The Zone Mortalis: Underhive Sector is available for pre-order this weekend. This incredible set includes a massive 106 pieces of terrain and accessories for you to build and fight over your own underhive sprawl. If you’re looking for some inspiration for what to do with so much sumptuous scenery, look no further than the Necromunda diorama at Warhammer World. We sat down with some of the guys who put it together, Andy Barlow and Adam Cooper, to learn how they created such a stunning display.
One of the goals of this diorama was to show how flexibly the Zone Mortalis kits can combine with existing Sector Mechanicus kits. Before work started, the Warhammer World Studio team researched and gathered reference images of food production factories, breweries, and water treatment plants to help create authentic machinery.
We arrive as Corpse Grinder Cultists are preparing fresh meat, the Palanite Enforcers launch their assault, and desperate close-combat battles ensue.
Andy: We wanted to capture the claustrophobia of the underhive while showing just how far you could take the Zone Mortalis scenery kits and getting as much out of the space as possible.
The building process was pretty structured – we built the display in a dozen sections and components, which we could paint individually and then assemble stage by stage as we wired in the LED lighting. This was a great challenge but quite complex, as we built a 3D jigsaw that we had to assemble in a particular order. Hopefully, all of the work made it worthwhile!
It was one of my favourite displays I worked on in my time with the Warhammer World Studio team. We really pushed ourselves to replicate the terrifying world of Necromunda. It was a significant technical challenge that I'm very proud to have worked on.
Adam: It all started with what kind of space it would go into or use up – we had a 2′ cubed box. We wanted the diorama to represent the brutal, confined, and crumbling architecture of the underhive, so it was purposefully designed with corridors and gangways on top of each other.
The process of building the diorama was surprisingly easy. It involved building a lot of kits from across the range. After deciding where to set the conflict, it became a process of building blocks and shapes. One of the sections I did was the processing tanks and the pipework.
We got the colour palette from some of the first edition Necromunda terrain from battle reports and the old books, which used sea greens and very bright yellows. Necromunda was the starting point for my wargaming and hobby adventures, so I brought all my old books in.
The biggest challenge was painting. We had to design the diorama in layers for ease of painting – these were then painted and assembled afterwards. I love the project and loved the process – it was a real nostalgia thing for me!
Thanks, guys! The Zone Mortalis: Underhive Sector is available to pre-order from Saturday. If this Warhammer World diorama has inspired you, grab yourself some other Necromunda terrain and get ready to build the underhive of your dreams (or maybe nightmares).