World Making 101

Covenant Forward Base.

I've made a fair bit of terrain in the last year for Dystopian Wars. Here are my top 5 tips that I've learned when making terrain:

1. Don't do the work if you don't have to: I've discovered that the Battlefield in a Box Essentials are brilliant ways to create rocky outcrops or islands. They're quite cheap too and come already pre-painted. Here is the link: http://www.flamesofwar.com/gf9online_store.aspx?CategoryID=13336
   
2. Just add Water: The Woodland Scenics Water Effects is amazeballs for turning what is a rocky outcrop or a hill into a bona fide Dystopian Wars island. After you've painted some blue around the bases of your islands finish the terrain piece off by sculpting some of this stuff on it. It'll take about a day or so to dry so make sure you don't have a big tourney the next day. ;) Here is the link: http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/item/c1212
   
3. Flock is your Friend: Especially with the Battlefield in a Box hills; they usually ship with a couple of small packets of flock (how thoughtful of them!) I tend to shy away from the static flocks unless I'm looking to get really long grasslands. You have to consider that the scale (generally about 1:1200 scale) means that large houses are the size of your thumb. Use dirt and then grass flocks to build up some nice texture and then finish off with lots of tree flock to create deep woods and forests.
   
4. Buildings are Best: I've noticed that a couple of strategically placed buildings from Spartan Games' blister packs can really enhance a terrain piece and tie everything together with the rest of the board and fleets being played.
   
5. Tell a Story: Because of the scale involved you can create vast tracts of land. Each terrain piece can be a story of its own. Some of my personal favourites in my collection are Monkey Island (We have a house rule that if you get within 4" there is a chance you get boarded by cannibals), The Lord's Retirement Villa, The Covenant Outpost... Etc. The wonderful thing about the Dystopian Wars scale is it lends itself really well to an interesting kind of narrative experience when playing a game. Taking just a little bit of time to create a few key pieces of terrain can really enhance the overall effect.