The herdstone is at the heart of Beastmen culture, forming a focus for gatherings of the tribe. As such, it makes a great piece of terrain to add to your collection if you have a Beastmen army. We asked Mark Jones, who built the herdstone for the Warhammer Armies: Beasts of Chaos book, to tell us how he made it.

Starting Out
Mark out three rectangles on the sheet of polystyrene, each measuring 8cm wide and 20cm high. Cut them out with the long bladed craft knife, making sure to cut away from yourself to avoid accidents. Before you glue the rectangles together, insert three cocktail sticks into the middle rectangle, and then through each rectangle as you glue them on. This will help hold them in place while the glue is drying. When glued together, the three rectangles will form a single block, about 8cm square.

Detailing the Herdstone
The herdstone itself has a few additional details, such as Chaos star symbols and alcoves that contain the herd’s war trophies. To cut Chaos symbols and signs into the surface of the herdstone, start by drawing on the symbol with a pencil, then deepen and widen the design with a small craft knife, so that the detail isn’t lost when you apply the textured paint later on.

To make the alcoves, begin by drawing the shape of the alcove on the herdstone, then slowly pick away the polystyrene with a small craft knife.

Making the Base
The alcoves are now complete, ready to accept the trophies of the herd. Carving of the stone complete, it’s time to move on to the base.

Cut a base for the model from the thick card. The base should be slightly larger than the width of the herdstone itself. Glue the stone to its base with white glue. When the glue is dry, fill any gaps with Polyfilla. Once the filler has had time to dry, paint the herdstone and base with textured paint to give it a rough, stone-like surface. Finally, paint the base of the herdstone with white glue and sprinkle sand and gravel to give the base a rougher texture.

Next, we need to paint the Herdstone...