City Fight Terrain

    Ever since I first got the book well over 20 years ago now, "Codex Cityfight" has always had a special place in my heart. I think a lot of that has to do with Karl Kopinski's art that so perfectly illustrated the worlds of the 40k universe. He brought it to life in color and black and white art that still to this day inspires my own models and how I view that universe. Now, Gage and I have been kicking around the idea with some other friends in the New England War Council to do some Cityfight, at least once, sometime soon. Terry threw together a small 500 point 3rd ed Black Templar army for this project that looks and feels exactly how Kopinski's art makes me feel. See that HERE.

    Now, 24 years since its release, I finally am working on a specific board for this setting! This is somethings I've had delusions of grandeur about probably since the book coming out. Initially I wanted to do a static 4x4 board, ort even a 4x6. While that is a cool thought in theory, transporting those would be almost impossible, so I settled on a bunch of 2x2 boards we can build larger boards out of, and it affords some modularity. I set out collecting trash 

    So with all of that in mind, and a LOT of trash, community junk bits, and a pile of 3D prints from Gage, I set out to make some trash terrain. The first piece was a destroyed imperial government building(?) or something along those lines. I wanted it to be a piece that was an easily identifiable important building in the set up. Its the only one with a yard, which in theory could have looked nice before half the building crumbled down. Each piece started with a 2x2 foam board and was built up from there with trash and sculptamold. Once that was dry a nice mix of sand, small debris, and grout was added to tie it all in and make it look like piles of rubble. 

    Once I figured out the overall plan to tackle three more of these boards, I got to work on the rest. The only thing that I needed to make sure for each was that they had the same width street. Other than that, they could be whatever I wanted. I ended up with the government building, two blocks of houses, and one of a a promethium facility. These four destroyed city blocks would hopefully become the board I've been envisioning for decades!

    Something I struggle with on every project is trying not to be too precious with every piece and to let the overall piece speak for itself. I can go in later and add more detail, but for these build steps in the beginning I really tried to let it just happen rather than meticulously thinking about where and when to drop sand. If this is a city that's been bombed by the Imperium, destroyed by orks, or ravaged by any matter of freak alien weapon, it would be absolutely trashed. The plan is to get it all to the same stage at the end and then once its playable, go back and add posters, more grime, trash, and smaller world details. 

    Priming it all black really tied it together. I used a texture spray paint to add just another layer of grit to the end result. Next was a series of grey zenithal sprays from above to add some depth and to get the bleak bombed out ruin effect. 

    

    With these steps all done it was at the point where it's totally serviceable for gaming! But, because I'll never be able to leave a project at this stage, I'll go back soon to add everything I mentioned above. Biggest thing I REALLY need to add is rust, grime, and mold textures to really make this look like a few months to a year of warfare and neglect has occurred. 

   

    Above are a few photos from a game of One Page Rules Grimdark Future a few of us played on the almost finished board recently. Dillon played Chaos guard and Knights, Blerz played his insanely cool tyranids, and Brad played his rebel Grots. Last five photos by Terry! 

    With these four almost done, I already have plans and junk to make the final two so we can eventually play a proper Cityfight game and have a full 6x6. For those two, I want one to have a railway and part of a railyard like a Stalingrad vibe, and for the other, another residential block. 

-Tyler