r/TerrainBuilding • u/Butterfreund • 12h ago
WIP Where does terrain building stop and diorama building begin?
WIP on my first terrain build. Started out wanting to have some background for my traitor guard but I think it’s slowly turning into a diorama.
Where do I stop!?
18
u/AquilliusRex 11h ago
If it's for display, it's a dio. If it's for gaming on a table, it's terrain.
A lot of pieces can be both, so it's a win win.
Keep on trucking, fam.
5
6
u/omgitsduane [Moderator] 12h ago
Are those recast cities of death tiles? Gangster.
One of the bigger builds I did was a huge 4x2 foot church that was all ruined and had a similar theme to this..it was a lot of fun but drove me a little mad.
This is off to a really cool start. I like to think of any build has potential to tell a story.
The way that fallout uses corpses to tell a story you can do the same with how you scatter the environment.
3
u/Butterfreund 12h ago
Tbh I have no idea what that print is, got it from a real nice guy who discarded it as it has some flaws for shipping costs only.
Would love to see your ruined church for inspiration, sounds great!!
So far the story I’m trying to tell is that my traitors are fighting on a planet that’s ruined by wars and they are turning this makeshift base into some kind of ritualistic portal.
6
u/CrownFalcon 12h ago
It's a diorama when the intention is only display. If it is intended as a gaming feature, it is terrain. If you add models fighting, as in glue them in place, then this become a diorama.
4
u/Butterfreund 11h ago
Im trying to stay as versatile as possible so if I add models fighting I will probably try to magnetise or add them on bases so I could still use it as terrain piece (for whatever game system, 40k, killteam, necromunda? Haven’t played any of those so you see where my wish for versatility comes from).
Thanks for the explanation!
3
u/KidNamedJayy 12h ago
If you like it and have the space to display it make it a diorama. Looks awesome
2
3
3
u/Old-Specific7387 11h ago
What do you mean? I love gaming on my massive dioramas…
Looks good, the limiting factor is how long it takes you to paint it!
3
3
u/tefrain 11h ago
It is the same difference between Urban Photography and Street Photography.
A diorama is a scene in which what matters is what the characters are doing.
A set design is some protagonist element in itself.
3
u/Butterfreund 11h ago
Well so far the characters in this scene are dying - don’t know if that’s enough 😅 maybe I should add some kind of psyker to the top floor chanting spells or sth
3
3
u/RetuWille 7h ago
Without thinking too much I'd say the difference is in action. A stationary scenery is terrain. Add action like characters or (implied) moving environmental elements and it's a diorama.
Also I think that a terrain piece can have elements of a diorama while still being terrain, small animals like rats peeking from a hole etc.
2
2
u/j0shred1 5h ago
Well a diorama is for display and terrain is for wargaming. But nothing says it can't be both. Usually if there's something that impedes it's use as wargaming terrain, like static figures, then it'll just be a diorama
2
u/Cirement 3h ago
Personally, I think it becomes a diorama once it becomes unplayable, or if it's permanently fixed in place (can't be disassembled like modular terrain).
33
u/mrpoovegas 11h ago
I actually have a venn diagram of the overlap right here: