Best Terrain For D&D

Whether your tabletop gaming needs are for wargaming or role-playing these are great options for the game board. The flexibility and price of these products make them a great addition to your gaming store bag. Having visual markers for the terrain and map of your game can improve your experience so be sure to bring some of these to the next game night.

Everything you will find on this list was chosen for being a good deal and having multiple use cases. Any terrain you purchase should be useful regardless of what game you are playing or where the encounter is located. To that point, these are generic or lightly themed pieces of terrain so you can easily incorporate them anywhere.

The Best Budget Products You Can Use As Terrain From Amazon

For the most versatile and reusable terrain to pair with anything, this is the perfect buy. These boards are each sized 17 by 13 inches and you get four in each box. Because you can use dry-erase writing on their surface you can draw out any objects, walls, or other features you require. The simple theme of an outdoor environment paired with the power of dry-erase lets you use these boards for any game you play.

Although the edges of these boards are designed to best align with other GSM boards, you can still line them up with other similar grids without too much trouble. Just overlap the edges slightly with the thinner sheet on the bottom and you can make the grids match. Because these are broken into four smaller pieces and lay flat, you can easily transport these for game day.

When it comes to making your own terrain, nothing quite beats using your favorite building toys. These are a highly compatible choice with multiple colors available. While the bricks are fairly simple, they can be used for walls, entire buildings, or even paths when turned on their side. You can add as many of these bricks together as you need, and these alone provide enough for most tabletop wargaming.

Similar products can be found easily and popular brands make plenty, which can be used together to create varied and interesting terrain and tokens. By using bricks and figures like these toys you can play many wargame or RPG experiences with nothing but some bricks and a ruler. The incredible number of possible uses due to their construction nature lets you incorporate these anywhere you see fit.

Those who are looking to play some great Dungeons & Dragons games will rejoice for this kit. It includes all you would need to create many encounters for role-playing and other tabletop games. With the sticker-like elements and various grid options, you can represent any environment needed for your game session.

Some of the game pieces featured in the box are stick-on objects and walls, natural features, and other elements like furniture. The two sides of the modular tiles are a basic stone tile and a natural grass pattern. You can use these together to feature indoor or outdoor areas or even a building interior with the outside world around it.

Best of all, many players state they were able to find these case kits at heavy discounts. So, if the price isn’t good enough yet, you may find it available for an even better buy. Paying the suggested price is still an excellent value as you will be able to use these pieces for your entire gaming career. Best of all, it provides a wide range of options while remaining quite portable.

These flat two-sided decor pieces fit in with any other terrain materials you might have. If you use measurement-based movement that matches up with the scale of these pieces you can even lay them out alone and create an arena. By positioning what’s available in these various kits carefully you can represent all important aspects of the battlefield and leave the space between blank. If you want to travel light packing many of these kits into your bag is easy and makes for instant game areas.

Besides the wilderness pieces shown here, there are packs for castles, caves, buildings, lairs, and more. Buying every pack that Arcknight offers is cheaper and more flexible than many full-fledged terrain bundles you can find online. These are such a great value and fit with so many other mapping tools that you should at least try out one. You won’t regret having your most-needed map features always at hand.

Another winner from Arcknight is their terrain maps. Each one is gridded to one inch for perfect miniature scale and is double-sided. Just as with their other product, there are many themes and locations made available for you to choose from. Pick out what best fits your needs and forget about last-minute mapping worries.

The themes and grid scaling they provide are perfect for any tabletop role-playing game. With each panel easily matching up to each other you can build modular locations and encounters as needed. They are surprisingly thin for the feel of their quality which makes for the easiest time storing and carrying them. Because they are a standard grid size they match up with many other gridded terrains without issue.

Were you to pick a few products to carry you through all of your games, you couldn’t do better than a few of these battle maps and some of Arcknight’s terrain packs. You can place them both flat together into the bottom or back of your bag and lay out any setting you need with little effort. Affordable and highly flexible products like this are a perfect choice if you’re just getting started with terrain.

Trees are one of the most common decorations on game maps and battlefields which feature the outdoors. This selection of model trees works great for bushes, hedges, and other foliage. They do not include a base for each model, but you can use pieces of the cardboard box they will arrive in for free circle bases. Just place the desired model’s tip into the cardboard, and you should have a steady piece of three-dimensional art.

The model scale of these trees can be inaccurate for some wargames. The smaller trees serve great as bushes and other short foliage in those cases, and their size does allow you to easily see the field of play. When playing something like a tabletop RPG these are good to keep your line of sight on characters while representing where forests reside.

Compared to the pricing of many tabletop-focused nature pieces, these are a steal. This is supported by the number of reviews that mention games like Warhammer 40k on product pages meant for model trains and other scenery. If the DIY nature of these models seems annoying, or the scale is simply too difficult for your use then you can always use other methods for trees and forestry.

Your reaction when seeing these suggested for use as terrain may be one of confusion. However, this is one of the best deals you’ll find for representing a natural environment. When purchasing models purpose-made as boulders and natural elevation changes you often expect to pay $25 or more for just a few pieces. This magnetic putty comes at a lower price and offers a great deal of flexibility for tabletop gaming.

Rather than buying a few choice rocks or platforms, you can shape these pebbles as needed for your current game. You can split apart and sculpt the pile into numerous rocks and boulders for cover and terrain. Layering the pebbles together can make elevation changes or pathways. Even walls or ruined structures can be molded from these magnetic beads. The case is portable and they can be used for many games, whether as decor or functional objects like cover and other elements.

FAQ

What terrain should I start out with?

For those just starting with terrain, you are best off with a handful of versatile pieces. Choose a few maps that can handle dry-erase markers or come double-sided and have one or two addon features. This will be plenty to start visually representing your games without a massive upfront investment.

Can I use grids for wargames?

Many wargames do not use grid or hex maps and rely instead on measuring the distance that units can attack and move. If the grids you have are sized to one inch this will pair easily with games that work off of one-inch ranges. When missing a ruler the grid can help you keep consistent moves by simply exchanging the numerical inch range for the same number of squares. For accurate diagonal range, you can count every second movement to a corner square as two points instead of one. This averages roughly the same distance as directly measuring the length.

Do model scales matter? What are they?

When using miniatures they will have individual scales. This is a reference regarding how big the model is compared to how big it would really be. Many mini-scales are around 28 millimeters in size. This is because it often pairs well with one-inch range and movement distances, the most common map scale in use. Interchanging miniatures and terrain meant for different scalings is not an issue in most cases. Use anything you feel fits well together for your game.