Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi

I'm looking to put together some fluffy terrain to go with the guard army I am working on (link to the fluff of the army in my signature).

The premise of my army is that they are embarking on a crusade to reclaim worlds that have been inaccessible since circa end of great crusade/beginning of the Horus Heresy. There are no imperial records of these worlds, but a Rogue Trader has recently discovered a battlefield with wrecks of baneblades - none functioning, but the chassis were salvageable indicating that the Imperium had been there and battles had been fought there, quite possibly large scale ones, at some point. The Chassis have been dated to the time period mentioned.

As mentioned, there are no imperial records of what these worlds contain, nor the battles fought there. This could simply be that the information has been lost over time, they have been deliberately removed or they were never even recorded, there is nothing to suggest why the information isn't there.

The location is to the North West(ish) just into the Halo Stars. I do know (or though the Imperium may not) that there is an Eldar Craftworld in the area. This is also a stronghold for various Ork factions, given the relative nearness to the Eye of Terror, Chaos is also likely to have influence in the area.

I am looking for suggestions of what types of worlds they are likely to find, and also what sort of terrain/structures and cultures they may find on those worlds. Also, any centrepiece items (something worth fighting larger battles over) may be found.

Any suggestions/inspiration you guys can offer would be appreciated.

I'd be interested to see more specific responses to this but as I see it you've got a blank canvas to do what you like with here. The terrain and climate could be whatever you like. Ruins of human civilisation (or xenos), statues of chaos gods, destroyed ork fortresses... but as a centre piece to fight over maybe some kind of sealed entrance to an underground structure would be good. It needn't have to be too big but it could have clusters of ruined buildings around it

If it's a table you intend to play on I'd plan out the shapes of terrain to play on first and then try to fit something to that. All kinds of cool terrain could be made but if it isn't practical to play on then it's just a display table

 Snake Tortoise wrote:
I'd be interested to see more specific responses to this but as I see it you've got a blank canvas to do what you like with here.

That's part of the problem, I have too many options. I was hoping to get some ideas or inspiration from you guys. Sort of, 'ok that idea for a planet/battlefield sounds cool' or 'I would never of thought of that'

Basically, something that just grabs me and makes me think 'Yes, I like that, its gotta be done.'

The aim would be for the terrain to be playable.

Ork terrain is lots of funs. They're actually fungi and reproduce by spores, so some mushroom rings or even just some in ruins or around corpses could be pretty foreboding. When they emerge they're pretty low teck and exist as feral orks. Basically fantasy orks, riding boars instead of bikes and being led by shaman weirdboyz. These miniature societies then rapidly advance into modern ork technology. As more orks emerge they begin to divide themselves into klans based on traits such as the bad moons rapid tooth regrowth mutation or the blood axes obsession with humans. From there they turn on every living thing and then finally eachother. Their buildings are like their vehicles, ramshackle scrap, giving you a lot of flexibility making ork bars, hovels, fungi fields, or squig pens. They're also fond of building crude effigies and graffiti, giving you a lot of options for creativity. Extremely easy to do with nothing but plasticard, green stuff, your leftover bits, and whatever else your little orky heart can loot.

If you're going for "worlds where major battles were fought and everyone is dead" you could do a ruined city in a sort of ashen waste. Possibly a world that faced major orbital bombardment/exterminatus. Ruins could be human or xenos, with dunes of ash, scorched/dead trees, and craters. Wrecked tanks/aircraft rusted and falling apart.

I like the idea of some sort of underground facility as the primary objective, a bunker placed under a large building that suffered major damage but has pieces still holding together.

If I could design a game board/world I think I'd go for a tundra environment with some snow piled up against the sides of buildings but not so much that it has to be represented on model's bases. A Skyrim-esque world that looks like Norway (or Russia, Canada etc.). A relatively thin band of temperate climate along the equator, large expanses of tundra further north and south and very large polar regions.

Structures on the table would be few but industrial looking; lots of pipes coming out of the buildings and ground like a petrochemical plant.

I went to a random planet generator and came up with these three:

------------------------------------------------------------------
Planet Name: Sheol
Location: Zaria System
Description: A hot and humid world with many rivers and swamps. Forests of large fungus-like plants dominate much of the surface. An abandoned research outpost is the only sign of civilization.
(Sounds like a place to fight orks! With all the rivers and swamps, buildings may be elevated on struts or piers, jutting over water features)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Planet Name: Tiberius
Location: Claudian System
Description: A large gas giant with a dense methane atmosphere. The planet orbits close to its parent star and supports a number of small rocky moons.
(Pick a fight on one of the rocky moons - pockets of explosive methane from the host planet can be found across the planet. Maybe this a Necron tomb world? Lots of mausoleums and tombs. And there's a beacon, repeating its forelorn message over and over. Is it warning others away or is it a trap to draw in the unwary?)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Planet Name: Athena
Location: Teebia System
Description: A small, flat, muddy planet. There are no oceans, instead much of the surface is covered with a shallow layer of water. A single large moon creates a strong tidal effect, essentially making the entire planet a tidal mudflat. Microscopic plants live in the mud, giving it a brown-green colouration in places. Although most of the planet experiences regular flooding, there are a few places high enough to remain dry. The atmosphere is is mostly comprised of CO2, making the planet uninhabitable to humans.
(Fighting knee-deep in mud, slowing ground units and making it dangerous for tracked/wheeled vehicles. Perhaps the high CO2 is from excessive pollution back when the planet was a Forge World; Now there's an important Factory City sliding into the muck whose supplies need to be recovered before the city is lost forever....)

