Optimising terrain, designed strategically: any good sites/books/resources

[ShortscaleDave]

I'm about to embark on a big terrain making drive covering all the genres I want to game and wondered whether anyone had ever tackled the subject of terrain design to optimise both pragmatic usefulness, but also to increase strategic usage thereof.  This would cover both layout of the pieces, but also the individual design of those pieces. I.e. What considerations can can be inbuilt into the terrain pieces to maximise gaming experience "returns".  This might include concious design of line-of sight, removable roofs/floors for access, and so on.  

Does such a treatise exist? Any good sites or articles that discuss  these concepts that you can recommend?  Or any tips?   How do you design terrain to enhamce your game?

[Silent Invader]

That's pretty much the approach I take.  No written treatise available (too many words) but my PLog has various examples. I have multi genre/period terrain for many projects with boards for temperate, arid and winter. Probably the easiest reference though is my town board which has a lot of pictures showing various layouts:

https://www.silentinvader.uk/index_w_taf_index_terrain.html

There's also a page of maps and possible games:

https://www.silentinvader.uk/index_w_taf_index_maps.html

No board is ever complete. For example the Belgium 1914 town has work in hand for more tiles including a brewery; it will also be used for a modern post apocalyptic project  that I have in hand.

 

Edit : copied over the wrong link!

[Momotaro]

A couple of questions that I find helps with size:

For example, take a hill.  It's there for a few things
1) to slow your progress or divert you;
2) to block line of sight;
3) give you a better line of sight from the top;
4) to give the team on top a combat bonus.

For a compressed ground scale, I want the hill high enough to avoid LOS arguments, especially at 28mm, so a couple of inches tall at least.  Less important for skirmishes, where it may just represent a bump in the landscape.

Generally speaking, if I want hills to be a hindrance, I still don't want a unit to spend the entire game struggling over it, so maybe not more than a couple of unit moves wide.

If I'm going to expect combat up and down hills, I generally don't want units slipping around or minis falling over.  So I like stepped hills rather than rounded - fewer arguments about who's higher up, and no minis sliding down what's effectively a sandpaper surface.

So for a Warhammer game, I'd want a hill a couple of inches tall on each level, with a good 10cmx10cm (4x4 figures) space to stand on each level.

Houses are a good point - I'd say space to fit a unit inside, doors and windows marked for firing/combat points, maybe multiple floors based on your ruleset or needs.  I found out in, a recent game when I thoughtlessly used 2-storey models, that you can squeeze double the firing capacity into a space if you allow more than one floor... and watched half my army disintegrate.

If you're intending lots of man-to-man combat inside structures I'd consider an exaggerated model or a separate space at the side of the table - for easier access if nothing else.

People who build in quiet times generally don't worry about protection too much; people who have experienced raids definitely think about interlocking fields of fire between houses, keeping the stuck roof on, wall thickness, angled or upper-floor doorways, ditches to channel attackers into killing zones.