The future of terrain?

[robbdaman]

With the cancellation of the game many people are working together to help move the game forward in regards to new custom units. This is a great resource and should help keep the game strong for the foreseeable future. I have also been thinking about the future of terrain and what can be done to make sure we have new terrain going forward as well. There are a lot of possibilities here some of which can be of great use for players old and new. Obviously there will only be a limited amount of hexes in existence so figuring out ways to stretch them out will be key.

This thread will be listing many custom terrain and obstacles that are already there as well as discussing what we as players want. I will be updating this with lists on a regular basis.

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List of optional terrain to help flush out the game.

Battlemats

Cavalier's Lexan Battlemats can be purchased at both House Mouse Games and Miniature Market. If you don't own one of these they are the easiest way to extend your hex tiles as they can serve as the first layer of the map for most occasions. there are different types including grass, swamp, water, city, lava, shadow, sand and ice.

Robb's Printable Battlemats can be downloaded and printed out by anyone. Terrain types include grass, ice, sand, water, swamp and lava.

Paperstock Terrain

Hexascape design by Armor Grid offers multiple layers of terrain types both modifiable and tile-able. The file is download-able and anyone can print these themselves.

Fat Dragon Hex Master sets offer a some new terrain that is fully compatible with Heroscape and can help you build maps up much easier than constantly stacking tiles.

Delphic Terrain offers hexes with different textures people can print out for themselves. Variable options just about anything you can think of.

Custom Terrain

Leif Kicker's custom terrain is some great stuff and he has several pieces that fit perfectly in the Heroscape design. These are masterfully sculpted and could easily help add to any player's game. I could take the time to list all the cool stuff he has but if you haven't checked it out it'd just be best you do so for yourself.

More to come...

[Harlax]

I wonder if FatDragon has any future plans for paper based terrain features.

[A_Train]

Bad Calvin used to have some great tutorials using pink foam. He would press the hexes into the foam to make an imprint that could be used as a base layer. Things like that would be useful at this point, but as far as I know, his site and tutorials are gone.

[DragonSlayer2]

An idea would be to make molds, and sell everything just as custom terrain. Kinda like lief kicker does on his ebay page. (but I think he uses real tiles)

So a neat idea would be to make an Official/Unofficial land expansion group. This group would design custom terrain that could be easy to make or buy for a reasonable price. They would be like C3G or C3V but for land.

Then the thing is to get tournament directors to except it as official and add it to their events. I for one know that if something came from this I would more then likely allow it in my events.

[Lamaclown]

Originally Posted by A_Train

Bad Calvin used to have some great tutorials using pink foam. He would press the hexes into the foam to make an imprint that could be used as a base layer. Things like that would be useful at this point, but as far as I know, his site and tutorials are gone.

I have several pieces I made using that tut. If I get a chance I can re-make the tut here. It wouldn't be until after the holidays so I am sure some one else can beat me to it, but if not, I'll be happy to do it.

[delphic]

Do you think folks might be interested in a Lava + Tundra set made from cardstock? Glaciers included.

Delphic

[robbdaman]

Originally Posted by DragonSlayer2

An idea would be to make molds, and sell everything just as custom terrain. Kinda like lief kicker does on his ebay page. (but I think he uses real tiles)

Lief does use molds and official tiles but that may change. There are a few members of the board that have molds of both normal and water/swamp/lava tiles. Now if only we could get them to make more and sell them regularly.

So a neat idea would be to make an Official/Unofficial land expansion group. This group would design custom terrain that could be easy to make or buy for a reasonable price. They would be like C3G or C3V but for land.

Ideally that is what I would like to do, of course being able to mass produce large plastic tiles is not something I could do and is unlikely to be possible for any member here. Still I'd like to make some custom terrain along with parts lists and tutorials on how to make them exactly the same so they are unified for use.

Then the thing is to get tournament directors to except it as official and add it to their events. I for one know that if something came from this I would more then likely allow it in my events.

Much like custom cards/figures that'd be the idea to make any new terrain usable as part of a tournament.

Originally Posted by delphic

Do you think folks might be interested in a Lava + Tundra set made from cardstock? Glaciers included.

Delphic

Possibly, although a little paint and some regular tiles can make lava and tundra. Unique terrain like glaciers and trees certainly would be helpful and of course paper terrain is one possibility as if there are models created anyone can simply print, cut and glue their own.

The pink foam is definitely another possibility, I remember those tuts well.

I'm going to try and update my first post with a list of links ASAP.

[Lamaclown]

Casting tiles gets prohibitively expensive (I have looked into it). On a small level it works but not for large quantities.
The interlocking hex design is copyrighted so selling them at a profit is right out.
Keep brainstorming and keep the ideas coming!

[DragonSlayer2]

Originally Posted by Lamaclown

Casting tiles gets prohibitively expensive (I have looked into it). On a small level it works but not for large quantities.
The interlocking hex design is copyrighted so selling them at a profit is right out.
Keep brainstorming and keep the ideas coming!

Well, we do know the guy who owns the rights. (well, I dont but I think people on these boards do) He might be willing to see his baby live, and I am sure a small royalty fee might also be a good incentive.

I would also be more than willing to help with this. Someone should start by PMing truth, GB, theguru, and see what their input would be on an idea like this.

[Carnival Man]

Originally Posted by DragonSlayer2

Well, we do know the guy who owns the rights. (well, I dont but I think people on these boards do) He might be willing to see his baby live, and I am sure a small royalty fee might also be a good incentive.

We could write Brian in a week or so & ask him to mail one of us all those hexes he has in his office from the "Bring It Back" mailings...that'll be a whole lotta hexes!

[Lamaclown]

Originally Posted by Carnival Man

We could write Brian in a week or so & ask him to mail one of us all those hexes he has in his office from the "Bring It Back" mailings...that'll be a whole lotta hexes!

LOL
Now there's an idea!

[Carnival Man]

On the serious side...To increase my terrain stock I've been trying to watch ebay for the junky or incomplete ROTV sets that most people pass on. I've yet to buy one, but I keep checking under "ending soonest" & I've passed on a few so far as the have been just a few dollars more than I'd pay. But I know if I keep this vigil up I'll bag a set or two soon.

PS: Just checked "newly listed" & if you want grass tiles, this looks like a good price 442 hexes for $20 + $8.50 shipping:
http://cgi.ebay.com/442-Hex-Heroscap...item35adef252b
I'd get it but I don't need that many grass tiles right now...