The Contest — A Multi-Universe Diorama
Inspired by Matthew Reilly’s novel Contest, this is a large scale diorama built across three connected sections: an elevated desert terrain platform, a no man’s land connector, and an industrial stockade complex.
The premise is simple. Combatants from across multiple universes and timelines have been pulled into a single arena and must fight to survive. The observer decides who lives and dies based on the tactical decisions each figure is making. There is no fixed narrative — just a moment caught in time and out of time.
Every figure is mid-decision. Who survives is up to you.
The factions…
WW2 gas mask soldiers caught in a pincer between Black Squad crossing the wire and Chaos Marines hitting them from the rear.
A Specialist Forces insertion team abseiling down chains from the elevated platform, unaware they’ve been spotted by Black Squad below and
Covenant Elites, behind them who are making a coordinated assault on the elevated platform — two climbing simultaneously from different sides while the soldiers above have no idea.
Eight Master Chiefs from different armour marks and timelines, arranged chronologically across the wasteland, all converging on the stockade independently
Sergeant Johnson on a Mongoose with eyes on an Elite climbing the tower
Two active camouflage Covenant soldiers — invisible to every faction on the board, visible only to you
A Spartan desperately trying to disable an autocannon about to fire on friendlies, seconds away from being ambushed himself
Chaos Marines who arrived through a portal and are simply here to fight — the only faction not trying to survive
The Build
Mixed media across Lego, Halo Mega Construx figures and vehicles, wargaming terrain pieces including razor wire and sandbags, and a Halo Mega Construx set repurposed as alien desert terrain. The no man’s land section uses bare studs for a churned mud aesthetic. The elevated platform is suspended on industrial tower struts with chains that double as insertion routes.