While some battles may take place on flat, level terrain with little to block line of sight, these are typically dominated by who has the most and longest ranged guns. This can be fun, but removes the battlefield as a component of the gameplay. Even in this case, after the opening salvos, the battlefield will be littered with burning wrecks and smoking craters. Intelligent forces will use these to their advantage and redeploy to make best use of the battle-forged landscape.
Before we can begin talking about different types of terrain and how to fill your battlefield with eye-catching, usable and tactically relevant terrain, we need to figure out what is the purpose for terrain and some problems we've all seen with terrain.
We will start with examining the purpose for terrain.
Purpose:
1. Provide pleasing visuals for the battlefield
2. Make the battlefield a component of the game by:
2.1. Limiting movement on the primary surface
2.2. Adding movement in a third dimension
2.3. Providing concealment
2.4. Providing rewards and drawbacks to being within its effects such as:
2.4.1.Increasing armor saves
2.4.2. Restricting movement
3. Adding depth to the choices of army composition, deployment and objective placement
I think I've captured why we have terrain in general terms. Now, let's look at some problems we've all encountered with terrain.
Problems:
1. Ambiguous borders can make it unclear who benefits from increased armor saves and other benefits
2. Vehicle interaction with terrain is often ambiguous
3. Eye-pleasing terrain can be difficult to place models on without tipping
4. Multilevel terrain has multiple issues
4.1. It can be hard to physically place the models in proper positions (deep pockets)
4.2. It can be hard to keep units in coherency due to height differences of areas where models can be placed
5. Tall terrain may require moves beyond a unit’s full movement to ascend or descend
1. Provide pleasing visuals for the battlefield
2. Make the battlefield a component of the game by:
2.1. Limiting movement on the primary surface
2.2. Adding movement in a third dimension
2.3. Providing concealment
2.4. Providing rewards and drawbacks to being within its effects such as:
2.4.1.Increasing armor saves
2.4.2. Restricting movement
3. Adding depth to the choices of army composition, deployment and objective placement
I think I've captured why we have terrain in general terms. Now, let's look at some problems we've all encountered with terrain.
Problems:
1. Ambiguous borders can make it unclear who benefits from increased armor saves and other benefits
2. Vehicle interaction with terrain is often ambiguous
3. Eye-pleasing terrain can be difficult to place models on without tipping
4. Multilevel terrain has multiple issues
4.1. It can be hard to physically place the models in proper positions (deep pockets)
4.2. It can be hard to keep units in coherency due to height differences of areas where models can be placed
5. Tall terrain may require moves beyond a unit’s full movement to ascend or descend
How can we make better terrain that complements these goals while avoiding the problems?
First we need to decide what purposes our piece will fill in the game. Knowledge and experience help, but if we test as we build, we should be able to make some great terrain that meets its objectives.
In my next post, we'll look at one of the most common terrain pieces in the game, a ruined building.