Shadow War: Terrain options

[Charlo]

Okay so it seems like I'll be getting a small group of us into shadow war!

 

Has anyone come across any good terrain for it?

 

MDF/ Plastic/ Resin... Any ideas welcome! I'd like to keep it on the cheap, though I can probably wrangle splitting the cost if it looks good and will serve us a lot of use.

 

The GW stuff is cool but maybe a touch expensive.

[Brother Dallo]

I'd imagine all of the MDF stuff designed for Necromunda in mind will work just fine. Googling Necromunda MDF terrain brings up the usual suspects. If you're into scratchbuilding, head over to Yak tribe gaming and have a flick through some of the necromunda terrain logs, there's some pretty inspirational stuff there.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Dallo 

[NatBrannigan]

The TT combat stuff is perfect. MDF terrain I assume with Necromunda in mind but the variety is immense. The industrial complex stuff in particular is good for Shadow War and very cheap for what you get. I also really like the look of the big crane :)

[Sugarlessllama]

Also there are a lot of companies that make MDF terrain for Infinity. So that would be a good fit as well.

[Kilofix]

Disappointment though that the height level of the new GW platform is 1.5 that of the old GW or equivalent 3rd party Necromunda terrain so it doesn't exactly fit.

[Brother Tyler]

Note that you don't have to use multi-level terrain. It would be a very easy thing to use the same terrain that you use in normal games of Warhammer 40,000. You can also play in Zone Mortalis settings, as well as on Space Hulk tiles. You can also find lots of nifty stuff at craft stores and DIY/home improvement stores, such as balsa wood, PVC, etc. Instead of resin casting, consider plaster of paris. And consider hobby and train stores, which have lots of varieties of plasticard, terrain, buildings, tunnels, rails, etc.

 

Consider a Shadow War battle fought over a molten landscape (a la Mustafar); or within a cave complex; or the sewers of a hive.

 

There are plenty of very cheap options out there if you have the time, tools, and willingness to convert them into your own unique battlefield.

[Stoic Raptor]

Mantic Battlezone terrain are the same scale as Necromunda bulkheads... just sayin'.

[Charlo]

Mantic Battlezone terrain are the same scale as Necromunda bulkheads... just sayin'.

 

Looks great, but probably just a tad too pricey for my group to get enough that we'd need methinks.

 

I'm guessing the most people will be willing to put in is £10-15 and there are 4-5 of us!

 

I'll also no doubt end up being the guy painting it :P

[Chaplain Raeven]

Mantic Battlezone terrain are the same scale as Necromunda bulkheads... just sayin'.

Looks great, but probably just a tad too pricey for my group to get enough that we'd need methinks.

I'm guessing the most people will be willing to put in is £10-15 and there are 4-5 of us!

I'll also no doubt end up being the guy painting it

Mantic terrain is absolutely worth the price. The scale is perfect, it's plastic and it's completely modular. Increase the price to £20 each for a total of £100, and you'll have terrain that will last you a lifetime. I guess you could even recreate the oilrig from the latest White Dwarf with that kit.

I managed to build 5 buildings with battlements, a watchtower and some pseudo-aegis defence lines for around £75, and I still have pieces left. I can't recommend their stuff enough. Just make sure to buy additonal connectors, they supply too few to build all possible variants.

[Stoic Raptor]

I have a whole toolbox full of panels and bits but I've never had the opportunity to use it. :(

[N1SB]

Charlo, Brothers, not kidding, this is genuine feedback.  I got the Shadow War box, I love the terrain partly because it's so Mechanicum, but I will honestly say this:

 

You go to a DIY/home improvement/hardware store, look for pipes and rain gutters and other industrial looking bits from real life, spray them gunmetal colour, wash it in Agrax Earthshade or your weathering ink of choice (I use Tamiya Smoke, then drybrush brown then orange to give it a real rusty look myself), and you're 80% there.

 

You're lacking the Cogs Mechanicus and other sweet details, BUT it looks even more realistic.  I actually think our meta, which has a bunch of official terrain thanks to a huge FLGS moving sale awhile back, could use more things like half-pipes as safe cover our fighters could run down.  Like a literal chutes & ladders game.

[SW1]

 

 

Mantic Battlezone terrain are the same scale as Necromunda bulkheads... just sayin'.

Looks great, but probably just a tad too pricey for my group to get enough that we'd need methinks.

 

I'm guessing the most people will be willing to put in is £10-15 and there are 4-5 of us!

 

I'll also no doubt end up being the guy painting it :P

With a budget of £50 you can definitely crank out a seriously huge amount of terrain as long as you get everyone to bring in a bit from the old recycling as well. Things that are gold dust is card from cereal boxes (just make sure it's not bent or creased), tubs and tubes of varying sizes (from the Pringles style tubs and the thick cardboard tubes from kitchen foil) and metal tins/cans. Just make sure it's all washed out well.

 

The additional budget will cover glue, paint and little extras to add detail. You can pick up from B&Q a sheet about double a4 size of mesh that's solid enough to make walkways from for less than £10. Thinks like plastic snap ties to add circular handles and stop valves. Straws and tubes for interesting pipes.

[Akrim]

All good advice here, one thing i might suggest is foamcore. You can find sheets of the stuff at most dollar stores and it is great for building almost anything, just need a blade and ideally a hot glue gun (also cheap at most dollar stores.

[Seahawk]

Electrical boxes, pvc pipe, soup cans, and plasticard can make all the terrain you'll ever need. And it's cheap!

