A system that uses a combination of player choices and random placement to build your Warhammer Fantasy battlefield.

Use the following sequence to build your Warhammer Fantasy battlefield.

Step 1. Roll for your Battlefield Landscape on a 2D6

Roll a 2D6 to determine your landscape setting randomly. Modify this list for different landscapes as it suits your terrain options and player preferences. You may also re-roll for options you do not have available.

2- Chaos Waste

3-Coast/Shore

4-Freshwater Lake

5-Mountains

6-Desert

7-Grassland

8-Forest

9-Tundra

10-Hills

11-Swamp

12-Snowscape

Step 2. Table Size and Difficulty Chart

Use this difficulty chart based upon your table size. The table size is your choice. The difficulty level is also your choice. Beginners should start with a small amount of terrain and advanced players should use more. The chart indicates the amount of terrain each player will select and place on the battlefield (assuming a 2 player game). Results of 1-15 points are possible. Only roll once, and both players get the same points result.

Difficulty	36″ x 48″	48″ x 48″	48″ x 72″	48″ x 96″
1-Learning	1	D3 + 1	D6	D6 + 1
2-Basic	D3 + 1	D6	D6 + 1	D6 + D3
3-Intermediate	D6	D6 + 1	D6 + D3	2D6
4-Advanced	D6 + 1	D6 + 3	2D6	2D6 + 1
5-Extreme	D6 + D3	2D6	2D6 + 1	2D6 + D3

If you have more than 2 players in a game, decide amongst yourselves how to divide the responsibility to setup the battlefield. A few solutions are available. One option is to nominate 2 players among the many to setup the battlefield. Another option is to divide the 2D6 results evenly among the multiples of players (or teams) however seems fair/logical for your crew. A third (extreme) option is to allow all players the full amount of terrain points scored on the 2D6 roll.

Step 3. Terrain Features

This systems breaks terrain features into 3 categories: Natural, Unnatural, and Scatter features.

Natural features are those that are not created by humans or other Warhammer races. Common examples are trees, rivers, hills, lakes, rocks, and more. They help create the overall landscape setting of the battlefield. Natural features should “belong” to the landscape. For example, a frozen waterfall is out of place in a desert, except by some magical explanation. Some of these features may have Mysterious effects, explained in another step.

Unnatural features are those created by Warhammer races. Common examples are walls, bridges, roads, shrines, huts, farms, towers, castles and more. These features may be generic, or have unique architecture for a specific race or civilization. Unnatural features usually should not outnumber natural features, except for near large towns or cities. These are typically the most interesting terrain features on a battlefield and can have major effects in a battle. Many will have Mysterious effects.

Scatter terrain are features that are small and are generally treated like obstacles. They can be found anywhere and are not particular to any landscape type. They include barrels, crates, wagons, signs, small rocks, and more. They could be either of natural or unnatural origin. Scatter terrain is typically used to decorate or simply make the landscape look more interesting with little details. They are usually of little consequence to the Warhammer battle. But, special rules can be made for them, as desired.

Step 4. Terrain Limits Chart

Each player will use “Purchase Points” to select terrain for the battlefield. Purchase points are determined by looking back at Step 2, and the 2D6 results from the difficulty chart. If you rolled a score of “6”, for example, both players would have 6 purchase points. Use the following chart to understand how those purchase points may be spent to select terrain. Use the column according to the number of purchase points (1-15) allowed per player. Each player spends their purchase points within the limits of each terrain feature category. This helps create a balanced-looking landscape for your battlefield. It’s important to realize these are not numbers of terrain items, but spending points, which will be explained next.

Features	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Natural	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	3	3	4	4	4	5	5	5
Unnatural	0	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	3	3	4	4	4	5	5
Scatter	0	0	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	3	3	4	4	4	5

Step 5. Terrain Costs

Terrain cost is based upon a combination of how “big” an item is, and how commonplace it would be according to the landscape setting of your battlefield. Rare items will cost more. Nothing prevents you from placing an frozen waterfall in a desert, but that would be a very rare item in that landscape and would be a costly terrain choice. Use the following chart to understand terrain choice costs.

