What do you want to see?

[Warsmith_Ckaile]

Title pretty much says it all. What kinds of terrain would you like to see?

I ask because I have recently entered the world of commercial terrain building. This past Historicon East 2010 I built and painted a few sets of terrain for selling at the flea market. I did fairly well and learned a few things in the process.
1) Buildings Sell- Whether solid or ruins, buildings of any kind will sell. I had only one set of ruins that were in a Tudor-style for the most part and they sold in less than thirty minutes.
2)No one wants dessert terrain - I had two sets of the stuff that wouldn't move for anything. I practically had to give someone money to take them away.
3)Need to diversify to different scales - no need for explanation.

So I ask you, what kind of terrain do you want to see, and would you buy it at a reasonable price?

[Jackie Paper]

Well from what I've learned, for the most part...

The more difficult it is to make the better it will tend to sell. This being that stuff that is more easy to make more people will tend to make these kinds of things, hills, rock, walls, and all sorts of things like that. Natural things tend to be a bit more easy to make as who can say a hill or rock outcrop is wrong so man made structures tend to get criticized a bit more harsh then natural features do.

To that end, buildings, bridges and other structures tend do do better than groupings of trees. Now this is not a hard set rule but just has been my experience in the past. Seems like you've already found that out though from your post.

So as a gamer I can say I would like to see a metal work or iron type bridge, Buildings with smoke stacks even ruined knocked over smoke stacks, and large things. I've often wanted to do a very large open building and by large I mean floor space (kind of like a ruined factory but most of the insides would allow movement but still have items for cover or hazards.)

[CT GAMER]

Title pretty much says it all. What kinds of terrain would you like to see?

I ask because I have recently entered the world of commercial terrain building. This past Historicon East 2010 I built and painted a few sets of terrain for selling at the flea market. I did fairly well and learned a few things in the process.
1) Buildings Sell- Whether solid or ruins, buildings of any kind will sell. I had only one set of ruins that were in a Tudor-style for the most part and they sold in less than thirty minutes.
2)No one wants dessert terrain - I had two sets of the stuff that wouldn't move for anything. I practically had to give someone money to take them away.
3)Need to diversify to different scales - no need for explanation.

So I ask you, what kind of terrain do you want to see, and would you buy it at a reasonable price?

Well done swamp/marsh pieces would get my attention. I make a lot of terrain, but I have never been 100% satisfied with any attempt I have made at swamp/marsh pieces.

I think well done water effects or pieces that incorporate them would do well...

[Shado]

I do like the Swamp idea above, but most of all, I would love to see alot of Iron Kingdoms style buildings

[mangustheix]

I would love to see swamp shacks/buildings. Maybe more IK buildings like warehouses, factories, taverns, houses, workshops. Also some race specific buildings would be nice, like Trollbloods stone huts, Nyss chalets, Dwarf stone buildings, Circle stuff (though I dont know where they would live, treehouses?)

[gr8sword]

I concur w/ the above suggestions, and in particular I second what mangustheix said about race specific terrain/bldgs.

[HellecticMojo]

2)No one wants dessert terrain - I had two sets of the stuff that wouldn't move for anything. I practically had to give someone money to take them away.

of course no one wants dessert terrain. Who wants cupcakes on their battlefield?

I would like more coherent theme kits in the market. Like how legos have their themes, I would like that much on terrain as well, where the parts come together to create something elaborate.

[Snoitpo]

Weird, I just had an idea for race based terrain today where each race would get some sort of benefit on each map.

IE, Cryx manufacturing plant where the larger doorways automatically open for Cryx jacks or machines with wreck markers next to them that can build 1 Scrap thrall a turn.

A Cygnar lightning tower is an old standby for them. Maybe two smaller pill boxes that put out a 3 inch covering fire AOE after the end of the Cygnar player's turn.

A large church for Menoth that creates two troopers as solos each turn.

I'm still not quite sure what to do for Khador.

