Downtown Terrain?

[Necros]

Cool.. I was definitely planning to get the movie theater one at least. I usually play with 1 floor buildings so now I'm wondering if a 3 or 4 story building would be a pain to play with? Might be easier to use them more as big obstacles? Or something like spend your whole turn to climb up to the roof or a balcony?

So, the asphalt thing.. i was thinking of building my board as modular 12" square tiles.. I have a pet peeve where I hate seeing road (and river) pieces that are higher than the ground around them, I want to have slightly higher sidewalks with driveways and all. How do I do that? My first thought was foam board, but I worry it won't last as long. I don't have any big tools so buying thin sheets of wood to cut to the sizes I want probably won't work either.

Secret weapon makes some nice plastic road tiles, but they're pricey and I have the version with the craters.. and the roads take up almost the whole tile.. good for Warhammer 40k board but not a small 3x3 table. I'm kinda picturing it as one big city block with roads going around the edge, and some alleys and stuff between buildings.

[Hu Rhu]

I would suggest foam board for the sidewalks and put your buildings on bases to match the hight.  Foam board is quite resilient. Cork is an alternative and isn't too hard to cut.  Alternatively there are some pre-formed side walks available.

This thread might give you some ideas:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=90561.45

[Argonor]

On top of that I also just dropped a bunch o cash at TTCombat!

"Oh well the pension fund was just sitting there..."

Well, those prices just make you load up the shopping cart, right...? 

[Argonor]

Oh, by the way - I am going to get some of this for my cityscapes (as soon as I have a little air in the budget - probably after Christmas), does away with the sidewalk issue:

http://www.multiversegamingterrain.com/street-tiles-c-28_29_31.html

Should be fine for whatever size between 25mm and 32 mm models. Note that they have an option for broad 'avenues'!

[Necros]

That spectre board looks great, maybe I'll try that with the foam board. I actually thought about ripping the paper off one end of the board before so it's just foam on top but I was afraid it would come off uneven and look bad. What I'd really like to do is make a modular board with 12" squares that I can arrange in different ways. Or even 6" squares for more options, but I think that would be a nightmare to set up on game night. I assume that foam will get eaten up by spray paint?

Right now I'm waiting for black friday to see if the secret weapon tiles go on sale. I liked the ruined road tiles I got, the clean ones would be good and also would fit the cratered ruined tiles so I could do bigger sci fi boards too. But it's still pricey so I'm still leaning more toward the homemade option.

[Argonor]

That Secret Weapon stuff looks great, but, yes, on the pricey side. I'll stick with the Versatiles, they add up to half the price per square foot for the bundle.

Looking forward to see what you end up doing, though!

[dinohunterpoa]

TT Combat is very well done, affordable and the miniatures can be played inside! Almost PERFECT, IMHO! 

[Menelduir]

I tested the roofing material I mentioned before, follow the link to more picks and comments.
The stuff does have some texture, is strong and lies flat. Hopefully you can get a sense of it form my pictures, those present seemed to appreciate the effect!

Also included are some shots of my downtown terrain, mostly Sarissa, some TT Combat, and one foam building. (Zitherdes)

http://menelduir.blogspot.ca/2016/11/pulp-alley-vice-alley-test-run.html#more



 

[Marine0846]

I really like your city terrain,
well done.

[Zombie Ste]

I'll second the multiverse versitiles. Although I don't own any, I do own several kits from multiverse gaming and they are probably the best kits I own.
A quick run down of my experience with the different mdf terrain makers whose products I own...

Multiverse gaming
Very nice kits indeed,  all except the magnatowers have accessible interior floors, though these are undetailed. Kits make extensive use of white board (thick card) to add some depth to the texture and hide any unsightly joints & pegs.
Probably my favourite manufacturer so far, only real issue i have with them is the lack of holes in floors for stairwells.

Sarrissa precision
The city block range is nice if a little too uniform and doesn't use card as multiverse does. Though their gas lamp alley line does. Also their more recent kits in the retro America & retail lines have both card detailing and interior detail Inc rooms.
All in all a very nice range that keeps getting better with each release.
Again though, has the same problem as multiverse in the no holes for stairs issue.

Tt combat
Definitely the cheapest option,  so if you're building a table on a budget,  then look no further. Most of the range (barring some of their larger kits) have accessible interiors and most have cutaways for staircases (which they also sell) though it's only there more recent kits that make use of card for texture depth.
Also worthy of note here is they have started producing resin litter and furniture,  that I can't recommend enough,  regardless of which brand's you use for buildings.

Sally 4th
The terra Blocks range is great for making modular interiors from and they offer a great range of interior & street furniture to kit your buildings/streets out with. I'm currently putting together a urban blocks mall (minus the base board intended for zombicide) to use on my zpoc board and am really impressed with the kit...
Just wish they'd release a corner section so I could vary up the layout.
One thing that has really impressed me with the range is the colour print outs they come with (such as snack racks for inside their vending machines) and glazed windows, must for any big store fronts.

Not had a chance to work with any knights of dice or 4ground kits yet but i know KoDs sentry city and 4grounds gothic city are just outer (all be it very sexy) shell.

Hope this helps,  i can rant about mdf terrain all day

[dinohunterpoa]

Zombie Ste, great insights, thank you very much for sharing! 

[Chris Abbey]

This is our shopping Mall corner. We have lots more planned for shopping mall / urban boards next year.



The idea with the base boards is if you do not want the zombicide style crossings you turn the board over and glue the pavement on the other side, then you just have plain road.

Full details : http://wargamesbuildings.co.uk/epages/950003459.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950003459/Categories/TerraBlocks/TerraBlock_Urban_Blocks