Terrain what is it good for?
Terrain often has been described as the third army of the wargame. Having a set of nice terrain makes the game a lot more immersive. Terrain is also essential for the game experience especially where the game uses true line of sight to determine whether models can interact.
Terrain also adds to the puzzle of the game. Units need to move to secure high ground for good fields of fire but waving a flag on top of a hill can also attract unwanted attention.
Historically armies have used terrain to their advantage. The Spartans fought the numerically superior Persian empire in a narrow pass nullifying the numerical advantages and allowing the qualitative superiority of the Greek Hopilites to achieve maximum advantage.
Regardless of the terrain theme you are picking you still need many of the same types of terrain. The them determines how you depict the terrain. Star wars is a great example of themed terrain sets. You have desert worlds, forest worlds, desert worlds, ice worlds and heavily urbanised worlds.
Here is an example of a post apocalypse terrain set. This has ruined buildings that block LOS and provide elevation, a rusted car that could provide cover and possibly reduce movement and piles of broken concrete as rough ground.
Everything is painted with a consistent rust and grey colour to give a consistent feel.
This cave is being made out of cork bark. This uses snow and bones to impede movement and the cave naturally funnels movement. A band of heroes could defend this cave mouth against a horde of skeletons for some time.
Here is a mining or industrial setting. This would be great for games of necromunda or other sci fi skirmish games. I can see my Blakes 7 teams beaming down to blow up a federation base.
This table would benefit from some industrial machines and scatter pieces maybe spoil piles and mine vehicles to increase the LOS blocking and provide some areas of difficult ground. Otherwise the table is very bare when looking across a level.
This star wars inspired set of desert terrain looks great. All the buildings have a common look and style. They block LOS and funnel movement. there are pieces of scatter to provide cover and break up the open spaces. these look like cargo boxes, moisture vaporators and appropriate looking vehicles.
Terrain also adds to the puzzle of the game. Units need to move to secure high ground for good fields of fire but waving a flag on top of a hill can also attract unwanted attention.
Historically armies have used terrain to their advantage. The Spartans fought the numerically superior Persian empire in a narrow pass nullifying the numerical advantages and allowing the qualitative superiority of the Greek Hopilites to achieve maximum advantage.
Regardless of the terrain theme you are picking you still need many of the same types of terrain. The them determines how you depict the terrain. Star wars is a great example of themed terrain sets. You have desert worlds, forest worlds, desert worlds, ice worlds and heavily urbanised worlds.
Here is an example of a post apocalypse terrain set. This has ruined buildings that block LOS and provide elevation, a rusted car that could provide cover and possibly reduce movement and piles of broken concrete as rough ground.Everything is painted with a consistent rust and grey colour to give a consistent feel.
This cave is being made out of cork bark. This uses snow and bones to impede movement and the cave naturally funnels movement. A band of heroes could defend this cave mouth against a horde of skeletons for some time.
Here is a mining or industrial setting. This would be great for games of necromunda or other sci fi skirmish games. I can see my Blakes 7 teams beaming down to blow up a federation base.This table would benefit from some industrial machines and scatter pieces maybe spoil piles and mine vehicles to increase the LOS blocking and provide some areas of difficult ground. Otherwise the table is very bare when looking across a level.
This star wars inspired set of desert terrain looks great. All the buildings have a common look and style. They block LOS and funnel movement. there are pieces of scatter to provide cover and break up the open spaces. these look like cargo boxes, moisture vaporators and appropriate looking vehicles.
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