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"Manoeuvre Group 1/144 Terrain in Context" Topic


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UshCha Supporting Member of TMP19 Oct 2022 12:23 p.m. PST

Manoeuvre Group 1/144 Terrain in Context
I have started lots of terrain /marker posts about terrain recently, what works and what does not and for whom. The responses are much appreciated. The "In context" component is important, this is war Games terrain designed to be views en masse and not as individual items in a display case, it's not supposed or intended for that use. So as grist to these posts here are our solutions, love them or hate them.
So here are some pictures of our terrain as it will be set up for the FIASCO show at Leeds Armory October 2022.
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The bit scenery down the middle of the board is a Scene Blocker as used in some N gauge railway layouts . In this case it allows representation of longer sections of table but at reduced width; it adds lots of tactical flexibility if your rules can cope with a more flexible approach to high speed movement.

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We like to have something to chat about and the articulated hedge was one new innovation at least to us. As an aside it was a good excuse to trot out some of our 3D printed models, markers and terrain bits, illustrating our approach to terrain and markers. I had not thought about before, but all the terrain features on this board apart from the basic Hexon II tile system and the Angle Hair base's depicting Swamp, Wood and Scrub are all our own design either 3D printed or Fold Flat Cardboard.
The first three of pictures show the Articulated Hedge in play. I have to say now that I have made about 24 ft of it and that it has exceeded my expectations. It looks better, is much faster to put down as you can get by with fewer different lengths as it bends round corners, so there is less sorting through the box for the right size bits, even when the bits are standardised lengths. The gate insert looks fine in play and helps with length flexibility. I do need another 10ft or so but I am tempted to do some taller say scale 10ft to hide vehicles behind and ass a bit of interest visually and tactically.
The Village
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The village is our 1/144 scale fold flat standard on a card base. Note the church is a very small base size but the correct height so you get a reasonable visual representation but at a playable base area. The base area is perhaps the weakest point. Somebody has got sticky fingers on the church roof, far worse than in real life. The houses structures need to be close to get the restrictions of visibility typical of many European towns and villages but this does not lend itself to artistic interpretation on the base; any quick and dirty ideas? The houses need to be on an overall base for two reasons, one the base locates the structures so they cannot move relative to each other a problem with such small scale buildings iun a close infantry fight and also it allows figures to be placed on the upper floor enhancing tactical flexibility: just lift the hose put the base(S) in and replace in exactly the same place.
Trees
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Trees on slopes are possible with bases with sloping slots and an alignment arrow that has to point uphill. To be fair this is much easier for us as we use exclusively Hexon II terrain so the slopes are sufficiently uniform that one standard of sloping base is required. The 2D option for the trees I make no apologies for, a clear case of being far more practical as the trees separate from their base which means the gains in reduction of storage requirements far exceeds any artistic reduction, but to me I do not feel that they are any worse artistically as more can be used than conventional trees so one effect offsets the other, for me.
Smoke
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I included the smoke as it's a great way of getting reasonable looking smoke again with minimal storage space (fold flat of course) and way more practical than some dodgy looking bits of cotton wool, often used in insufficient quantities to look credible.
Suppression, reaction and Hull down markers
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The suppression markers are Orange the reaction markers are Grey and the Hull down markers should be obvious.
Bridges
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Again the bridges are a compromise scale, again to me far better than real scale models which take up unrealistic amounts of ground scale real estate.
Swamp and Scrub
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Our approach to swamp (light green Angel hair) and scrub (light Brown Angel hair) and 3D markers to add a bit of texture to the area.
Disparity of large models with wargames terrain
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This is where the disparity's start to show (my structures thread) The large MAN Truck is to the same scale as the AFV's but the Man truck really starts to look out of scale with its surroundings, so like large buildings it's not ideal.
Well hopefully, love or hate it these pictures will generate ideas for other folk and perhaps even help me make it better. Comments good or bad welcome.
For reference the AFV's are accurate 1/144 scale 3D printed models, no scale creep here. How doe we define accurate Janes is usually the final arbiter in the event of discrepancies.

Joe Legan20 Oct 2022 2:55 p.m. PST

It is certainly practical for storage. If you enjoy it then it is good.

Joe

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