Discussion: Terrain

I got an email recently from Genius Factory Games in relation to terrain, the body of which can be seen below. The gist is what terrain would be best to produce which would see most use in tournaments. Rather than let just myself answer, I'm opening this up to everyone on 3++ and we can hopefully compile a rough list to send back!

"We at Genius Factory have been looking at trying to put together a low-cost laser-cut terrain solution oriented in part towards those trying to put together big events-- our goal is to create "table in a bag" kits with all the terrain that one needs to set up a table available in one source for cheap. I know you have some experience with getting things set up for 3++ con, so in your experience, what sorts of terrain do you find most desirable and most useful, and how much of it do you tend to have per table?"

Terrain-ing Wheels...

Hey goofballs and assorted lovemuffins, it's TKE.

I've been going through a lot of pictures of terrain the last couple days, and scouring the good old resource of eBay, and I've come to a baffling and disappointing conclusion;

Terrain doesn't really exist, in a commercial sense, for competitive gaming in this hobby.

Email in: Map Reviews

"Hey, Kirby. Long time reader, and all that noise. I've been re-reading your Terrain Setup article, and I was wondering if you'd be willing to look over a few maps of mine and critique them. I've attached the .vsavs, but here's pictures of each of them:

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f348/jkmvalgaav2/4x4Tau.png
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f348/jkmvalgaav2/4x4Crash.png
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f348/jkmvalgaav2/6x4DesertPass.png
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f348/jkmvalgaav2/6x4OpenField.png

All in all, I think my biggest problem is OVERdoing cover. What do you think?

- Anne"

40k Terrain Setup - by MVB

To begin any discussion about tournament terrain, the first and most important thing to do is read Games Workshop’s own commentary on terrain for Warhammer 40,000. You may or may not always like what GW does with its company or rules, but we love and play this game for a reason … so let’s see what they say about the game.

As a general rule in Warhammer 40,000, the more terrain, the better the gaming experience. If you use too little terrain, games will be short and not very satisfactory, with too much advantage going to the player who gets to shoot first. For a balanced game, where close combat troops have a chance to get into contact with the enemy without being completely blown away in a couple of turns, we expect that about a quarter of the total playing surface should have terrain on it. The assumption here is that if terrain pieces are roughly 12” by 12”, then six or seven pieces are needed to fulfill the 25% recommendation on a standard 6’x4’ table (of course these dimensions are approximate and terrain features like woods should not be square, as irregular features look much better!).