Sci fi terrain for 20mm - any recommendations?

[jhonpog]

Hi all

Does anyone have any recommendations for sci fi terrain in 1/87th - 1/72nd scale or 20mm?

I am looking to make a city/ townscape for SW game but want to avoid the domes

I have a handful of scratch built pieces but I tend to end up making them too high so everything looks 2 or 3 storey's in height relative to the piddly little 21mm figures I have

I'm interested in pre-made kits but also scratch built/ trash-built ideas.

Awesome; thanks!

[has.been]

1)Are you UK based?
2)What do you want ?  More detail required, e.g. Desert frontier, Techno slum etc.
3)What restrictions? e.g. buildings to be individually based/several on a tile with clutter etc.
4)Do you want to do it yourself, or pay someone else to do the work?

If the answer to 1) is yes, & to 4) is 'someone else'  PM me & we can discuss.

I am happy to make suggestions if you want to do it yourself, just answer 2) & 3) 

[jhonpog]

Hi Has.been thanks for the reply

Something like this I think:

1).  Sadly no other side of the planet
2).  Something that would work for SW gaming - mid system, defo not desert town, but reasonably generic
3). Probably 1 -3 per tile. I'm still trying to decide whether to have standard size tiles for uniformity or just based clusters that can be moved closer together/ further apart.
4).  If there's something resin/ 3d printed mdf etc that I can buy as a starting point where I can copy a style that would be cool

Yes any and all suggestions welcome. I have made some fairly scale agnostic terrain I will post pics soonish

Cheers!

[has.been]

OK.
Some suggestions:-
1) Go for tiles if you plan to cover the play area. It is a great way to create wide/narrow 'streets' depending
    how close together you place them. Some nice (admittedly desert style) threats here on LAF to look at.
2) Go for clumps of buildings on irregular bases (easy to trim place-mats as bases) if you want/intend to have
    more open terrain &/or flora (plants, trees etc).

Both 1) & 2) will allow you to put on lots of clutter (crates, barrels, rubbish etc.) onto the tiles. A lot quicker for
set up & take down, but reduces the flexibility.

3) Buy a few ready made buildings (3D printed, MDF, resin...whatever) Use one or two of them as a basis,
    then add extra bits/things etc to fill the gaps.
    Take a look at my entry to this years 'Build Something Competition'

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=145456.msg1859549#msg1859549

    I make use of just about any cheap/free bits.
    e.g. Plastic bottle tops (one provided the satellite dish)
           Broken coat hangers (became the girders & arch support)
           Plastic bread bag seals (now windows) etc.etc.
4) It has been said (& is true of me) that you can tell a wargamer in the Supermarket, as he is the one
    holding the yogurt pot upside down, so that he can figure out what he can make with it.

I hope that this is of some help.
Let us (all) know how you get on.

[zemjw]

It's worth having a look at OO and HO model railway kits. Most of them aren't desert Star Wars, but there are plenty of warehouses and generic shapes out there.

There are also loads of cardboard buildings, not to mention STLs in the 3d world that can be rescaled

[snitcythedog]

You could also talk to Warbases.  I have had them do custom cuts in the past and they are reasonably priced.  It might just be a case of them rescaling some of their existing kits down to 20mm.
https://warbases.co.uk/

[ithoriel]

    I make use of just about any cheap/free bits.
    e.g. Plastic bottle tops (one provided the satellite dish)
           Broken coat hangers (became the girders & arch support)
           Plastic bread bag seals (now windows) etc.etc.
4) It has been said (& is true of me) that you can tell a wargamer in the Supermarket, as he is the one
    holding the yogurt pot upside down, so that he can figure out what he can make with it.

I agree with all that was said in the post I've quoted from but, for me, this is the most important bit.

If you look at a soda can and don't see a defence tower/ fuel tank/ support column. If you can walk the stationery aisle and not see assorted spacecraft, the electrical retailers and not see assorted high tech scatter you are missing out on a rich source of material for scratch builds.

Don't neglect things in other scales either. That 6mm scale Atmosphere Processor which dwarfs a Mech may work perfectly well as a 20mm air scrubber in the life support system of a hive world, space station or asteroid colony.

The fine art of seeing a thing for what it might be, not what it was intended to be, is one well worth cultivating.

I'll also second asking Warbases and sellers of 3D models on EBay or Etsy if the can rescale stuff to 20mm. I do it regularly and am impressed with the number of yes's I've had.

[has.been]

To return the favour,

If you look at a soda can and don't see a defence tower/ fuel tank/ support column. If you can walk the stationery aisle and not see assorted spacecraft, the electrical retailers and not see assorted high tech scatter you are missing out on a rich source of material for scratch builds.

