MODELLING: Inexpensive terrain...

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Lil Mini Shops, now OOP, made some of my favorite microarmour 1/285 terrain.

Hi Guys,

I think that inexpensive terrain is great, BUT...

Inexpensive terrain is usually less attractive than a set of manufactured terrain items combined with home-made ones collected and purchased over many years.

In my personal case, I've been a microarmor player since the early 1980s so I have a huge set of 1/285 or 6mm terrain.

A cool WWII microarmour layout I saw.

I have also played 6mm sci-fi games such as Dirtside II and am now developing my own sci-fi tactical ruleset for miniatures combat so... I have plenty of 6mm or 1/285 sci-fi terrain! I have a homemade Mars the Red Planet set, futuristic cities, an alien mushroom forest and much more!

My upcoming game called "Planetfall" is intended for use with 6mm, 10mm or 15mm miniatures. You can check out the link to my blog in my signature here for more information.

My personal terrain collection is a combination of home-made items (trees, swamps, hills, mountains, etc.) and manufactured items (structures, skyscrapers, etc.)... Most of my structures (buildings, skyscrapers, airports, etc.) scale best at 6mm to 10mm while natural terrain items (woods, swamps, hills, etc.) do well at most scales.

I think of terrain as having pros and cons. Here are a few:

HOME-MADE SET:
Description: These area collections of paper, felt and home-made items.
Attractiveness (1-10): 5-7
Pros: Inexpensive, easy-to-collect, very functional, requires little work in many cases...
Cons: Has a very home-made look and feel to it, not very durable, not always recognizable by all gamers as terrain items...

DOWNLOADABLE PAPER SET:
Description: These are downloadable paper templates that have to be folded and sometimes glued. They are far more attractive than most home-made kits although they require a lot of work to make. There are whole clubs on the Internet dedicated to paper terrain. They are more attractive than most home-made kits and are usually made from free designs on the Internet although some pay kits are also available.
Attractiveness (1-10): 6-8
Pros: Inexpensive, easy-to-collect, some nest for easy storage, very functional...
Cons: Requires A LOT of work in many cases, will not hold miniatures in many cases, not very durable...

FOAM TERRAIN SET:
Description: These are collection of foam packaging building and home-made hills... they can often rivel or surpass manufactured foam terrain.
Attractiveness (1-10): 6-8
Pros: Inexpensive, easy-to-collect, very functional...
Cons: Requires A LOT of work in many cases, not very durable...

MICROARMOR TERRAIN SET:
Description: These are manufactured buildings and terrain items, usually made from plaster, hydrocal, or resin. They are made in many diiferent scales 2mm-54mm with larger scales being much more expensive. On the other hand, some types of scenery such as industrial structures are very hard to get otherwise.
Attractiveness (1-10): 6-10
Pros: The most attractive, easy-to-collect (sold through retaillers), very functional, will hold miniatures, usually durable but not impervious to ham-handed gamers depending on the material...
Cons: EXPENSIVE, requires a lot of work in many cases (painting and assembly), requires a large number of pieces to really have a strong effect...

An assortment of microarmour building I saw on E-bay.

Have a great day!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).