Making Tlon

The Trees of the Eternal Vigil!

Added 2025-03-21 15:12:08 +0000 UTC

Hi everybody,

the Trees of the Eternal Vigil release is up!

This release comes late because the project kept growing and growing while I was working on it, and, well, time runs so fast when new ideas and options keep coming up :) Additionally, testing the whole thing proved very time consuming, but it is finally done and tested. I love it, and I hope the wait will be worth it!

A few words on the sets of this release:

- Trees of the Eternal Vigil and Titanic Roots. This gargantuan tree structure is the main part of the release. It is 24 inches high, but as always it is not necessary to print the whole thing to use it! It is fully emptied to save resin, it has channels to make assembly easier & it is made of modular blocks that are mostly optional! I know, for example, that I'll print a few of those large tree bases that will make my battlemats feel full of those gargantuan Elven trees, but I am still undecided whether I will print more than one complete trunk. One already does make a great display on the battlefield (also for wargaming!), and I'll see if I have time to make more than that :) (For the craziest people out there: you can easily stack some of the tree blocks to go even higher than 24 inches, just to say XD).

This tree has strong, deep texture that should be a pleasure to drybrush, and I loved it so much that I decided to go for a root set to complement it. These roots are designed as terrain that offers cover and potentially blocks creatures movement. I can picture them to be used with other hobby materials, (such as foam, dirt, rocks, etc.) to build small "ground hills" where the large tree base stands and from which these giant roots come out of the ground, making the whole terrain feature feel more grounded (I tried modelling something like this for resin, but it felt too chunky to print well, and foam would definitely be cheaper. There are a lot of tutorials online on this kind of terrain!).

This tree was supposed to be the protagonsit of the set, but then the Elven structure built on it - which was supposed to be a small outpost - kept growing and growing!

- Elven Guard Post and Pavillion. The aim for this structure was to create an above the ground Guard Post that would read as Elven architecture, combining decoration and functionality. That is why I went both with, for example, arrow slits in the walls, but also leaf and tree decoration patterns. The one shown in the banner (on the right) is a mixed structure: I decided to put an open wall on one side to show the variety of the set, but you can substitute any of the walls with fully closed ones, with those with arrow slits or even with fully open ones to make a pavillion like structure.

As the renders show there are also different balcony options, with different railings which you can decor with shields coming from the Objects and Props packs by cutting the handles at the desired length. I also designed a kitbash bridge and stair set. With those you can create your own bridges and stairs by using string or hobby rope (which I suggest doing) combined with the "steps" given in the set: there are a few of those with different wood textures so that they will not all look the same. Alternatively, you can use the resin version of those - which require glue to assembly. These, however, are very delicate models in terms of printing quality, bending, etc (depending on your printer, settings and resin) because of the nature of these shapes. I tried to make the rope thick enough to give a good final result, but they will require more care than usual in prints.

If you don't like the idea of tree houses there is an additional versatility option: you can build the structure as a ground building, and can easily make a small grounded Elven Outpost by printing a few of those. There is also a second level for those structures! The renders show a few of possible builds - bonus tip: you can place extra structures by printing only the "top" bit, which can work as a smaller pavillion or as a shrine of some sort.

Something I am not showing in the renders is that you can use even just the base floor of the structure to create "free" tree platforms where people can rest (without complete walls and roofs), as well as stack a few of these houses on top of each other, making some kind of Elven tree pagoda, if you fancy the idea! The possibilities given by this modular structure are many :)

- Elven Guard Post Objects and Props. I hand't made an Elven set yet, and I figured that in this release a mix between wood and high Elven style would fit best (especially since part of the inspiration for the overall theme is LotR). Since this is supposed to be a guard post I decided to include a good variety of Elvish weapons, as well as a few bottles with different shapes and styles - the inspiration for this detail was Bilbo's exploration of Mirkwood's dungeon in The Hobbit, where he finds Elven guards to be particularly fond of wine. This set is quite versatile since it can also be used to add variety to any building that can display expensive furniture - such as high brow taverns, mansions, magic item shops, wizards' abodes and so on. Since I have already release a few different torch designs in other sets I decided to make something more magical for this one: crystal lamps. Obviously they are optional, and if you find them too high fantasy I suggest switching them for more ordinary torches. As always, props can be used in many different ways, ranging from terrain to dioramas or even character minis: you can always combine them in your slicer to customize your prints!

That's it! I hope you like what you see, as much as I do, and thanks for the patience :) Luckily the next set - The Theater, is already at a good construction stage - process pictures on that are coming soon.

I'll post the next poll - for May - in a few days too.

Thanks again for the support, and I wish you a happy hobby time :D