[Charlo]

Thanks all!

I've hit a stroke of luck and someone at my local club is selling this at a 3rd off retail with extra sets of panels and crates etc

Managed to nab it before anyone else

Any tips for painting MDF?

OH and I've just remembered this is a thing... Seems like it would be perfect for Shadow War?

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Warhammer-40000-Battle-Mat-City-Ruins

[SW1]

Depends what colours your going for. A basic grey concrete look is very easy.

 

Black and grey rattle cans of primer work well. Solid black coat and then give it a dusting of grey primer leaving the sides facing downwards black.

 

From there you can go in with a drybrush to pick out the edges. After that go in with details in other colours like yellow and black hazard stripes or metallic details. Maybe then dirty it up with a very light drybrush of a dark/mid brown to bring it all together?

[Charlo]

Yeah that was the plan. Go in with black, then grey, then detail with weathering/ rust/ metallics and what not!

 

Is 4x4 a good size for Shadow War?

[N1SB]

 

Is 4x4 a good size for Shadow War?

 

4x4 is, in fact, the recommended size for all the Shadow War missions!  Charlo, that's a bingo!

 

I was looking at that city ruins mat.  There is a pre-game "subplot" table, which is like a Warpstorm table or the ones in Gathering Storm that describe random environmental conditions,.  One such effect is called Corrosive Slick, which makes it harder for people (your squad or your opponent's) to run due to the sludge in the area.  This mat is perfect for that, and quite ideal for other ones.  That river of sludge just looks so gross yet rich!

[Charlo]

See I'm tempted to grab it... But at the same time 4x4 is such a small area for games otherwise... And it's kinda expensive compared to competitors.. Though I can't deny the quality and in-universe artwork appeal....!

[N1SB]

 

Any tips for painting MDF?

 

 

I had to look up the term MDF, but it turns out I might have worked with something similar and there was A Learning.  It was this reinforced plywood, used to make sci-fi containers and stuff my friend found.  He assembled it, basecoated it, and we immediately saw a problem:

 

The material had that direction wood grain texture that was distinctly...wooden.  To paint it metal colours did not make it look metallic; it made it look like wood painted metal colours.  Yet we didn't want to spend too much time on it, as we just wanted to get it on the field and play.  I experimented and found a solution:

 

Spray a varnish on the wood first, THEN black and gunmetal, then drybrush weathering, etc.  A sample, but this is an unflattering picture:

 

 

http://oi63.tinypic.com/li5fp.jpg

 

 

Made this as an objective marker, like an underground bunker door for the Raid mission in Shadow War, and as I said, I chose an unflattering angle on this.  Seen from the top, it looks fine, but I chose to show the side.  You can see the lines on the edge that show the perforation...but not on the surface.

 

That's the effective of the varnish before spraying colours on it.  It gives it a flat surface.  As an (happy) accident, it did form little specks, but that just made it look more industrial, like bubbles of rust under the metal.

 

I'm not sure you'll face this problem at all, but if you do, this is a quick & easy workaround.

 

 

TL;DR - if you find yourself dealing with wood grain, consider spraying it with varnish before paint.  It's completely backwards, but that protective layer actually removes the wooden effect and still allows you to paint on it, most fitting for an industrial look.

 

 

See I'm tempted to grab it... But at the same time 4x4 is such a small area for games otherwise... And it's kinda expensive compared to competitors.. Though I can't deny the quality and in-universe artwork appeal....!

 

 

It's a good point and, as beautiful as it is, it looks very specific.  I've got 2 mats, 6x4, for about 20 quid each and they're much more generic, fits any battlefield for any game.  But I might go out and get this one at some point because of that in-universe design.

[Brother Dallo]

May I ask where you got the £20 mats from?

 

Dallo

[Stoic Raptor]

Any tips for painting MDF?

 

I've heard the best recommendation is "filler spray" primer - presumably because MDF can soak up paint more easily.  This spray is the stuff they use for auto body work.

[N1SB]

May I ask where you got the £20 mats from?

 

Dallo

 

 

Np, but it's a local store, and they may honestly have made it themselves because the map, at parts, looked like it was photoshopped.  Exampe - an outcrop of rocks looks like a photo of gravel, edited with a soft edge so it blends into the "image" of the map.  The texture of the mat is great though, it's just thick enough to cushion falling miniatures, but thin enough not to be uneven, and is sandwich-proof.

 

Here's a pic from my Google Drive, should work for you: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U7pWgtKoOa9l77fQAU_rxjbwHsWf3UjIoQ/

 

It's at our gaming club right now, I might be there Friday or Sunday, will look at the tags or labels there for you then.  I hope it's manufactured and not "homemade".

[Panzer]

See I'm tempted to grab it... But at the same time 4x4 is such a small area for games otherwise... And it's kinda expensive compared to competitors.. Though I can't deny the quality and in-universe artwork appeal....!

I recommend Kraken Wargames mats.

They look really awesome since the whole terrain gets build by hand first and then taken pictures of it instead of being designed from the beginning on PC and they even add a nice lotus effect so it's incredibly easy to keep clean.

You could also just get a bigger mat and not use the part that's too much for your SW:A board.

[Charlo]

 

Any tips for painting MDF?

 

I've heard the best recommendation is "filler spray" primer - presumably because MDF can soak up paint more easily.  This spray is the stuff they use for auto body work.

 

I'd heard this too... Seems to mainly come in sandy yellow.... For some reason? Though... That would look pretty GRIMDUSTRIAL once all weathered up....!