Terrain types and quantity?

[bwevans]

(First post yay!) Over the last few weeks we've been giving Frostgrave a try at the local game shop. We've been debating just how much terrain we should be playing with as the rulebook basically says "lots of terrain" and only "a few areas where line of sight extends more than a foot or two." Here's the table I setup the other day with the inn in the center of the table filling in for a mausoleum with goblins pouring out the windows during the game. (Yes it is a decidedly thawed table...) It is on a 4x4 mat but we effectively played it as a 3x3 with 6" around the perimeter ignored.

So what do you think? Too little or too much? Are we missing something that we absolutely should have?

Cheers - Brian

[Weezbeez37]

Hello and welcome to the forum,

I'm a firm believer in more is better but with that being said its a decent setup. Still I think you'd be better off with more terrain cuz the more cluttered the table is the more interesting the battle will be. Although I always like to create a backstory for my battlefield setups so in your case I'd go with something like...

"While searching on the outskirts of the ruined city, we came across an old market place. There's bound to be some good loot in one of these old shops.... Wait! Did you hear something?" ..... Cue dramatic music...

On a side note I really like those buildings where'd you get them?

Weez

[WallyTWest]

Dude, great question.

I've played about 4 games of this now, mostly experimenting with line of sight and trying to test the limitations of spell casting and ranged combat-

The open limits on terrain reminds me of necromunda and I find it open but very frustrating. The conclusion that I came to was to look at what other companies have published- and because you mention it (and because I am facinated with micro boards currently , 2'x2') I would suggest taking a look at the 2nd edition introductory 40k booklet and terrain, Zone Mortalis, Deadzone by Mantic and official Mordheim product-

The solution I plan to use is a hybrid between some of these base concepts. Deadzone in piticular is highly influential because of the aesthetic and self contained boardgame like nature of the terrain. That level of terrain saturation and structure is very influential in my thinking.

Deadzone


Zone Mortalis


Mordheim Blood On Streets

[Timeshadow]

I think you have a decent amount of terrain but I think one of the big things a lot of ppl miss out on is multiple levels. Not just multi story buildings but raised sections of the ground with stairs leading up or down and bridges and planks across levels. This makes foe a dynamic fun game environment.

[bwevans]

Thank you all for the fast responses! We have just built a 3 story tower that will make it to the table this weekend and have a few smaller cabins in the works. The models are designed by Dave Graffam http://www.davesgames.net/ printed on a color laser, glued to cardstock and assembled by my lovely wife.

Cheers - B

[Bishop Cockthrottle]

Got to agree that more is better. A 2' square with multiple levels is something I am looking at. It may be spot on for Breeding Pits?

[Xintao]

What everyone said above, "more is better" and levels. If you don't have levels how can you cast Push and shove them off to their deaths? Most fun spell.

[Iamafish]

more the better , this is the terrain we have at the moment and we think this is light, we want more.

[Ravendas]

The person above me has a nice amount of terrain, but as mentioned by others, it needs connecting walkways.

Being able to go up to the top of a building isn't very useful because once you get there, the only way to go from there is down. Being able to go between the 2nd and 3rd stories of buildings makes the game much more fluid.

Since I haven't created my Frostgrave terrain yet, here's an example of my old Necromunda terrain (during construction, prepainted, just to get it on the table).



Many models would never even touch the ground floor, because there were multiple connections between each piece on the 2nd (4.5") and 3rd (9") floors, as well as some connections between the lower houses at the 2" and 4" levels. They had plenty of options at each 'node', to either continue to an adjacent place on the same level, or go up or down a level. This made combat much more interesting as more options in movement opened up plenty of tactical choices.

Edit: Maybe I could play Frostgrave on my Necromunda terrain? Necrograve? Technograve? My new stuff uses a lot of hirst arts gothic blocks...

[Lamilvelo]

My first game was played on a pretty flat board. Have to say having more second and third story buildings would make it a lot more fun. Live and learn I suppose. Really like your board though

[bwevans]

For me it gets a little bogged down if there is too much terrain where everything is just that much slower to move through and LOS becomes a constant debate. For example I think there should be a balance with some firing lanes for the bowmen but also places to hide from them.

The other argument is that bowmen are OP since there is no drawback to flinging arrows like there is in combat so the board should be cluttered with little bits and pieces everywhere. In everyone's images I dont see lots of little scatter terrain mostly buildings and walls.

So I dont know but I think I could see adding a couple more buildings to our table especially with some levels and maybe ramps. I also think playing on a 3x3 max helps with the density issue and generally smaller table is better but not sure.

[WallyTWest]

Edit: Maybe I could play Frostgrave on my Necromunda terrain? Necrograve? Technograve? My new stuff uses a lot of hurst arts gothic blocks...

When I first began designing my table I actualy made a distinction between flat tables that used Line of Sight and Necromunda stile terrain-

Some of my original concepts focused on a cave stile board using goblin town like platforms in a 2' Cube kinda board. I would love to experment with some kind of modular concept based around this-

[Ravendas]

When I first began designing my table I actualy made a distinction between flat tables that used Line of Sight and Necromunda stile terrain-

Some of my original concepts focused on a cave stile board using goblin town like platforms in a 2' Cube kinda board. I would love to experment with some kind of modular concept based around this-

Yeah, my new Necromunda terrain is built to be a modular system of set heights and connectors to make it traversable at every level.

Ex:


Those towers have a level at 4.5" and 9", each of which with a hexagonal platform with three open sides and three closed sides. The ones with two levels have their open/closed sides alternated, so if you want to keep going in one direction you have to switch levels.

What's kind of funny is my latest piece was a 'Toxic Temple' I was designing. Here's the shell of it:



And here it is with the pipes and 2nd level (with another level to be built)



I could almost have it pull double duty, if I make the pipe/levels removable.

I need to start casting again to start up my Frostgrave terrain.