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So, I don't know if this is the best forum, but it seemed right. Since I am asking about prepainted terrain it felt weird to post at the Modeling forum

Family life takes up most of my time lately, and I want to dedicate most of my time to actual miniatures, without sacrificing the pleasure of a good looking table. Can you guys recommend good, reliable companies making prepainted sci-fi terrain?

Searching the web I came across these:

Bandua (https://banduawargames.com/es/2417-ready-for-battle) Good looking, modular, but no interiors.
Antenocitis Workshop (https://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/designed-for-infinity/mdf/) They have a little stuff out and a couple completed kickstarters for more. I like the designs but the colors are a bit washed out. Fantastic designs, though.
4Ground (http://www.4ground.co.uk/28mm-jesserai) Painted, not printed. Simple but good looking paint schemes.
Plast Craft (http://plastcraftgames.com/en/7-colored-infinity) Really good looking, some designs with usable interiors.
Gamemat (https://www.gamemat.eu/our-products/terrain/sk/) Limited line, more 40K, but nice looking.
The XLC (http://www.theextraordinarylasercompany.co.uk/product-category/preprintedterrain/) Simple but effective designs, more near-future than Sci-Fi.
Battle Wiki (https://www.battlekiwi.com/product-category/tabletop-terrain/sci-fi/) Really good designs. Actually preprimed/premasked, but easy enough to get a fast, good looking table.
Muse on Minis (https://museonstore.com/collections/infinity) Prints look really nice but the design is a bit uninspired IMHO. And no interiors.

Can you guys recommend anyone else?

Personally I'd recommend asking a few painting comission services for their take on making some terrain. Even if they use the MDF type stuff, I expect they'd get more interesting results.

My only experience with the kind of laser-cut MDF that most of those links provide is kinda sour. VERY basic, lots if joint points and not much detail.
I've not used those ones specifically so I can't give exact feedback, but the examples they use look very simple; airbrush and forget.

What types of games are you playing?
And do you want stuff to look decent, or very good?

The Bandua terrain is the only one I've seen in person. It's pretty good for players, mostly for skirmish games. The buildings are very blocky, which is actually very nice when playing, because it's pretty clear if you have LoS or not (no more "if I move my model 1/4" this way, can you still see it through that half broken window?"), and you have stairs and flat surfaces on top, so you can easily measure distances and put your models where they should.
But you can clearly see the edges and how the mdf parts go together. You also have much fewer details and variety (it's mostly cubes) than high quality plastic terrain.
If you're mostly focused on playing wargames, and want something that's still an order of magnitude better looking than unpainted stuff, it's a good option.
If you're more into small-scale narrative games (where you have guys that open doors, look inside buildings and stuff), you might find them bland.

PossumCraft wrote:
Personally I'd recommend asking a few painting comission services for their take on making some terrain. Even if they use the MDF type stuff, I expect they'd get more interesting results.

My only experience with the kind of laser-cut MDF that most of those links provide is kinda sour. VERY basic, lots if joint points and not much detail.
I've not used those ones specifically so I can't give exact feedback, but the examples they use look very simple; airbrush and forget.

Painting commission is so expensive, i am pretty sure that will go for something like 600 or 800 euros.

I highly rate 4ground. Having internal detail puts them a step up from a great many other manufacturers.

I love their American Legends range, and their medieval stuff. Their fantasy range is also brilliant. Never had a good look at their scifi stuff though.

Here's my Dead Man's Hand table from last weekend. All the buildings are 4ground. Mat is from Deep Cut Studios.

I've seen PlastCraft prepainted terrain and I liked it. Since it is plastic and not MDF, it can allow for some curved surfaces and is much lighter.

If you want a really easy option try paper terrain. All you need is a printer and some heavy card stock paper. It's already "painted" and you can churn out a lot of stuff for not much $. Fat Dragon Games has a great selection of Fantasy and Si fi buildings and scatter terrain.

@Winterdyne That table looks amazing The one thing I have not been able to find out is if the 4Ground buildings have playable interiors...

@fresus I mostly play infinity, with some Necromunda here and there. I am not overly concearned about great details, I actualy sold a huge lot of plastic terrain because I haven't got the time to built and paint it anymore :(

I highly rate 4ground. Having internal detail puts them a step up from a great many other manufacturers.

