"Mighty Monsters /Kaiju gaming Terrain?" Topic

This may not be the place for this question, but I've collected a decent size collection of 6mm scale buildings and oodles of gashapon monsters (around 3" tall) for MM.

I'm starting to think about other terrain, particularly hills. A 6mm scale hill seems like it would be too small for a typical kaiju to worry about/hide behind. In fact, I can't remember any movie in which the big guys have to worry about 'rough terrain' – I mean, if you're hundreds of feet tall isn't everything considered 'clear' (except Mt. Fuji)?

On the other hand, terrain should be an obstacle to army units, I don't remember MM making this distinction, tho. Thoughts – or am I over-thinking this?!

Take a look at Final Wars or some of the other late Godzilla movies, where they are seen in the countryside. They often appear and disappear behind ridges (Even a 500-foot tall monster… after all, a solo 500-foot hill might not be common, but a judicious mix of gulches and ridges is not that unlikely). And for a Monster Island setting, you can pull out the old rock formations from your aquarium…

And yes, the terrain ought to restrict your army units (but might also shield them -- they can form up on a ridge, out of the way of the physical attacks, at least, or fleee away behind forest/ridgetops).

It might also restrict human traffic flow in general (there are probably a limited number of roads/highways/bridges/tunnels through the rough country, so your kaiju can threaten the army units advance or retreat, or move off in ways they can't follow, etc.

Plus you might have scenic places or overlooks where humans congregate, which might force human crowd control forces to have to rescue them.

There are plenty of kaiju movies where the terrain hinders the kaiju as much as the military. In Gamera 3, Gamera and Iris fight inside a large structure. In many Godzilla movies the monsters are seen walking behind mountains that block them from view.

When I set up terrain for Giant Monster Rampage I try to use terrain that provides obstacles for all combatants whether they are monsters, super heroes, or military units.

-Ken
Radioactive Press

Thanks all – good ideas! I finally watched Final Wars last night, Godzilla was indeed throwing his opponents into mountainsides. I remember one (All Monsters Attack?) where Godzilla and Baragon are fighting in a gulley, but that might be hard to recreate on a table. Haven't seen Gamera 3 yet, but it's on my list. I think we'd all agree that the climactic battles tend to happen in an urban landscape – but there's no reason kaiju can't fight in the desert/artic/jungle/ocean floor!

The next challenge will be using my limited handyman skills to create decent looking mountains. And I still think there should be two classes of terrain – one that slows down kaiju/stops troops and the other that kaiju ignore/slows troops. Not that giant monsters need another advantage over the poor tanks!