Occurrence	Price	Symbol
Common	1	●
Less Common	2	◐
Rare	3	○

Use the Terrain Costs above to select items according to the limits of each terrain feature class.

Each player uses the Terrain Limits Chart for each terrain feature class to go “shopping” for terrain items to place. Terrain items selected are your choice. This landscape generator does not have a specific list of terrain, but merely a list of options to choose from. This allows for more creativity in building/collecting a terrain library that suits you or your club’s interests. You also don’t have to worry about randomly rolling for a terrain item you do not have in your collection.

Step 6. Natural Landscape Features Chart

Use the following purchase chart to select Natural features by Landscape type. These are generic categories of natural terrain pieces. Do your best to fit your terrain piece into one of these categories.

Landscape	Woods	River	Hill	Cliff	Marsh	Boulders	Ice	Cave	Sand
Chaos	●	◐	●	●	◐	●	●	●	●
Coast	◐	●	◐	●	●	●	○	◐	●
Lake	●	●	◐	◐	●	◐	◐	○	●
Mountains	●	◐	●	●	◐	●	●	●	○
Desert	○	○	◐	◐	○	◐	○	◐	●
Grassland	◐	●	◐	○	●	○	○	○	○
Forest	●	●	●	◐	◐	◐	◐	◐	○
Tundra	○	●	○	○	●	◐	●	○	○
Hills	●	◐	●	●	◐	●	◐	●	○
Swamp	●	●	○	○	●	○	○	○	◐
Snowscape	◐	○	●	●	○	◐	●	◐	○

Step 7. Unnatural Landscape Features Chart

Use the following purchase chart to select Unnatural features. These are independent of Landscape type. Do your best to fit your terrain piece into one of these categories. You may have a specific scenario or objective where a particular terrain item would be more common than listed here. Feel free to make necessary adjustments.

Item	Cost
Wall/Fence	●
Road	●
Bridge	●
Field/Pasture	●
Well	●
Ruins	◐
Dock	◐
Graveyard	◐
Monument/Altar	◐
Campsite	◐
Hut/Tent/House	○
Tower	○
Town Building	○
Quarry/Mine	○
Fort	○

Step 8. Scatter Features Chart

Scatter terrain are all worth 1 point each. Use your imagination and resources. The following is just an example of ideas.

Tree	Bush	Rock	Pilar	Sign	Carcass	Barrel	Crate
Stump	Wagon	Cow	Campfire	Grave	Coin Pile	Boat	Crops

Step 9. Selection and Placement Procedure

Roll off to see who will place a terrain piece first. Then alternate between players. Player 1 chooses and places his first terrain piece first. Then player 2 chooses and places his terrain piece. Then go back to player 1. So on, and so forth until all items are placed. There are no limits on duplicate selections.

Both players will place all of their natural features first. Then they will place their unnatural features. Finally, scatter items will be placed. Within each feature class, each player should place their most expensive items first. If a player spends all their points within a feature category before the other player, then he continues to the next feature class. Continue until both players spend all their points in each terrain feature class.

Step 9a. Random Placement

It is the default of this system to place all terrain items randomly on the table. Players may decide to opt out and determine the placement of each item. But, the random placement of each terrain item is a simple process that helps mix up the presentation of the battlefield. Use the following method to randomly place terrain items.

