NerdForge Crafts a Grand Dining Table Hiding a Miniature Blood of Dawnwalker Valley

Martina and Hansi of NerdForge spent two full months turning a simple idea into a dining table large enough for a conference room, yet filled with a complete fantasy valley that only becomes visible once someone leans over the glass set into its surface. After finishing an earlier coffee table that held a tiny library, they wanted something far larger: snow-covered peaks, rivers cutting through dense forest, a medieval town of cramped streets, a gothic cathedral, and a castle perched on a hill at the edge of the settlement.

The entire scene was hidden away inside a deep, wooden box about the size of a bathtub, concealed beneath thick olive wood planks and a pane of glass that appeared to be just another part of the tabletop until the lights turned on. Building that container from scratch required the use of steel angle irons because they freely admitted that neither of them was very handy with a saw.

The joints are a little rough, but the finished box is surprisingly strong enough to support the entire weight of the landscape, which is pretty amazing given the scale. As for the mountains, they began as cardboard cutouts coated with foam and cloth, then received a fresh coat of plaster mixed with adhesive and crushed for roughness with actual rocks. Unfortunately, the initial batch of plaster began to flake and set too quickly, forcing them to start over several times before they achieved the desired consistency.

Throughout the process, they printed and painted the tiny houses, walls, and cathedral with 3D models from Printable Scenery and Loot Studios, staying as near to the Spatulopolis City plan from The Blood of Dawnwalker as the scale allowed. They built about a hundred of these little houses and walls, half of which have a teeny LED flickering from underneath the roof to give the village a magical glow in the dark, and the cathedral has a nice stone texture that is actually made of cat litter and sounds like cat litter, but looks pretty convincing. A height map assisted them in placing the rivers and valleys precisely so that they resembled the game’s dark, somber 14th-century valley, completely cut off during the Black Death.

You guessed it, the olive wood planks intended to serve as the box’s base were a nightmare because they arrived twisted and far too wide, necessitating the hiring of a local carpenter to plane them down once they had been cut to size. Some black epoxy was used to plug the cracks and seal the thirsty wood, but it took a few applications before it was satisfied enough to allow them to sand and oil the surface to a good, glossy sheen. Doing the correct channels for the glass was a big difficulty; they even had to whip up a custom jig because a single error would’ve wrecked the entire slabs, but they managed to get it just right.

Later, they bolted on some steel brackets that didn’t budge when they tested the table for stability. Progress was halted for about a week while we were all coughing and sleeping poorly owing to illness, and the sheer number of tiny bits and pieces made painting a laborious, boring, repetitive chore that stretched out the project for weeks. However, once everything was finished, the first look was still a little dim, so we had to remove the entire thing and add some overhead lights above the diorama, which made things a lot easier to see.

It took two months from the start of the project to see everything come together, but the finished table now stands with lovely ‘live edges’ on the wood, completely invisible glass seams, and a stunning landscape with forests, flowing water, mossy roofs, and the castle at its heart. They had all of the bits and pieces packed up and shipped off to the guys at Rebel Wolves as a gift, because we were hoping that the creators of The Blood of Dawnwalker would appreciate having their own valley transformed into a miniature masterpiece.