Creating your Battlefield

By Elrad, in Runewars Miniatures Game

2 hours ago, Joker2007 said:

I'm married and have kids.

:) was just poking fun at myself. I have kids also, and I've had great success pressing the oldest one into being a gaming buddy! That said, it is hard to have any dedicated gaming space with the family. Mousepad type Gaming mats were a godsend when they became widely available.

By the way, can someone explain to me what a pvc mat is? Is it hard like plastic or.... what?

Think Vinyl. "outdoor weatherproof banner" sort of material. It rolls, its thin, and generally, its pretty slide-ish. Its not the best of materials for mats - its primary advantage is its cost.

26 minutes ago, Dosiere said:

:) was just poking fun at myself. I have kids also, and I've had great success pressing the oldest one into being a gaming buddy! That said, it is hard to have any dedicated gaming space with the family. Mousepad type Gaming mats were a godsend when they became widely available.

By the way, can someone explain to me what a pvc mat is? Is it hard like plastic or.... what?

No offense meant...I fondly remember my son (when he was 4) getting into my display case and destroying about 5 years worth of models...

Speaking of mats, do they lay flat or do they want to keep rolling up? The valley mat that Carbini linked would be great for a base with some smaller 3d terrain on top of it

My only experience with mats are mousepad types, and vinyl. Specifically the kind of upholstery vinyl used in restaurants and such. Snagged a 50ft roll left over from a remodel a few years back, and just cut it to lengths and paint it as I need. They both roll up well and lay flat, but neither likes to be folded, ever.

The PVC type sounds interesting due to cost. If it's the same material used in banners though I imagine it doesn't always like to lay flat unless you store it that way.

I'm preparing a module for ground X-Wing and I'm going to buy some mouse pad field on one of the following sites:

On any of them, I'm quite sure you are able to get a good field to play Runewars. Currently they don't have 6'x3' ground fields but they have 6'x4' mats, some examples which can match with this game could be the following:

7 hours ago, Hijodecain said:

I'm preparing a module for ground X-Wing and I'm going to buy some mouse pad field on one of the following sites:

On any of them, I'm quite sure you are able to get a good field to play Runewars. Currently they don't have 6'x3' ground fields but they have 6'x4' mats, some examples which can match with this game could be the following:

I know it has been said somewhere, but what is the best quality to take ? PVC or Mousepad ?

I recommend mousepad. Its thicker, which prevents minis falling over when the table is bumped, and it works a bit better to put foam tiles or books underneath for elevated sections of the map. It usually is a little more durable than other types of mat to creasing and tearing as well. However, it is much heavier than PVC or Cloth, so it will be more shipping and be harder to transport to your FLGS.

If you are looking for a super-cheap option, there are tons of companies that you could take a high-res free-use terrain image and as them to print it as a banner and they will mail it to you for like $20, with a perfectly sized carrying tube! Just order it a bit wider and longer than you need so that you can fold the grommets under and secure them with a bit of duct tape and voila... instant battlemat on the cheap.

Thank you @drkpnthr . i think I'll make the investment soon or later. I've got an old Warhammer field mat but the inconvenient is that it can stick to you pullover when you move your minis and is than a real nisance, having the minis to fall and your game to be completely messed... so I consider buying a good quality mat for a while and for the rest of my terrains, when I have alltogether time, room and money available for it, I'll delve into it. But for now, I'm gathering information and that's it. Investing in paints is already some additional costs in its own, I'll then buy the mat and then play with my game... plus, there's no indication by now on how to build a 3D battlefield that will meet the runewars requirements in term of space to leave free for units to move and maneuver.

One option for an old mat is to consider buying a larger piece of heavier clear plastic and affixing it facedown to one side, or laminating it if you have access to a big enough machine. I have an old Battlemasters map I've been debating performing this process on because it just doesn't lay flat because of years it spent folded. One of my friends took an old vinyl mat he had, put it on top of a 4x6 board, built a frame around it to hold it in place, filled in the gaps in the frame with silicone, and then poured the entire thing full of a clear polymer mix. Just bonded straight to the board, and then he made that into a tabletop for his gaming table.

