Administratum Blocks

Yesterday I talked about using posters and other details to tell a story, today I talk more about how I try to get the most out of games by using interesting terrain and what though goes into making it. While showing off the two Administratum buildings I’ll be E-baying off to make space for new stuff.

For buildings the simplest way to add that extra dimension to the game is easy, extra floors give different line of fire for each floor especially with true line of sight. But it’s a tricky situation, having too many floors in a ruin can lead to many difficult terrain tests and failing to ever reach the top, add infiltrators into the mix or simply any unit that deploys in the top floor of a sky scraper and you’ve taken some of the fun out as they become a frustrating pain to shift.

For me 2 floors is a good balance if the only way up is via difficult terrain tests. A third smaller floor is fun for added height as long as there isn’t enough space for a full unit. Forcing the unit to deploy across multiple levels and with pile in moves means a CC army doesn’t just lose because they can’t reach anything. Of course add in walkways and ladders that don’t need tests and it gets more interesting, one of the main reasons behind my goal to have a Necromunda themed city.  

For extra variety I often like to split simpler buildings across multiple bases, to give you the option to vary the floor space inside and even change the shape from game to game is a great way to get more from your terrain, save single base pieces for the impressive and special structures. Though a pet dislike of mine is terrain setups that don’t make much sense, such as buildings overlapping each other in odd ways, odd road layouts etc. I always like to be able to look at the board and imagine what the city may have looked like before it was blitzed to rubble.

One downside is that these buildings can look very empty. This is not necessarily a bad thing you have the option then of only the based building sections being difficult terrain or use the corners to make out an area of difficult terrain and the boundaries. You can then fill your ruin with rubble pieces that can be moved out of the way if need be, just like many players do to represent woods.

You can of course use rubble to extend the building’s footprint further for more interesting shapes. The pair of ruined columns imply a once much grander main entranceway that is now little more than dust.

While the simple door round the back is in much better shape.

That’s it for now; I’ve got plenty to get on with. Last night inspired by"Pingo's Projects" I started writing up the back story for my Orks intending it just to be for Grubgrul the nob but it spiralled a bit and is now much larger. I’ve also got to review the file for our campaign rules by Friday and get it back to Lester so we can start palying.