So I'm seeing a lot of people worrying about terrain in relation to Legion. Do I have to spend a ton? Will FFG include terrain? How do you make this or that? These questions are mostly coming from people totally new to the proper wargaming scene so I wanted to make a thread with a quick tip from me and I'm sure someone else can contribute as well. So I'll say that one of my biggest tips is to use one of your biggest tools: IMAGINATION. Seriously, thrift stores are some of your best friends. Just go up and down the aisle (of any store for that matter) and look at the items on the shelves from a different perspective. It may just be a Pringles can but it can also easily be a grain silo with a little work. Hair curlers can actually be transformed into ladders with a few cuts here and there. Think unconventionally! Sometimes pretend you're an inch tall and standing next to the object. Does it look cool? What does it have the potential to be? I've done some pretty amazing stuff with a coke bottle and a can of spray paint. Nothing is too insignificant to you when making terrain. USE IT ALL! You'd be surprised what you can make with knickknacks, some paint, and your imagination.

Agree 100%!

Making terrain is actually one of my favorite aspects of the miniatures wargaming hobby and I am not artistically talented in the slightest!

Making terrain is extremely forgiving. There is almost no such thing as making a mistake when it comes to building and painting terrain, unless you are trying to make something that is super clean - and that's very unusual on a battlefield. Ninety nine percent of the time, you will be making things that are damaged, overgrown, eroded, and generally ravaged by violence and/or weather. The imperfections actually enhance the final product. On top of that, you actually get super results out of extremely easy to learn techniques (such as drybrushing) and cheap materials (foam, model railroad flock).

Do not fear terrain making. Not only is it easy and rewarding, having cool terrain will greatly enhance your miniatures games in terms of immersion.

Great post! I sometimes take an 'example' miniature out with me to stores to see what they'd look like next to a potential piece of 'scenery'.

Mostly though I just buy pre-made stuff, but I've always liked the idea of making my own stuff

QS =D

I am fond of commenting that once you start playing war games everything that comes into your hands gets turned upside down to see if it would make cool terrain. Food cups, shampoo bottles, packing material, everything gets evaluated as potential terrain.

Love those trees, thinking of getting some 20mm dowel and screwing that to some 3mm MDF the running air dry clay (Like DAS) up the sides.

The Plastic Aquarium Plant industry will be doing some good business too I dare say.

1 hour ago, power500500 said:

So I'm seeing a lot of people worrying about terrain in relation to Legion. Do I have to spend a ton? Will FFG include terrain? How do you make this or that? These questions are mostly coming from people totally new to the proper wargaming scene so I wanted to make a thread with a quick tip from me and I'm sure someone else can contribute as well. So I'll say that one of my biggest tips is to use one of your biggest tools: IMAGINATION. Seriously, thrift stores are some of your best friends. Just go up and down the aisle (of any store for that matter) and look at the items on the shelves from a different perspective. It may just be a Pringles can but it can also easily be a grain silo with a little work. Hair curlers can actually be transformed into ladders with a few cuts here and there. Think unconventionally! Sometimes pretend you're an inch tall and standing next to the object. Does it look cool? What does it have the potential to be? I've done some pretty amazing stuff with a coke bottle and a can of spray paint. Nothing is too insignificant to you when making terrain. USE IT ALL! You'd be surprised what you can make with knickknacks, some paint, and your imagination.

Pics please

If you aren't worried about how it looks and more worried about how it plays. Colored felt is great for all types of terrain. 2d (flat) terrain is prevalent in WMH due to its cleanliness factor when playing. Players agree on terrain stats before the game and its a go. I assume that flat terrain will come in the box like Runewars. Don't be shocked if some websites start making neoprene 2d terrain with artwork on it. With colored acyrlic full art tokens becoming more and more common (check out Broken Egg Games or Muse on Minis store) others have started doing that for terrain. Muse sells a table of infinity terrain for $300. Its printed artwork on acrylic sheets that you assemble. I could see something being done for star wars as well. Its a pretty good value as far as terrain goes.

Also check etsy. Lots of stuff on there for gaming, same with shapeways.

Lastly, model kits work great. Star Wars has a plethora of star wars kits. Find something close to 32mm scale and build it then break it. Break up some x-wings, tie fighters, AT-ATs and make rubble features and what not. There are so many ideas, and I am really excited to see what every comes up with.

Already thinking up 3x3 custom boards to make while we wait for the release, so far:

• Battle at the moisture farm
• Hoth shield generator
• Landing bay

I hope we get dedicated terrain thread!