Edited by drkpnthr

@drkpnthr wow, that is insanely good. I hope anything I construct is a third as good as that... lol.

Hidden Forest , they make amts and 2D Terrain and they have a new Kickstarter for more mats and snow terrain.

If you've got a 3D printer you could check http://www.thingiverse.com/ for terrain, I know this user has some terrain.

I just saw Escenorama, it's a spanish company so shipping to the US is probably expensive but i thought I show their stuff nevertheless. They got Fantasy , Ruins and Accesories and they also have this statue upcoming which might workf for the Daqan.

Edited by Iceeagle85

I have to say that 3D terrain, while nice looking, might not be a good choice for this game.

Normally if you collide with a terrain obstacle, you check to see that pieces capacity and if you can fit you go in. Now I suppose you could have flags that represent units and put matching flags with the unit trays that are in 3d terrain off the board, but using the terrain from the box set seems far easier...

1 hour ago, loki_tbc said:

I have to say that 3D terrain, while nice looking, might not be a good choice for this game.

Normally if you collide with a terrain obstacle, you check to see that pieces capacity and if you can fit you go in. Now I suppose you could have flags that represent units and put matching flags with the unit trays that are in 3d terrain off the board, but using the terrain from the box set seems far easier...

For terrain that can by occupied, the key thing is to make sure it can fit the actual trays, either through having the actual clear space from the get go, or being modular so parts can be removed (as suggested by FFG in the Runewars Lear to Play book).

Of the four terrain that units can enter in the core (Crumbling Wall, Stone Terrace, Swamp, and Forest), to my mind only Forest would present the most creative opportunities to accomodate unit trays.

If I were building a 3D version of the forest now, I would sit the actual terrain cutout underneath it and remove the 3D part when a unit enters, replacing it when it leaves...

4 hours ago, maxam said:

For terrain that can by occupied, the key thing is to make sure it can fit the actual trays

Or, as suggested above, by putting the unit off board and having a token/flag to represent the unit that is in the terrain.

Since facing and position does not matter in scenery then the actual presence of the physical unit is unnecessary. And that allows much nicer terrain pieces to match your lovingly painted minis

Just to say that this thread is not completely abandoned by me, I updated the OP with the few links provided recently.

By the way, just to complete it, what are a tray dimensions please ? So I can write it in the OP too. Thanks.

2 hours ago, Corto said:

Or, as suggested above, by putting the unit off board and having a token/flag to represent the unit that is in the terrain.

You're right loki_tbc 's suggestion was elegant.

I do not really see that much of a problem, while facing is important in other games you usually build terrain so that units can fit in or put a marker or even better part of the unit in it to show that it is occupied and for me personally a miniature wargame needs 3D terrain, it's just part of the appeal for me and thanks to the internet you can find plenty tutorials or shops to get or make good terrain easily.

Edited by Iceeagle85

If your going to use 2D terrain, you might as well use 2D models.

Personally I order my playmats from DeepCut Studio. They have fantastic quality and create mats in Cloth, PVC or Mousepad material in many varying sizes including 3x3 and 6x3. They are not the cheapest option, but I have been very pleased with their mats for both Armada and Bolt Action so far.

http://www.deepcutstudio.com/

My goal is to just make terrain using the footprints of the template, when something occupies the terrain off the terrain goes leaving the template footprint which my little unit goes onto, or the flag thing, that could work too but I think I would prefer the army models remaining on the board...IDK we will have to test this

And thanks to Beasts of War I have another one BattleKiwi , most of their stuff is Sci-Fi but they do have a little Fantasy and i have to say those Gravestones are nice and I really dig the roads one problem though as the name suggests they are from New Zealand so veryone not from New Zealand or Australia hast to pay 40 NZD for shipping but they say this on their website:

Quote

Shipping rate is currently a flat rate of $40NZD * for all order sizes. We will be updating this in the near future to better reflect your order weight. In the mean time, feel free to Contact Us to enquire if we can get you a better rate.

If your country is missing from the shipping options, please let us know .
*Note if you are only after something small and light we will refund the shipping difference if it is below the flat rate!


So probably not the most interesting link for most but for the people from New Zealand or Australia this could be something.

Edited by Iceeagle85