*Goes looking for the random planet generator you speak of*

This has some potential

Thanks

Of course, this gets my creative juices flowing:

++M339.41 221.1850 standard++

From: Hunter Ghillia, currently attached to Company Ranrence
To: <++redacted++> of Company Sleedaw

We have arrived in the Halo Stars as directed by Inquisitor <++redacted++>. As per contract 65.32 A-73, I am filing my weekly report with you.

Our first stop was the planet Sheol, in what we learned had been called the Zaria System in ancient days. We were fortunate to acquire a still-active telemetry signal from the southern hemisphere of the planet. His Grace, Operations Officer Centaris had our vessel set down five kilometers from the source of the signal, so as to not unduly trigger any local defense systems.

Approximately half-way to the complex, we were beset by an ork force of no small size, intent on banditry of our convoy; they were easily dispatched with haste. However, we arrived at the complex with our guard up, lest there be more forces waiting for us in ambush.

We found the solitary complex that rose above the surrounding mushroom forest to be mostly abandoned. A few wild animals and ork bandits had managed to penetrate into the some portions of the complex, but it was otherwise devoid of life.

It was then we found the elevator systems to the underground vaults of the research station, and the source of the transmissions. Though there were signs of a hasty evacuation, most of the mainframe computers were wiped and devoid of useful information. However, Enginseer Vain of the 3rd shift was able to extract a flight plan departing the system for the nearby Claudian System. Unfortunately, all records for that system were absent from the database.

As I send this transmission, we are preparing to depart Sheol and make our way to Claudian System. As per our agreement, I am including in this transmission the data files we did recover for two styles of coffee makers and a snippet of code for an algorithm to sort materials by atomic weight.
------------------------
++M339.41 228.1610 standard++

From: Hunter Ghillia, currently attached to Company Ranrence
To: <++redacted++> of Company Sleedaw

We have arrived in the Claudian system and we were alarmed to find that our ship's system was picking up an ancient Imperial system from the seventh planet, which we later learned was name Tiberius.

As we approached the system, we discovered the signal was repeating, and emanated from the fourth moon - a rock-strewn moon covered in thick methane clouds leaking from the nearby gas giant. Enginseer Vain of the 3rd shift was able to determine that phenomenon of the gas clouds upon the moon was not natural - some manufactured source was drawing the materia from the planet to the moon for some unknown reason.

We touched down on the unnamed moon as close as we could to the source, though it was some distance away due to the jagged surfaces near the transmission that would have easily hulled our expedition's cruiser.

After a short, yet oddly gloomy trip towards our destination, we found ourselves wending in a greenish fog-filled chasm between enormous carved rocks. Through the foggy glimpses outside our vehicles, we soon came to realize that the massive rocks were actually enormous, upright hieroglyphic marks made of a glowing, basalt material. When we finally exited our vehicles, we were abhorred to realize we had been traveling for kilometers over roads paved by skeletons crushed into hard rock beneath us.

At our destination, we found ourselves in what appeared to be a titanic graveyard constructed of strange, monolithic mausoleums. They all faced towards a central point where lied the wrecked remains of an ancient Imperial Aquila lander, which cut a deep furrow into the side of a central basalt monolith.

Entering the titanic monolith we found <++transmission garbled - unrecoverable ++> ...we fled with all haste, and barely made it back alive to our own lander. But now, we have the co-ordinates and star map to the Athena Factory complex in the Teebia System!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
++ NO FURTHER TRANSMISSIONS PENDING ++

Maybe make a large mountain or such to block LoS in the middle of the table (makes the games more interesting too). But then you could add wreckage into it like a crashed flyer or ruins of a small outpost on the top of it.

It will really depend on available funds for the project but I have personally always wanted to create an ancient battlefield board. Essentially a flat field with all the terrain, including LOS blocking pieces, being made up of wreckage of a Heresy Era battle. One day I intend to make this with wrecked Baneblades and pieces of an exploded Titan scattered across the board.

Stormonu, love the flavour you gave to the battlefields.

I love the idea of the ancient battlefield - certainly possible to do it on a small (if you could ever call a titan small) scale.

Maybe the scratch build leg of an Imperiator titan whose reactor went critical

Cool fluff, great intro to the setting.

For the gas giant, ever play mass effect? One of the dlcs shadow something, had to assaulting a massive ship that stayed undetected by orbiting a gas giant in the gaseous tidal zone of the planet. It's speed had to match the rotation to stay within the right zone so this thing is actually just blasting along. You land on it's back and it's going nuts wind the dust and gas flying by and static discharge the size of lightning bolts coming off the ship. There's a huge battle on the back to gain access. It would be a cool concept for a game, but the board would be tough. Something metal and riveted would be good, and you can place extrerior ship doodads around for terrain.

E: shadow broker! That was it.