1 minute ago, The Rebel Fleet said:

Already thinking up 3x3 custom boards to make while we wait for the release, so far:

• Battle at the moisture farm
• Hoth shield generator
• Landing bay

I hope we get dedicated terrain thread!

Dont forget the full board size is 6x3. 3x3 is fine for core only, but you'll want a bigger setup for full games.

1 minute ago, Extropia said:

Dont forget the full board size is 6x3. 3x3 is fine for core only, but you'll want a bigger setup for full games.

It sound like you can play smaller point games on a 3x3, so Im thinking of designing it to add the other 3x3 latter for bigger games . Also for the bigger games i'm thinking of just making regular table top terrain that can be moved around.

Makes sense. Just didnt want you to get a nasty shock thinking it was 3x3! Should look great for smaller games

So does anyone know what that equates to in terms of scale?

I'm starting to collect 3d models to print, but having a hard time grasping how much i need to scale up/down the models out there.

Should i just build it to 40k ish spec?

Papercraft. You can print in color, or go black and white and paint afterword. You can find all kinds of terrain online and even adjust the sizes yourself by printing at different scales.

1 hour ago, Ralgon said:

So does anyone know what that equates to in terms of scale?

I'm starting to collect 3d models to print, but having a hard time grasping how much i need to scale up/down the models out there.

Should i just build it to 40k ish spec?

i did some research and it looks liek 1/48 or 1/35 scale is close to 32mm. If anyone finds anything different please post it. I will start scouring the internet for 1/48 scale star wars models to salvage

1/48 is a bit big. Technically 32mm is about 1/56 scale.

However, that's pretty rare. There's some 1/52, 1/53 and 1/50 kits around but 1/48 is more common and should look fine mostly, especially once you factor in model bases and the fact that most wargames manufacturer couldn't work to an actual scale if their lives depended on it

a 1/53 AT-AT is "only" $100. most other vehicles are $20ish including AT-STs. this is gonna get expensive.

Yeah, that Revell AT-AT looks pretty tempting as a display/scenery piece...

But that At-At can be butchered and stretched to make 2 or 3 bits of terrain I think. Have it be the center pieces of the board, and then cardstock and knick knacks to fill out the rest of the board.

1 minute ago, Extropia said:

Yeah, that Revell AT-AT looks pretty tempting as a display/scenery piece...

if broken up right you have 3-5 pieces of terrain easy, and there is some TIE fighters at that scale too I found. could do a whole lot of downed imperial vehicles

3 minutes ago, Dirgepiper said:

But that At-At can be butchered and stretched to make 2 or 3 bits of terrain I think. Have it be the center pieces of the board, and then cardstock and knick knacks to fill out the rest of the board.

Yeah, but then me and my friend Kev can't do the mega display game we are already planning for our local show (we are lucky enough to have 3 FLGS and a yearly convention all in town!) in 2019, with 2 AT-ATs

I mean you buy like 5 of them.... its worth it.

The question is how to break them down. Build them up, shoot them with a BB gun a bit, load in a fire cracker or 2, put in box light fuse collect peices... profit?

I am real close to ordering one right now

edit* i caved. Revell 1:53 AT-AT is ordered

Also someone from the X-Wing subreddit suggested that some Public Libraries have 3D Printers for public use. After a quick search I found that the one near me has a printer for public use at $.10 per gram of material used. Depending on what you're wanting to build this could be a fairly cheap alternative if you're wanting to stick to canon buildings. I myself plan on building Anchorhead based off of The Old Republic MMO.

11 minutes ago, BergerFett said:

I mean you buy like 5 of them.... its worth it.

The question is how to break them down. Build them up, shoot them with a BB gun a bit, load in a fire cracker or 2, put in box light fuse collect peices... profit?

I am real close to ordering one right now

edit* i caved. Revell 1:53 AT-AT is ordered

A drimmel is your friend.

4 minutes ago, Dirgepiper said:

A drimmel is your friend.

way less fun than bb guns and fire crackers....

edit:

looking at 1/48 figs it looks like AT-STs and Snow Speeders. Obviously can do a hoth set up for sure, was hoping to find some x-wings and TIEs that were not crazy expensive. I am interested to see how much hard and soft cover there should be.

33 minutes ago, Extropia said:

1/48 is a bit big. Technically 32mm is about 1/56 scale.

That's an issue in Bolt Action, which is 28mm... People tend to get either 1/56 or 1/48 scale Tanks and other vehicles... But 1/56 scale is a tiny bit too small and 1/48 is a bit too big. Which isn't an issue if you don't mix/match scales. But it looks like Legion will be 32mm which means 1/48 should be better. That's also O scale for model railroad stuff.