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I ran across this article on making silicon moulds for gaming terrain and it occurred to me that there are a ton of great resources for making miniature game terrain, yet no one ever bothers to post a list. There are a number of commercial terrain vendors that are worth spending some time with (Terranscapes , Hirst Arts, Dwarven Forge and Armorcast to name a few), but there’s something inherently rewarding about making your own. So I present to you, as a public service no less, our list of the best resources for terrain making:

  • Terragenesis – No list would be complete without the ever-impressive Terragenesis. Likely the oldest site on this list, Terragenesis has gone from being a basic list of user submitted terrain builds to a full community site dedicated to helping people build awesome terrain
  • Terrain Thralls – The Terrain Thralls are a terrain-building offshoot of the disgustingly talented Brush Thralls (a group of shockingly good painters with an interest in Privateer Press models); much of the terrain covered is geared towards the Iron Kingdoms, but the techniques apply in any genre
  • Terrain Monster – Terrain Monster is an infrequently updated blog dedicated to building terrain – mostly focused on GW fantasy, but the author occasionally branches out into other interesting games
  • Void Gamers – This is a bit of a more general gaming site, but it has a relatively robust terrain section with some instructions – not the best link on this list, but not shabby
  • Terrainosaur – More of a terrain gallery than a how to site, Terrainosaur does some great work and provides work in progress details on many of the projects (which you should selfishly use in your own projects!)
  • The Holocron – Totally dedicated to the Star Wars Miniatures and the Starship Battles games, the Holocron also features some of the best map making you’re likely to see (and they’ve got resources for 3d terrain as well)

And just to make you sick at how good some people are, here’s a link to Gale Force 9’s terrain gallery (it makes me feel better to know that they cheat and use lasers…). Many people aren’t aware that they have a side business making game tables for conventions and shows – and their work is just spectacular (the Daily Planet table will always stand out as one of my favorites).