Would GW azyrite ruins & townscape work for scenery?

Hey folks!

After a while away I'm wanting to look into getting back to mordheim. Because heck darn it's so fun to make warband conversions! Now my main issue is if I wanted to have some games at home and get friends round I don't have any fantasy terrain. I also do not want to hand build and paint dozens of houses from cardboard & foam etc. Because I neither have the time, motivation nor storage space for that (plastic ruins are better because I can bung them in a box a bit easier)

Now I'm wondering if the AoS azyrite ruins and the new 2 story azyrite townscape might work well gameplay wise or if they might need a lot of conversion to get more clustered buildings etc (I know kill team seems to work well enough with ruins of those types but that's quite a different beast to mordheim)

Painting would be simple enough, spray black and drybrush greys onto it and it would also double as scenery for AoS games. But it does beg the question of is it a bit too ruiney to work for mordheims gameplay.

Fluff wise I'd probably have to flavour it as either a more exotic city (Sartosa themed perhaps? though that might warrent a different paint scheme) or have it as like a version of mordheim in the AoS mortal realms though whilst that allows for more wacky AoS conversions it does also cause issue with that the AoS range is not the best for getting a lot of the mordheim warbands out of.

Any opinions on whether these would work gameplay wise (height is my main concern as may need to build them into buildings with more floors) or what the best fluff route to go might be would be great (my knowledge of WHFB lore is pretty pants as I never played it beyond mordheim)

I know I could look into mdf buildings and such but these ruins look easy storage wise and painting wise hence my predisposition to them. Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

I knew the ruins but had to google the township. Looks like it's new for christmas. For everyone interested:
https://www.tga.community/forums/topic/217-the-rumour-thread/?page=684

The ruins and township might add a bit of variety to an existing collection. I own the ophidian archway for that reason. But I'm not sure if an azyrite-only table would work. Not because of the fluff, but it's all so small, even the new 2-storey buildings. You'd need quite a bit of these rather expensive buildings and even then it would probably look a little...flat. Don't know if this makes for a fun game. Dave Andrews mentioned new terrain in the September White Dwarf. Maybe we'll see some bigger buildings in the future...

Cheers for the heads up! I think you're right about it looking flat. But combining it with other AoS terrain could be a good shout. I'd probably look into the mausoleum kit and maybe the manor house as some extra bits. Would just need to look at them again to make sure they'd fit in looks wise. They'd at least break it up a bit.

Thanks for the link Grimscull, I had no idea what the question was about.

I would think that you could get some nice MDF ruins that have that medieval/Renaissance look for less money.

I'd agree that the Azyrite ruins are a fairly expensive way to get scenery without much height. Though fluff-wise, you could just make them ancient Elven ruins or something out in the wilds & you're fine. If you're doing that, maybe stack some ruins & add extra hills & rocky outcrops (possibly just made of rocks) for extra height & variety.

Personally, I've had quite a good time with TT Combat, who do fantasy terrain & a Venetian range -- which does quite well for Renaissance Europe or Mordheim. It's not too expensive, gives height, & is easy to play on -- they have lots of flat roofs for putting models on, & the buildings are made of stacked segments that can be easily rearranged or opened up in game.

https://ttcombat.com/collections/fantasy-realms
https://ttcombat.com/collections/streets-of-venice

Or there's vacuum-formed scenery. Cheap & cheerful, & just the job if you're planning to spray & drybrush to get scenery on the table.
http://www.amera.co.uk/product.php?range=f

Oh, & the Sigmarite Mausoleum (formerly the Garden of Morr) is really nice terrain, but won't give any height. It's all sloping roofs & spikes!

Rhydderch wrote:

I'd agree that the Azyrite ruins are a fairly expensive way to get scenery without much height. Though fluff-wise, you could just make them ancient Elven ruins or something out in the wilds & you're fine. If you're doing that, maybe stack some ruins & add extra hills & rocky outcrops (possibly just made of rocks) for extra height & variety.

Personally, I've had quite a good time with TT Combat, who do fantasy terrain & a Venetian range -- which does quite well for Renaissance Europe or Mordheim. It's not too expensive, gives height, & is easy to play on -- they have lots of flat roofs for putting models on, & the buildings are made of stacked segments that can be easily rearranged or opened up in game.

https://ttcombat.com/collections/fantasy-realms
https://ttcombat.com/collections/streets-of-venice

Or there's vacuum-formed scenery. Cheap & cheerful, & just the job if you're planning to spray & drybrush to get scenery on the table.
http://www.amera.co.uk/product.php?range=f

Oh, & the Sigmarite Mausoleum (formerly the Garden of Morr) is really nice terrain, but won't give any height. It's all sloping roofs & spikes!

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll give those links a look after work

I found out my dad has already ordered some azyrite ruins and sigmarite mausoleum for our AoS games which means I'll be able to get a proper look at them soon and potentially use them for some scenarios. Having some of the more rennaisance buildings would be lovely too though. I'm also thinking about picking up some foamboard to potentially begin making some board bits as well so I can have a possible dockyard area as just playmats don't give much raised area and I'd love a little canal / docks with bridges and boats. My experience with terrain and setting up mordheim boards is pretty nonexistant.

Beyond multi story buildings and rivers what other stuff would be good to add? I figure making some barricades could be interesting for cover within streets.

EDIT Okay Rhydderch just checked those sets and there are some really cool things in there! I really wanna get the venetian set now XD just a shame there's no ruin version. But would be really cool to have some mordheim games around a narrow waterway city district.

It is a bit of a shame they don't do ruined Venetian buildings... but it would probably be easy enough to either rough them up a bit so they look ruined, or add a ruined section instead of the upper floor/roof. As I say, the buildings are modular, so you could easily swap in & out ruined additions.

Other than buildings & waterways, barricades, street-litter, & ladders are always good. Ladders are quite easy to make from balsa wood, & they're very useful in games for opening up those multi-level terrain pieces. Likewise, walkways to connect buildings together -- like ladders, those can look very rough, the tacked-together woodwork of the City of the Damned. Barricades are useful for breaking up line of sight, & can be easy to make too. Gameplay-wise, ladders, barricades, & walkways are probably the best priority.

Otherwise, anything like street-signs, barrels & crates (stacks of either make good barricades too), fountains, wells, & monuments all help make the board look more lived-in & real. They're also a good opportunity for creepiness & Mordheimy humour.

I've been thinking about those TT carnevale buildings too ... look very good.

have a look at recent image threads from the Crisis convention a week back - amazing looking 'Venetian' island table - not sure if it used the TT buildings - but similar.
(https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2018/11/crisis-2018-tin-soldiers-of-antwerp.html)

in terms of GW stuff, I think the Osgiliath ruins stuff looks better -and you can get 3 sets of that for 'the price of two' ... Only the one set available of course, so not much variety.

the pegasus gothic city sets are good too - one of them is a ruin.

A lot can be done with those kits as long as you're open to exploring and converting.

My own efforts can be seen here.



It's for the Mordheim 2019 project.

I just had a look at the Pegasus Gothic City sets, & they look good! Some of them give extra height too, & the high-Gothic architecture would definitely fit into the mix of a late-Medieval/German Renaissance city like Mordheim.

& yes, those Venetian buildings at Crisis are (at least some of them) TT Combat. & very nicely presented! The work those people have put in looks a lot better than the same buildings I'm using...