Building Sci Fi Terrain in 28mm

Introduction

For awhile we felt the need of getting more sci fi terrain built, to use with any of the many Sci Fi settings. There are many out there like Necromunda, Shadow War, Inquisitor28 and 40K (all from Games Workshop) but also for Star Wars (with Star Wars Legion of FFG now releasing many new miniatures) and other settings. Many skirmish games benefit from having ALOT of terrain on the table. It simply gets more fun than standing on one side each blasting eachother across an open field.

So last fall we started to look into our leftover pieces from earlier projects and also ordered some new stuff and in a building frenzy it was all put together and given a tabletop paintjob. This is still a WIP project with more details to be added but for now it works for gaming. Also, we will add more scatter terrain.

The main components are from Mantics plastic buildings,  old GW Necromunda plastic bulkheads, mdf from Micro Art Studios, Sarissa Precission and Wargaming Tournaments. Also, some plastic sheets, pringles tubes and other random stuff were used.

A key element was the 3mm thick mdf bases from Warbases. They were all cut to multiples of 11x11 cm square. So some bases where 33x11cm and others 22x22cm for example. By doing that they are easily put together and combined into different set ups.

Pictures can tell the story of construction better than anything that we could write up. And to be honest some of the construction was a bit random so it is difficult to give a propper account of how a specific peice came to be. So below are pictures taken along the way that hopefully give an insight to how the terrain was made. All in different WIP stages of completion and all with some detailing yet to be added.

The Building Process in Pictures
 

Games Workshop, Mantic, Wargames Tournaments, Warbases etc

Sarissa Precission, Games Workshop, Warbases

Games Workshop, Mantic, Warbases

Mantic, Games Workshop, Warbases etc

Mantic, Games Workshop, Warbases etc

Mantic, Games Workshop, Warbases etc

Mantic etc

Games Workshop, Mantic, Pringles, Warbases

Sarissa Precission, Mantic, Warbases etc

Mantic, Warbases

Micro Art Studios, Warbases

Measurements in centimeters

A test set up

Trying out the palette

On a 6x4' board

AAR: A German Counter Attack in the West, 1944

A Chain of Command Battle Report

Last weekend we played the attack and defend scenario using the excellent world war rules from Too Fat Lardies.

The scenario had a German panzer grenadier platoon trying to counter attack on the Western Front, ETO. The American infantry platoon defending had been in place for awhile so they had time to dig in before the German panzers arrived.

As the Germans were attacking they had more support, in this case an Adjutant, a Schwimmwagen, a 250 halftrack with a machinegun team and a Panzer IV tank.

The Americans had two entrechments, an extra bazooka team (apart from the one included in the platoon already) and an .50 cal Heavy machine gun.

Support  

The German Support

The American Support

The Table

We played on a 6x4' table. After the Patrol Phase both the Americans and the Germans had a strong precence close to the hamlet. We played the areas of trees and wheat fields as light cover if stationary, but counting as open ground if the troops were moving.

German Jump of Points in red, American in blue.

The Game

Pictures below, but first a short write up of the action.

It started off with a German squad advancing among the trees closing on the hamlet. Soon an American Squad deployed in the main building and opened fire on the Germans. After yet another German squad deployed amongst the trees the situation got from bad to worse for the Americans. They simply couldn't handle those four(!) MG42s but withdrew from the windows.

During that firefight a 250 halftrack arrived on the road, racing towards the hamlet. The Americans, dug in in the wheat field, made their presence known by first using a bazooka to stop the halftrack and then having a squad open fire, whiping the German recce squad out.

More German armour arrived and started shelling the dug in Americans with HE. As yet another  German squad arrived in the field and yet more entreched Americans appeared in center things got heated up as both sides took casualties and shock. The Americans were lucky to have very accurate bazooka teams on the field, hitting the Panzer IV over and over again, eventually making its crew abandon the tank. Also, the Americans benefited from having their Platoon Sergeant arrive on the scene when things were looking quite bleak, to restore order and direct fire.

The two German squads over at the hamlet wiped the lone American squad, it all ended in a handgrenade tossing close assault. They had trouble getting across the court yard though, as there was still a third American squad waiting for the right moment to strike.

In the end the German squad in the wheatfield broke and with that the German Force Morale. The Americans had at that time been balancing on a Force Morale of 5 for quite some time but were lucky with their rolls when bad things happened (and they did!).

A great game with lots of fun and some really cinematic moments.

The Germans advance on the hamlet

The German 250 halftrack arrive

Boom! The Americans reveal themselves

The Germans scramble out of their buring vehicle
only to be wiped out by American rifle fire

The German Panzer IV shoots HE at the dug in Americans in the distance

The American line holds