5e and Miniatures

[Warpiglet]

Hello Gang!

Wanted some input and this is the best place to go...

So I have quite a few miniatures (prepainted D&D minis as well as all of the dungeon command sets. As it turns out, I have most sorts of humanoids in good supply.

We usually play theater of mind with complex/pivotal battles with minis and terrain.

The question: how much and what sort of terrain is best? I am making some stands of trees and some hill pieces. Some are 10 feet high and others are a few levels of this (20 feet and so on).

How many such hills would most games need? For outdoor encounters, I have either 4'X4' or 6'X4' space (like tournament size for many miniature games).

What sort of things should I consider to get the most out of the pieces? Anything that would be good to consider in terms of having the widest applicability?

Thanks in advance. I am working my butt off making the stuff, spending money on supplies and am getting tired but don't want too little...

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Terrain can be pretty but I find it a PITA to use in D&D. A battle mat is my friend for most minis battles, with a Mondo Mat filling in for really big battles. I have a HUGE collection of terrain, BTW, but I just don't find the payoff to be that great in D&D. Players do a great job of filling in details with their imaginations.

 

[Jester David]

I like my wet erase and easel board battlemaps. And I'll occasionally break out the dungeon tiles (using blu-tac to stick them on a long piece of foam board).
But generally I don't use too much terrain because getting it out onto the table in mid-session slows things down. A few choice pieces are preferable to serve as key pieces of the battle. The must-have parts of the battlefield.

Also, trees make visibility a pain, and make moving the figures tricky. I tend to prefer having stumps that represent trees.

 

[Warpiglet]

all good points. I am going to have stands of trees (currently in progress) such that a figure placed on it will have partial cover if desired or more if hiding if small.

I have always used battlemats. what is said about PITA can be true. However, I think stands of trees are pretty quick. So are bigger hills.

Sort of talking it through and reading the comments makes me think less is more. I do not have to populate a big area and cause down time. Something to represent high ground or cover is fine--that is the only value added strategically.

We could go full theater of the mind which is easy and do use mats for mundane stuff as well. Think I will go combo and since I have a recessed table that can be covered...will set up pivotal battle ahead of time and use less labor intensive methods prior to that. That seems like a good compromise.

I currently have a cool homemade system for dungeons. I have shelving on which I place 100, 90, 50, 25, 15 and 10 foot sections of wall and can grab and throw down quickly. I do not feel compelled to do it as we walk through all corridors but if there is a series of fights in several rooms am able to get that thrown down.

the points are well taken...to represent every empty room as we plod along is a waste of precious game time...

so like a good wardrobe (or so I hear) a few pivotal mix and match pieces will likely suffice.

 

[Oofta]

I cheat. I use a combination of line drawings on my mat and have generic blocks and say "this is a tree". If I have a mix of things, I'll draw green around the block representing a tree. Most of my blocks are simple inch square, but I also made some 1X4, 2X2, 3X3 and 4X4 combo blocks. I keep playing with what to do for trees because I'd like to do a little better on the "I'm standing in the tree" thing that people do. I sometimes use the 1X4s, but they're easy to knock over.

So count me in the "less is more". By keeping it simple I just have a single box of blocks that I can pull out and represent just about anything.

 

[rgoodbb]

For our terrain we have available to us a polystyrene base (found in a skip), My partner scored, cut, base painted and then she dry brushed over the top. I think it looks great and if we feel the need for more immersion, we can always paint up some crumbling walls/blocks/items/rocks etc. and stick them down with cocktail sticks.







Seriously easy and cheap to make. Hope someone finds this useful.

 

[Odysseus]

I have lots of scenery. And I do find the stuff I want to use, is the stuff I don't need that often. Were currently in the middle of the Zeitgeist campaign, and I made some railroad tracks to use. They come up a few times in the campaign. However i may never use them again.
I think the things I use the most are walls, tables chairs, pools lava or water , raised sections ,trees, hills,fences,and objects(things that can be moved). You might read a description of the area at the start, and the players forget half of it. If there is something on the table to represent that they remember.

 

[Warpiglet]

I have lots of scenery. And I do find the stuff I want to use, is the stuff I don't need that often. Were currently in the middle of the Zeitgeist campaign, and I made some railroad tracks to use. They come up a few times in the campaign. However i may never use them again.
I think the things I use the most are walls, tables chairs, pools lava or water , raised sections ,trees, hills,fences,and objects(things that can be moved). You might read a description of the area at the start, and the players forget half of it. If there is something on the table to represent that they remember.

Yeah...I can see how that can happen.

Actually over the course of the thread I decided that I will make several stands of trees and say 5 hills of varying sizes. I have a bridge and a homemade river. I think that will suffice. I have a lot of things purchased like doors and crates and furniture. I am looking for things that will get used over and over.

I have some cool stalagmites done by gale force 9 and the tomb of annihilation stuff for flavor.

I have homemade walls for dungeons.

I am looking only for quick things that can be used often. I think the point some here made about wasting time is a good one. i need terrain to be quick to slap down without a ton of fuss. Otherwise we waste valuable play time...


I am going to tone it done after I get my hills made.

 

[jgsugden]

My collection of terrain:

8 (3' X 5') Vinyl battle maps (gridded) decorated with natural terrain (forest, snow, plains, desert, etc...)

Dwarven Forge and other dungeon terrain (enough for a dungeon that is (4' by 4'). That will soon expand to multiple levels of that size with the addition of the Modular Underground Kickstarter, the Adventurescape Kickstarter and the Dwarven Forge Dungeon of Doom Kickstarter.

A small chest of dungeon tiles, 3d artifacts, and other materials that supplement the above.

A huge number of old lego blocks that supplement the dungeon building.

 

[GlassJaw]

I'm a HUGE fan of terrain, miniatures, Dwarven Forge, battlemats, etc. That said, all things have a time and place. I generally start with at least a battlemat/grid or something like Tact-Tiles and then add depending on time. As much as I like my Dwarven Forge stuff, it really needs to be setup in advance of the session; it's really not that practical otherwise.

I find that miniatures, terrain, Dwarven Forge, etc help immensely with immersion, both mine as the DM and my players. However, it doesn't need to be perfect and you don't need to go crazy. This is especially true with things like trees, plants, hills, dungeon/town dressing, etc. There is a point of diminishing returns.

Now if you have lots of time to setup and room to store it all, then go nuts!