Now that the beginnings of the trunk and roots were there, it was time to start on the branches of the tree. The first branch was formed from eight strands of wire, separated from the trunk and twisted together. After an inch and a half of twisting, the branch was split into two more branches, each made up of four strands. These branches were treated in the same way as before twisted for a little and then split again. The process continued until each branch consisted of only one strand and couldn’t be separated any further.

The trunk was twisted for about an inch before another branch was separated off. The same process that created the first branch was used again, with the branching happening at slightly different lengths, to give a more irregular, organic appearance to the tree. This process was repeated at various different points along the developing trunk until all the strands had become part of a branch, somewhere in the tree. The branches became shorter as they approached the treetop. Again, this was to create a more natural appearance for the tree. The branches were kept fairly straight and flat at this stage, to make it easier to combine them later on.

Mark followed the same procedure for each of the other two trees, keeping the branches straight and varying the length and position of the branches to make combining the trees easier and the shape as organic as possible. With the branching complete, the loops at the base of the trees were twisted to form three roots for each tree.

COMBINING THE TREES: With the three trees prepared, Mark placed them together and began to bind them to each other with wire. Some of the branches were trimmed at this stage, to better suit the appearance of the new, combined tree. Once the trees were firmly bound together, Mark used pliers to form the basic shape of the combined tree. This involved putting a series of bends and twists in the tree trunk up to the point where the branches split off. The branches themselves were spread out into a more natural pattern and then given the same treatment as the trunk.

As before, the roots were the last piece of the combined tree to receive attention. In a normal tree, the roots would be mostly under the ground and so would be kept quite small and thin on the final model. In this case, Mark wanted the Chaos tree to appear to be straining to break free of the earth. That meant separating the roots into their usual pattern before twisting them into a raised position, more like legs than roots. Some of the roots were twisted together to form thicker roots and to keep the arrangement organic. The Chaos tree ended up with five roots out of the original nine.

Even though it was made up of three separate trees (that’s one hundred and two strands!), it didn’t look thick enough. Mark decided to thicken the tree by winding extra wire round the trunk, beginning by winding the wire between the roots and then up and around the trunk. Most of the strands were allowed to fall short of the branches, to allow the thickness of the trunk to taper off towards the top. The beginnings of the branches and the roots were thickened in a similar way at the same time, but using shorter strands of wire.

CREATING THE BARK: The base was made from 6mm MDF in a roughly round shape with at least one and a half inches clear between the edge of the base and the roots. The edges were rounded off and sanded to allow the finished piece to better blend with the gaming table. The positions of the roots on the base were then carefully marked. A blob of five-minute epoxy glue was placed on each of the marks and the tree roots placed into them to set.

In order to create the texture of bark, the bare wire of the tree had to be covered by a layer of filling material. The filler consisted of ready-mixed filler, mixed with white glue until it became a thick, creamy paste. The filler was brushed onto three of the branches first, working from the trunk to the ends of the branches. By the time the last of the branches was covered, the first was dry enough for Mark to begin to texture the branches. The bark texture was created by scratching lines into the surface of the tree with a sculpting tool. It wasn’t necessary to texture the branches right to the ends, as these tend to be fairly smooth on real trees.

The texturing on the roots and trunks was done in two layers. The first only has to cover the wire and provide a good surface for the second layer to stick to. The second layer was applied in the same way as the texturing on the branches, and given the same bark effect. The texturing on the trunk did have one unusual feature. The suggestion of a face was added to the trunk to create the illusion that the tree was almost alive. Care was taken to ensure that the effect remained very subtle– this was meant to be a tree, rather than some kind of creature.

FINISHING THE BASE: With the texturing on the tree dried, it was time to turn to the base. In the original sketch, the tree was surrounded by anchor-stones and random piles of bones. In the final model, Mark created a mound under the tree, peppered with the skulls of the dead. The mound was built up with scraps of polystyrene, into which the skulls (from the plastic skeleton box) were pushed and then glued. Blobs of the filler were then used to make the base more uneven, like real earth. The texturing on the base was finished off with a layer of sand and gravel, glued on with white glue.

All that was left to attach was the anchor stones. These were just some suitably craggy stones, taken from a garden (slate is especially good for this). Each of the three stones were wrapped in some light chain and glued to the base with five-minute epoxy. The chains were then wrapped round the tree roots and glued in place with superglue.

PAINTING THE MODEL: To help hold the sand and gravel in place and create a rougher, earthen surface, the base was given a layer of texture paint. The paint had to be carefully applied to avoid covering the skulls and stones. The entire model was then undercoated with Chaos Black spray.

The tree itself was the first part of the model to be painted, beginning by drybrushing the bark with Scorched Brown paint. The bark was gradually lightened by drybrushing the bark with coats of Dark Flesh and Bestial Brown. The final coat to be added was a mixture of Bleached Bone and Vomit Brown.

The earth around the base of the tree was also drybrushed, this time with successive layers of Bestial Brown, Vomit Brown and Bleached Bone. The skulls were included in the painting of the earth but were then picked out with a layer of Bleached Bone, followed by some detailing with Skull White.

To make the rocks fit in with the style of the model, and to provide them with a sense of scale, they had to be painted too. Again, drybrushing was used to give the rocks a weathered appearance. Codex Grey was used for the basecoat, followed by Fortress Grey and Skull White.

Finally, the chains could be painted. Mark wanted to create the effect of the chains being rusted by weathering and time. He achieved this effect by drybrushing the chains with thinned down Vermin Brown. He allowed some of the paint to stain the rocks, as real rusting metal would do when battered by years of rain. The model was then finished off by adding a coat of flock to the base. See the finished tree here...

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Copyright © Games Workshop Limited 2008 excepting all materials pertaining to the New Line theatrical productions: The Watcher logo, The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; and The Return of The King which are © MMVI New Line Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Lord of The Rings, The Fellowship of The Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of The King and the names of the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. and Games Workshop Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Games Workshop, the Games Workshop logo, Warhammer and the Warhammer 40,000 device are either ®, TM and/or © Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2007, variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world. All Rights Reserved.