A while back, I wanted to make an actual base for my Frostgrave crew and found a great cottage/tower model. My friends were able to print it out but found that the components were extremely time consuming (not to mention a lot of material). We decided to scale it back a bit from the original idea and I finally got around to completing the project.
It took some work to figure out the right combination of components as the main tower of the model was going to be too big for our needs. My friend had the brilliant suggestion to use small tree stump model he found and enlarge it to the maximum printer height. It turned out to be an impressive structure and happen to fit very well with a few modifications.
Not content to just have a nice piece of unique scenery, I wanted to make it practical too so I decided to turn the tree base into a dice tower as well. I found the lowest lying point in the top and cut a die-sized hole in the top and an exit hole out the bottom.
After clearing out the center of the model, I stuck a PVC pipe through the middle to control the dice fall and cut the side hole to match the exit hole on the trunk.
I took a piece of MDF scrap and made the exit ramp.
Using a ton of hot glue, I glued the ramp into place and let the pieces rest. I turned back to the tree trunk and dressed up the exit hole with a large stone archway.
I’d already experimented to get the ramp angles right so this final test was just a formality but the dice tower aspect was complete. Since I was using the second floor of the cottage/tower model, the structure had no entrance. I like the idea of everything being built around the tree and almost growing out of it so I cut another space for a door and used some spare door parts my friend printed up.
With the structure complete (including interior “hook” to keep the cottage and tree connected, it was ready to get everything painted up. Even without the paint, I was able to put the dice tower to good use for some gaming this weekend and it worked great.