What, and Why?

I got back into hobbying at the tail end of COVID, mainly because I wanted a pass time that didn't involve a computer. I used to paint 20 years ago, and for some reason took the plunge back in.

Warcry took my interest and I got the Warcry: Catacombs game, and some paint supplies. My son and I played a few games, and he painted a little too. He was more interested in looking at the professionally painted model pictures - either in books or scrolling down Reddit.  I picked up a second hand copy of the Age Of Sigmar rulebook as I new it would have good photos, and lore.

That's where the first glimmer of inspiration came from: a double page of art (pages 46-47 to be exact), depicting a giant battle between Chaos daemons. In the Age of Sigmar story, after Sigmar lost the daemons were left fighting amongst themselves. Now while the real story was a slow withdrawal and defeat over a long time, I got this idea in my head of Sigmar's sudden departure from the battlefield, leaving hordes of daemons with nothing else to do but rip each other apart.

Fast forward over a year.  Large pile of shame, none of them daemons, probably too much paint.  I'd thought about that one artwork off an on a lot.  While on holiday in France, the idea comes to me to build a diorama of my interpretation of that scenario: a four-way melee between the demons of the four Chaos gods.  It's worth mentioning that the reference art is a battle between Tzeentch and Nurgle daemons: my imagination has stretched quite beyond the original art work!

I really enjoy the building, sculpting, customising and kitbashing side more than the painting, so building a big "thing" was appealing. Painting so many things is daunting. Subconsciously I think I'm addicted to acquiring minis (not a unique problem).  Pretty soon I had bids on dozens of second hand daemons on Ebay - while still on the same holiday.

As well as depicting a battle, I came up with the idea to do the base and scenery to represent the symbols of the four major Chaos powers intertwined.  When you look at it from above, you should be able to tell it's the symbols. I started sketching ideas, first on how the symbols would overlap:

Then when settled on a design, I translated the 2D into a rough isometric view.  I had no ruler, no isometric triangles, or anything to do a technical drawing with, so I folded the paper into 16 quadrants and then sketched that down into a very rough isometric layout:

I then sketched a few 3D viewpoints, but 3D was getting complicated to model in my head.

I was also trying to picture how the entire diorama would be split up.  It would be too big as one giant piece (I live in a flat with kids), and if it ever needed to move it'd be easier to transport in pieces.  I'm hoping the uneven nature of the terrain will help hide where the joins will be - not that I've figured out how to join it.

I tried to split it a few ways on paper, needing to think hard about where the big models would be placed as that won't be an easy location to put a fault / join line:

I also tried some 3D sketches of how each piece would look somewhat, but I was getting little value from the exercise:

I wanted to model the design in software (CAD or a 3D modelling software).  I'd need reasonably precise measurements, and a tool to plan out how to slice it.  Holiday sketching came to an end.

I kept getting more crazy ideas:  I'd need at least one of each Greater Daemon, maybe more.  A big wave of warp energy... So I'd need to learn how to use a mould and resin.  Why not use LED lights of each of the four colours under the scenery to highlight each Chaos symbol?  Could I 3D print the entire base?

Lastly, I wanted to stick to 100% Games Workshop models, as in the back of my mind I wanted to it to be eligible to enter into Golden Daemon, if I wanted to.  Not that my painting is anywhere near the masters - I'm just beyond a beginner - so winning is just a pipe dream.  Considering it's going to take years to finish though, who knows how much I'll improve?  Perhaps far enough that I wouldn't be mortified to enter.

Also, battles are dirty affairs - I can just cake my average painting in dirt and grime!