Setting up a well-modelled, interesting battlefield will enhance the enjoyment that you get from playing a game of Warhammer 40,000. Many players will happily collect several armies before even considering the possibility of investing some time and effort in producing good terrain. This is a shame, as a new set-up for your games can breathe fresh life into the most heavily used armies and missions. Adapting your tactics from fighting in rolling woodland to fighting in ruined hab-blocks is both challenging and fun.

It is best if terrain placement is done by mutual consent. A common convention is for the player hosting the game (or arriving first at the club) to set the terrain up, and for the other player to have choice of table edge. In the mission descriptions this player should be assumed to win the dice-off for table edge or quarter. In tournament play, terrain will often be pre-set by the organisers, in which case a dice-off for starling quarter or edge is still needed. In other circumstances the players should mutually set up the terrain, ensuring that the set-up is acceptable to them both.

As a general rule, about a quarter of the total playing surface should have terrain on it, and there should be a good mixture of types. An equal division between terrain which blocks line of sight and provides cover (such as woods or ruins), terrain which provides cover but does not block line of sight (such as scrubland and low rubble) and terrain which blocks line of sight but provides little cover (such as gentle hills or ash waste dunes) makes for good tactical play, although this is entirely subject to the players' preferences. You may want to build terrain with this in mind.

Knowing that you need a certain amount of terrain to populate your gaming table means that you can build terrain 'sets', representing a particular planet or warzone. This could be as simple as a number of hills with rubble-strewn slopes, reminiscent of the quarries so beloved of low budget science fiction film-makers, or as complex as the domes of an Eldar craftworld. As long as you avoid building terrain guaranteed to give you a tactical advantage, you should get plenty of use out of each 'set' of terrain. The effect is analogous to building a movie set. Terrain pieces should convey some character and add possibilities to any game played using them.

To illustrate this point, let's consider a couple of terrain 'sets'. The assumption here is that if terrain pieces are roughly 12" by 12", then six are needed to fulfil the 25% terrain recommendation on a standard 6'x4' table (these dimensions are approximate and under no circumstances should terrain features, such as woods, be uniformly square. Irregular features look much better anyway).

For a fairly general wilderness set-up using large terrain features, what you need are a couple of features that, whilst nol slowing movement, do block line of sight, such as hills. These will enable models to deploy and manoeuvre a bit without being shot at as well as providing good defensive positions. Next, you will need one or two features that provide some serious cover, such as woods. Woods also break up lines of fire and encourage manoeuvring, which is in the interests of a fun game.

Finally, the set can be rounded off with a simple rural farm, consisting of multiple buildings and an area of scrubland. The farm establishes the setting - in this case an Imperial agri-world - and provides a pleasing centrepiece for the 'set'. The scrubland provides a bit more cover whilst no! further limiting lines of sight. Instead of scrubland, a field of crops wit! go well with the farm. A few minor pieces, such as an old piece of farm machinery or a water tank, can then be scattered around to add colour without getting in the way of the game. You may agree to ignore small scene-setting features of this sort for gaming purposes; the idea is to set the mood, not establish firebases.

One of the most important elements in building a terrain 'set' is to keep the terrain consistent with the board or surface you are playing on. It is the single largest area you'll be looking at when playing, so it's important that what you build will work with it.

The next example depicts a ruined Imperial city. Note that the board complements the rest of the 'set'. Here the six terrain features include a number of small pieces of wreckage and debris. The total area covered by these amounts to about two terrain features worth. They provide some relatively minor bits of cover and are great for dressing the set. There is also a single, much larger area of ruins that is raised, rather like a hill with rocky, rubble-strewn slopes. Finally, there are three ruined buildings, each providing good cover and blocking line of sight. With this 'set' it is likely the buildings will become vital strong points in any game, demonstrating that the way you design the 'set' has a big effect on the type of game you will get.

A player who builds distinctive terrain that makes for a fun game will find himself in much demand for games, and deserves as much kudos for his trouble as a player with a particularly well-painted army.