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Got any? I would like some unique ideas as all i can think of when making terrain is
ruined wall, ruined wall, ruined wall. but if you have any ruin ideas, go ahead and share em.

40k or fantasy? Can't go wrong with trees / woods / area terrain.

Ruin.

Find the plumbing section of your local DIY store and you'll find large PVC endcaps that make good fuel storage tanks.

 Monsieur_Maladroit wrote:
Got any? I would like some unique ideas as all i can think of when making terrain is
ruined wall, ruined wall, ruined wall. but if you have any ruin ideas, go ahead and share em.

Don't worry, GW suffers from the same problem...except all they can think about is skulls, skulls, skulls.

Really sort of depends on what you are doing. Fantasy, 40K, Infinity, Iron Kingdoms, some other sci-fi, some other fantasy, a particular faction within a particular system, historical periods, regional designs...

One of the easiest and fastest ways to get some ideas though (as well as a head start on the design) is to take a peek at a paper modeling site like this one:

http://papermau.blogspot.com/

Browse through it, or use the labels to filter things.

Once you have something that looks workable - do a mock up using the paper to figure out what kind of scaling you may need to do (even tiny paper models like 1/144 can be scaled up to useful templates for 28mm wargames). Make any adjustments that need to be done - than figure out what sort of durable materials would work best for a given bit of terrain.

For construction - foam, foamcore, plasticard, foamed PVC, MDF, plywood and even cardboard can be used in order to provide a more durable structure and the thickness to make things look right. Use the measurements from the paper test model and transfer them to the material you have chosen to work with making sure to adjust for any thickness related issues (for example if you are making a cinder block wall out of 1/4" MDF - you will want to remember to reduce the length of the walls to accommodate the 1/4" thickness using butt joints or if you plan on doing miter joints...much of that can be avoided). Cut, build, detail. Certain materials can be scribed, carved or otherwise decorated in order to provide texture. Others like plasticard can be built up using specialty sheets (siding, stone or brick work...) to represent a given construction method.

Figure out what stage you want the building to be in. Are they still in good shape or have they been blown up. You can make some of those adjustments after the initial construction, or you can adjust the paper templates to reflect a wall or roof that is knocked down. Add appropriate detail bits and finish with paint, propaganda posters and debris.

More alien terrain, especially urban alien is a bit more work. Each have a certain aesthetic which can make it identifiable as from that army. If you wander around in a hardware, craft or discount store - you can often find things which look the part but are meant for something different. I have done "biodomes" using serving bowls that had a particular hashed pattern molded into them. Bit of styrene rod to represent support structures and a ventilation unit on the top that I salvaged off from bits of a broken DVD player. Several years ago, I built some Eldar looking structures using some PVC posts. Tau have some fairly simple curves that are easily enough achieved using a router and something like a 3/4" round over bit. For infinity - regular structures with that certain sci-fi flare that you see in shows and movies like Serenity (on the core worlds) and Aeon Flux for example...or any number of anime shows/movies. Privateer press has the whole steam punk thing going on, so you take something familiar - like a mill and you add some pipe works, boiler, smokestack and some gears (I find they work better for the appearance than belt/pulley designs).

There really isn't any shortage of ideas - though it does help to figure out what you want to do first. I like to work out a tables worth of terrain at a time, so I might do a ruined city with several buildings in various states of being blown up or falling over from neglect. Next I might do some sort of demon world - so I crack open the comic books and flip around for some inspiration from them and build what seems to fit the ideas. While demons might not have much use for a post office - things like a slave market, temples/shrines and of course various dwellings and institutes of torture and vice...

Dude, no word of lie, I was just doing this exact thing.

Take a few small cardboard boxes, and turn them into ruined buildings.

Tear the walls so that they're jagged, Xacto knife the windows, spray paint the whole thing grey and you're done!

