Switch Theme:

preferred terrain  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Poll
How do you like your 40k terrain?
Lots of buildings
Craters, hill and forests
random fun
Terrain is for sissies... give me my killing field

View results
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in us
Sword-Bearing Inquisitorial Crusader




Northern Virginia

So some friends and I were talking today about how much terrain and what kind of terrain people use in 40k and I wanted to get others opinions, because frankly terrain placement can often times have a monumental impact on the game. For example one group I play with loves using the city of death buildings so we almost always play on a table with large ruins 2 or 3 stories tall that block LOS and provide even more cover than the game generally has. This provides their CC troops with ample room to close and engage longer ranged forces. While other friends play mostly with craters woods and hills to provide cover but very little blocking of LOS with benefits shooty armies. So what are your opinions? And lastly I was wondering if there is a general terrain set up in the top competitive scene.
In my FLGS campaigns they generally use themed tables for each scenario that is being played

"Paranoia is a very reassuring state of mind. If you think they are after you, you think you matter" 
   
Made in us
Anointed Dark Priest of Chaos






I love the look and theme of urban/industrial ruins terrain. City fighting is very cinemtatic and a propper city table is very eye pleasing. I have always liked this type of terrain regardless of what edition of 40K I have been playing and regardless of what army and I have owned both shooty and hth oriented armies. Give me Stalingrad in space any day of the week...

++ Death In The Dark++ A Zone Mortalis Hobby Project Log: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/663090.page#8712701
 
   
Made in ca
Angered Reaver Arena Champion






I like to change it up. A nice battle in a sparse wooded area, perhaps a fight over a bunker or outpost, random encounter in a ruined city. I think that pretty key in this game is avoiding situations where you think to yourself "damn this is the same battle as last week, how are the dice gods going to rule this time?" Change that table up frequently to keep it interesting.

Sangfroid Marines 5000 pts
Wych Cult 2000
Tau 2000 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Lots and lots and lots of buildings. Heaps.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in us
Wicked Warp Spider





The Webway Gate in California

We like to mix it alot with no terrain, buildings, ruins or hills and hedges.

We were masters of the stars once and we shall be again

 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut





It is nice to have a themed table. We have a couple at our club, for example one box of terrain is all Eqyptian Style. Otherwise it is nice to have a mix of a few buildings, hills and some barricades.

Battle reports and random musings on my blog - http://lyracian.blogspot.com/ 
   
Made in us
Anointed Dark Priest of Chaos






What would serve this thread nicely would be for people to post up pics of terrain/table pics of actual games. We all have lots of pics of our games, this visual record would be worth a thousand words for showing what kinds of tables people actually play on and would give lots of food for thought and discussion. Any takers?

++ Death In The Dark++ A Zone Mortalis Hobby Project Log: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/663090.page#8712701
 
   
Made in gb
Krazed Killa Kan






Newport, S Wales

My friend who I play against usually runs a valkyrie with multiple rocket pods, LR Punisher w Heavy flamer on hull and sponsons, hellhound and 2 squads of vets in 1000pts. I however play horde orks (60 boyz plus boss and nobz in trukk with extras that change depending on my mood) and so I like terrain that gives cover saves (considering he destroyed 2 units of 20 boyz in 1 turn with punisher and valkyrie)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2009/05/27 11:24:23


DR:80S---G+MB---I+Pw40k08#+D+A+/fWD???R+T(M)DM+
My P&M Log: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/433120.page
 Atma01 wrote:

And that is why you hear people yelling FOR THE EMPEROR rather than FOR LOGICAL AND QUANTIFIABLE BASED DECISIONS FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE MAJORITY!


Phototoxin wrote:Kids go in , they waste tonnes of money on marnus calgar and his landraider, the slaneshi-like GW revel at this lust and short term profit margin pleasure. Meanwhile father time and cunning lord tzeentch whisper 'our games are better AND cheaper' and then players leave for mantic and warmahordes.

daveNYC wrote:The Craftworld guys, who are such stick-in-the-muds that they manage to make the Ultramarines look like an Ibiza nightclub that spiked its Red Bull with LSD.
 
   
Made in us
Shas'o Commanding the Hunter Kadre




Missouri

I play Tau, so preferably none. But if that doesn't work then random's good too, so long as it's not too random, or "random"...as in "Gee, funny how all the cover ended up on the side of the board you decided to take and all I ended up with was a crater."

 Desubot wrote:
Why isnt Slut Wars: The Sexpocalypse a real game dammit.


