Terrain, what do you like?

[DarkBlack]

I light of a similar, but 40k,  thread on another forum. I was wondering what types of terrain you like and find work for Age of Sigmar? What do your favorite tables look like?

I have been finding that the the tables that makes sense because of my historical and KoW background (mostly flattish "area" terrain that provides cover and slows movement in other games) don't work as well. Big features that block line of sight and/or are either impassable or can easily hold 10+ models make AoS better.

Edit: I should also ask if you use terrain warscrolls and/or the random terrain effects?

[Tiger]

Natural features, rivers, ponds, forests, hills. Objects such as windmills, farms, partial forts (all of the stated acting as LoS denial). I'm not enjoying most of GW terrain products to be honest.

[Bjarni St.]

I think the difference between WFB and AoS for terrain is how important full LoS blockers like tall walls are. They can be very impractical with clumsy blocks of models but with the wide open LoS in AoS I think they're essential to break up the battlefield.

I've found typical hills useless in AoS, better replaced by buildings or ruins, but most other area terrain is nice aside from features like rivers or swamps that should function more like obstacles but in AoS can only serve as area terrain. They seem really counterintuitive that way.

[bottle]

In my opinion the best place to get inspired for AoS tables is to google "Warmachine Terrain" or scenery. You get awesome things like this:

imagine playing AoS on that!!

[bottle]

In terms of my own terrain, I am still getting there, but I like to use the random scenery effects rather than the specific warscrolls. Especially for Realm Gates. I hate using them in a random game, and only like to use them in a specific scenario. It feels very gamey to "teleport" over a field with a realm gate when they are supposed to take you to another realm... not just "over there".

[CoffeeGrunt]

Yeah, WarmaHordes has some beautiful terrain setups. 

We tend to use a lot of forests, hills, etc with ruins to break things up. Gives us a nice variety of terrain, though we ignore special rules for terrain.

[DarkBlack]

I'm definitely finding that, because AoS can actually make use of it, adding to the vertical dimension makes the game better.

[CoffeeGrunt]

One thing we disliked was that WHFB had all this beautiful terrain, but a lot of it didn't really work  because the units interacting with it were big bricks of infantry that never looked right climbing up that piece with the massive skulls and chaos star, and how do infantry blocks even interact with the Skullvane Manse?

[james.speller]

3 minutes ago, CoffeeGrunt said:

 and how do infantry blocks even interact with the Skullvane Manse?

Usually my movement 4, 10 wide horde units of infantry would clip one edge on it and not do anything for an entire game. I miss seeing units ranked up and it having an effect which face of the unit is in combat. 

I miss the Ghost Fence ....

[Jamopower]

We have been playing forests as they were in old editions of FB and 40k. So you can't see through them and you get cover while you are inside them. Makes them a lot more interesting.

[CoffeeGrunt]

11 minutes ago, james.speller said:

Usually my movement 4, 10 wide horde units of infantry would clip one edge on it and not do anything for an entire game. I miss seeing units ranked up and it having an effect which face of the unit is in combat. 

I miss the Ghost Fence ....

Can still play WHFB, you know.

[Soulsmith]

@bottle Never thought about Warmahordes - such inspiration! Now I want to make so much terrain. Also, having a table with objectives wired with LEDs to determine ownership by colour would be epic.

 

For me, it has to be said, I love a busy battlefield. Verticality matters more and is easier to utilise, so why not make some awesome stuff. A ruined dockyard with barren, wrecked ships? Yes please.

[Wraith01]

I have to buy some scenery if I ever want to play at home! I like the Pegasus Gothic Ruins, RealmGates and WyldWoods.

At the shop I play at they have a set of ruins, hills and some trees. They plan on adding some official GW Terrain. We usually roll dice to see how much terrain gets added to the board and what effects they have. I plan on buying the Dice set the does that http://scenerydice.co.uk/

 

[TerrorPenguin]

We play with a lot of GW stuff at the shop, but have to confess a love for home made scenery. There was a 40k battle report video which showed how the guy set up his table and it was really nice, loads of scatter stuff, bits of tumbleweed looked really immersive.

I also much prefer playing on the mats to the plastic boards.

We have only used the realmgate rules, none of the others yet but I would hope to use them in the future.

[KhaosZand3r]

I definitely prefer thematic terrain. So, faction based terrain is fantastic to me: old Lizardmen temple cities, chaos or greenskin warcamps, dwarf mountain fortresses. Obviously, I loved the types of terrain in the 8th edition army books.