1. Divide your table into a 2 dimensional grid, similar to the grid on a Battleship game. This assumes a square or rectangular battlefield. Divide it into inches (or cm) with D6 columns and D6 rows. It doesn’t matter if one side is longer than the other, as long as the grid spacing is even per side.
2. Select a corner as the origin, or starting point of your grid before rolling. The battlefield should have four corners. You may choose to use the same corner for all grid rolls, or you may alternate clockwise around the different corners for each roll.
3. Roll a D6 for each side of the grid. Make sure you know which D6 belongs to each side before rolling.
4. Follow the D6 results for how many grid spaces to place your terrain item along each axis.
5. Once you have found the initial position on the battlefield for the terrain piece, roll the scatter and artillery dice together to find the final position of the terrain item. This reduces the likelihood for two terrain items to end up in the same position. In the rare occurrence that two terrain items end up on top of each other, you can either choose to re-roll if it makes the most sense, or use your best artistic interpretation to place them next to each other. For example, it would not make sense to place a tower on top of a bridge which is on top of a river. But maybe it could be placed next to the bridge.
6. The orientation (spin, or aspect) of the terrain item is up to the player placing it. If it has doors or windows, the player placing it may want to orient the item as it makes the most sense or makes the most benefit for his army. Some items might benefit from using the scatter dice to determine random orientation, like rivers or roads. In that case, the river or road should travel in the direction shown by the scatter dice. But that’s just an option for more experienced players.

A tip for placing rivers: Many rivers on Warhammer battlefields are made of a string of river segments connected end to end. Some river models allow for modular spin or orientation of each segment along its course. If your river has this option, you may use the scatter dice to point the direction of the river course for each segment. Continue rolling scatter dice for each segment until the river segments move off the battlefield or you run out of segments. It doesn’t matter if a road or river doesn’t completely travel off the edge of the board.

Some items do not benefit from a completely random placement, like a bridge over a river. A bridge should be placed specifically on the river, but on a random spot along it. In this case you would approach placement differently. One option is to roll for random river segments if your river is made of multiple spans. Or you could divide your river length into even D6 or 2D6 lengths. Then select your origin or endpoint before rolling.

Players may also agree to allow placement of some terrain items in a cluster if they are meant to be together. Players should agree on the details on how to work this out before rolling.

Step 10. Mysterious Terrain

After all the terrain items have been placed it is time to determine which items are Mysterious Terrain. Whoever finished placing terrain last will start this phase. Alternating turns, each player chooses a terrain piece and rolls a D6. On a 4+, it is Mysterious. Otherwise, it has no Mysterious effects. Each terrain piece may only be selected once. Each players makes a roll for Mysterious Terrain as many times as indicated by the Difficulty Level indicated way back on the Table Size and Difficulty Level Chart. For example, if you chose an Intermediate game, each player may roll 3 times for Mysterious terrain.

Some items may inherently possess magical effects, and are designed and selected as such, like a Charnel Pit, a Sphinx or a Magical Portal. There is no need to roll for these features. But not all terrain types are all magical. Not all towers are magical. Walls, fences, wells, houses, shrines, altars, monuments are not always magical. There’s nothing wrong with having a simple monument in a battlefield that does not have magical powers. For these, you would roll for Mysterious Terrain. But if you and your opponent agree that a specific terrain item should automatically come with its magical powers then there is no need to roll for Mysterious terrain effects. There is not really a fixed rule when it comes to this. Use a combination of randomness and good old fun to determine Mysterious Terrain. This Mysterious Terrain procedure in the previous paragraph is mainly intended for woods, rivers, hills, walls, ruins and potentially for other arcane architecture.

If you would like more options to Mysterious Terrain than are offered in the Warhammer Fantasy rulebooks, check out some bigger lists we have put together on forests, rivers, hills and such.

Step 11. Ready for Deployment

Now that your battlefield is setup, and Mysterious Terrain is identified, it is time to deploy forces. Roll off on a D6. The winner chooses who will place their first unit first. The player who places his first unit first will decide which deployment zone to place their army.

If a Mysterious Terrain item is located within a deployment zone, the player may roll to determine the effects of the terrain after full deployment but before the start of the game. It is assumed that the general will send a scout to learn the magical powers of the terrain piece before the attacks begin.

There is also the option to include Night and Weather rules to modify the game experience even further. If you choose to use these options, you would determine Night and Weather effects after army deployment but before the first round of the game. Check out the Bonepile Miniatures Rules on Night and Weather rules in the link below.

Otherwise, you are ready to fight your battle and I hope you enjoy your Warhammer battlefield.

Happy Wargaming!