Doesn't get much cheaper. I'll post a few pictures of what I made if you'd like. They're nothing special or fancy, but it's more acceptable terrain than books and cups randomly scattered across a table

Hills and cliffs mate. Hills and cliffs. The most overlooked stuff out there. Other fun options are the crazy towers of chaos. Create a heavy base, with steps leading up it, and the tower is say, 6x6 inches. 6 inches up, add a branch leading off the main tower, which consists of a walkway leading to another tower. 12 inches up, again, the same thing, in a different direction. repeat as desired. Repeat again for the suspended side-towers. WEIGHTED BASE AND FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF STRUCTURAL LOADING MAY BE REQUIRED. I'm planning something like this right now, a crazy tower with 3 bases and more spires catwalks and stairs than anyone knows what to do with.

One thing that I think is really important is to make sure to vary your terrain substantially.

A friend makes TONS of lovely terrain, but it's all detailed (interior too!) buildings for Fantasy. He also has built a very nice river that crosses most of a board (with bridges). I used to lose to him a lot playing my orcs against his Empire, but then I realized:

All of his terrain slows down movement (rivers), hinders assaults (buildings) and rewards shooting (buildings). He had almost no terrain that blocked line of sight, such as hills or woods. The woods that he did have were very sparse, so they slowed down movement, but didn't really hinder line of sight at all.

If you want a playing field to be enjoyable for everyone, try to have some terrain that hinders movement, some that blocks line of sight, some that provides good shooting platforms, etc. Alternatively, if you have a group that all brings terrain, go ahead and make stuff just for your army!

I find that if you think about what your force might be doing, or why there are on the battlefield, it's easier to think of stuff to build. 40K can always use craters, trench lines, earthen ramparts, crashed transports, and pillboxes. Fantasy can always use some fields, hedgerows, fences, woods, hills, ponds, and streams (and all of those work in 40K too!). Fun and distinctive things like a swamp or jungle grove (or oasis for a sand board) are cool too, and not too hard with some cheap aquarium plants.

Here is my take on terrain - the last thing you want to build is a fixed table. I used to play with some guys who ran on the same table every week - it was a beautiful table, but after about three weeks of play I could figure range in my head by where I was on the table - Random elements are your friend here.

 poda_t wrote:
Hills and cliffs mate. Hills and cliffs. The most overlooked stuff out there. Other fun options are the crazy towers of chaos. Create a heavy base, with steps leading up it, and the tower is say, 6x6 inches. 6 inches up, add a branch leading off the main tower, which consists of a walkway leading to another tower. 12 inches up, again, the same thing, in a different direction. repeat as desired. Repeat again for the suspended side-towers. WEIGHTED BASE AND FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF STRUCTURAL LOADING MAY BE REQUIRED. I'm planning something like this right now, a crazy tower with 3 bases and more spires catwalks and stairs than anyone knows what to do with.

Great, now you've got the gears in my head spinning.

A whole playing board, completely "indoors" per-say, probably small points matching (500?) with multiple levels. Shoot across parapets, shoot into the building, assault across floors, across catwalks...

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!

Now, what can I combine this with....

I like to mix up parts from these sets with my ruined buildings:

http://pegasushobbies.net/catalog/Peg.-Gaming-Accessories/c2/index.html?page=1

I love to go crazy with the platformer sets.

If your not too picky and have children, those big mega blocks make great walls and buildings on the fly. But this is more for temporary play. you could spray paint them uniform colors of grey and i think it would generally look nice.

Also loose shipping containers make for nice LOS blocking terrain.

Chaos Toadman wrote:
I like to mix up parts from these sets with my ruined buildings:

http://pegasushobbies.net/catalog/Peg.-Gaming-Accessories/c2/index.html?page=1

I love to go crazy with the platformer sets.

Thanks mate, now i know where to buy cool terrain for necromunda!

i've been working on some floating rocks for my uncle
right now i only have one large terrain piece, and 5 rocks on the flying bases.