[Kramer]

5 hours ago, KhaosZand3r said:

faction based terrain is fantastic to me: old Lizardmen temple cities,

I love jungle terrain. fill about 50% of the table makes it far more intense. Instead of the all important turn 2 roll because the winner usually gets the charge. 

I loved the Lustria campaign from whfb and tried to make it into a fun campaign with friends. As two of them rarely play we skip magical terrain unless it fits the story to prevent the game becoming overwhelming. 

[MacDuff]

I made a bunch of Lizardman temple terrain years ago, but cardboard stuck together with tape and texture paint didn't hold up, but while it lasted  it made for great battles. Now that Seraphon just get 'imagined in' to other locations, there isn't any reason for Lizardman-specific terrain. 

Or is there?

Say a Slann Starmaster 'remembers' a large army and dispatches it, but then dies, gets distracted, lapses into a decades-long sleep, or 'forgets' about them, do they still exist? Could they wander through a Realm, unable to return, but slowly remembering by themselves their forgotten culture, architecture, spawning pools, and ultimately bringing themselves firmly into the real world so they can build these memories once again? If so, they can return to the realms to restore their civilization.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 

[Rogue Explorator]

7 hours ago, MacDuff said:

I made a bunch of Lizardman temple terrain years ago, but cardboard stuck together with tape and texture paint didn't hold up, but while it lasted  it made for great battles. Now that Seraphon just get 'imagined in' to other locations, there isn't any reason for Lizardman-specific terrain. 

Or is there?

Say a Slann Starmaster 'remembers' a large army and dispatches it, but then dies, gets distracted, lapses into a decades-long sleep, or 'forgets' about them, do they still exist? Could they wander through a Realm, unable to return, but slowly remembering by themselves their forgotten culture, architecture, spawning pools, and ultimately bringing themselves firmly into the real world so they can build these memories once again? If so, they can return to the realms to restore their civilization.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 

I'm not sure about spawning pools, but I'd imagine there are actually a lot of old-world-lizardman-style buildings around the Mortal realms, build under Slann direction to protect, safeguard and channel sites and artefacts of mystical power.

 

And then there is the option of Slann not just summoning their servants from memory, but also reimagining the features of their former home, jungles, spawning pools and even entire temples just popping into existence alongsite the armies, whenever and wherever Seraphon go to war.

[CoffeeGrunt]

I can imagine that if a Slann were prosecuting a long-term campaign, they would set themselves up a "base of operations" to command their forces from. Thus they could bring a little bit of Lustria down to the Mortal Realms with them, so they could stay for a while in relative comfort.

[MacDuff]

I love this forward operating bases idea, as well as lizard architecture popping into existence. Suddenly I can see a Seraphon battlefield in a whole new light.

[Paul Conti]

I'm  a big fan of lots of terrain on the table, especially large pieces that really block line of sight and disrupt movement a lot.

Games without a lot of terrain can be pretty boring - thats where you end up just getting that big battle in the middle without a lot of tactics going on. 

[Wraith01]

Right now, on the few occasions that i play at home, I just use Zombicide tiles and practically follow their rules for seeing in through open doors but not through walls. It's not as immersive but gets the job done. 

[ElectricPaladin]

I like lots of terrain, the more the merrier. Terrain is fun! That said, since it's AoS and terrain doesn't do a lot, I'm limited to hills, ruins, and forests. I'd like to do more, but that's going to require making up new warscrolls, and at the moment my community is still playing mostly pick-up style games.

As far as rules go, I don't like to have everything be get a roll on the mysterious whatever table. It's just too time consuming and confusing. However, I would like to use more special terrain sprinkled in. I'd also love to try making up my own warscrolls for terrain! But again, the community where I play is still young and pick-up focused, so I haven't had the opportunity.

[Beothuk]

I played a lot of historical before AoS. I've developed quite an aversion for the sparse 3-4 terrain bits rolled as per the rules, as I find scratch building terrain and creating the battles landscape part of the immersion.  I saturate my boards with forest, farmland, linear obstacle etc, and like to include a couple stand out bits to apply scenery rules from the warscrolls. I've built a jungle 4x6, farmland, deep forest, villages. Rough terrain, terrain blocking los, chokepoints, cover add an immense amount of depth to aos, and many units need to adapt quick tactically when it isn't as simple as advance and charge.  Here are a couple boards I've done and played AoS on: 

 

[wayniac]

I'm actually curious how these boards with huge amounts of terrain work for AOS, seems like you would have everything bunched up in order to actually maneuver.