Border Princes 17: Battlefield Terrain Generation Guidelines

Guidelines for Battlefield Creation:

1.) Rule of cool.

Never feel that you HAVE to place a particular piece of terrain which doesn’t seem appropriate to the scenario/looks silly just because the dice rolls it.  Swap it for something more appropriate!  Similarly, if there is a piece of terrain which the particular combo of scenario and terrain type suggests (e.g. heaps of swamps in a swamp terrain piece) then feel free to modify by swapping these for less appropriate pieces.   I would rather both players (and a GM if available) create a battlefield which suggests a STORY – this is NOT a tournament!  If you are fighting in mountains and don’t have any rocks or mountains, put ‘em in!  If you are playing in a destruction HQ (e.g. Chaos) and you roll ‘settlement of order’, change it to ‘encampment of destruction’ instead!

2.) Remember, 8^th edition is designed for slightly more terrain then previous editions.

I have been reading quite a bit about people’s frustration with unbreakable hordes and the uselessness of skirmishers in 8^th – the general consensus is that people are not placing enough terrain pieces.  Remember, the MINIMUM terrain pieces (for a standard scenario) is meant to be d6+4!  Obviously you don’t want things to be TOO cluttered, but once you have that total (d6+4), I encourage you to add a few pieces of ‘mundane’ terrain (normal forests and hills especially, but also the occasional boulder, swamp etc. as appropriate) if it enhances the ‘look’/’appropriateness’ of the board or if the amount of terrain is a bit sparse.  

3.) I have changed the chart up a bit for standard games.

I’ve never really liked the idea that buildings are more common then hills (based on the 2d6 mechanic) etc., so I’ve switched things around so that there is more chance of getting mundane terrain – keeping the ‘special’ terrain more special.  It doesn’t really make sense to me that there are steadfast sanctums lying around as common as a peasant’s cottage wall, and I’m the GM, so there J.  I might modify it more for games in different terrain a bit but we’ll see – want to keep this part pretty fluid.

4.) If you don’t have an item of terrain, feel free to swap it w/ something appropriate

This goes w/ point number 1 I suppose – don’t be slaves to the dice roll!

5.) In the case of special terrain, the effects might apply to a different ‘thingie’

What the hell does this mean?  Well, imagine you are playing a game in Tilea (or somewhere you wouldn’t expect a Nehekharan sphinx to be!) and roll a Nehekharan Sphynx.  You might decide either to reroll the die, swap for something else, or else take a more suitably ‘fluffy’ item which has the same effect – instead of a riddling sphinx, place an interesting forest and have it mischievous faeries challenging the intruders to a game of wits, etc.

WARHAMMER: TERRAIN REFERENCE SHEET

Random Terrain chart

Roll 2D6 and consult the chart.

2 Settlement of Order

D3 Buildings, D3 sets of obstacles, plus one roll on

the Steadfast Sanctum.

3 Steadfast Sanctum

Roll a further D6:

1 – Grail Chapel

2 – Acropolis of Heroes

3 – Wizard's Tower

4 – Sigmarite Shrine

5 – Elven Waystone

6 – Dwarf Brewhouse

4 Marsh

1-3 Normal Marsh

4 – Earthblood Mere

5 – Khemrian Quicksand

6 – Mist-wreathed Swamp

5 Building (might also include ruins)

6 Hill

Roll a further D6:

1-4 – Ordinary Hill

5-6 – Roll Below

1-2 – Temple of Skulls

3-4 – Scree Slope

5-6 – Anvil of Vaul

7 Forest (Mysterious on 4+)

8 Obstacles (might also include boulders, rocks, etc.)

Three 6” sections of one of the following. Roll a D6:

1-2 – Fence

3-4 – Wall

5-6 – Roll below:

1-2 Blazing Barricade

3-4 Blessed Bulwark

5-6 Ghost Fence

9  River (Mysterious on 4+) (unless the scenario specifically calls for it this should not dominate the battlefield – preferably entering and leaving in one table quarter)

10 Magical Mystery

Roll a further D6:

1 – Sinister Statue

2 – Arcane Ruins

3 – Nehekharan Sphinx

4 – Sorcerous Portal

5 – Wyrdling Well

6 – Magic Circle

11 Sinister Structure

Roll a further D6:

1 – Altar of Khaine

2 – Charnel Pit

3 – Bane Stone

4 – Haunted Mansion

5 – Idol of Gork

6 – Tower of Blood

12 Encampment of Destruction

D3 Buildings, D3 sets of obstacles, plus one roll on

the Sinister Structure.