #9.

They will soon discover this horrific event is known as a blood sacrifice, for Utgars' forces were not so much as pursuing our heros but driving them. Herding them like cattle to the slaughter, for Utgar had intended for them to find their way to this location all along. Our heros are to be the next sacrifice Utgar makes to his dark god, they just don't know it yet.

[Leif Kicker]

Thanks again to all 18 of our great entrees, Good luck to the final 6, and Good luck voters as this should take you awhile.

[Leif Kicker]

This was an impossible vote for me...

Contestant #1
Great piece made even greater that it was hand made. I myself have thought of making buildings for heroscape but have yet todo it. Very inspiring.
Contestant #2
Terrific work, you followed a theme and you hit the mark. Excellent work with lighting and camera as well. I ended up voting for you out of personal taste as I don't like playing on flocked terrain (yet)
Contestant #3
I really like your plants, they fit the jungle theme perfectly and the idea of a neutral enemy added to the field has always appealed to me.
Contestant #4
You're choice of an additional photo was perfect. The story and powers also fit the piece well. It was hard not to vote for this piece, great craftsmanship. I look forward to seeing more. As I mentioned before I had to bring it down to personal taste.
Contestant #5
Another awesome piece, I have always been inspired by your sets. Great camera work too. It was hard not to vote for this piece, great craftsmanship. I look forward to seeing more. As I mentioned before I had to bring it down to personal taste.
Contestant #6
Great story. I have always thought a pyramid would go great with heroscape. There has been many attempts to build them and yours is at the top. I really like how the sacrifice table flows into the Utgar symbol, great idea.

[Agent of Vydar]

These are all great terrain but the pyramid won it over for me.

[cycoduck]

Oh, this one is tough. I am torn between 2 and 5. :flips a coin:. I vote for ......

[Ugly-Caco]

Roll the 20 sided die. If I roll 1-10 I vote for #2, if 11-20 then I vote for #5.

-Edit
I rolled 14.

[Gidian]

As mentioned before: This is the best terrain I´ve ever seen in a contest on this board! So imho this contest deserves a lot of respect, but no winner. Or the other way round: Everyone deserves to win this contest.

Well done everyone.

Greetings from Germany

Gidian

[HSisforcoolkids]

Man those are six really quality pieces. Thanks to everyone for putting in the time and effort to make them and post pictures.

[spiteofthedice]

Terrific work, everyone. There is a lot of inspirational work on display in this thread. I narrowed it down to 2 and 4 and then (as Leif said at least 3 times ) it came down to a matter of personal taste.

[aquaone]

Great work by everyone on this. 1, 2, and 5 were all especially amazing to me. I went with #2 though. Again, great job guys. These are awesome.

[southwest ninja]

that damn mushroom got me.....

[temp.nerd]

I like #2. I also liked #6 but it just seemed a little too dark.