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Hi guys,

I am currently looking to become a designer and producer of urban terrain for 40k (to start out with). I was wondering if I could post this topic so that the gamers themselves could let me know what they want and need. These are the points on which the terrain would differentiate itself:

- The terrain will be easy and quick to put together (like a puzzle, no glue or anything needed).
- Look good without painting (for those who prefer to limit their painting to their armies).
- Be strong (hold up to the rigors of daily gaming).
- Be very very cheap (aimed at the financially limited gamer or gaming clubs which need loads of terrain)
- Be modular (to a limited degree, such as stackable building floors to make larger buildings).
- Have little detail (without the detail of resin and plastic the above requirements can be met).

Anyway, thanks for your help and opinions.

Greetz,

David

***Edit****
Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies, we are going through with the design part so please fill out this questionnaire which I started under the news & rumors section of this forum.

Its called "New modern buildings with interior!"

If you want to expand past just the 40k player market I wold like to see stuff like a warehouse or apartment building allowing interior play for 28mm modern/near future/sci fi.

Jake


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If you want to expand past just the 40k player market I wold like to see stuff like a warehouse or apartment building allowing interior play for 28mm modern/near future/sci fi.

Jake

There is a serious lack of modern and SF-looking civilian stuff.

Modern, concrete, and glass tower type modules, with ruined walls and useable interiors, would be fantastic.

These could be built on square, rectangular, hexagonal or octagonal plans.

Tau and Eldar pieces would also sell well.

Tau is distinguished by domes, tapering ogival towers, smooth curves and curved corners, and asymmetry.

Everything Kilkrazy said. What materials are you considering?

I want to have terrain which....
-cheap
-easy to carry
-flat(yes,detail is important but we must put miniature on it.)

I'd like to see scenery/terrain that forces players into constantly moving instead of staying stationery during the whole game. The terrain needs to throw up as much problems for the players as the armies do; not all terrain needs to have firing points that only encourage static play.

It is objectives and enemy movement that cause forces to move, not scenery.

Stuff without skulls and bling would be a great start.

And easy to store. Make it stackable / nestable / collapsible if possible. Like the original necromunda or epic stuff

As others have said, hab blocks would be amazing. A good release of hab blocks (ruined and otherwise) could get me back into 40K. I'd love to see fighting over real city style terrain. The cities of death stuff is fine, but it doesn't actually look like anybody LIVES there. Hab blocks would go a long way towards fixing this. And yes, get the grim darkness across in a way that doesn't involve a skull on every wall.
Good luck!

I've suggested for a while a sprue of details (doors, windows, radar dishes etc) that could be attached to plasticard or foam core walls would work best.

What Kid Kyoto said. That's a great idea! Take a flat sheet of plasticard, maybe cut a few holes and glue on the "terrain bling" windows, doors, whathave you. glue the walls together and you have a building. Or even some options ot where you dont even need ot cut the card, just glue it on, but I htink that ends up looking so applique.

This stuff is golden guys. Exactly the kind of feedback I am looking for. As soon as preliminary designs are ready I will post them here. In the mean time keep up the discussion!

Kind regards,

David

p.s. you can also attach pictures of buildings which give the mood you are looking for (indeed without all the skulls as an example)

I think flat(ish) plastic sheets with connector pieces (like the Necromunda card and bulkheads) is a great way to go for terrain. It is modular, easy to expand, easy to store and you can add on as much or as little detail as you like.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:I've suggested for a while a sprue of details (doors, windows, radar dishes etc) that could be attached to plasticard or foam core walls would work best.

I would buy such a sprue.

Make the doors and windows in a frame with varying frame depths to allow for different thickness of material for walls (standard foamboard, and standard plastic card)

Also make said frame in two different halves that can be pushed together.

For example I have a piece of foamboard and I want a door in it. I cut out a 2 by 3 inch piece and then taking the two sides of the door frame I place one on either side of the hole and press them together so that they fit together snugly (but not so snugly that I can't take them out again if I so desired).

I've got to say, the sprue of clip-on details sounds amazing. Maybe even combine that with the clip/connector idea, so you don't even necessarily need to glue the walls together. It'd be completely modular, portable, and easy to store.
Maybe make sets for different thicknesses of material? So for each set you get a sprue or so of details, plus a handful of corner and maybe t-clips and + clips to assemble the buildings.

Anyone can make a box from foamcore; it takes windows, ledges, cornices, door frames and ornamentation to make it feel like a real building. I'd also consider selling a texturing agent to give a building a stonework feel.