[onitora]

I'm still not quite sure what to do for Khador.

What to do for Khador? Stay out of their way and try'n make as many extra units as you can, while you can. :P

I must be an annomaly... anomaly? Anomolie? (Chrome has spell check, my work PC doesn't... -.- ) Anywho, I enjoy and have no problem making buildings and ruins- but I'd gladly pay someone to make trees, forests, and forms of concealment for me.

[the_Ravenous]

I am of the notion that most any terrain can be a viable target for sale. The key that many miss is that as mentioned above, generally it needs to either be higher in quality than one would produce themselves or be of such collective magnitude that the size is too daunting for most to attempt.

Modularized themed terrain would do great for me and many that i know. Steampunk styled terrain seems to be lacking some, its more than just a victorian flare to structures. AOE effects are always nice and come up with a seemingly unique take/flare you could develope a small niche.

Themed/Race Specific terrain is great but the market is subjective, however if there were a way to make a "uniquely" generic terrain kit then supplement with available theme/race details could work out quite nicely. Something that would appeal to players on a base level then the added value of customizing bits/bobbles/details to make terrain uniquely ones own type of thing.

[Skarr]

Gatormen villlage

[Chaerae81B]

As of now, being somewhat unfamilliar with the Iron Kingdoms, I don't have any specific ideas. But an abandoned farm/ranch would be something that I have always thought would make a really cool piece of terrain. Plenty of fencing, a corral, well, couple of barns and a big ol' farm/ranch house.

[Skyydragonn]

Title pretty much says it all. What kinds of terrain would you like to see?

I ask because I have recently entered the world of commercial terrain building. This past Historicon East 2010 I built and painted a few sets of terrain for selling at the flea market. I did fairly well and learned a few things in the process.
1) Buildings Sell- Whether solid or ruins, buildings of any kind will sell. I had only one set of ruins that were in a Tudor-style for the most part and they sold in less than thirty minutes.
2)No one wants dessert terrain - I had two sets of the stuff that wouldn't move for anything. I practically had to give someone money to take them away.
3)Need to diversify to different scales - no need for explanation.

So I ask you, what kind of terrain do you want to see, and would you buy it at a reasonable price?
Can you drop us some pic's so we can see what your work is like and what sort of stuff you've done already?
Might give us a better idea of what type of terrain you do.
so far most ofthe answers have been rather specific.

as for desert terrain, being a protectorate player i might actually be interested in some good quality desert stuff :p

[Helatus]

A friend of mine gave me several additions of No Quarter to read. Each magazine was filled with different terrain types (Bunker in NQ#29) and in some cases they had a tutorial on how to build said item. Some of those tutorials looked complicated or just time consuming. To me that is a good start for building and selling terrain since a lot of people do not have the time to build high quality terrain.

[saruus]

Ice terrain is always pretty when there are crystals.

[Chaerae81B]

Ice terrain is always pretty when there are crystals.

That's really deep man.

Backon topic!
I was thinking about it some more the other day. And a riverside shanty type of deal might be interesting, or faiing that, a good quality river system would be quality. Rivers are a pain to make and the few sets that I have considered buying seemed rather pricey.
And yes as Skyydragon said, pics please!

[Murf]

A really good and effective table was featured in the original Prime (or was it Superiority?). It was simply a glass table with snow-covered hills and some dead trees. A very very effective way to do a frozen lake, in my opinion.

As to what terrain would I like to see produced, I'd agree that trees and hills are already well-catered for. Iron Kingdoms buildings, wagons, steam train stations, field hospitals would all be cool. Modular canyons might also be a good idea. It'd involve raising the "flat" playing areas about 2-3" above the floor of the canyons but if you could use thick sheets of foam I presume it wouldn't be difficult to cut them to shape.

[Madrak]

Military tents. Be easier to make and still sell pretty well I'd think. Have some (generic) colored banners to go with them.

