A quick and cheap table for beginners

So, you’ve recently hopped onto the Infinity train, you have played your first couple of games, and you know why the more experienced players claim that proper amount of terrain is important – nay, crucial! – for a proper game of infinity. You know they are right about that.

The problem is – you don’t have that much of a terrain. Or your LGS / gaming club regulars from other game systems aren’t exactly amused to see you set your table with nearly all the terrain pieces there are. Mostly because they would like to have a game, too, and consider your monopolising of the available gaming terrain a bit unfair.

Well, let’s be honest, they are not unreasonable here.

Which takes us back to the Square One. You need terrain. Lots of terrain.

You’ve ran through all the catalogues of the terrain-making companies who do official Infinity terrain. And those who do unofficial, but theme-fitting terrain. And general modern / future terrain. These are oh so beautiful… but you noticed the problem there.

The price tag. If you want a table’s worth of that stuff, it is going to cost you a lot of dinero.

Currently, you’re burning your cash on something else – namely, those gorgeous Infinity models.

Plus – making all that resin / hardfoam / plastic / MDF terrain look like it does on the catalogue means investing a lot of time, effort and, again, cash (supplies & tools!) into painting it. You’d rather paint your minis first.

You’ve scratched it off. For now.

What is left, is scratchbuilding. The problem with scratchbuilding is – it requires a lot of skill to make it look good. Yes, it allows you to turn rubbish into great terrain, but you need imagination first, then skill. Then – patience (and supplies to paint it). Do not forget about time…

Nope, you feel that’s not the way for you, at least  not yet.

A variant of scratchbuilding is making terrain (especially urban terrain) off foamboard. Or styrofoam. Or, as the Cardbuilding series on Datasphere shows, heavy cardboard. Still, this requires time, effort, some skill (well, less than you expect, but some nevertheless) and supplies to make it look good.

Sounds like you’re limited to either spending a heap of cash, or using random stuff for your table, like empty soda cans. Or risking the wrath of the local gaming community by hoarding the whole available terrain stock…

No, you’re not.

An alternative that will fill your table with colourful terrain quickly and easy on the budget is using papercraft models. Some of them have been created precisely with Infinity in mind, others were meant for different games. Or just generic. Many of these are available free on the Internet, and I’m going to give you some suggestions.

So, what are the pros and cons of papercraft? The pros:

• even if it is not free (and most of it is), the prices for download are really affordable.
• in most cases it comes already coloured. Often in several color variants at once. So your table will be colourful from day one.
• if you have access to a colour printer, then for the cost of paper and ink / toner you can have as many copies as you wish. And this means filling your table cheap.
• Several interesting models are very easy to assemble.

Well, every rose has it’s thorns. The cons:

• the terrain is lightweight. It is handy when you carry it around a lot, but becomes a liability once on table. It ain’t fun if the terrain scatters every time you start to think in a more intensive fashion! Though there are ways around that.
• the terrain is not very durable. It is, after all, only paper. Still, we tend to be delicate with our miniatures, so handling terrain shouldn’t be any problem. And if it gets squashed / crushed / torn, it is cheap and usually easy to replace. Plus, my gaming group has several cardboard pieces that are used on regular basis for years, and still look fine. No reason to fret about it.
• Save for a very few examples, paper models lack accessible interiors.
• It is really easy to go cookie-cutter with paper terrain, filling the table with a single shape (like a shipping container, for example). Even if these are in different colours, it quickly starts making for a dull-looking table. Keep that in mind.

Each of the above models was made from a single sheet of A4 paper.

Yes, there are complicated paper models (especially vehicle models) out there, and they do look good on a gaming table – but you will need a rather limited amount of these. You can try making them once you’ve coped with basics. Which, in fact, aren’t all that hard!

First, let’s get some basic supplies:

• Craft knife (I use one with segmented blade), or scissors (I like a knife much more),
• Ruler (preferably metal), or something to that effect (make sure it won’t be cut with your blade). Professional cutting rulers tend to be a bit expensive, though they are great tools. Freehand cutting is possible too, but requires a bit of practice (and a lot of steady hand!).
• A cutting board. Preferably a rubber cutting mat, but a wooden board will do. Don’t use a table surface for it, or you’ll make your family angry!
• Glue. Superglue works, but it is expensive, smelly and not very healthy, not to mention it tends to stick to everything around. PVA glue is better (choose one that dries transparent, and rather a thin than thick variety. Mine is marked as “bookbinder’s glue”).
• A pack of paper tissues / roll of paper towel comes in handy, too (for wiping away excess glue).
• Aquarium gravel is another handy stuff (just make sure it is dry before you put it into a paper model) for weighting our stuff down. Don’t overdo it, though.

Also, a note on paper for our models: standard photocopier paper (at 80g per square meter) tends to be too thin and soft to hold really well (it will do in a pinch, but won’t last long – and is more difficult to process). Heavier types are better. What I typically use is labelled as “decorative namecard paper” here, and (at 230-250g per square meter) roughly three times as thick as photocopier paper. It is available either white or light beige, with different decorative patterns stamped on the upper surface (for example, canvas), or plain. My favourite tends to be canvas patterned (so it gives some texture to a finished model. Should I want it smooth, I can print on the other side of a sheet where it is unpatterned) beige. Beige is a nice neutral colour, and you don’t see much snow white around where stuff is exposed to weather conditions for any significant amount of time.

I prefer to use an inkjet printer for it, though I have no access to a really good colour laser printer. So maybe that would be an option, too.

So, where to start?

Topo Solitario, a brilliant designer, made a whole collection of Infinity-themed papercraft. For starters, try his iKube containers. They are excellent cut-and-fold terrain, no gluing required! You can even unfold flat them for storage – though folding two or three dozen of these every time you want a game (and unfolding them after that) can get boring after a while.

The original Airwagon Dropship model is his creation, too. And easier to build than it seems.

Atenocitis Workshop, otherwise known as creator of Infinity reisin terrain (and many more fantastic stuff), holds a collection of shipping container models available for download. While not specifically Infinity-themed, they have a great Sci-Fi feel. That, and they look brilliant on-table (especially given they’re just rectangular boxes in essence)

Model Paper World, by Tommygun, once a regular of the Infinity forums, also has a great collection of stuff. His Hex Buildings are very nice for a beginning papercrafter, and stack excellent! Keep in mind to check the rest of his creations too, there are some brilliant objective marker ideas too.

Genet Models site houses – among other – the fine Ebbles Miniatures paper models, available for free these days. Most of their interesting models are vehicles (fancy a HMMV truck? It comes in a number of colours) but Frontier Farmstead and Field Camp sets are interesting ways to fill a table in a modular fashion! I gotta try them one day myself!

And there’s more (with kudos points to Nachtpfiffel for assembling this collection)!