I like visually appealing and realistic looking terrain myself, as I model much more than I play, but a balance with playability is great if you can work it in....
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| What makes good terrain? http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=4997 |
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| Author: | MaksimSmelchak [ Tue Dec 07, 2004 3:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
This was posted over at the [Terrainmakers] E-group: *** What makes a good piece of terrain? *** *** Does it have to be visually appealing, does it have to perform a specific task, or does it have to be functional? *** I'm interested in other peoples' thoughts... Shalom, Maksim-Smelchak. |
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| Author: | stormseer [ Tue Dec 07, 2004 4:56 pm ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
I like visually appealing and realistic looking terrain myself, as I model much more than I play, but a balance with playability is great if you can work it in....
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| Author: | Justiniel [ Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:05 pm ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
I would think, ideally, all three. For me visually appealing first, functional second and specific task third. |
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| Author: | CorwinB [ Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:06 pm ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
First, bad-looking terrain can really ruin the overall appearance of extremely well-painted minis used on it, which is a shame. I am always ready to spend time painting or assembling decent-looking terrain, even if it means less painting for units. IMHO, it's nice to have a central piece for most games, which will draw attention and make for nice pictures. A large building generally fulfills this role very well (FW Cathedral, Stalingrad elevator...). VARIED THEMATICS: It's also good to have various parts of the board with different thematics: on the large board (4x8), I often put both an urban setting (buildings, rubbles...) and a good amount of open ground (with just a few woods, hills). CHALLENGING TERRAIN: If you spread the objectives well, full control of the battlefield will be hard to achieve for an army, and I think such a board rewards good players (all city favors fast moving/small units armies, and open ground is a piece of cake for firepower/large armor armies). PRACTICALITY: Also, a good terrain piece has to be practical to handle, especially when considered as a whole with miniatures. Some pieces I was very proud of didn't pass the game test, sadly, like woods where the cramped trees made putting a single stand in cover an heroic task. |
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| Author: | MaksimSmelchak [ Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:41 am ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
I only build 6mm terrain anymore (really) although I've built the occasional larger-scaled piece for friends. I tend to agree with this list: 1) ATTRACTIVE: Be visually appealing: well painted and finished with the various little touches of detail that add to the overall appeal. 2) FUNCTIONALITY: Should be functional: that is to scale for the game you are playing. ?If a ledge should be able to hold miniatures make sure that the base of the mini will fit there. ? 3) GOOD SCALABILITY: Be sized correctly, that is not too big. Big pieces of terrain, while visually appealing, tend to get underused in most games and spend more time gathering dust then on the table. 4) GAMER-PROOF: Be sturdy enough to handle the gamer's storage and transport. 5) REALISTIC: Be realistic (see visual appeal). 6) NOT OVERLY THEMED: Not be too scenario/mission specific. 7) STANDARDIZED BASES: I make all of my pieces on standardized bases, which greatly helps out terrain placement. I use a 1/2 and full inch measure with my most common size being a 3"x3" square and a 6"x6" square.  MULTI-GENRE: I intentionally build scenery that can fit into several different genres as often as possible. Modern building double in sci-fi. European villages do fine for the Rennaisance, Middle Ages and often for Ancients as well. The same goes for Adobe brick / Middle eastern villages. Not only do I build multi-finctional terrain, but I seek out games that fit my terrain. My modern terrain is used for: - WWI - WWII - Arab-Israeli Conflict Scenarios - NATO / Warsaw Pact - Car Wars / Autoduel - Godzilla - Sci-fi (E-A, DS-II, etc.) - And whatever else I find that fits! Shalom, Maksim-Smelchak. |
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| Author: | Tas [ Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:56 am ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
I agree with Maksim's 1-5 and 8. My terrain has look look nice and be functional at the same time. This is not always achievable though which frustrates both the modeller and wargers in me. I am happy with a specific themes piece for a specific game and have made several in my time. The best I ever saw (in a pic, not live sadly) was an Imperial dam head at the top of a 8 x 4 table which had full fortifications and a ledge big enough for beetlebacks to walk across! For a specific event, somehting like this is awesome and inspiring |
