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I kind find it in the rulebook, how big should the board be, and how much terrain should be on it?

For a standard game table size and game setup see BRB page 88

Terrain should be discussed with opponent.

All the local players use very sparse terrain and shooty armies, I've just started Tyranids and I think this is part of my problem.

6 x 4 with most of the good scenery in the middle of the table, or at least outside of the initial deployment zones. I reckon that makes the game all the better. Also, I would always have something as a centrepiece, although not always in the middle of the table, but something that defines it a bit. Like a big church, or a factory, or forest. Something that you can remember the battle by.

It's recommended 25% terrain coverage with a mix of area, low and LOS blocking terrain.

Standard board around here depends on the points size of the game, with under 1000pts playable on a 4'x4' table (1200mmx1200mm) and 6'x4' for larger (1800mmx1200mm).

6x4 is pretty standard. bigger makes for longer games, favoring a fast ranged or long range shooty armies. 4x4 is the smallest i would go, and that can get cramped and tends to favor CC armies.

If you think the terrain setup favors one army to much over the other talk to your opponent and come up with an agreeable setup.

The 25% guideline is a very good one. I personally like larger pieces with some fire lanes rather than a total polka dot of small pieces. The latter always seems to result in "every one has cover all the time." Having some fire lanes with a nice piece of LOS blocking in the center of the table while having plenty of cover to reward good maneuvering is nice.

But then I mainly play BA jumpers + devs so I benefit from both fire lanes AND cover, so I'm probably prejudiced towards that type of terrain setup.

As stated, 4 feet by 6 feet is the standard size.

25% of the board's area being covered by terrain is the recommended minimum. If you're not sure, take your terrain and try to fill one quarter of the table surface (a rectangle 2 feet by 3 feet) with it. If it overflows a little (usually the pieces are irregularly-shaped), you've reached the minimum. More is better.

Note those terrain pieces should include some pieces which completely block LOS (stuff vehicles or whole squads can hide behind). Some of those LOS-blockers should be in the middle of the table, breaking up the board into fire lanes and "shadows" where a unit can make a covered approach.

If you put tall buildings/ruins/hills toward the edges of the table, those act to some extent as "negative terrain", giving units in deployment zones the ability to see over stuff in the middle. Don't do this much; it means you'll need even more terrain to keep things balanced.

Try to distribute the terrain evenly around the table, leaving gaps of at least 4" or 6" between pieces so units can move around between them. Ideally you should set up the terrain (or have a neutral third party do it) with an eye toward making an attractive, balanced, and thematic battlefield. Do so before rolling to determine what the mission and deployment zones will be. Don't just roll Pitched Battle then automatically start setting up pieces in relation to the two 12" deployment zones. Distribute the stuff around evenly, then roll deployment and find out what's going to be in your Deployment Zone and what's going to be elsewhere.

If you are at a store ask a third party to set up the terrain. If you really need to, you may need to recreate terrain setups from WD battle reports.

Squash wrote:I kind find it in the rulebook, how big should the board be, and how much terrain should be on it?

Go here and read this.

http://yesthetruthhurts.com/2012/02/steleks-handy-guide-to-tournament-terrain/

Depends, Is your opponent playing guard and setting up the wheat field defense?

jb7090 wrote:

Squash wrote:I kind find it in the rulebook, how big should the board be, and how much terrain should be on it?

Go here and read this.

http://yesthetruthhurts.com/2012/02/steleks-handy-guide-to-tournament-terrain/

I was just going to link this. There's also a great set of podcasts interviewing Stellek about terrain set-up (two 20-minutes segments).