NagoyaHammer.com

Hi folks.
Recently I have purchased some new pieces of terrain from various places and I have spent a lot of time looking round, comparing prices and value for money.
When we play our games (except board games and card games obviously) it is usually nice to have some scenery on the tabletop. The quality of the scenery available and whether or not it matches the pieces around it varies quite a bit. I know the first bit of terrain I made for Warhammer looked awful, and even now I prefer to buy terrain kits rather than McGuyvering something together from an old shoe and two cigarette butts.
But how about you? What do you think about the whole terrain business? A worthwhile investment or something that doesnt need much thought?

I actually really enjoy scratchbuilding terrain from stuff I have lying around and although mine not be the prettiest, I find it serviceable enough. From my perspective, wargaming is expensive without worrying toooo much about terrain.

I am not against buying terrain but it would have to be something pretty specialized, difficult to build myself, or really shit hot for me to consider buying it.

I put functionality ahead of looks when it come to terrain BUT if I had a dedicated room with a gaming table that I could leave out on display 24/7, I might view things differently.

I ticked the 10k ~ 20k option, but that's for terrain I make myself. Good looking terrain is just as important as good looking minis. You have to spend the cash to get results in either field. You also have to spend the time. I mean, painting a mini is just the same as painting terrain, and they both tend to require the same level of painting (altho different techniques) and when you factor in build time, terrain often works out as a greater investment of time and effort than a mini does. So, spending the same money on a whole table worth of looking-good as you would on a few tanks makes sense to me.

*edit* that said, I do think pre-made terrain has its place. Buildings are a good example. You can make your own buildings, but to make em properly takes an insane amount of time (brickwork, window frames, li'l birdies in the eaves, and so on) so you may as well just pay a few thousand yen and have somebody else do it for you.

I like making terrain, but doing it right can be expensive in terms of time and materials, so I'm considering spending some good money on a few commercial pieces as well.

having made more terrain than perhaps most of the people on Naghammer I have to say quality and quantity are both very important and well as variety. things should look great and be great... spare no expense unless you are on a tight budget then go nuts with garbage and see where it takes you... but if you can raid a rich kids bits box it makes even garbage look good.

I voted "less than 5000" - about half because I'm a bit of a skinflint, and about half because making good-looking terrain is so fun and easy. I wouldn't want to sew a mat together, and professionally-made trees are really worth the money, but aside from that I'm inclined to try and build what I need.

(Of course, "good-looking" terrain is, for me, defined in the same way I define a "good-looking" army - if everything on the table is finished, and looks good from my five-foot-ten-inch-tall tower three feet above the table, that's good-looking. No birdies in the eves for me!)

tl;dr I think the "worthwhile investment or something that doesn't need much thought" choice Prim presents in the OP is a bit of a false dichotomy. You can make good terrain with lots of thought put into it for not a lot of money.

The Other Dave wrote:I voted "less than 5000" - about half because I'm a bit of a skinflint, and about half because making good-looking terrain is so fun and easy. I wouldn't want to sew a mat together, and professionally-made trees are really worth the money, but aside from that I'm inclined to try and build what I need.
I think the "worthwhile investment or something that doesn't need much thought" choice Prim presents in the OP is a bit of a false dichotomy. You can make good terrain with lots of thought put into it for not a lot of money.

I didn't mean it as an A or B choice but rather as a sliding scale. Some people never seem to bother with making terrain, other people try to have terrain for every game they play. Most people fall somewhere in the middle.

I am thinking about purchasing some terrain kits. However, I am taking my army building slow due to the mortgage and trying to put a company together. So, I do think terrain is as important as the army itself! But that said, I am happy playing with scratch built stuff that has had some care taken to put it together, i.e. shaped and painted, or cool.

I used pine cones as weird plants in a 40K game and I thought they looked cool and were a good size for hiding things and for cover. I was thinking of painting them soon too. But this is of course just my view and others may think the idea silly. Another terrain piece I built was a wall made from protective polystyrene lining of the box the TV came in. I cut it, put etching on it, painted it and then put moss on it. Again, I think it looks nice and was not so expensive.

Love and care McGuyver is always welcome for me. But I would love to invest in some custom terrain, too.

On a side note, I think contributing to the cause is important. I have just enough terrain for one table now, albeit a little mix and match, and I try to bring it each time I come to a game day. If we could all do this it would mean that we are baring the load together as gamers and more importantly friends.