I would start with a big plane with around 25 segments each way. collapse it to editable poly and model in some terrain moving things around with soft selections. maybe a plateau for the castle. you could use a noise modifier to get some natural looking slopes too. decide on a camera angle and model some mountains in the distance from another plane, copying them off into the distance moving and rotating them so they overlap. Add a curved plane in the far distance and apply a texture like distant hills or forrest with a sky. then its just down to texturing the terrain and adding some fog for a sense of depth. add fog by turning on and adjusting environment ranges in your camera settings and applying a fog environment effect.

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Sounds quite complicated but I'll give it a shot. Here's the latest shot of the project as it currently is:

[Link to img88.imageshack.us]

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My latest 3D project:
[Link to ja3dface.blogspot.com]