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| Author: | Serps [ Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:26 am ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
For me, it's all about the aesthetics. The guys I game with may be happy with 5mm mdf "topographic hills", but it really grates on me. I'm ni the process of making some hex-based geomorphic terrain, which should make me much happier when gaming. |
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| Author: | vanvlak [ Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:26 am ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
Hi all, terrain has to agree with your rules, but also: 1 - has to have flovk which doesn't fall off 2 - has to be seriously cat proof (note that this is a far higher standard than gamer proof, drop proof, or squash by a Tiger Tank proof) 3 - has to be non-flammable (for those realistic scenarios) 4 - has to have ramps for vehicles, and ideally Titans, to be able to make their way up them. 5 - have to be large enough for your largest Titans or vehciles to cower behind. 6 - have to ba massively armoured 7 - have to have at least one crane 8 - have to be fabricated by the Ad Mech. |
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| Author: | CyberShadow [ Wed Dec 08, 2004 1:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
DELINEATION: One thing that is important to me is that it has to be delineated. It is important to know when it starts and ends. I dont like occassional trees with no idea of when a mini is 'in woods'. Aside from that, it should look good and it is a real advantage if minis can actually get to play in it (buildings, woods, ruins, etc). |
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| Author: | darkone26 [ Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:04 pm ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
I like all three points Quote: *** Does it have to be visually appealing, does it have to perform a specific task, or does it have to be functional? *** I prefer that because it gives more feel in the battle. I like the city fight stuff which I am putting together because you can have armies darting around and getting into street fights. I have tried just playing on the carpet or on the dinner table and while the game may be good there is nothing like having terrain to make it look good. |
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| Author: | Warmaster Nice [ Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:34 pm ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
COMPROMISE: I agree. Great terrain is the ideal compromize between these factors. THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS: I try to make my terrain as visually appealing as possible while maintaining some degree of functionality and playability. Of course not allways equally sucessfully. "LOOKS": I think looks should be the focus when building however if you make a bit of pre-planning and keep a few things in mind you can assure a reasonable degree on functionality and playability too. INFANTRY BASES AS A TERRAIN AID: As a minimum keep a rectangular and square infantry base at hand to make sure that these can be fitted in as many places as possible in the terrrain piece. STANDARDIZED BUILDING BASES: Secondly I agree that Maxim's standardized bases can be a really good idea. It makes storage easier and also makes it easier to construct good looking cityfight terrain. Cheers! |
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| Author: | Legion 4 [ Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:46 pm ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
GEO HEX is still my favorite and easiest way to go... too bad most of the stuff is OOP! ? And there are a lot of nice 6mm-15mm that work well for Epic too. Plus aquarium plants for that "off world" look!  |
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| Author: | darkone26 [ Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
Geo Hex is hard to find cheaply as well. I did look for Geo a while back but it would have cost an arm and a leg to get it back here |
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| Author: | Legion 4 [ Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:56 pm ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
OLDIE BUT A GOODIE: Got mine over 14 years ago and it was not cheap then! ? THE EASY WAY: I have the green mat with modular hills. That was the cheaper way to go. WINTER: For winter warfare just throw a white sheet over the mat and hills. DESERT & MARS: For desert use a tan sheet, for Mars - rust brown!  |
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| Author: | MaksimSmelchak [ Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:44 am ] |
| Post subject: | What makes good terrain? |
Hi Cybershadow, I know what you mean by delineation. I'm getting in the habit these days of discussing all of the terrain before the game and I even tend to type and print a small summary of a specific piece's terrain effects and tape it to the bottom of the piece. My last set of woods were mounted on felt cut-outs with the trees mounted individually or in groups on washers that could be moved to accomodate any size of minis. It worked out really well. Shalom, Maksim-Smelchak. |
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