Special Project: Steel Necropolis

Special Project: Steel Necropolis

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Sometimes all it takes for me to get inspired is a single piece of art. This was the case with the amazing piece from Trench Crusade, depicting the “Steel Necropolis” – a ravaged battlefield of derelict tanks.

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The way this piece set the mood and told multiple stories contained within its frame made my heart race right from the get go. I wanted ruined tanks on my Trench Crusade gaming board and I wanted them ASAP!

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The idea born from inspiration was not just to print and set up tanks on the Silesian Trenchline 2.0 gaming board, but rather to create individual pieces, set within the world of Trench Crusade, each telling its own little story. How did it get here? How was it transformed since? Maybe the tank’s crew survived and turned the wreck into a place of worship? Or maybe the crewmen all died in a pile of rubble within which the tank is buried still? My imagination ran wild with the ideas… but first I needed some actual tanks.

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After an extensive research and scale comparison I found the tank Eldorado in the form of TANKS COLLECTION 1941-1945 – Soviet and German. Not only are these highly detailed, but also the hulls are extensively textured with damage. The files are also split into manageable parts such as the hulls, turrets and tracks, without multiple extras to clog the printing plate. These felt ideal for my purposes.

I rescaled a few by eyeing and comparing the size to standard Trench Crusade infantry, then went on about materializing all the ‘stories’ from my imagination.

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When creating each individual piece I focused on a few key aspects:

• Setting a proper mood. I imagined a tank in action, blasting its turret mounted cannon, going full throttle! Then suddenly it was dead in its tracks, a smoking hulk. Time passed by, while soldiers, coming and going, used the wreck for their own purposes – be it as a means to climb or traverse the trench ravaged landscape, or to spend a night within its hull huddled in prayer…
• Static dynamism. In order to tell a better story I have positioned each wreck asymmetrically with some elements elevated up at a different height, turrets slightly turned, tracks slightly bent to the side etc. The main purpose of each wreck is to enhance vibes on the board, thus I did not care for traversity and being gameplay friendly… at this stage.
• Visual cohesion. I wanted the wrecks to fit the existing scenery set, as such they were adorned with common features repeated across the entire scenery set, such as wooden planks, gravel, crosses and barbed wire.
• Playability. For me this is a very important feature for wargaming scenery. On one hand there’s the looks, that provide immersion and tell a story, then there’s the actual gameplay related stuff such as hard covers, horizontal areas to put the miniatures on. It is important to strike the balance between looks and play options each piece brings to the table. Imagine an outstanding large statue, let’s say a 12×12″ wide. A magnificent piece for sure! But unless it has a variety of walkways and ladders, some hard angles to use for cover – this is a 12×12″ dead space on the gaming board. Food for thoughts.

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In some cases the printing accidents happened and inspired a story on their own. Such as in this case, where more than a half of a tank was missing and the turret got severely warped. When it comes to waging war on hell itself, nothing goes to waste and so did the misprint.

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A couple of tank wrecks I designed as standalone elevations. The purpose of the pair was to allow linking wide spread upper levels, on the gaming board, with walkways. It also was a good pretext to tell some completely out of the box stories with the wrecks, such as a tank turned entrance into an underground bunker/church.

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There’s also this behemoth of a Sturmtiger turned into a multi level background piece with a small chapel used by traversing soldiers to casually drop an offering and speak a short prayer…

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The last piece of the series is the Shrine of the Mother Penelope of Plenty Ordnance, set into the side of a trench and under a supported wreck of a small assault tank. Soldiers who survived a dud tend to gather the unexploded ordnance and set it within the shrine, not as gratitude for their own continued existence, but rather in order to preserve the ammunition for when it is needed elsewhere.

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The seven wrecked tanks proved to be a challenge and took their toll on me, including an accidental blood sacrifice. Still the project managed to satisfy the art inspired craving I had for Steel Necropolis. Oh, and the gameplay became so much better one I added these to the board…

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