"Questions about terrain building." Topic

I've never made any terrain before but I'd like to try my hand at it. One basic question I have is how do you make sure you are building to the correct scale? All my gaming is done in either 1/72 or 28mm.

Is there a scale of terrain that would work for both scales of miniatures?

Is there a scale of terrain that would work for both scales of miniatures?

Like many questions, the answer is "it depends". If you are using rules where 1 figure represents 1 man, then no, you can't really use buildings that would fit with both 20mm (1/72) and 28mm. For a start there is a 20% (ish) difference in size. If your rules are for more traditional games where 1 figure represents several men, then you could fudge it since there is a rule of thumb that you go "one size down" for buildings – so 20mm buildings with 28mm figures or 15mm buildings with 20mm figures. Fudge it by not following this rule of thumb for the 20mm guys. As I said, it depends.

Most of my gaming is skirmish level stuff, 1 to 1 per figure. Huh, so two scales basically. I'm ok with that because my 1/72 gaming is historical/fantasy and my 28mm is Sci Fi so it will be different terrain types any way. Ok I suppose my next question is how do I actually make sure I'm building to scale? Is there a formula I should follow?

I say work around the doors. Make your doors fit your figures then scale the rest around that.

The important thing to note is that most wargames compress the ground scale to allow a decent amount of buildings on the table. I recommend Matakishis Tea House link , he has great articles on making buildings complete with plans. Once you've made a few buildings following the sizes given you should have a feel for it and can branch out to your own designs.

Robert

The simple answer is divide the actual size by 72 for your 20mm figures. So if a building is 36 feet long, it should be (36/72)= 0.5 feet long, or 8 inches. For 28mm I would divide by 56.

But you are better off with what "looks right" than being technically in scale….

Go by what looks right to your eye.
I can give you no better advice than that.

If it's technically in scale but it looks odd to you, would you be happy with that?

We use 20mm buildings with 28mm figures a lot and it looks fine so long as we don't park 20mm and 28mm side by side in a terrace.

@Extra Crispy: "0.5 feet long, or 8 inches". 8 inches 0.67 feet.

Otherwise, I agree with your advice.

My own writing left something out. I meant to say, "8 inches is 0.67 feet."

My guide for Making Scenery & Terrain hope it helps.

Take care

Andy

Great stuff, womble! Love it!

Another question for the more experienced terrain builders here, what's your process for prettying up the base of the terrain? Just a layer of glue and some flocking?