WH40K suffers from a serious dearth of xenos terrain. Everything from Ork to Dark Eldar. Terrain specific to all Xenos races would be well received, if done right.

Eric

For me the one thing missing from most urban battlefields are remnants of the previous civvie occupants. Burnt out/wrecked vehicles other than tanks, shipping containers, bins, broken furniture and so on.

Modular easy to assemble/take appart/store terrain would be a god send. The Cities of Death stuff is nice, but storing it is a pain in the bum.

Some roads which are actualy of a sensible width with molded on drains and kerbs.

MagickalMemories wrote:WH40K suffers from a serious dearth of xenos terrain. Everything from Ork to Dark Eldar. Terrain specific to all Xenos races would be well received, if done right.

Eric

TRUTH. How far could one go selling that before the GWIP terminators come knocking? But yeah, I'd buy some before the cease and desist.

grizgrin wrote:TRUTH. How far could one go selling that before the GWIP terminators come knocking? But yeah, I'd buy some before the cease and desist.

A year ago I would have said this, but with the success of many companies that essentially make 3rd party add-on bits and kits, there might be space for a company to survive here. Especially since buildings tend to be somewhat 'plain' with the idea that gamers can equip them themselves.

For Eldar-style, go for a design with lots of swooshy curves and such. Avoid ripping off the standard curved looks GW uses, but be a bit similar.

For Dark Eldar, see above but spiky, and maybe a bit more brooding. Basically, for Eldar stuff, avoid straight lines whenever possible.

Ork stuff is easy... Ramshackle structures. Could be sold as 'post-apocalyptic' as well.

Necrons? Circuitry-covered Egyptian stuff. I think Hirst already does some molds with this design concept, even.

Tau seem big on rounded shapes, and a lof of the structures I've seen for them seem very 'classic sci-fi' in design.

I concur.

Just avoid putting a specific Tau or Eldar sign on things and it will not violate GW copyright.

Kilkrazy wrote:
Just avoid putting a specific Tau or Eldar sign on things and it will not violate GW copyright.

...And it'd be a great opportunity to personalize buildings with bits and pieces from various kits. A plain "Ethereal Alien" structure dressed up with the proper bits will suddenly look very Eldar-ish, for example... And custom to the creator!

griz,
Balance & KK have the crux of my meaning.

I'm not saying that GW specifics should be copied, but you can do a lot to make things look 'appropriate,' while still not violating copyright.

Do you have the new DE codex? If so:

Check out the Tau building on page 79. Sans the guns, something like that could easily be made without violation.

Look at the Eldar structures (only partially visible) on pg 73.

Page 67 have great looking DE structures that, though they look to utilize new DE bitz, could be reasonably made without DE bits.

Lastly, look at the towers on pg 65. Now, aside from the fact that GW has already made them, someone making things with this look to them would do wonders, I'd bet.

I'd imagine that skimming through the various xenos codices would yield a ton of non-copyrighted inspiration.

Eric

I would like some terrain that can take a beating. (Think of little kids)
And easy to store would be nice.
That's about all I want.



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I would like some terrain that can take a beating. (Think of little kids)
And easy to store would be nice.
That's about all I want.
I don't really care how awesome it is if it won't last a week because I cannot store it or wouldn't survive little family members.

3rd pic down looks like a gargant belly, sorta

I'd be interested in a building detail sprue, like Kyoto suggested. They already do this kind of thing for model train layouts, but something geared towards GW's chunky 28mm scale with a (limited and tasteful) touch of the grimdark hasn't been done yet, to my knowledge. If I had a sprue or two of doors, windows, and decorative elements, I'd be a lot more likely to crank out those foamcore ruins I've been meaning to make for ages, since I won't have to slave over the details to get something that doesn't look like... well, foamcore.

MagickalMemories wrote:WH40K suffers from a serious dearth of xenos terrain. Everything from Ork to Dark Eldar. Terrain specific to all Xenos races would be well received, if done right.

Eric

Gotta disagree. Even if we put the IP issues aside you have this equasion (note, SCIENCE).

Wargamers>40k players>40k Eldar players>40k Eldar players who know of your product, are interested, and will pay your price

Generic modern or near-past terrain can be good for all sorts of eras, all sorts of games and there really is not all that much out there.

Sure the guy who makes Eldar towers or Tau colonies will have the market to himself but it's a tiny little sliver of the potential market.

In tact buildings.

That means buildings that aren't ruins.

We have enough ruins.