Editing Warhammer Terrain Guide (section)

=Your Game Surface=

The first step, of course, is choosing the table itself. Your choices here are mostly determined by where you play. If you're playing at your [[FLGS]], odds are there are already a few tables there along with some terrain, and you're just looking to spruce up your battles. If you play at home, or at a clubhouse with friends, you have more options for developing your battlefield.

The first choice to make is what sort of surface you'll play on. The simplest choice is the cardboard game boards Games Workshop has been producing as of late. Included with specialist games like Kill Team and Warcry, the terrain sets for each, and the Realm of Battle sets, these boards come printed with two aesthetically different looks on each side. Their main advantage is that their size, 22x30", matches up with the board size used in Kill Team and Warcry, as well as the new board sizes used in the 9th edition of Warhammer 40,000. The downside is that these boards are somewhat pricey and usually made in limited runs - so if one isn't available now, you might not be able to get it at all. The exceptions are the Moon Base Klaisus set for 40k and the Blasted Hallowheart set for AoS, which are consistently available and have four double sided boards each, plus a bit of terrain.

The next option is mousepad material mats. Available with a wide range of designs printed on them and in a wide range of sizes, these mats are easy to store rolled up and unfurl right away, so you can get started putting terrain on the board. This material is also quite forgiving if a model is dropped on it.

Another option is to use the "Realm of Battle" plastic game boards that were produced by Games Workshop in the late 2010's. In addition to the vanilla Realm of Battle board set (which was the only one to feature a bespoke carrying bag and connector pieces to hold the tiles together), there was also a 40k-themed set called "Sector Mechanicus" and an Age of Sigmar-themed set called "Shattered Dominion." Each of these sets is comprised of six 2' by 2' square tiles with unique details, allowing you to create a fully-sized 6' by 4' game board. Additional Realm of Battle tiles were produced in resin by [[Forge World]]; these depicted everything from fortresses to industrial centers to Necron tombs and more. In any event, all Realm of Battle gameboards are OOP as of early 2021, meaning you'll either have to go to places like Ebay to find them (at prices even ''higher'' than they were at retail) or be lucky enough to have a friend or FLGS that already has them. While a fully-painted Realm of Battle table is a beautiful centerpiece, they are rather inconvenient to transport, somewhat heavy, and quite expensive. For these reasons most players tend to prefer the convenience of the rubberized and/or cardboard surfaces mentioned earlier.  

The last option involves making your own table (or table top, at least). The options here are nearly limitless, but obviously involve a bit more work. A good way to give some texture to a gaming surface, and one often used at FLGS, is to paint the table surface with house paint and a roller, toss some coarse grained sand on to provide grit, and apply another coat of paint. Colors of paint can quickly establish a terrain type, and you can make the board visually interesting by mixing different colors together - patches of dirt among grass, for example.