[Warsmith_Ckaile]

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/6973/familyphoto.jpg

Ignoring the miniatures, this is some of my earlier "temperate terrain" stuff and have since upped my game quite a bit. As I just sold a bunch of stuff at Historicon, I may have to buy some more materials and go to town because I don't have much else at the moment. When I get some new stuff done I will post it here.

[Mangle Paw]

I did MTG card sales at cons for two years and made a pass at terrain for profit. MTG was very good to me, and with terrain I quit while I was ahead, heres some of the things I found out.

1) The thing that you actually need to overcome for any sale is the game publishers cheerleading when it comes to making terrain. That may seem like it means you have to provide a piece that is 'better' quality than the purchaser believes he or she can make. That however is not the only road. The other sales approach is price of the terrain, vs the actual time that it takes to make it. For instance, a simple swooping dune is funtionally a hill. Everyone thinks they make a hill in a heart beat. But the actual time, cutting the base, cutting the swoop, graining the swoop with sand, priming the piece, base coating the piece and dry brushing the piece takes a lot more time than people realize. These things will never be easy sells unless you effectivley communicate the time saved, and the target customer makes enough hourly that they understand how much thier time is worth.

2) Understand exactly how much time each piece takes to make. This is why I bailed. I wanted to make at least minimum wage on the stuff. I kept a jounal and noted each step to the minute for each group of X that I was making (batch running forests, hills, ruined tudor houses etc.). You'll want this info to evaluate your pricing, and it helps a load with the second sales angle. I found that the "typical" stuff was cost effective and the cool stuff had me making chineese wages.

3) Watch out for 'unrepeatable' terrain. My first army was a coold blooded one from that other big time game company (you know, the one that its own stores so it can double dip the profits). Anyway I did a terrain set big enough to cover a 4' by 8' table of jungle that was so conviencing that the store owners son thought I was using live plants. I've been offered $300 for it and refused, Because I was never going to find the key bits again. The key bits are 5 fake bonsai trees that retailed at $50 bucks a pop at a home decor shop and I got on scratch and dent clearance for $5 a piece. The suckers are between 10" and 12" tall and look fantastic. I have looked high and low for them and never found anything close, even at fukk retail.

4) Understand the grandfather clock, and always have one. Before I jumped into card sales I talked at length with him about his experience selling hand made wodden items at Yankee Peddler, Revolutionary War and Civil War renactor gatherings. For the first year that he did these events he was taking better goods at better prices than his main competitor. It was always the same guy and he always dragged out this huge ornate grandfater clock during set up and cragged it back during teardown and it was priced at something the 2K (80's era) and he could tell by traffic and time talking to possible customers, he was getting his butt kicked financially. By the end of that first year he still making beer money and sticking with his day job. But he had made a lot of friends in the deal pool and got one of them to evaluate his set up. He told my uncle it was clock, and suggested he work on something as big to display. My Uncle laughed it off, but winter was coming so he decieded to a 6' long dowery chest that he had been meaning to do anyway. The following year he dragged out the chest and it sold in the early summer. He figured he was running even with his rival up to the point he sold the chest and thought he was in the clear, but after the chest was gone his sales slumpped. If this has'nt been TDL then your at the pay off. Having something on display that is way out of reach, but very ornate and demonstrates that you have mastered the skill set for your chosen venue of booth drivern sales inspires an inordinate amount of confidence in the potential customer making much easier to make sales, and reducing the difficulty corresponds with increased sales. It worked for him, it worked for me in MTG sales (one of each Mox and a Lotus, all beta, and all marked at 2.5 the going rate to keep them on the table).

5) Make sure it's actually playable. If a model ever falls over off a hill and breaks, that customer is done with you. Same goes with trees, washer basing them makes them a pain to move around, so putting them on a template is way better. Ruins often end up with the falling problem as well as the base is too big for the details problem.

Thats it for now, If I think of more and you let me know you want to hear it, I'll post it.
Good Luck in your endeavor

Mangle Paw