3D Battle Maps, with Pics!
Filed as: 3D Terrain
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Aug 202010
I’m a very visual gamer – I like me some props, pics, and 3d battle maps. Here are some 3D terrain battle maps that I’ve created over the past couple of years, originally posted over at Roleplaying Pro. John Lewis also makes excellent 3D battle maps, so hopefully more will be posted by him.
Tower of Power
Tower of Power
Tower of Power
Tower of Power
Tower of Power
The Shrine
The Shrine
The Shrine
Agaroth’s Pass
Agaroth’s Pass
Horned Hold
Horned Hold
Horned Hold
Horned Hold
Horned Hold
Horned Hold
Pretty cool, huh?
Chris Stevens
In Chris's opinion, the very best vices are dirt bikes, rock music, and gaming, while the very best medicine is fatherhood. If he could just learn to balance them all, he'd live forever. He's much more creative than intelligent, often wakes up belligerent, and ponders many things insignificant. Lastly, in an effort to transform his well-fed body, P90X, Roller Blades, and Food are all laughing at him. And the pain continues.
These are… AWESOME! The time and talent it must take to put something like this together is just beyond me. If I put something half this elaborate into my campaign my players would loose their minds. Adding visual 3-dimentional elements really helps players (and the DM) get a true sense of what the battlefield looks like. Please keep posting pics.
@ Ameron
– Thanks for the kind words. The first 3d map I made was very, very basic. From there the learning curve was pretty fast, I think, so I’ll probably post a tutorial on that first basic 3d map. Once people see that – I think they’ll be able to get the hang of it pretty quickly (using that technique, anyway).
By the way, I liked your post.
I LOVE THIS! Well done. I dont think our DM’s would put this much effort into our campaigns but MAN, I love it! Well done Torq =D
@ Lacey
– Thank you for the kind words. I’ll try to get on that tutorial.
These are awesome! The Shrine is my favorite by far of the pics you posted. I’ve been using 3D battlemaps for a few years now too, and it makes a huge difference in the quality of the game. Definitely worth the effort you put into them! Hope to see some more ideas.
These are amazingly impressive! As soon as you get that tutorial up and running, I’ll be devouring it. I’ve been somewhat successful in my storytelling with 3D aids built in Lego, or using Lego extras like rocks, chests, boxes, or weaponry, but your creations here are skillfully done.
@Archeantus
– Thank you. I agree, it does make a huge difference, especially for tactical combat encounters, like D&D 4e. I got your pics and will be making another 3D Battle Maps post soon. You’ll have your own subpage in the XTRAS/3D Battle Maps page.
@Thomas
– Thank you. I’ll get that tutorial up soon, and it’ll probably be for a simple 3D battle map similar to my first 3D map. Afterward, I’ll put up another tutorial for a more in-depth map.
I was wondering if you ever put a tutorial up for how you built the Tower of Power, I have an idea of how you did it but my tower is not very stable.
@ Matt:
I haven’t put up a tutorial – maybe that’ll be my next one.
In the meantime, I started with two different sized boxes. One was a large box for a multi-pack of potato chips, and the other (smaller) box was for a double pack of cereal. You’re right – they were not very stable. So before I put the terrain on, I glued a couple of rocks inside each box. This weighed them down and kept them in place. There was very little shaking or wobbling.
I did not glue the two big boxes together. This way it’s modular, and can be used in different ways in the future.
I hope that helps!
Fantastic work! I admire your dedication. Normally I use 2d but I play wargames and make terrain so I appreciate what you did.
Sometimes the most difficult part of terrain is the 1 in tiles. How did you do the squares on the building, did you find an efficient way of applying squares everywhere?
Josh, on most 3D battle maps that I create, I print out terrain with 1-inch grids. I usually use Fat Dragon Games stuff, and just take what I need from that. Other times (as with “The Shrine”), I use paper that has already been gridded. Any office store has large pads of paper for this. I’ve also gone the more tedious route – taken a yard stick and drawn them in light pencil.
John Lewis also makes 3D battle maps, and for most of his, we don’t use a grid, opting instead for a tape measure for in-game use (battle placement of figures and distances doesn’t really need to be THAT precise). For smaller maps, that works great.
yea. these are very awesome. bookmarked for inspiration.
I think my two favorites are the bridges. There’s something about a 3d bridge that one drawn on a battlemap can’t duplicate. The sense of danger of falling perhaps? Or the hard boundary of the edge of the bridge maybe.
@Shinobicow
Thank you, sir!
@Brian
I totally agree. For one, there is always an edge on BOTH sides of the bridge, and two, you could even throw in the danger of the bridge collapsing!
… memories … Oh 4e, how I miss your ‘crunchy’ grid-based battles.
Its nice to see that the gaming community is getting more and more products that help you create 3D maps like these now. You no longer have to spend dozens and dozens of hours to make grid-based maps like these anymore (unless you want to!).
Hey buddy, you know that for me, half of the fun is just in making the maps! In fact, I’m about to invest in some Hirst Arts stuff here pretty soon…
But you’re right. A lot of people see the need for more 3D map materials, and there’s a lot more smaller companies popping up to help…
These are pretty cool, the shrine battle map has helped me visualize how I should GM an underground stairwell I’m currently designing. Good stuff, cheers!
Thanks, bud. The Shrine was particularly fun to play because the players had to battle their way up the different levels with the threat of getting knocked off at any time.
Beautiful ideas. I will copy it 😉 Thank you for posting. I enjoyed reading.