Terrain Question

[Alyster Wick]

So I got a group of gamers together for an Inquisitor Campaign with one big problem: no terrain. Since there was a consensus that the players would want to have a couple adult beverages during the games we are looking at putting together some quick pieces to play with.

The other issue is we are basically a group of workaholics. I barely have time to carve out working on models for the campaign so custom made terrain (while I love taking the time to put it together) is a little out of the question.

Given that background we were looking to all throw some cash together and just pony up for the GW terrain as it's easy to assemble and looks good with minimal effort. My question to the Clave is would two Imperial Sector kits be enough to put together a couple complete buildings (IE non-battle damaged) along with a few ruins and enough spare bits to slap on simple blocky shapes (I'm thinking about getting a couple blocks of wood/sheets of wood to make very simple/cheap structures to help fill out a board and add variation).

Anyway, thoughts from people who have purchased the Imperial Sector kit?

[Kaled]

If I were you, I'd save your money and follow Brother Brimstone's lead - look for cheap toys and household junk (cans, cardboard tubes, plumbing pipes, straws, old computer bits etc). Get a few cans of spray paint and make up a load of wash - you'll have it all painted in no time. Then print out some signs and posters and use them to add detail and you're all set.

It'll be far cheaper and a lot quicker - you could build the whole thing in a day plus another day to paint it. Spend the money you save on adult beverages and get your friends to bring all their junk too and turn terrain building into a party.

Plus, once it's done you can always go back and add more detail and make it look even better later if you love building terrain.

But to answer your question - yes, with two Imperial Sectors you'll get enough for a few small complete buildings, plus some ruins and some bits you can use to add detail to add to other things. They do take a while to assemble though, and while they do look good, something like that toy car park Brimstone used as the centrepiece of his table will be far better for Inquisitor gaming (plus it's far cheaper).

[Fugitivus]

In case you do go for the GW buildings, the Manufactorum kit is (in my opinion) the most "scale neutral". Instead of buying an Imperial Sector, you could buy several Manufactorums.

[Alyster Wick]

Thanks for the replies!

If I were you, I'd save your money and follow Brother Brimstone's lead - look for cheap toys and household junk (cans, cardboard tubes, plumbing pipes, straws, old computer bits etc). Get a few cans of spray paint and make up a load of wash - you'll have it all painted in no time. Then print out some signs and posters and use them to add detail and you're all set.

It'll be far cheaper and a lot quicker - you could build the whole thing in a day plus another day to paint it. Spend the money you save on adult beverages and get your friends to bring all their junk too and turn terrain building into a party.

Plus, once it's done you can always go back and add more detail and make it look even better later if you love building terrain.

Your points are well taken. The real issue is I only have one friend in the group with a background in miniature wargaming. It has taken me the better part of 2 years to find enough folks to take the leap into Inquisitor and right now folks have more money than time to put into prep (without going into it we are all swamped with our work right now).

To be fair though, you are probably right that I could find some stuff around the house and pick up some cheap building supplies for other pieces. For some reason in my mind the 40K scenery would have been an easy and quick solution. I have a weekend scheduled after the Superbowl for my one 40K friend to help me get a board together so I'll post the results once things are put together.

[Dolnikan]

The GW terrain actually seems to me to be more work than making some simple terrain yourself. All the detail on it is much harder to paint looking good and the assembly could be very time consuming as well.

[Brother_Brimstone]

Echoing Kaled's comments, excluding the board tiles, which were a labour of love and took a long time to make, every single piece of scenery on my board was slapped together in one shopping trip and a couple of hours. Go to a DIY shop and buy plumber's pipes (incredibly cheap), and then just use plastic bottles, cartons and metal cans, with the occasional bendy straw for a piece of piping. I made that terrain in one day, and I painted it all in one day too! I just laid them out, basecoated them with black primer, sprayed them all with metallic sprays and them mixed a giant batch of brown, black and chestnut ink and with a big home decorating brush just slopped the ink over them to make them look dirty and used and messy, using some kitchen paper to create patterns in the dirt to make it look more realistic.

A little hint though, if you're happy to throw a couple more quid in; buy some 1:32 ladders and put them on the terrain and it instantly scales them to Inquisitor size, as there's suddenly a point of reference for size. Finally, add a couple of posters and you're done.

It would have cost me the price of the spraypaint, plus about a tenner, max, for that entire board, and had i actually painted and built it together in one sitting, it would have taken me a single weekend, if that!

[Alyster Wick]

I just laid them out, basecoated them with black primer, sprayed them all with metallic sprays and them mixed a giant batch of brown, black and chestnut ink and with a big home decorating brush just slopped the ink over them to make them look dirty and used and messy, using some kitchen paper to create patterns in the dirt to make it look more realistic.

Two somewhat stupid questions, but I'm assuming the spray paint you used wasn't Citadel (as they're obscenely expensive). I'm assuming brands are probably rather different from the UK to the US, but any advice on the specific type of spray paint that you used?

Also, what type of basic paint did you use to mix the inks, or was that citadel you used? My plan would have been to get either cheaper modeling paint in larger containers or finding a smaller batch of house paint. I'd then water them down, combine the colors I was looking for and then add some detergent (I've found detergent works wonders at helping watered down paints act like inks).

Any advice on the front of whipping up a batch of paint to cover LOTS of surface area would be appreciated. I'm definitely not springing for an obscene amount of teeny Citadel paints.

