Modular terrain for 15mm sci-fi

[gilius]

EDIT: These first designs are kept as development history but you might be interested in the final versions starting at this other post

When I ran the Grey City campaign, I built some flat-folding terrain. Based on what I learned from that, and also influenced by the works by TopoSolitario, I decided to have another go. Here are the first results.

Pictures of a test build can be found at my blog:

fantalonia.blogspot.com/2011/04/flat-folding-modular-terrain-for-15mm.html

[gilius]

Here is the single-block tile. I'm using the concrete and hazard textures from OneMonk in these models.

[gilius]

And here is the corner block. Ideally, I should have four different corner tiles to make the textures fit perfectly. However, after printing two tiles I noticed that (at least for these textures) the results are acceptable.

[gilius]

And here's a shorter building, along with a dumpster and two barrels. I have swapped the side tabs, which resulted in a building that is more stable on the board.

[cowboyleland]

great stuff!

[ciabs]

really interesting setup there...

and it fits my obsession with foldable and easy-to-store stuff to perfection..!

may I sugges just one thing or two..?

maybe use smaller tabs to fit buildings into street pieces, giving however a tab to every side of the building; this way every street piece can be used to fit corner pieces as well (as seen in the pic you took for your first episode of Grey City), like wired fence, or walls, or even ruined buildings...

also, if I may, you could use a little more tweaking on the texturing side: maybe use an asphalt texture for the streets and add some more stuff here and there, like cracks&junk on asphalt/boardwalk, posters&graffiti on walls; this way the scenario feels more alive...

[gilius]

Apr 2, 2011 22:39:35 GMT -9 ciabs said:

really interesting setup there...

and it fits my obsession with foldable and easy-to-store stuff to perfection..!

may I sugges just one thing or two..?

maybe use smaller tabs to fit buildings into street pieces, giving however a tab to every side of the building; this way every street piece can be used to fit corner pieces as well (as seen in the pic you took for your first episode of Grey City), like wired fence, or walls, or even ruined buildings...

also, if I may, you could use a little more tweaking on the texturing side: maybe use an asphalt texture for the streets and add some more stuff here and there, like cracks&junk on asphalt/boardwalk, posters&graffiti on walls; this way the scenario feels more alive...

Thanks for the comment and suggestions! The idea of having four shorter tabs is great. As for the textures, I really have to get better at using them -- I'll try to add more details.

[ciabs]

you're welcome

keep up the good work with this project, as I'm pretty interested in how it'll unfold ;D

also, if you're using photoshop maybe I could lend an helping hand on the texturing side, let me know if you need something (if you're lucky enough I could even have an answer to your questions )

[gilius]

I'm working with Inkscape and Gimp, mostly. Here's a new version of the single block, using OneMonk's asphalt texture and a couple detail textures I made with Gimp. There are also four 3cm slots rather than two 5cm ones.

I had to downsample it to half size to fit the attachment size limit; when I complete the new set I'll upload the zip or pdf to one of these file repositories on the net.

[ciabs]

this is so much better than before, I can't wait for the final release of your system, as I'd be more than happy to try and build some flattenable 15mm terrain..! ;D

[gilius]

With the release of 5150: New Beginnings, I decided to come back to this project, to create a set of buildings for 15mm that I could use with that game. Since my last attempts, I have been fiddling with alternatives for flat-folding buildings, and I arrived to this new configuration which is easier to assemble and just about as modular.

Acknowledgements: TopoSolitario for his iKubes and Tommygun and dcbradshaw for the discussion on tabs to keep walls straight.

[gilius]

Here is the assembled building. It's 4"x4" and 1.4" tall. The floor tile is 6"x6", making up a sidewalk or alleyway. Place four of these side by side and you get a nice 1 ft-square block.

This is a test build to check the scale besides some 15mm models, The idea is to take the buildings I was making before and adapt them to this new format.

[gilius]

The buildings have four tabs but the tiles have only two slots. You insert two of the tabs and fold them outwards, while the other two tabs are folded inwards. In any of the two possible configurations, the build is kept closed like a box.

[gilius]

When not in use it can be stored flat just as in my previous attempt. Note, however, that now there aren't lots of tabs everywhere.

[kiladecus]

Great idea!

I have to say the tabs and bases idea is great!

You could even have the buildings and bases be interchangeable. You can swap out bases and buildings.

You can even have smaller ones that stack to give you even greater results. If your building is 4"x4", you can put a 2"x2" on top of it.

You can even have the same first story, and various second stories that might have a red cross on it for a hospital, or a helicopter pad... or...

Sorry, just thinking out loud.

I may have to try some of these for my WARDAGGER game.

I am seeing a log cabin type one story, with a roof that will slip on the top at an angle. You can even have multiple levels that stack on it. Want a 4 story in? Just slip on a couple levels.

I might even try to convert some structures like this for 28mm. Simply have a building with two sides. Print out two of those and slip on a roof!

I am seeing a lot of potential with this.

[gilius]

Indeed, I currently have two types of tiles. One of them with sidewalks all around and the other one meant to build a larger block (shown below) by combining different buildings with the tiles.

I was thinking of having some buildings with sloped walls... kind of like a "bunker", or a sloped roof. I didn't think of stacking buildings but that sounds like a great idea.

[gilius]

I made this test build in economy mode on some gray paper. I actually like the subdued result -- there is more texture than if I had only printed outlines in white paper, but there's a lot of contrast to the figures.

[gilius]

Ok, I have deleted the test versions and I'm uploading the final ones. Oh, and I adusted the tile sizes, which were slightly less than 6"x6". Now it should be easy to combine them with tiles made in Shuffler for instance.

There are four street tiles and three building bases, all with interlocking tabs to connect with each other (obviously they can be cut out if you don't want them.)

Credits:
cgtextures.com for sidewalk, alley, rooftop, walls and doors textures.
OneMonk for asphalt, concrete (on rooftop trims) textures.

Acknowledgments:
TopoSolitario, Tommygun, dcbradshaw for inspiration.

[gilius]

Second street tile with crosswalk strips.

[gilius]

Street tile with an X intersection.

[gilius]

The last street tile, with a T intersection.

[gilius]

Single-building tile with sidewalks all around.

[gilius]

Corner tile.

[gilius]

Front-facing tile with sidewalk on only one side (for instance, if you have a street running across the board with buildings on both sides...)

[gilius]

First building type, a run-down storage or other kinds of shady businesses.

[Vermin King]

very nice project

[gilius]

Second building type, some sort of office.

[gilius]

Thanks!

And here's the third building type, a basic residential building.

[kiladecus]

Wow, that seems to have gone together pretty well. Looks really good.

[gilius]

Thanks! I have posted some pictures of my new test build on my blog:

fantalonia.blogspot.com/2011/10/modular-15mm-terrain-take-two.html