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.

I have a really huge box full of buildings (thanks Mantic!). 40k is unplayable without a table filled with terrain.
What I normally do, is that every player gets to build up his side of the board. That way, everyone can try and use the terrain to his advantage.
I also like the idea of each player building a side of the board without knowing where they will deploy.

Me and my friends set up the terrain aesthetically.

We make sure to put no extremely tall buildings in deployment zones. Both players must make sure that no one is setting up terrain in order to get an advantage.

Once we have the table looking like a battlefield and not a game station, we agree upon the field and then we roll off for deployment zones.

I'm honestly surprised to hear that people actually use systems for terrain instead of building it organically to make the game as cinematic as possible.