Hairy's Terrain Log - 40k Caves, boards and other bits...

[Hairy Norseman]

Here's the start of my terrain log. I will kick things off with a pic of what I've done so far...I am currently re-doing the hill as its more like a cliff than a hill.

I also have a 4ft square game board but I'm going to start altering that soon as I want it circular. Apart from re-doing the hill I have started work on a wood...well I say a wood but its more like a collection of tree stumps much like the one in the pic above. There's going to be about 4 or 5 stumps with each big enough to provide cover for a marine. I want to add some buildings as well.

My aim is provide a small collection of terrain to play games at home. Most of my games are played at the local gaming club so I don't need a huge board or much in the way of terrain.

I also want to get into Celtos, assuming I like the game system (I have a few figs but haven't played a game yet) so I will want to make some bits for that too.

I spent an hour or so last night making some cave gaming tiles and hope to have a pic of them up later. I plan on using them for games of 40k and Mordheim.

HN

[Hairy Norseman]

Right here's a pic of my cave system...As you can see this is made up of a number of tiles allowing me to alter the configuration. I will probably add a few more corners etc as well as some more caverns. I like the idea of a cavern full of pillars (stalagmights) and a cavern big enough to hold a ship. These babies will look very cool with my Squats, when they are done. They should also work very well in Mordheim (with a hint of Heroquest).

It would be good at some point to make this a bit more 3D but I'm waaay to busy for that little project at the mo. Here's the link to the sight I found the tiles on if anyone's interested.

EDIT: I forgot to say I chopped the tiles up individually and then printed them twice as big.

In game terms I was thinking of playing a 400pt game with nothing on a base larger than 40mm round (cavalry etc could be OK if a suitable reason is found for them being done there). I thought could use the night fight rules and call everything difficult terrain. Night fight rules might be a bit pointless though as you can't really see that far anyway. Flamers would obviously be horrific in the thin corridors. I think it would play for a brutal but fun game. Now I just need to convince one of the guys at the local gaming club to try it out, lol.

HN

[Maarten]

Your terrain looks quite nice.

The layout of that cave system reminds me a bit of Space Hulk. Would be fun in a Kill-Team sort of thing

[MaraudingMercenary]

Nice, seeing this makes me want to have some hill terrain piece with an entrance, and than have my old Space Hulk tiles represent the to-be-stormed underground space marine communication base...

[Hairy Norseman]

Originally Posted by Maarten

Your terrain looks quite nice.

The layout of that cave system reminds me a bit of Space Hulk. Would be fun in a Kill-Team sort of thing

Originally Posted by MaraudingMercenary

Nice, seeing this makes me want to have some hill terrain piece with an entrance, and than have my old Space Hulk tiles represent the to-be-stormed underground space marine communication base...

My thoughts exactly guys! I was hoping to rekindle the intense brutal action of Space Hulk combined with regular 40k. The initial idea came from an episode of Space Above and Beyond where they are fighting in tunnels. It would be very cool to combine the tunnels with a regular game or maybe two linked battles, one on a battlefield to determine how many troops make it into the tunnels.

HN

[Hairy Norseman]

Right I have a few pics of what I've been up to...First up is my stump forrest. The plastic sprue will eventually be turned into tree stumps as I did with the one above. Next up is a small hill. Finally are 3 objective counters. The fuel & ammo dumps are for the cave network (which gets its first outing on Tuesday), all three can be used on normal tables.

The weather is really naff around here at the mo so the board is on the back burner while I get my 1k pt Space Pup army done. I will probably leave painting the hill and finishing the forest till the Space Wolves are done. I also want to make a three part hill that can be broken into two or kept as one big hill.

HN

[Hairy Norseman]

Well I played my first couple of games using the cave system and they were bloody. The first turn or three was both armies busy legging it into range then we charge and both times my Space Wolves were wiped out by Orks. My opponent was very gracious and claimed victory was his due to appalling rolls on my side which was very good of him...twice when my Lord attacked I rolled only one dice out of seven above a three!

We classed the whole board as diff terrain which worked well and did a random deployment by giving each cave a number then rolling for each unit. We want to try and combine cities of death with this in the next game (not for a few weeks) and go for 600pts this time. I shoud hopefully have a pic of my finished objectives soon.