"It's easier to change the rules than to get good at the game." 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




Arizona

I want it all. Usually I get it all.

One or two tall LoS blocking monsters. Either a tall building, stone formation, huge tree.

Two or Three forest or rocky area terrain bits.

A nice fat hill.

A ruined building.

A section of low walls and fences.

Some not-difficult hill terrain.

that's what... maybe 8 terrain pieces?

Sprinkle on little trees, bushes, stones, etc for flavor and BAM table.

(We usually play on a 8x4 table tho, so we use a bit more terrain)

"I drive a big car, cuz I'm a big star. I'll make a big rock-and-roll hit." "I am a big car, and I'm a strip bar. Some call it fake, I call it good-as-it-gets."

I am both selfish and chaotic. I value self-gratification and control; I want to have things my way, preferably now. At best, I'm entertaining and surprising; at worst, I'm hedonistic and violent.
 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






Depends on the armies. Infantry heavy then lots of terrain, especially ruins. Tank heavy (20-30 tanks on the table) then a lot less terrain as you run out of space fast.
   
Made in us
[ARTICLE MOD]
Fixture of Dakka






Chicago

I posted a thread in modeling&painting detailing the creation of my latest table & terrain pieces.

Here's a pic of the table finished:



   
Made in ca
Huge Hierodule






Outflanking

Usually a scattering of everything, though occasionaly more themed.

Q: What do you call a Dinosaur Handpuppet?

A: A Maniraptor 
   
Made in us
Loud-Voiced Agitator



San Diego

nice table redbeard. oh how i wish i knew how to do that kind of stuff

Bolter Fire is my worst nightmare  
   
Made in us
[ARTICLE MOD]
Fixture of Dakka






Chicago

It's really pretty easy. I go through the steps involved in making the base table in the thread I linked above.

Making the little buildings is just a matter gluing whatever scrap stuff you have together creatively

   
Made in us
Sword-Bearing Inquisitorial Crusader




Northern Virginia

yeah I read the article redbeard, its pretty awesome. I think we are going to spend a weekend soon making a themed snow table at my friend's place. My buddy's girlfriend got him a 4 by 8 gaming table for his bday last year and its pretty sweet. Its basically a giant wooden frame with storage space. Next time I go by I'll take some pics and post them. But its great. Its perfect for inserts. We generally build 2 by 4 or 4 by 4 inserts that can be just plopped down into the table for easy playing. Right now we have an ash waste table and a desert table. Another project I would love get off the ground is a hive for necromunda. Actually making a giant spyer would be pretty cool.

"Paranoia is a very reassuring state of mind. If you think they are after you, you think you matter" 
   
Made in za
Painting Within the Lines





Goodwood, South Africa

I like the board to have variety, preferably lots of LOS cover. If it's just covered in tiny rocks then why bother.
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





We find that 2 inch high hills with impassable sides and passable ramps carved in are the ideal 5th edition terrain. Not much else is even necessary for generally fair, atractive looking, practical games.

Good luck!
   
Made in fo
Regular Dakkanaut





The harbour of Thor

I like random terrain.
My idea to make it truly random is, to have terrain cards. One card for each piece of terrain in your collection. After the cards are placed, then roll a d6 to scatter. This has worked great so far, giveing my mates and I lots of varied battlegrounds.

We will reclaim what is our  
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka



Chicago, Illinois

I fething love modular boards and boards that have actually slopes and heights etc.. One I saw went from a Height of 3 inches then had a depth of 3 inches valleys etc.. Basically it had gulleys and was just incredible to play on and wa really looked at with the thought of 25mm.

To many times do I see people make terrain that really doesnt fit 25mm


I I built a board that is what I would go for kust having actual inset craters that dont sit on the table is cool along with ravines etc..

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2009/05/28 02:32:26


If I lose it is because I had bad luck, if you win it is because you cheated. 
   
Made in gb
Horrific Hive Tyrant





London (work) / Pompey (live, from time to time)

Depends what army im playing.

with my horde orks i have KFF's anyway, so not really bothered all that much.

With the salamanders ive just started im hoping for heavy terrain, make more use of plenty of flamers


with my blood angels its different
feth terrain!
suer, gunlines are bad, but an all jump pack army is pretty quick.
death company flying towards someone with a chappy in the unit is allways funny as small arms fire does nothing to them.

