"What's Makes A Proper Lair And Decor For 15mm Morlocks?" Topic

I will soon start work on my cavern/mine tiles. I plan to follow the example shown here:

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However . . . as nice as those tiles look, that won't be enough. That alone does not make it look like a dilapidated complex from the year 802,701 AD.

So, instead of just having a plain/generic cave or tunnel system, I would love for it to look like it was made for Morlocks, either the style of the 1960 Time Machine film or the 2002 remake.

Morlock complex, 1960 style:

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Concept drawings for the 2002 film:

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QUESTION:

So . . . are there specific bits you suggest I buy/make that could make a cave system look more like a Morlock complex?

Thanks,

Dan
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Stalagmites or are they stalactites that form from the ground up, either way they are very easy to make by simply twisting a length of semi cured modeling putty that should add a bit of character to your subterranean complex. Bones possibly some fossils sticking out from the cavern walls and loads of debris could easily fill up loads of the passage ways…

Elloi, and maybe some smaller versions of the big morlock stone head from the surface, possibly with some kind of altar ? Ancient machinery & decayed computers. Samantha mumba ? cages for prisioners.. nothing from our time would survive but you want to give the impression of a successor culture , possibly using ancient tech as the focus for religious practice ?

a bitching time machine with polished brass and a sy walnut dashboard…

Also, from the 60s version, I seem to remember surface dwellers had built towers, so there must have been several interveening cultures between us and the eloi/morlocks. Bits of their culture could be looted by the morlocks.

I tnink one clear distinction is that the tiles you show in the first photo are clearly man made. Straight lines and right angles.

The sixties verion looked more like natural caves and caverns. Now whether it was once man made and the passage of eons stallagmites and stallagtites formed is unclear.

I would think you would need:
- Natural passageways and caverns, stone causeways. Everything should be curvey.
- Odd distillery looking equipment
- Odd rock outcroppings,stallagmites & stallagnites
- The occasional free standing pools of ick
- Gausey kind of shear "Doorways"

And I'd go 60s all the way. While concepts for the 2002 movie were interesting, the 60s version is iconic.

Martin

Recap, so far:

- Lift off sections to use the caves;
- Stalagmites;
- Bones possibly some fossils sticking out from the cavern walls and loads of debris;
- Smaller versions of the big morlock stone head from the surface, possibly with some kind of altar;
- "Ancient" machinery and decayed computers (futuristic to us);
- Cages for prisioners;
- Nothing from our time would survive but you want to give the impression of a successor culture;
- There must have been several interveening cultures between us and the eloi/morlocks. Bits of their culture could be looted by the morlocks;
- Mix man-made tunnels with natural cavern formations;
- Include distillery-looking equipment;
- Pools of filth;
- Thin cloth partitions for doors; and
- Go more with the 1960 look
Examples of the style in the original film:
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So far, so good. All do-able, though I think that the bones and skulls are going to be tough in 15mm, but I'll give it a shot.

I guess I'll have to improvise also with the machinery bits. I need to make sure they don't look too much like stuff from our time, but still somewhat recognizable as machinery, albeit with a lot of patches and crude repair work done by the Morlocks later.

Without lots of crudely-built machinery, and copious amounts of scavenged material from facilities above ground, the Morlock lair would be pretty much indistinguishable from an Orc cave:

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Anything else guys?

Thanks,

Dan
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To add some more natural effects to the subterranean caverns you could add patches of crystals, arrow miniatures have a extensive clear/ coloured resin range of them in their fantasy section starting from just a few dollas. link
As for the fossils and bones you could try some micro machines dinosaurs skeletons from their Natural geographic range, E-Bay would be the best place for them i would imagine.

Excellent. A few small crystals here and there would be a nice touch!!!

Dan

If you can get a plastic skeleton kit in 28mm , like the old GW skeleton army, you could use them unassembled. Maybe some underground animals or even the morlock equivelent of dogs. What about cave-ins, completely or partially blocked tunnels ?

- Some underground animals or even the morlock equivalent of dogs

Wow. Love that idea. Got suggestions on what could pass for a Morlock "dog" in 15mm?

How about these Khurasan Gopher Wolves?

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Or have you got another favorite?

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- Cave-ins, completely or partially blocked tunnels

Something like this, perhaps?

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Dan

What about something that has evolved to prey on morlocks, a cave worm or similar or maybe something reptilian, a sewer alligator type thing ?

How about the morlocks themselves, is there workers/hunter/warrior castes that look distinctive ? Are the females in the morlock groups or is there breeding pens like orcs ? Do rival groups of morlocks raid each other (the way some ant species do) for food/prisioners/slaves (the same thing to a morlock) or just headhunting. Would it be overground or would they tunnel into each others cave systems.

