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I hope this is the right place to post questions about terrain I didn't see anything labeled terrain so I just went with the modeling section. As I delve deeper into playing War hammer 40k (I am relatively new) I find that terrain is an important part of the game. I have a group of friends who come to my house a lot to play. I have started to make some terrain, out of cardboard and popsicle sticks. This terrain as you can imagine is not super good looking but it serves it's purpose. I want to make better terrain though. I am pretty creative and feel like I could figure things out if I had the supplies. So that is my question, what supplies do I need. I have hot glue, cardboard, and black spray paint. What should I buy to just have some supplies so I can began experimenting. Assume I know nothing please, thanks.

Foam core and styrene are pretty popular materials for making buildings. Coffee stir sticks like you get at Starbucks or wherever are also pretty good construction material. You can also look at model railroad articles for ideas and/or plans to use.

I recommend starting with a good book or 2. For the super realistic stuff Woodland Scenics scenery manual is one of the best books out there but any decent model railroad shop will have a good selection of books that are great for reference. For more gamer friendly ideas check out GW's terrain book. It is pretty basic but has a good section on materials and some easy walkthroughs.

If you are a video person youtube is your friend. Just do a quick search and there are some great tutorials out there. There are also DVDs that are helpful. Miniwargaming.com has a pretty decent collection and they are pretty cheap.

Last bit of advice I have is don't buy anything just use what you already have. Bottles with unique shapes are great starter pieces. The original Star Trek shuttle craft model used disposable razor handles for the engines. Obtainuim is the key to making great terrain and it is all around you.

go to youtube, look for some of the terrain vids there.

Including any on "cheap terrain" where they show making terrain out of very common items.

Also, look for the video channel of "terrainaholic" he is awesome at making low investment but decent looking terrain.

You can get sheets of insulation foam for cheap at home improvment places (note, you cannot spray paint them) and foambaord hobby material at any craft store.

Just make stuff....experience is a great teacher - watch all the terrain vids you can;
Terrainaholic
miniwargaming
rubbish in rubbishout

I agree with the suggestion of acquiring a terrain book. the GW "How To Make Terrain" book will give you most of what you need to make good looking serviciable terrain without overwhelming you with hyper-detailed instructions that are better suited for model railroads.

I can't speak to youtube, but here's some very good sites for terrain building.

Necromundicon is a great source for learning how to make terrain from bits, toys, junk, etc. www.ironhands.com
As well as great pics and how-to's it's got construction tips, supplies lists, etc.
http://ironhands.com/

TerraGenesis.
An entire forum and archive dedicated to terrain building.
http://www.terragenesis.co.uk/

Matakishi's Tea House. Lots of neat cheap terrain projects and really good photography.
http://matakishi.com/

Lastly, if I may toot my own horn, I've made quite alot of affordable terrain with good results. Plug "terrain" into a search of our club's blog to see articles on buildings, hills, caverns, ruins, wargames table, etc.
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/

For some basic terrain supplies, I recommend first deciding what kind of terrain you want to build and then collecting what you need. Otherwise, you're likely to end up like my porch which is filled with boxes of stuff for terrain building.

If you want to build hills, all you need is foam, texture paint some small gravel and/or flock and maybe a stiff base.

If you want to build exotic urban ruins, there's a whole different collection of supplies necessary.