On terrain

There's an old saying that, in any wargame, there's a third player in the form of the terrain. It's one of those trite old adages that's been doing the rounds for years, mostly because it's so true. The sad truth is, for most of us, terrain is something of an afterthought.

I know that there's a huge spectrum of players out there, when it comes to how painted their armies are, from the tinboys and grey plastic swarms, through bare bones paint jobs that meet the three colour minimum, to people like myself, who spend more time building and painting miniatures than they ever do fielding them. That same spectrum can be seen in terrain, from bare tables with a few chunks of expanded polystyrene through to lavish diorama style bases that look so good it seems a shame to game on them. Sadly, there's a lot more people who bare bones their terrain than their miniatures.

I'm not preaching from a high horse atop an ivory tower, here. For all i design and paint terrain for a living, and have enough terrain to completely fill a few 4'×8' tables,  and i do mean fill, earlier this year i found myself staring at my terrain and realising how little of it was painted. I then looked at my gaming boards, worn down to bare boards over most of the surfaces, covered in spillages and mid-game notes. I have been trying to get up to the standard i have at work for my terrain at home, but, other than borrowing pieces from work, I've a long way to go.

Back in the mid '90s, about 25 years ago, i had enough terrain to just cram an 8' table, but didn't have the table, so games were played on the bright green carpet of my bedroom. Back then miniatures were a precious commodity, my ranks struggling to reach 100 models. My miniatures weren't well painted, as i was still learning how to do such simple things as drybrush, but i still took time over them. My terrain, similarly, wasn't well painted, but it was painted.

In February a friend from university got in touch. Our old gaming society at our alma mater was hosting the Student Nationals, a substantial gaming championship for tertiary level educational establishments, and had hit a problem. Wargaming was never a big part of the society's focus, back when i was a student, there were maybe 12 regular wargamers in a society with a membership of over 200, but, as time progressed, and my generation graduated, there were few new members to fill our shoes. Basically, the society had no wargamers, and yet wargames have always been a feature of the Nationals.

On one level, this necessitated finding people who could run the wargames, and i ended up helping out with Warhammer 40,000. That, in itself,  was no small task, since the competition coincided with another sci-fi convention and the local Warhammer hobby centre's birthday. What was a bigger issue was, without wargamers, the society had little to no terrain. This is where I came in.

As I've said before, I've been building and painting models and terrain for somewhere in the region of 40 years. Unfortunately, the first 20 years or so was in Northern Ireland, not Scotland, so, what little survives of my early terrain that is in a suitable scale is not readily to hand. The following 5 years saw a reasonable amount produced, but, since half the games were played with unpainted models, and all were played on cafe tables or university desks, most of that stuff was unpainted. The next 10 years saw a lull in my wargames activity, so little, if any, terrain was built, and none of it was painted.

As such, i found myself asked to provide terrain for something like 20 tables, with only about half of the last 5 years' worth of terrain painted. I knew that i could fill tables with what I had, but professional pride meant that I didn't want to put substandard work out on display. For 6 weeks i pulled triple shifts, working on getting as much stuff built/repaired and painted as I could. I still have a huge backlog of stuff that I started then but didn't get ready in time: a huge keep, a classical temple, forest tiles enough for a couple of forests, and a swathe of plastic kits sufficient for an urban sprawl that would make American Infinity players jealous and a huge necropolis.

They say that an army is never finished. If terrain is the third army, then that adage is doubly true for terrain. While I'm working through my backlog from February/March, and working on getting the sandbag trenches ready for launch, and working on the design of the next few lines, my attention keeps drifting.

I know that I have pieces in development that are meant to represent fortifications from the Atlantikwall, so i want to get a coastal board, and terrain, ready.

I know that I have pieces in development to represent the terrain of the North African front in WWII, so, desert boards and terrain are needed.

The most memorable part, for me, of the Star Wars films has always been the battle on Hoth, so i want a winter/polar board, and matching terrain. Similarly, Dagoba and marsh/swamp terrain could be interesting, where pretty much everything gives cover, but is also difficult terrain, so, to move quickly you have to hug the edges of terrain, so you're not slowed by having to wade through water or clamber through plants, but, in doing so, open yourself up to enemy fire.

Then, of course, there's the staples, like rivers and hills and forests, which, in sufficient volume can really make for an interesting and dramatic game.

Terrain is a vital part of the hobby, and one that deserves the same level of attention as the models that fight over it.

Of course, i make and sell terrain for a living, so I might be biased...