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How do I build playable boarding action terrain?

Discussion in 'Scenery' started by SpectralOwl, Oct 9, 2019.

  1. SpectralOwl

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    Due to an unusual storage situation I am attempting to construct an Infinity terrain set that can fit inside a 1200x600x85mm case. Due to the limitations on large terrain pieces like buildings imposed by this, I am trying to build a "boarding action" style of board, mostly taking place in an interior space. I plan to include a standard objective room and theme the board as a small starship interior. However, I have found no suitable guides for how to make this style of board enjoyable to play on. Does anyone have experience with designing this type of board for the ITS scenarios that they would be willing to share? This my first time building permanent terrain of any kind, so any help is welcome! I have access to a coping saw, wood and glue plus various household recyclables and the Salvora Government Complex terrain pack.
     
  2. kesharq

    kesharq Lucky Dice-Roller

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  3. SpectralOwl

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    Exactly what I was looking for, @kesharq ! Thanks for the help.
     
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  4. Shingen

    Shingen Well-Known Member

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  5. Section9

    Section9 Well-Known Member

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    You are going to want LOTS of things to hide behind in those corridors.

    Real ships have big electrical panels, storage lockers, ventilation ducts, etc etc ad nauseam all in the way.

    I'd make the open part of the passageway about 2" wide, with the 'stuff to hide behind' roughly an inch deep on either side, for a playable corridor width of about 4". hydraulic pipes and electrical bundles and stuff would be outboard of the 'stuff to hide behind', making the total corridor width 5-6"
     
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  6. Mob of Blondes

    Mob of Blondes Well-Known Member

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    You may want to check this old rock labyrinth if you have space constraints, but dressed as spaceship. Walls, crates, tubes, machinery... instead of flock and rock blocks. Two tiles 120*60 with items up to 7.5 cm tall (5 mm plates as floor), or four of 60*60, or eight of 60*30, or sixteen of 30*30, or any other combo that you can fit inside the box.
     
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  7. Captain Spud

    Captain Spud Maker of Things

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    1) I recommend Kesharq's construction method if storage is your main criterion.

    2) If you'd like to decorate your walls fairly quickly, I put out some PDFs (download link) a few years ago that repurposed textures from an old Quake 4 map into texture strips that can be glued onto foamcore walls:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I used mine to create a fixed space ship layout, but they can just as easily be stuck to a set of modular walls.

    I also did a set of (less interesting) textures (download link) for my own modular space station board.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The blue walls are sized to be chopped up into any multiple of 2", while the space station walls don't have specific cut points and were intended to fit odd-sized walls.

    3) Layout notes: Indoor boards have a tendency to feature only very short (within rooms) and very long (in hallways) sight lines that aren't very interesting to play in. You can address this problem by planning your wall set so that it can form curved or angled layouts.

    [​IMG]

    For example, the curved hallways on my space station board (which I don't recommend mimicking-- I wasn't happy with the modular pieces I ended up with) limit lines of sight to about 20" in the left hallway and 30" on the right one. You can achieve similar sight lengths (and also just a more interesting layout) by having some of your hallways link up into 120 or 135 degree junctions, e.g.:

    [​IMG]


    Also, don't feel obligated to make all the rooms within your layouts small; mixing up small rooms with 12-20" long ones will make the board more interesting to play on and reward players for bringing varied weapons instead of just swords and shotguns. So in addition to the expected 2" to 6" wall segments, don't hesitate to make a few long walls (basically, as long as you can fit in your bin) to permit more spacious rooms to be included in your facility.

    4) At some point, someone will reply to this thread suggesting that you include height elements in your kit-- e.g., an elevated catwalk to go in some rooms. I haven't had good results with this; as soon as you encourage people to think about the rooms as having multiple elevations, you invariably get a lot of annoying questions about why models can't climb over walls "since there's obviously space up there". You can do what you like, but I strongly recommend keeping your board to a single elevation.
     
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  8. TheRedZealot

    TheRedZealot Well-Known Member
    Warcor

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    Having now seen and played on Spud's terrain a number of times. I highly recommend listening to his advice.
     
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  9. jherazob

    jherazob Well-Known Member

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    [Envy intensifies]
     
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  10. FireFangs

    FireFangs Space Oni

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    I would kinda suggest one section of the map being a hangar or storage section that's more open.
     
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  11. Section9

    Section9 Well-Known Member

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    You and me both!
     
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  12. TheRedZealot

    TheRedZealot Well-Known Member
    Warcor

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    Honestly my favorite part of it is he just shows up on Tournament days with a car full of terrain and makes everything easier for me running events. :D What a cool dude.
     
  13. EccentricOwl

    EccentricOwl Well-Known Member
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    I think about this a lot. I think it's a REALLY good question. Any way to simulatie an "indoor" terrain board is much harder on a 4x4 board.

    Been playing some Malifaux recently, and the 3x3 makes it much easier to design a full interior board.

    My thought? Get some walls (maybe from BattleSystems, you ever see their terrain?) and separate the board into like 5 large sections of varying sizes, then build each "room" from there.

    You can get some simple laser-cut walls that are tall or make them out of foamboard, and throw a few doors on each of them. At that point it's not THAT much different from the chokepoints you'd normally have on a board.
     
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  14. FireFangs

    FireFangs Space Oni

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    I think it's important to remember that a ship isn't just a bunch of hallways crossing each others at random. There are rooms, small and large, and a structure to the design. Depending on the size of the ship, the rooms can varry a lot in size. A small transport ship will be compact, while a corporate yacht would have huge lavish rooms.

    The first thing to do would be to find or draw a map of the ship and figure the type of ship, then build from there.
     
    #14 FireFangs, Oct 17, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2019
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  15. smog

    smog Well-Known Member
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