HN

[MaraudingMercenary]

Sounds good! Did u use it as "one square=one inch" and only one model per square, or were they all bunched up regardlessly of the squares?

[Hairy Norseman]

Bunched up regardless of the squares. The squares are on the original tiles though I did blow them up 200% so you can fit a termie base in each square.

HN

[Hawkmoon]

Neat stuff! Especially that printable cavern system. Thanks for the link BTW.

[Kriegfreak]

Looking good!

[Hairy Norseman]

Originally Posted by Hawkmoon

Neat stuff! Especially that printable cavern system. Thanks for the link BTW.

Thanks Hawkmoon and no probs with the link. I want to have a go at changing some of the rooms to get more variety and I will post them up if I do.

Originally Posted by Kriegfreak

Looking good!

Cheers Kriegfreak!

Right here's the finished objectives...Looking at the middle one I think I might add a bit more of the tall grass but a bit lower to make it look a bit more natural.

I have slowly started to paint the small hill and have done a bit more to the 3 part hill as well.

HN

[Tommygun]

Very nice.
I'm not sure way, but as soon as I see snow covered supplies, it makes me think of the Battle of the Bulge.

[Thornz]

Where did you get thoes ammo crates from ? I'm looking for some just like them !

[Hairy Norseman]

They are from the GW Battlefield accessory set.

HN

[Daniel36]

Those are nice looking counters.

Hey, you know what you should do with that cave system?
Take some of that polystirene stuff and add some walls to it, to make it even more cavey!! Just paint them in the same colour as the flooring and you will have awesome caves! You don't even have to stick them to the tiles. If you cut them to size it'll be easy enough to just place them on it.

[Hairy Norseman]

Originally Posted by Daniel36

Those are nice looking counters.

Hey, you know what you should do with that cave system?
Take some of that polystirene stuff and add some walls to it, to make it even more cavey!! Just paint them in the same colour as the flooring and you will have awesome caves! You don't even have to stick them to the tiles. If you cut them to size it'll be easy enough to just place them on it.

Thanks Daniel36!

I would like to make a 3D version of the cave system at some point but thats a long way off as I've already got loads to do. I've only played a couple of games with it so far and its very fun but the system is a little limited by the tiles from the link above. When I do (if) make it into 3D I will probably make my own cave designs as well.

Right update time. I present the finished small hill...Now there is one small problem with this...its better than the other bits I've made so far. I was planning on adapting the board I made before but now I'm planning on remaking everything else. I want to end up with;

Small hill - done
Large hill - WIP
Small wood - WIP
Large wood - WIP
2 Tank traps - got all the bits
3 Rock formations - redo

Redo game board

I also want to do some counters for Mordheim and some ruined buildings as well. The 3 section hill I had planned proved to be a pain in the butt and I can't be bothered to play around with it for ages to get it right. I decided in the end that the stump forest is going to end up as a wood with bought trees as that would take too much time too.

Work is moving slowly on the woods and the large hill, though I hope to have that done in a week or so.

HN

[Daniel36]

If you decide to make your own cave system... Perhaps you could take some inspiration from my log (My project log of everything), as I am doing just that right now.

I use MDF as the base. It is very sturdy, and if you plan it well, they'll be easily stackable, so very space efficient. And so much fun to add bits to! Skeletons, treasure chests, funghi of various sorts, alien infestation stuffs... Oh my goodies!!

Kepe it up!

[Black_Omega]

Wow thanks a lot for the link to the cave graphics they are really awesome!

[Hairy Norseman]

Originally Posted by Daniel36

If you decide to make your own cave system... Perhaps you could take some inspiration from my log (My project log of everything), as I am doing just that right now.

I use MDF as the base. It is very sturdy, and if you plan it well, they'll be easily stackable, so very space efficient. And so much fun to add bits to! Skeletons, treasure chests, funghi of various sorts, alien infestation stuffs... Oh my goodies!!

Kepe it up!

Cool log, it hadn't occured to make the cave passages so wide. I will defo keep it in mind when/if I make my own.

Originally Posted by Black_Omega

Wow thanks a lot for the link to the cave graphics they are really awesome!

No probs Black Omega!

Heres my latest terrain piece...a large hill. This has turned out a bit better than the small hill as I stepped it slightly to make it easier for models to stand up on it.

I'm just trying to get the last of my 1k point force done then I'm going to start the board, yay!

HN