Tomb Thursday P16: Heavy Lift

Every desert tomb needs a solid foundation, but moving those mighty stones isn’t child’s play. Thankfully, we got just the scatter terrain from Aether Studios to prove it!

Longtime readers know 3DRPG has a clearly diagnosed clinical problem when it comes to two things: townsfolk NPC miniatures and an abundance of scatter terrain options for our DnD gameboards. We plan to keep that vibe going when it comes to our new Egyptian desert theme. DM Ben demands options. 😉

Another important point about this never-ending landscape is Pharaoh’s love for building stuff, especially if it enhances their image and elevates their immortal status. In a previous installment, we shared our first pyramid model. So, it would make sense for our adventurers to see other works in progress as they travel to their next desert destination.

Thankfully, Aether Studios is sifting through what we’re laying down and shares a similiar terrain focus. Their fun Throne Room Statues set includes these New Construction Scatter Models, and they instantly caught our eye in the bestest of ways. We increased their thickness during slicing and ran these on our Prusa FDM 3D printer. They all came out great!

Let’s start with this fun Egyptian-style sled. Throughout this series, we’ve conducted extensive historical research for color inspiration and to gain a deeper understanding of how things might have worked in the past. It turns out Egyptian builders did indeed use mortar in their builds, so we pictured these two messy pots being filled with that mixture. We might circle back, add a little flock to one pot, and make the other a muddy mixture.

Specifically, they used mortar, primarily made from gypsum and sometimes lime, to bind stones in their buildings and to lubricate the placement of heavy blocks. Mud and straw were also used to create bricks for other parts of construction, showcasing their adaptability with local materials. So darn cool. 

Since we have several slam-dunk desert paint schemes, these pieces were a snap to finish off. For the wood, we used ASP Dark Wood and ASP Pallid Bone for the ropes. We decided to go with the core sandy theme (like the pyramid above) and keep the slightly darker one for monuments and statues.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of one of the pieces with a standard d20 miniature. We go back over every piece with another light, sandy, dry brush because it’s the desert. Sand is everywhere, and you can never escape it, right?

DM Ben definitely envisons a few one-shot encounters using these builder scatter pieces. While these naturally work best in above-ground settings, we could even sprinkle a few below ground as a tomb is expanded due to recent passings in the royal family. Either way, should be darn fun to explore how we can incorporate these beauties into the game!

Until next time!