Would there be other underground remnants, sewers, nuclear bunkers, subway train systems. Would there be volcanic features, fissures, lava pools, hot mud and water/steam spouts…

Maybe bigger morlocks, their ogres or cave trolls, possibly kept by their smaller cousins as workers/warriors or objects of worship, or possibly living wild in the cave system preying on morlocks…

Phil

Excellent ideas!

Also, do you see any way this material could be incorporated into the 6" x 6" tiles, or is it too much trouble to try?

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Thanks,

Dan

is this of help with ideas?

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6.11mins in

As you can see, Morlocks may already be here, not just in the shape of things to come.

The aquarium walls are excellent ( I hope to get a set). Definitely atmosphere can be helped with the painting of the tunnel walls in the Technocolor scheme (violets, indigo,yellows etc)rather than just greys.

What if I used 40K Tau architecture as the model for the above-ground ruined structures in 802,701 AD?

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Dan

I bought one of these a while back . . . for an entirely different purpose:

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But, do you think it could be used for either the Morlock lair itself (as a pumping station or something like that), or as part of the stuff above ground?

Dan

The book describes a "Palace of Green Porcelain"

gutenberg.org/ebooks/35

What that means exactly, only Wells knows, but sounded like a cool image,

Like this?

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This is from the 1960 film:

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This screenshot is from a deleted scene of the 2002 film, right before he jumps to the time of the Eloi and Morlocks:

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Dan

Here's a clearer screenshot:

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Actual reading:

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Guys, I hadn't seen this cartoonist's work before:

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They remind me a little of this:

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Dan

This cheesy film, "What Waits Below" (1985) has what look like proto-Morlocks:

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Weird stuff.

Dan

A good and easy way to make fossil/skeletal/whatever remains in a wall section easy is to get a load of plasticene, some models or real fossils etc to make impressions with, and some real stones with a nice surface, get the clay, make a large piece flat with a rolling pin, cut into a base the same size as your wall, build up the sides so you now have a casting trench. Push your skellies/fossils into the bottomto form a relief, then pour some stone plaster, plaster of paris or even wall filler and leave to set, its better if you get stone plaster as its really strong, the others are prone to being more soft and can break easy. after each bit is done, you can rework the mould as its plasticene and keep doing it until you have enough, or run out of plaster. Spacecraft interior walls can be done like this (but with shapes and panel looking bits used as a stamp) or alien type corridors, and more!

needs moar tesla coils

Tesla coils?

Check this out then:

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Dan

Guys,

CHECK THIS OUT …

simerida.com/courses/cenotes.php

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THIS HERE (the link below) could be the genesis of the whole upper and lower dwellers class separation, and for why the lower dwellers end up being the providers for those living topside:

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Dan

Ok love this that you posted just need to add some old crusty tech parts and Bones! Somewhere I saw a site that had 15mm skulls

Skulls at Peter Pig

peterpig.co.uk/range6.htm

Peter Pig does!!!

peterpig.co.uk/range6.htm

And I've bought a few already, in preparation for this long-planned project.

Dan

LOL. Great (and twisted) minds think alike!!!

Dan

Irregular Miniatures has skeletons that one could chop up as well rib cage here arms legs here and there

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That cavern one can be used for other adventures as well, dungeon crawls, pulp adventures

thanks for the link saved it

Ok be giving this some thought take this

and this

combine them and they should make a really nice subterranean lair some catwalks and overhead pipes a city that has be covered over

Morlocks don't have proper lairs. They've no cavern decorating sense at all! ;->=

Love the last ideas; VERY evocative.

Oh, CC, I can't believe your query about the toy mikes never generated a picture of Blake's 7 Liberator. I know it looks like four duct taped together, though I've seen WIP photos, and it was fiendishly clever cobbling for what resulted.

;->=

By the by, the mikes would make great techno pillars in the cavern, best cut off and topped with rock ceiling with a few stalactites, and stone accreted to the pillar sides.

Doug

Thinking more like this maybe

with more of stalagmite grown to the buildings

Guys,

For making debris piles in the corridors, check these out …

Plastic canvas pieces (granny grating), 7, 10 and 14 mesh:

Lego bits:

Scrap polystyrene pieces and plasticard punch outs:

Bits from pens, mechanical pencils, screws and screw anchors:

Assorted pieces from drawer organizer, drink stirs, brand new (unused) ear scope tips, and lots of other scrap:

Cookie trays that will be chopped for their moulded bits:

LOTS more pics:
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So, what do you guys think?

Thanks,

Dan
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I really like what you have going on there, can't wait to see what you come up with

Spiral seashells for stalagmites

quick, easy and cheap. Rather cool looking too