A little hint though, if you're happy to throw a couple more quid in; buy some 1:32 ladders and put them on the terrain and it instantly scales them to Inquisitor size, as there's suddenly a point of reference for size. Finally, add a couple of posters and you're done.

I was planning to grab some rabbit wire to make ladders, anyone tried this out?

[Trasher]

Tried using rabbit wire or 1:32-ladders?
I used something like this around the time Inquisitor was released, not sure about the measurements though. There's an old WD article where they are used on pringles cans to look like ladders. I found a battle report where they are used too, it's named "2002p79-94 The Paraelix Configuration (Battle Report 2)" on my computer, guessing I've gotten it from Marco.

[TwinDeath]

Alright, so two points.

Firstly, go to a toy store and get Playmobil rocks, buildings, trees, and what have you.  Once you get past the cartoony look of some of them, you have terrain that is amazingly durable and fairly cheap, plus it's the right scale and pre-painted.  Building to building combat is great as well, as most of the pieces can have the roofs taken off so you can see inside.  Better yet, go to a flea market or garage sale or just check your attic/basement.  This really works, and has served me very well.

Second, (presuming power tools), get a whack of hardboard/pegboard.  I prefer it without the holes, but that's just taste.  Cut this into strips of varying lengths, each around 4 in wide, and make slots to fit them together at regular intervals.  A bit of paint and some small grimdark posters, and you have modular hallways/rooms that can be stored flat and slapped together quickly and easily into a myriad of designs.  For doors, you can cut holes or just glue on model doors from a hobby shop.

Hope this helps!

EDIT:  The best quality of the Playmobil, IMO, is that you can really just throw it in a bin for storage.  less fiddling with foam means more gaming time.

[Brother_Brimstone]

Two somewhat stupid questions, but I'm assuming the spray paint you used wasn't Citadel (as they're obscenely expensive). I'm assuming brands are probably rather different from the UK to the US, but any advice on the specific type of spray paint that you used?

Not stupid at all. I used plasti-kote spray paints, just because they were what my local DIY shop sold. I used a black primer spray and than silver and copper for metallics, and 'Stone Touch' textured spray for the concrete-y bits. As far as recommendation goes, i found they did the job exactly as i wanted, which is the most you can ask for!

Also, what type of basic paint did you use to mix the inks, or was that citadel you used? My plan would have been to get either cheaper modeling paint in larger containers or finding a smaller batch of house paint. I'd then water them down, combine the colors I was looking for and then add some detergent (I've found detergent works wonders at helping watered down paints act like inks).

Any advice on the front of whipping up a batch of paint to cover LOTS of surface area would be appreciated. I'm definitely not springing for an obscene amount of teeny Citadel paints.

Actually, this is where my method became a bit less follow-able. I had some old containers filled with the old Citadel black, brown and chesnut inks (which, unlike the modern 'washes', aren't watered down). I mixed these together in a jar and added water, and because the old inks are, in my experience, so concentrated, i got a decent amount of fairly strongly coloured wash out of it. That was enough to cover my 3x3 board and terrain.

Hope that's of some help.

[Dolnikan]

I have been building some buildings outof foamboard and painted them to look like they're made of concrete. It was very simple and quick, I just waste a lot of time on decorating the interiors with full furniture etc.

[Alyster Wick]

Thanks for all the advice guys! After a very disappointing hour or so at Toys 'R Us yesterday I'm think I may just get more inventive with DIY stuff. Considering how well some of the super cheap containers I bought turned out I expect to use more of those (plus you can store other terrain inside of them!).

Anyway, nothing is absolutely complete yet but I've got a before and a couple after pics below to show progress:

Before:




After:





I am going to go on record saying that the Manufactorum was a fantastic source of gubbins and pretty easy to fit together. That said, my original plan was to build some more robust, fully assembled building and that was just not going to happen. Still happy with the purchase though.

[Flinty]

Very nice, and good to see how many sprues/bits you actually get in the Manufactorum box. Although I am quite intrigued as to how much inspiration came from the glass of purple stuff, presumably out of the bottle with a chicken on it... I take it that's not a '62 Margaux?

[Dolnikan]

The buildings look good, very much like a part of an industrial facility.

[RobSkib]

Excellent stuff! I'm a massive Terrainophile and have a particular soft spot for well-made terrain - this is definitely on its way to being something of epic proportions!

Seeing as you've picked up some Manufacturum sprues as well (a great move btw), you should definitely work on City of Death-ifying the larger expanses of flat plastic you have presently. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, as you've presented signs of doing this already. Don't stop here! Those sprues come with hundreds of little gubbins - bulkheads, support pieces, gargoyles, lamps etc, that would all work brilliantly on the large pipes and buildings you have currently.

I'd avoid spending too much time creating scatter terrain or buildings purely from the CoD stuff if you're planning on mixing it with the larger scratch-built pieces - you'll have too much contrast between the 'plain' larger buildings and the the compacter kit-built ones, with all their undulating textures and details. Be vigilant! Use as many pieces as you can on the larger models and spend as long as you can on the little details - that is what really makes exceptional terrain stand out from the merely average.

For example, try and ensure that any sheer surfaces (PVC tubing, flat plastic boxes) has something on it to add texture - strips of card are the easiest, but things like posters, random tank bits from your bits box, lengths of wire and (if you're masochistic) scratch-built rivets will all pay dividends when you come to paint it. Try to make sure every building either looks bottom heavy or top-heavy - 40k architects don't build things with foolish concepts of aesthetics, practicality or health and safety in mind .

Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to seeing the progress you make on this.