Make-it Monday: Papercraft, Halls of the Mountain King

Awhile back I went on a wicked Kickstarter bender, and among the several (mostly gaming related) projects I backed was a new papercraft set from Fat Dragon Games. The Kickstarted Halls of the Mountain King features some impressive dwarven architecture in the best tradition of Tolkien. 

Last night, the Wife and I sat down and started assembling the primary feature of the set, a bunch of big-ass stone pillars! Working together, we managed to get four knocked out in a couple hours. It's always hard to tell just how many of a certain item are supposed to be included in a papercraft set, since you print and assemble everything, but I suspect that the pillars are intended to be produced in sets of six. I draw this conclusion based on the fact that the top pieces come six to a sheet and the bases come three to a sheet.

Four fully assembled pillar tiles with minis for scale

I'm quite pleased with how everything looks so far, and especially happy that the pillars are designed to come off the bases for easier storage!

The basic pillar tile unit

with pillar removed for storage

This was the first time the Wife has helped me out with a papercraft project, and I gotta say, she works a lot faster than I do! I may need to enlist her aid on such things more often.

The finished product makes for quite the dramatic encounter.

Long, long ago...

On an entirely separate creative note, the Wife and I launched into our post-wedding reorganization with gusto this weekend, and while digging through an old portable file cabinet, I stumbled on a play I co-wrote with my friend Jon in college. It was one of those wild and reckless projects, written over one or two alcohol-fueled nights with little regard for editing or nuance.

The play is called Lando, and it is a 24 page tale in the spirit of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, but requiring far less brain power. It explores the off-screen happenings of the minor characters in Cloud City during the final act of Empire Strikes Back. It's ridiculous and farcical, and I was surprised just how much I laughed reading it over a decade later. I'm not sure if it's actually funny, or if I'm just reading it in the voice of myself and my co-author.