Well crafted terrain turns a kitchen table game into an immersive battle. Of the terrain found on a battlefield, a bunker can become the center point of a fight. A welcome strongpoint for holding off waves of attackers, or a stubborn obstacle that needs to be obliterated. Depending on your point of view.
Adrián, a hobbiest from Spain, built such a bunker.
When asked about his background, Adrián answered:
“I did start back in the early 00s or maybe 90s when I was a kiddo. I do remember that it was around the time the Tau faction was released. The bunker was made in that time (never finished nor painted) from scratch, and stored away because I didn’t have enough room from all my toys. I never played back in those days because I couldn’t afford to pay for a complete army, and I didn’t have any friends that played.
I discovered Warhammer from a monthly collection similar to Warhammer 40,000: Imperium. There were some Orks and Bretonnian archers. I still have those models and many of the booklets that my mother bought me. Some High Elfs, Tau, Cadians and a few years later I stopped building and painting all along. I was pretty good for an early teenage boy. You know…the life got in the middle. I went to High School, and later I left my parent’s house to go to the College.
Twenty years later I was moving to a new apartment, and I found those old boxes in my parents house. My intention was to sell everything but when I started to see the models and the terrain I thought…maybe I can try to paint some of these little plastic soldier. I now own an Imperial Guard army, I think it speaks from itself.”
When it came to building the bunker:
“The bunker and some other fortifications are from my first time in the hobby… I think I did use some kind of guide from the internet for the fortifications, but I am not completely sure It was too long ago, and I can’t even remember what I ate Monday last week.
The scatter pieces are leftovers from plaster molds from Scenery Forge . Alvaro is a great dude, he made the molds himself. The other pieces are more recent, and I did paint everything in the two years I have been back to the hobby.”
Choosing a theme for setting is an ongoing process:
“For the terrain, I like to go mainly for destroyed cities in temperate weather just like Western Europe in WWII, but I have to say that after I finish my current table I am thinking about building a trench system in a snowy weather just like Eastern Europe. I have seen some ideas and they are awesome! Maybe in the future…
I do follow many painters trying to find inspiration and learn new things, mainly on YouTube: Ángel Giraldez, Vince Venturella, Marco Frisoni, James Wappel. Their work and skill level is just amazing they make everything look so easy. It is not!”
Future and ongoing projects to go alongside the bunker:
“I have many builds in the pipe from the table I am building, but they follow the same theme and paintjob, so that everything looks alike when they all are ready for the tabletop. One of the things I am preparing related to scratch build terrain are some energy/plasma generators.
Now that I am thinking… I do have a very old Imperial base half done. It is huge. Maybe I will try to finish it, but I don’t know where I am going to store it!
I am eager to finish my Guard and my table! When I am done I think I will focus on painting only a few models but to a very high standard so that I can improve my skills, and of course keep building terrain! Building terrain for me is very chill, I love it, you don’t need to be so precise and fine like if you were painting a 28mm model, and you can innovate a lot and build things from scratch with almost any material you can find around.”
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