Back awhile, I had an idea of implementing terrain zones by using pieces of cloth to indicate a zone and discussed it with my Munich meta. :) This would make it clearly marked, easy to visualise and easy to remember. However, I was not happy with just placing down a piece of cloth (for making it look good), not to mention that it wouldn't really stay in one place. But then, in came a certain terrain mat company* that allows you to a) upload a picture of your own or select from existing image, b) define dimensions, c) select part of the image to create as a mat. So I ordered a bunch of 20x20 cm squares of mousepad mat, cut them up some into shapes, and used them on the table in my latest tournament (ETC Zagreb). Here's the pictures (sorry for bad photos): Spoiler: Terrain pieces Note: The big jungle piece is 20x20. 2 smaller jungle pieces is another 20x20 piece cut into two with rounded edges. Water pieces are one 20x20 cut in half. 4 smaller squares is one 20x20 piece cut into quarters. Spoiler: Tournament tables People were happy with the terrain as it was clearly marked, easy to remember and easy to see if it influences. We used following rules: 4 small "space" squares : White Noise Zone jungle : jungle, so Poor Visibility, High Saturation, Very Difficult Terrain water : Difficult Terrain, always in cover if inside, and if inside, target is at -1 Burst this was a departure from usual rules; we figured it make sense as you can hold your weapon outside water but if you are inside, you are submerged Overall, I'm happy with how it turned out, but I have plans to improve: Rule Reminder Tokens : small tokens with brief reminder of rules for terrain piece - there used to be someone that prepared a PDF for printing and cutting like any other Infinity token, small terrain pieces to place on top : this would be particularly effective for jungle terrain, some trees and bushes that can be placed on top to provide better visuals, but not create problems maneuvering troopers as they can be moved around without affecting rules, more smaller pieces : I'd prefer multiple smaller pieces to enable better adjustment to other terrain pieces and needs. Less squares and more circles, semicircles, or just rounded edges. I plan to order a bigger mat and then cut out pieces to taste. One general note is, if terrain zone is holding a piece of board by itself, it needs to provide places for partial or total cover; otherwise, we simply agree that being inside the terrain zone gives you partial cover. This makes it easier to work with oddly shaped pieces of terrain like bushes, trees, and similar. *NOTE: I'm not mentioning the name of the company since they are not one of the official partners, so I think it's not according to official rules. But if you're interested, just PM me. FYI, it's in Europe.
What pros and cons are you seeing compared to the standard 'terrain baseboard plus loose trees' approach?
Biggest advantage is that terrain baseboards tend to be uneven, and will often have pre-defined places for trees (I'm thinking the standard GW stuff here). Modelled rivers will have slanted banks. This means models can't be always placed nicely, and a lot of models with wilder poses will keep falling over in my experience. This way there is a nice, flat surface to place models on. This also combines with using other pieces of terrain; mats are fairly thin, flat, and placing a building on it isn't a big deal. The plastic GW woods for example, it just doesn't mesh directly with buildings. Another pro point is the ease with which you can have wilder terrain - I'm planning to get at least one other type of "space" terrain zone, for use with my space mat. Otherwise this needs to be either modelled manually or somehow find the terrain you are looking for. Finally, if you are not making your own terrain from scratch, these items will have one or two models and then you'll keep repeating them. For this, you buy a bigger mat, cut out pieces and no two will be alike (even if footprint is same). And even when you put terrain on it, it won't have the predefined places so it too, will keep the wild look. Another point is ease of storage; mats are easier to store, less prone to breakage. Of course, if you have terrain to put on top it still requires some storage, but less worry all around. The main con to this is still the looks. It may look nice but actual modelled terrain will still look better. :)
Thanks. We made almost all of our terrain bases so haven't had the issue of predefined positions or repeats.
This isn't so typical as it's using thicker terrain bases with some built-in logs. Plus we had the cherry trees counting as Low Visibility.
Some thinner wood bases in this one, plus rivers with relatively low sloped banks. Only the water itself was terrain, but the banks were just high enough that prone troopers could use them for cover from the right angle.
Bottom-left shows our 'standard' terrain bases (plus a few in green). We usually put a few trees on for Woods, but have also added more trees and shrubs to (sometimes) treat them as Jungle. Also, with alien plants as a White Noise Zone plus things you can use as cover:
The definite edges of the zone will be easier to deal with in game for movements, line of fire etc than 'the zone is between these trees' if you use individual trees, which you can always put on top of the mouse mat for the looks as well. Rivers are one of the most difficult things to get the ballance right with because to look right they need to be below the ground level of the table, adding a sloped bank to give that effect - while still having a hope in hell of models standing on it- means you either have to have a thin strip of water or the section of flat, open, clear line of fire terrain is wide enough to make It a terrible prospect to cross even for those used to the most minimal tables... Actually while typing this out I think I've had an idea, what about using a full 4x4 water mat and using large 'islands' cut from a ground textured mat on top?
Love the alien plants! :) I was planning to make something similar. What did you use to get that stalk spread effect? That's one advantage of these mats, as you can have them printed with thin strips of land, thus having some crossover effect without height changes. That would work great for a water table. :)
I think those freaky plants are aquarium pieces... We have a bunch of felt pieces we use for area terrain, I want to add a little flock to them to improve the looks a bit.
The freaky plants were from the Antenociti Forward Base kickstarter, but the flexible resin they're moulded in has been discontinued, so they never made it to retail. :-( But aquarium pieces would be a good substitute. :-) We treated the water areas as Difficult Terrain: Aquatic, and also as a Nimbus Zone - but only if the firer or target was in the water. So you could shoot without penalty from island to island, but as soon as one of you was in the water it was Low Vis (Reflective) and Saturation.
I'll look in to that hopefully they aren't too pricey because they're labeled aquarium. I can probably print some decent stuff for it as well. @ijw How do you put White Noise on the alien plants? Is it infinite height, an area or just if the plant is obscuring?
Infinite height, covering the whole terrain base. The idea is that the alien plants are releasing spores that mess up the MSVs.
Yeah I was figuring it was either that or something on the surface of the plant. What do people think of using magnetic hazards as 0G as well? The excuse could be that the equipment and training used in 0G could counteract the hazard.
As for tokens, someone created cards with terrain reminders. Ufff... luckly no in the old forum, but external hosting. http://www.warbard.ca/2016/09/20/terrain-quick-reference-cards-for-infinity/
I’ve found that giving some felt a little dry brush love or even some flock really helps to make it not look like a piece of cloth, but still identifiable as area terrain. I prefer this method because of storage. You can get a lot of felt bits into a plastic clip box.
