Necron Terrain - The Summoning Core

Hey Wargamers!

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted any Necron content, but I’ve got a few good articles coming up this week that should get things back on track! I got ambitious this past weekend, and started work on my first piece of Necron Terrain. I’d like to point out that this is the first piece of Terrain or Building that I’ve personally *ever* constructed, so there are some definite flaws and a little learning curve involved. If nothing else, I hope this inspires some others that are new to the hobby to attempt their own terrain pieces.

Originally I was going to build a Necron Obelisk, as detailed here by Games Workshop. However, I didn’t really want to post an article showing you how I followed someone else’s article, so I decided to do something a bit different. I looked to Warhammer 40K : Dawn of War for inspiration, as the game features several Necron Buildings (or at least, the Dark Crusade expansion does). From the available buildings, I decided to create the Summoning Core. I’ve modified it a little mind you, since the Summoning Core shown seems to involve some magic floating pieces, and I wanted something a little more solid.

I grabbed some Graph paper, and quickly sketched up some plans. Then, I got to work cutting Foam Board.

Lesson #1: I would like to add at this point how very, very important having a sharp hobby knife is. It seems the blade on mine was rather dull, which lead to some less-than-straight cuts, and the blade dragging through the Foam Board as much as cutting, which resulted in some unfavourable edges.

Lesson #2: A ruler is equally important. Graph paper and eyeballs are good. Rulers are better.

The Six pieces of the Inner Box, cut from Foam Board.

Bevels added to the Top, Bottom, and both Large Surfaces, to allow easier assembly.

The Inner Box, Half- and Fully-Assembled.

The ‘Detail’ pieces, cut from Foam Board:

Side Details attached, then the Remaining Details:

Small pieces of Foam Board (saved from some Bevelling) were glued into place to carry the 45 degree slope across the sides:

Given that my cuts and measurements were somewhat lacking, my edges didn’t meet up very well. I decided to use some black construction paper to improve the edges, cutting it into short strips and making 90 degree bends, which were then glued over the shoddy edges

Last, some ’scarring’ was added to the structure using my trusty Dremel Tool. After all, this building is 60 million years old, give or take a few - it’s likely seen better days.

I’ll admit I kind of went to town with the Dremel, and probably didn’t need to weather the surfaces as much as I did. Live and learn.

So what’s left to do? The surface could use another coat of paint, and all the exposed areas of the inner box need to be painted a bright green. Around the green, the outer surfaces will also be brushed to give the appearance that the green is glowing from the inside out. I may also have the green glow ‘leak’ from some of the deeper cracks. I’ll provide an update once these steps are completed.

Update: The Summoning Core has been completed. This Forum Post details what I’ve done since this Article was written.

Enjoy!