I love their American Legends range, and their medieval stuff. Their fantasy range is also brilliant. Never had a good look at their scifi stuff though.

Here's my Dead Man's Hand table from last weekend. All the buildings are 4ground. Mat is from Deep Cut Studios.

I would like a step up from paper terrain. I actualy have a table setup with plastic terrain and have used the infinity paper terrain alongside it a couple times, but it feels too flat. MDF or the plast craft stuff looks better, I feel Plus, internal details

Davout wrote:
If you want a really easy option try paper terrain. All you need is a printer and some heavy card stock paper. It's already "painted" and you can churn out a lot of stuff for not much $. Fat Dragon Games has a great selection of Fantasy and Si fi buildings and scatter terrain.

I've not done their sci-fi terrain, but 4Ground and Plastcraft are fun to put together; they do still require time to assemble, but much less than assemble+paint. It can be a nice way to break up painting an army so you don't burn out on that part but still keep moving the project forward.

There's also the Battlefield in a Box line from Gale Force 9/Battlefront, but for 28mm Sci-Fi their options are a bit more limited. There's usable items in the "Essentials" line, though there's probably also common alternatives at most model railroad shops too. If you're in the "I'd rather pay more money than spend more time" camp though, probably worth a look at least: http://www.flamesofwar.com/gf9online_store.aspx?CategoryID=13336

4Ground is incredible in most of their ranges, easily the top MDF manufacturer. However, that comes at a cost - and serious time to assemble. They have 2-3 piece walls, meaning you get interior painted/designed walls, and they build stuff like opening/shutting doors/hatches/windows etc. They are "it" when it comes to the best MDF stuff on the market.

That being said, they're sometimes too much if you're not playing a lot. I have a ton of it - because I use it as advertising essentially when promoting my old west game. However, after taking months to muster the courage/patience to build the gigantic train station...I don't know if I'll go with much bigger pieces. They're just a lot of work to put together.

If you're looking for sci-fi terrain, the Jesserai stuff in 28mm is probably some of their least inspired designs. The air control tower is nice as is the giant mech bay, butt he basic structures are awfully boring for the cost. All of thier other lines are superb.

This portion of a game report shows off some of the interiors of the Old West line:

http://shootnskedaddle.blogspot.com/2016/09/an-iron-snaked-without-head-part-two.html

I have the Badlands set from Gamemat.eu. The paint job looks like what's on the pictures and the general quality is good. I think a set like that can easily be used in both fantasy and sci-fi settings.

I presume their other terrain pieces are of similar quality, so I wouldn't hesitate if their designs are what you like.

You could also look at Battle Systems who make modular printed cardstock terrain. It's mostly focussed on interior layouts but there are some more 'normal' smaller buildings (and being modular you can put together a lot of possibilities). The original sci-fi range is mostly sold out now but the urban apocalypse stuff would fit with near future and the shanty town stuff fits any sort of frontier settlement. They did recently complete a sci-fi mk 2 scenery kickstarter but no idea when that may go on general sale.

http://www.battlesystems.co.uk

If you are looking for some hills go to a pet store. I keep my eyes open all the time for discount aquarium and terrarium terrain. If you get it cheaply it makes great hills or rocky outcrops and is super durable. I made a whole dessert themed board out of the stuff.

I'm a big fan of Plastcrafts ColourED range. This is my current Malifaux board. The only things I painted are the scatter terrain - crates and log walls. Currently planning a second using some of their city terrain.

JMMelo wrote:
@Winterdyne That table looks amazing The one thing I have not been able to find out is if the 4Ground buildings have playable interiors...

@fresus I mostly play infinity, with some Necromunda here and there. I am not overly concearned about great details, I actualy sold a huge lot of plastic terrain because I haven't got the time to built and paint it anymore :(

I highly rate 4ground. Having internal detail puts them a step up from a great many other manufacturers.

I love their American Legends range, and their medieval stuff. Their fantasy range is also brilliant. Never had a good look at their scifi stuff though.

Here's my Dead Man's Hand table from last weekend. All the buildings are 4ground. Mat is from Deep Cut Studios.

I can Second WInterdyne's recommendation for 4Ground. AND yes- the battle goes on inside, as well. The roof's are interchangeable. the multi-floor buildings stack.

If you browse ebay, you can usually find painted terrain for sale there. It might need some touch ups but it is an option. Granted it is a bi of the luck of the draw for what people are selling.