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I am trying to find a way to have a table's worth of terrain quickly and easily. I haven't really found any reasonably-priced fantasy terrain lots that match each other. Does anyone know of any good on-line places to find such a thing? It doesn't need to be resin and it doesn't necessarily have to be pre-painted, though I would prefer it was.

Thanks!!

find someone on eBay who makes nice homemade terrain that you enjoy the style of and ask them to produce some more for you. I've done that a few times and it always works out a lot cheaper than buying terrain sets from established companies. There are some really talented guys out there doing it simply as a hobby.

totengraber wrote:
I am trying to find a way to have a table's worth of terrain quickly and easily. I haven't really found any reasonably-priced fantasy terrain lots that match each other. Does anyone know of any good on-line places to find such a thing? It doesn't need to be resin and it doesn't necessarily have to be pre-painted, though I would prefer it was.

Thanks!!

Hello sir!

I'd say the first question to answer would be what type of board you wish to create. Do you want something like the realm of fire (Aqshy) environment where the AoS starter is set, or would you like a greener, more traditional/generic fantasy setting?

Next, the trouble is the "reasonably priced" part - in my experience it's hard to find reasonably priced, attractive, finished terrain. The price goes down the more you're willing to finish the terrain yourself, but to provide some examples:

F.A.T. mats - http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mats - Frontline gaming's printed gaming mats. At $95 for a 6' x 4' mat, they're not cheap, but as a single expenditure goes the FAT mats are great for giving you a full color, highly detailed environment all at once, which you can then add a few items on top of to finish off. If your opponents are willing to use their imagination, you could even use a grasslands mat and play the green areas as woods and the brown areas as clear. I do own one of these, and I regard it as one of my better wargaming purchases.

Ebay hills - example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Brown-Grass-Rugged-Hill-Set-Wargame-Wargaming-Terrain-/310223703841?hash=item483ac60f21 - A couple of finished hills from a good Ebay vendor will last a long time, and can be reused however you wish. I'd recommend a seller like this one, where you can buy multiple identical sets, in case you'd like more.

Pegasus hobbies - search ebay for "pegasus hobbies" - You can find these items on ebay, but check out The War Store to see what Pegasus makes that would interest Warhammer gamers: http://www.thewarstore.com/pegasushobbiesgamingplastics28mm.html Sadly, a lot of these items are now out of production, hence why you have to go to ebay. But, they make great low stone walls for providing cover, a good low-cost river solution that covers a lot of the board, and a number of items like cottages, a wizard tower, and a chaos altar, all at decent prices and pre-painted.

And, that's the three that pop to mind to get things covered in a hurry. Lastly, if you get the urge to make terrain, hills are very easy to make with some insulation styrofoam, a $7 foam cutter from a HobbyLobby type store, some elmer's glue, and some sand and paint.

If you get a chance, let us know what you go with, and maybe post a picture of the finished board. It may just be me, but I always think its cool to see how people's personal boards look.

You should check out The Terrain Tutor and DM Scotty on YouTube. They are both masters, and Scotty in particular has a rough and ready approach to terrain construction that involves junk from around the house to make cool stuff.

I cannot recommend them enough, made two 2 story ruins in about 35 minutes with terrain tutor's quick ruins technique. Both are decent size, and it cost me a grand total of about $.80 us (used part of a foam core board I got from the dollar store)

The cheapest way is always going to be to make your own. After that, you might find some deals on ebay. There is a lot of very nice scenery out there, but you tend to get what you pay for.

The old GW book "How to make Wargame Terrain" is actually a great deal. Had some nice ideas. Sand, blueboard, glue and cheap paint can turn out a lot of hills.

But if you really just want a tables worth and don't want to go through the trial and error of building it, finding some cheap sellers on ebay is the best. Or a friend who wants to make some stuff for you

If you have a gaming shop nearby, you might inquire if they ever sell off old stuff when they make new pieces. I've sold off a few dozen tables worth over the years as I make new stuff.


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This was where i picked up a dozen and a half pieces for playing AOS. A reward to myself for grinding away at Ebay selling off old models and out of print stuff i had lying around. The bulk of the money went to the wife, but I spent over a grand on pretty resin scenery. It's amazing stuff, very minimal flash or defects, and looks amazing on the table.

http://tabletop-world.com/

What kind of terrain? Houses, hedges, woods? What?

Buildings - look at renedra.
Woods - I use last valley because they are the best, but awkward to get.
Hedges - last valley.

I make 99% of my stuff, mind. Its quite easy.

Fish tank ornaments. They usually are made of resin and come ready painted. There are some nice fantasy-looking ruins and rock formations that frankly are dirt cheap compared to the official GW kits.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K6L0AOO/ref=s9_zwish_hd_bw_g199_i4?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=1TVJ41CZEH1BRCKE9F30&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=662660427&pf_rd_i=471492031

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ellie-Bo-Formation-Handpainted-Polyresin-Aquarium/dp/B00K6KZQE4/ref=sr_1_25?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1440147512&sr=1-25

@Kilkrazy - Fishtank ornaments is a great idea!

"For what game" matters a lot. If it's a game like 40k, for instance, in order for terrain to be meaningful, it must also be *tall* -- tall enough to block line of site to some of the bigger units, like wraithknights and IK's, anyhow. I'm guessing it's for AoS, but do you want to be able to use it for other games too? Keep that in mind.

It also depends on the table size you want to play, and the genre. It's really nice if you get terrain that can be used for both scifi AND fantasy.

Battlefield in a box makes a bunch of nice, prefab terrain pieces (fantasy themed too) that aren't super expensive, including river pieces. Obviously, GW sells terrain, too; some of it is actually quite attractively priced for the size of the kits (others, not so much). There are some places that will also sell old Warhammer Fantasy terrain right now, cheap -- and that can be an awesome deal.

For instance, this weekend, I picked up a Witchfate Tor for $45! In the last few weeks, I've actually grabbed most of the old Warhammer Fantasy terrain as it's gone on sale; some of them have actually sat so long at local stores that they have price tags from years ago as their pre-discount price.

If you are looking for generic fantasySF/historical terrain, paper craft buildings are quick, easy and cheap.

Buy the PDF, print onto paper which you mount on card, foamcore board or plastic sheet for strength before assembly. Add some internal bracing and you are set!

Search for Conflix on ebay.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
By the by, fish tank ornaments... awesome idea!

Well, I can't take any credit. It has been mentioned in previous threads. I think there are some very good ones for AoS though.

Thanks for all the replies!

I am really mostly looking for generic fantasy terrain mostly for skirmish games; rock piles, hills, forests and the like. I might invest in some buildings, but those I'd pick out to be more specific to the particular game (fantasy, steampunk, victorian, etc.).

I'll check out all the suggestions offered and see what I can do. I'd prefer to not have to build it myself as I don't really have the time to do so.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Well, I can't take any credit. It has been mentioned in previous threads. I think there are some very good ones for AoS though.

Now, now, now.

Kilkrazy - king of the fish people, huzzah!

Haven't bought any yet myself but Amera stuff looks like an absolute bargain:

http://www.amera.co.uk/

I second (or third, or fourth) the aquarium suggestions. Some neat and very reasonably priced stuff to be found there.

For forests, I've had some luck getting very cheap trees from craft stores. They're the sort intended for those Christmas village setups, but they're still the right size, and I've found some for as low as 2 for 1$.

Michaels has stocked their Halloween stuff.
A company called Lemax makes a variety of things, graves, wrought iron fences, crypts, coffins, trees.
Between the halloween set, the fall set, and the christmas sets you can get a pretty decent table.

Buy a copy of this (Ebay link) and follow the instructions.