Been working on a bunch of things lately, and since I have about 90% of my marines painted, I thought it would be a good time to finish up some terrain that was in the works. Hopefully they'll make some nide additions to the gaming table (hence the title of this thread!)

First off is a very simple ruin, just one story high, no second floor. I used different static grass around the walls, the green is a blend of GW green static grass and gale force nine static grass straw.









I also managed to finish a small rock outcrop. Just a bit of static grass and a couple of bushes for visual appeal.



Just enough cover to obscure the legs of the troops, giving a nice 4+ save, but at a mere 7" X 3", it's small enough to be easily traversed and jumped over.



Right now it's snowing like mad (again) and we're supposed to get about 5-8" of snow. Might be enough to keep the kids home from school again, and maybe I'll get a chance to post a few more pics of some stuff tomorrow. C&C welcome as always!

watch out for those hurricane speed winds.

Not quite the picture I had hoped to post today, but this is what I woke up to this morning...



No school for the kids, still waiting for the plows to clear the street, then it will be time to get out and shovel us out.
Right now, 27 degrees F and still snowing on top of the 10" already on the ground. Fun day!

lol nightmare...

great work on the terrain TW. Keep it simple stupid... that's why I never get anything done.

i really need to down scale my projects, then i might get something done.

Thanks KInG. I try to make the ruins look very old, and I figure that over the years they would have been picked clean of any usable parts.

I have a few 'newer' ruins in the works that will have more debris on them, but for the most part I like to try to keep the terrain more 'playable' than cluttered.

That snowy picture is making me feel cold.
Gas bill heading to Long Island as we speak...

Very much like the rocky outcrops, very fine stone working skills in evidence there.

When making area terrain, do you keep in mind the "two elements" rule?
I have a ton of shell craters that only behave when closely placed.

I'm not sure I know what you mean by the "two elements" rule.
Clarify please?

P22, bullet 3.

Ie, when you are in/touching area terrain (on a base), you are in cover.
But, when firing through it, you need 2 "elements" (like trees) to grant cover to models behind it.

Shell scrapes have a base, but I'm not so sure they have "elements" so, they seem to do fine for models in them, but lack somewhat for those behind them.

Ah, thanks. Got it.
For the rocks and most of the ruins, we consider firing over it to be firing through the elements if any part of the target is obscured. If a model is fully visible next to the ruin, and behind the base of the terrain, no save, just like the picture.
For the woods, the trees can't be modelled right onto the base, and the are magnetized to facilitate moving models through the woods, so for simplicity, when we play we ruled that firing through the woods, up to and including over the edge of the area terrain, still counts as firing "through" the elements. It simplifies the process a bit, and has no detrimental effect on gameplay.
Myself and my regular opponent are pretty generous on cover anyway. He runs Necrons and I have Marines. Cover saves his force against my krak missiles and plasma weapons, and cover gives my vehicles a fighting chance against his gauss stuff. So it works out well.

Rocks like that I would consider linear terrain and cover saves are ignored when the firing model is up against such features; so the 2 element rule is ignored anyway.

Are those bases mdf?

mattjgilbert wrote: Rocks like that I would consider linear terrain and cover saves are ignored when the firing model is up against such features; so the 2 element rule is ignored anyway.

I could agree to that if we were playing a game together. They are 3" wide though, so at least 7 models can actually fit on the piece.

mattjgilbert wrote:Are those bases mdf?

Yes. 3/8" thick (9.5 mm). I cut out the shapes with a jigsaw then sand down the edges with a belt sander. On a few of the pieces, I put a layer of spackle on the mdf and then press the ruin into it. Oh, very important note, after I cut out and sand the pieces, I prime them with a few light coats of primer. Since I have been doing this, I find that the bases don't warp anymore after I put the glue and paint on them.

timewizard wrote:I could agree to that if we were playing a game together. They are 3" wide though, so at least 7 models can actually fit on the piece.

The models on the base would get cover saves for being shot at (area terrain rules, not matter how obscured they are). Models they were shooting at would not due to the linear terrain rule (or the 2" one, which due to the size of the base would also apply I think).

Pre-treating the base is a good idea.

spackle??

Over here it's called joint compound. It's the stuff you use to tape joints on sheetrock (gypsum wallboard). Comes pre-mixed in a tub. I'm still working off the same tub I bought last year. This stuff...

Just apply it to the base. Nice part is that it can be textured, you can even press footsteps or tire tracks, tank tracks into it if desired. Just use thin coats, thick coats are prone to cracking, but even the cracks are easily fixed using...um...joint compound!

Polyfilla Nige.... I think - Pollyfilla