When Doom Came To Minas Tirith

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Project Blog by nightrunner

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About the Project

This is a project I have wanted to do for a few months now. I have taken so long to start because I wanted to finish a couple of projects before starting this one. This is essentially an exercise in basic 'forced perspective'. The idea was actually placed in my mind by our own @sundancer! There was a review of some 10mm miniatures and Sundancer could not help himself and cracked a silly joke about how far away the miniatures were - I know, I know! Nonetheless, I immediately thought of an old idiom my grandpa used to say, 'there’s a pony under that pile of shit.' And that is how the seed of an idea was planted in my mind. The scene depicts the day before 'The Battle of the Pelennor Fields,' as the orcs finally see their coveted prize - the splendid White City of Gondor. This will be the biggest diorama I have ever made in size and number of miniatures involved. Hopefully it wont be the worst.

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More Work On The Base

Jan 20 2026

Tutoring 2

Skill 2

Idea 2

No Comments

Hi everyone,

After some feedback online and from some fellow modellers at my club, I decided to do some modifications to the base to insure that the city becomes more prevalent when viewed from the front. This is the great thing with critique and feedback – if you are mature enough to take it – it makes you stop and think.

I raised the city slightly and widened the gap between the ridges in the forefront. This does help a lot. I then went on to build the relief of the mountains in the backdrop.

I did the mountains with air-drying clay like Das, Primo or Plus. Personally, Plus is my favourite brand. The company that makes Plus are specialized in clay products and I think the quality difference is there.

I have also started work on the miniatures. I mentioned in the brief that the miniatures are all non-GW. I was looking through my collection and found a 80’s Ogre model from GW’s defunct Citadel Range and I decided to use it in this project. From where I stand it is a Citadel model and therefore not technically GW. I could also be classified and called a hypocrite for this, but I will bear the moniker with pride!

Added mounting board to raise the city.

I widened the gap between the front ridges and prepared the base of the mountain relief.

Used air-drying clay for the mountain range relief.

Preparing miniatures for painting.

That is all for now. If the clay dries quickly, I will patch up the cracks and paint it, otherwise I will continue to work on the miniatures.

Until next time, stay safe and have fun.

NR.

The Project Begins

Jan 11 2026

Tutoring 3

Skill 3

Idea 4

4 Comments

Hi everyone,

This is a new diorama that I am starting, where I try my hand at forced (or false) perspective. This is also the biggest diorama I have ever done in size and number of miniatures involved. As I have written in the brief to the side, the idea for this project was actually planted in my head by @sundancer when he made a wisecrack about 10mm miniatures being far away.

Before I even started working on the diorama, I looked for the models to use. I strictly wanted to use miniatures and models that are not made by Games Workshop. The miniatures are from Northstar, Grenadier, Lucid Eye and a few 3D printed miniatures (including the city of Minas Tirith).

In this first post, I built up the basic structure of the layout with polystyrene, air-dry clay and some actual rocks. I then add some figures to show what I am trying to achieve.

I will let the pictures tell the rest.