Don't neglect things in other scales either. That 6mm scale Atmosphere Processor which dwarfs a Mech may work perfectly well as a 20mm air scrubber in the life support system of a hive world, space station or asteroid colony.

The fine art of seeing a thing for what it might be, not what it was intended to be, is one well worth cultivating.

I'll also second asking Warbases and sellers of 3D models on EBay or Etsy if the can rescale stuff to 20mm. I do it regularly and am impressed with the number of yes's I've had.
« Last Edit: Today at 01:53:58 PM by ithoriel »
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There are 100 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data.

I agree with all of this.
I have used 15mm hatches as access covers for machinery in 28mm.

[jhonpog]

OK.
Some suggestions:-
1) Go for tiles if you plan to cover the play area. It is a great way to create wide/narrow 'streets' depending
    how close together you place them. Some nice (admittedly desert style) threats here on LAF to look at.
2) Go for clumps of buildings on irregular bases (easy to trim place-mats as bases) if you want/intend to have
    more open terrain &/or flora (plants, trees etc).

Both 1) & 2) will allow you to put on lots of clutter (crates, barrels, rubbish etc.) onto the tiles. A lot quicker for
set up & take down, but reduces the flexibility.

3) Buy a few ready made buildings (3D printed, MDF, resin...whatever) Use one or two of them as a basis,
    then add extra bits/things etc to fill the gaps.
    Take a look at my entry to this years 'Build Something Competition'

    I make use of just about any cheap/free bits.
    e.g. Plastic bottle tops (one provided the satellite dish)
           Broken coat hangers (became the girders & arch support)
           Plastic bread bag seals (now windows) etc.etc.
4) It has been said (& is true of me) that you can tell a wargamer in the Supermarket, as he is the one
    holding the yogurt pot upside down, so that he can figure out what he can make with it.

I hope that this is of some help.
Let us (all) know how you get on.

Some excellent suggestions here thanks Has.been it's given me a bit to think about!

I'm leaning towards clusters of buildings I think.  Or enough buildings to represent 'blocks'  as a representation of city or town. Ideally I would like quite a big footprint for the city. At this scale it seems a waste to not expand out a bit and allow for more tactical play. But whatever floats your boat  I guess

You entry is awesome I love the  amount of detail you have lavished on the buildings.  Yes dishes, cables, tech-boxes and windows are the way to go.

Like most people on this board I do have a hoard of bits that I can't resist and pick up along the way.  I've tried to keep a lid on this habit (literally and figuratively) as I tend to pick stuff up that is too big as a base for terrain.

I'll definitely post pics of my efforts be keen on feedback cheers!

[jhonpog]

It's worth having a look at OO and HO model railway kits. Most of them aren't desert Star Wars, but there are plenty of warehouses and generic shapes out there.

There are also loads of cardboard buildings, not to mention STLs in the 3d world that can be rescaled

Thanks Zemjw I have been looking on-line.  I do have an fdm printer and I'm planning on printing crates etc etc but will look at building options too.

I am a big fan of this guy on youtube his creations are great:



He does HO buildings but they tend to be bigger than what I am after which is a city-scape without too much height to allow for good fields of view

[jhonpog]

You could also talk to Warbases.  I have had them do custom cuts in the past and they are reasonably priced.  It might just be a case of them rescaling some of their existing kits down to 20mm.
https://warbases.co.uk/

Cheers Snit I'll check them out

[jhonpog]

I agree with all that was said in the post I've quoted from but, for me, this is the most important bit.

If you look at a soda can and don't see a defence tower/ fuel tank/ support column. If you can walk the stationery aisle and not see assorted spacecraft, the electrical retailers and not see assorted high tech scatter you are missing out on a rich source of material for scratch builds.

Don't neglect things in other scales either. That 6mm scale Atmosphere Processor which dwarfs a Mech may work perfectly well as a 20mm air scrubber in the life support system of a hive world, space station or asteroid colony.

The fine art of seeing a thing for what it might be, not what it was intended to be, is one well worth cultivating.

I'll also second asking Warbases and sellers of 3D models on EBay or Etsy if the can rescale stuff to 20mm. I do it regularly and am impressed with the number of yes's I've had.

Thanks ithoriel yes I have the wargamers curse when it comes to walking down isles etc

I've seen miniatures re-scaled to 20mm that I didn't think would pick up the detail but they look really good. 

I'm going to have a look at Oshiro's site as he is a frequent poster here and makes some very nice stuff that will work I think