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We have a 4-8 game table, and im wondering what would be our best bet for avoiding the super expensive GW buildings? Is foam a good option or is wood better? Or is there an alternative store to buy model buildings for cheaper than 80 bucks for a single tower?

Ohhhhhhhh.... SO many options:

This guy: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsmD5774MOQhjYBkXqu3Jdw

This guy: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTerrainTutor

Our very own Wyloch: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrKJd7jQ989DZvtf5C69mYA

And our last three posts have been on terrain building: https://skinflintgames.wordpress.com/2017/09/11/terrain-talk-pt-3-the-board/ - building a board

https://skinflintgames.wordpress.com/2017/09/03/terrain-talk-pt-2-hills/ - hills

https://skinflintgames.wordpress.com/2017/08/21/terrain-talk-pt-1-ruins/ - ruins.

Hope this helps!

Cheapest theme table terrain to make is get some foam board, a bucket of sand (You can get a bag of sand from a home supply store generally for the price of a tiny bucket of hobby sand), fish tank gravel (assorted sizes) and PVA.

Some fish tank plastic plants to put here and there to spice up the ruins never hurts. You can for example take one of those 8" tall kelp looking plants, and chop it into pieces and get a little random foliage to put around.

Or just a thin piece of MDF, cut a bunch of 2" x 2" squares, and then random area terrain sized pieces. Just go crazy with the fish tank plants and have yourself a death world. The 2" x 2" pieces are for basing the plants so they are movable.

There are LOTS of paper models out there for both fantasy and 40k with a lot of them free. And, they are not bad, if you like cutting and assembling them. Personally, I think they are great and only cost being the print and card stock.

I use pretty much mostly paper for my fantasy war table.

Card stock on cardboard works well if you're going the paper terrain route, otherwise you can make so much out of foam if you're patient...

Oh, I do love foam terrain!! Here is my castle centerpiece I made for my board. I made it all sectional, so I can take it apart and just use the tower, gatehouse, etc.

Get comfortable with wood...foam-core...coffee stirrers...and cheap plasticard (cut from "FOR SALE" signs available at Home Depot). I made this Mordheim terrain a few months ago all from scratch.

@Elbows - that is way cool!!

I really enjoy Mantic Battlezones. Modular, not that expensive, a cohesive aesthetic and you can fill a table with about 100.00

Cheap and EZ is my style.

Not the best pictures, but everything there that is not GW terrain (3 of those) is all cheap foam. Not the nice one, but package styrofoam from various boxes that I collected. Not the best work either, but very easy to make and costed my some glue, cheap craft paint, some Spackle, and a lighter.

You can knock out enough bunkers and walls to fill a table with painted stuff in a fast amount of time.

Oh, and one more thing to consider: basing. You should try to locate some proper MDF tiles or sheets you can cut up - or failing that look into "lapboards" which are those mdf chip-board dry erase boards. They're not super cheap, but cheap enough. Hit em with some sand paper...and you have a pack of 12x9" tiles to build buildings on, etc.

Depends if you want a permanent table or a one off for a large game. This one cost about $30 all told, though it could use a bit more terrain:



For one off games rocks and cloth are not terrible if you're just tired of fighting over the same crater and ruin every week.



IMO of course.

Sparyfoam and yard sale plastic plants - my tyrnanid/jungle table probably only cost about $20 (not counting the landing pad of course)


Used with care Paper fold is pretty awesome too.




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Personally, I'd rather have stuff I made myself than the same stuff everyone has, even if it doesn't look quite as nice as GW.


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A few more expensive pieces mixed in also go a long way.

@kestral - I like that look of the bivouacked army tents you have there!!

They work great in paper fold. Bigger things sometimes not as much.

There is probably not more than $20 of materials in this table:

Keep an eye open for pet stores selling aquarium terrain at discount prices. I built most of a desert themed board for about $50. Plenty of hills, rock towers, tunnels, and cliffs. Prepainted and super durable.