Suffused with the dying memories of Sanguinus, the warriors of the Death Company seek only one thing: death in battle fighting against the enemies of the Emperor.  
   
Made in us
Wicked Warp Spider





The Webway Gate in California

When playing SM and Orks I liked buldings for the cover and vantatge points. I liked hilly or ruins for Eldar.

We were masters of the stars once and we shall be again

 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Redbeard wrote:


See that's a good amount of terrain. Not enough to clutter, but better than the featureless valleys that show up in virtually all the BatReps in the Battle Report forum. Great looking table.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in us
Long-Range Black Templar Land Speeder Pilot




Chicago

I personally love urban tables. The street to street fighting changes tactics up so much from the standard open fields.
Besides, city tables just look so much cooler than fields. Especially in an objective game.
"What are you fighting over in that open field?"
"I dunno, maybe a Space Marine dropped his lucky penny?"
"What about you guys on that city table?"
"Oh, we're fighting over (governor's palace, orbital relay, armory, strip club)"

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. -Groucho Marx
Sanctjud wrote:It's not just lame... it's Twilight Blood Angels Nipples Lame.
 
   
Made in gb
Hardened Veteran Guardsman






near Reading, Berkshire

Just started battling on a very minimal terrain board, which as IG I found a bit unsettling, but the upside is you get very clear lines of fire:



For fluffiness, if not for winning, I would rather have a city fight board with lots of buildings and a claustraphobic, hth bloodbath feel (even if it is my own brave troopers providing the blood for the bath).



What I want to do next is base my cities of death buildings so I can just lay them out on a 6 x 4 tabble with just the "roads" left in between them. I have access to a laser cutter and have laser etched some bases for my buildings, just need to put it all together..

   
Made in gb
Lead-Footed Trukkboy Driver






Leicester, UK

I like to have a mix of terrain, and each battle being different.
Sometimes a wide-open killing-field, other times a claustrophobic city-scene.
Hills, LoS-blocking buildings, bunkers, forests, ruins, craters ... all is good!
One recent battle had the table split into 3 sections - city ruins at one end, craters and barricades in the middle and pretty open at the other end (meant to represent the edge of a ruined city). Worked nicely

I refuse to enter a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent. 
   
Made in gb
Hardened Veteran Guardsman






near Reading, Berkshire

Here is another version of the same table set up for "jungle" warfare



I keep it modular so I can mix it up. Also got a few Fantasy bits, see if I can find a pic to post.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here we go, not an actual battle, just messing around putting stuff out.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
But this is how I like it best..



Dakka dakka dakka.................

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2009/05/28 22:06:27


 
   
Made in us
Anointed Dark Priest of Chaos






Some pics of ACTUAL games I have played in to show the types of boards we set up and use:

Cities of Death:


recent 40K game w/ my son:

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2009/05/29 14:12:30


++ Death In The Dark++ A Zone Mortalis Hobby Project Log: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/663090.page#8712701
 
   
Made in gb
Sure Space Wolves Land Raider Pilot




wakefield west yorkshire

CT GAMER wrote:I love the look and theme of urban/industrial ruins terrain. City fighting is very cinematic and a proper city table is very eye pleasing. I have always liked this type of terrain regardless of what edition of 40K I have been playing and regardless of what army and I have owned both shooty and hth oriented armies. Give me Stalingrad in space any day of the week...


agree

city fighting is what 40k was made for it makes you more aware of fire lanes /fire shadows my local sore has loads of city terrain and we have had some epic games in the citys (or whats left after the imperial navy bombs the frack out of it) lol

it makes for more tactical play..... long range fire is possable...but allso hth units have a chance to close to do what they do best (not just get mowed down in turn two) and it makes players play a game of motion and fire ..static armys dont generaly do well in citys ...

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2009/05/30 14:42:52



fear the dark
fear the angels for we are death
darkangels 15000+ pts
sisters of battle 6000+ pts
imp fists full codex company (lord knows how many pts)
space wolves - under construction but well on its away to a grand company
retired (may return) after a codex fubar
next ???????(but there will be a lot of it)

 
   
Made in us
Rough Rider with Boomstick





I like buildings, BIG TALL BUILDINGS, and lots of them

I have dreams about playing on a board with massive buildings linked by bridges, and industrial waste at the bottom of the buildings. Vendettas flying between the buildings and dropping troops off, it would be awesome. One day I will make it come true

The Happy Guardsman
Red Templars
Radical Inquisitor
 
   
 
Forum Index » 40K General Discussion
Go to: