TUF Modular Terrain

[granite reef]

I have been working on this project for almost a year now, and you may have seen some of the maps and other creations I've shared either in this server or on reddit. All the pieces up until now have been 3D printed and used as prototypes. My local group has been using this terrain for our games and it has made a huge difference in the immersive experience, especially with line of sight and height mechanics.

Now, we've decided to take this project to the next level and invest in commercial injection molding tools to make this terrain more readily available for general use. It will be launched through Kickstarter. There are two versions of the terrain. TUF25 is the 1" hex size and will only be available on our site and through Etsy. The Kickstarter project will be TUF32 and will use hexes approximately 32-33mm in size, and it will also be much more economical than the 3D printed counterparts.

The terrain is intended for general use, and while Lancer is what I personally use it for there are many others who are using it for Battle Tech, and even Dungeons & Dragons, and other games.

If you're interested in following or backing the Kickstarter please use this link:
https://modularhex.theupgradefactory.com/8

If you want to see more information about the differences between TUF25 and TUF32 use this link:
https://theupgradefactory.com/pages/modular-terrain

I would like to use this forum to hear more about what each of you are looking for in your games. I know a lot of Lancer players use online platforms for game play, so this may not be as applicable, but feel free to chime in whether you play at the table or on the screen.

I am also very interested in doing custom designs, specifically for members of this community. A few of you have already asked me to do some custom trackers and terrain pieces, and this is really what I love doing most!

I'll continue to add more pictures and content here as the project develops, and I look forward to interacting more closely with you all.

[quiet tapir]

👀

[icy quail]

This is really interesting. I'm very curious - if you don't mind me asking a few questions, what motivated the move from 25mm to 32mm? Also, would you be able to talk about the benefits/challenges in using injection moulding over a 3D print?

[granite reef]

The biggest motivation in moving from 25 to 32 is actually two main drivers. The first being the capability to be used with more games. Battletech is based on 32mm miniatures and they struggle to keep their models inside of that hex even, so we tried expanding slightly beyond 32. We then tested this in our own Lancer sessions and found that the visibility on the board felt more enjoyable. The 1” felt cramped, but I’d argue that it does still have its own set of benefits. So with both of those in mind, and start up costs being large we decided to go with the size that has the highest chance of success based on player base as well. This doesn’t mean that a 1” won’t be feasible for mass production in the future, because that’s still an option if this is enough of a success. We’re also working on square versions for those TTRPG systems. The last thing I would mention is that the larger hex sizes did also help make more structurally fun shapes such as bridges which became more stable with larger bases. The only down side for injection molding is the initial cost and the minimum order quantity. Alternatively 3D printing a single kit is much more costly and takes more than a week to do. Injection molding quality is superior, the parts will be paintable without risk of bleeding within the layer lines, and they’ll be less prone to breaking. Hopefully that answers what you were looking for, if not let me know 😁

[icy quail]

Thank you, that's really informative and interesting 🙂

[granite reef]

Experimenting with a few color variations for the terrain substrate colors. The green turned out a little too soft for what I was hoping for. Looking at a few more samples, but ultimately the colors will be fine tuned for injection molding and not limited to these prototype filament colors.

[granite reef]

A few more color samples for base plates and terrain blocks. Going to play test a slightly darker green for a grassy battle next session

[spring olive]

HM, maybe final colors based on the 5 Manufacturers?
Red = GMS
Blue = IPS-N
Dark Green = Horus
Purple (not pink) = HA?

[granite reef]

That's definitely an option. I hadn't considered using manufacturer colors. It was more of a ground/terrain color concept for either a planet, a base, etc. but could work equally as well to include manufacturer colors. There's also the color tiles that could match those too, which go on top of the base plates and terrain. I've got more photos I've been meaning to add here, just needed to sort them out

[spring olive]

"Normal" Terrain and ground colors would be fitting and expected - "Manufacturers" colors just occured to me when I saw that last pic, as it was already close.

[granite reef]

True that may have been a subconscious coincidence of color testing 😅

[spring olive]

Nice browns - for mountainous terrain?

What are the black tiles?

[granite reef]

We’ve used brown in our games for buildings, bridges, crashed boats in water. This image would likely have them as mountain or dirt

Black here would represent roads. We’ve used them for rooftops and roads, and in one case an objective zone

[spring olive]

Gotcha.

[granite reef]

The concept would be to allow flexibility of creative description. Hence the simplistic look. Green doesn’t always have to be forest. Last session our GM was pushing us into a green acid river that wrecked our controller

[spring olive]

<YIKES>

[granite reef]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theupgradefactory/modular-hex-terrain

Adding the project page in here since it's now up and available to be "followed" through Kickstarter. We're going live on Monday, October 7th around 8am Pacific Time.

For anyone who may be interested you can pre-register for some bonuses when you back the project. Follow that here: https://modularhex.theupgradefactory.com/8

[spring olive]

Backed, and sent a private message via KS.
Amazing how this blew up already.

[granite reef]

Thank you for the support! I’m working through more message now. It’s been an incredible first day

[fading idol]

I think what I like about the 25mm hexes is how much more portable and compact it is. I like maps of 30-35 spaces in each dimension which can be hard to accommodate with 32mm hexes on a standard table

32mm is nice for Battletech model compatibility but my experience suggests that Battletech maps are smaller than Lancer maps typically

Like the general recommendation around here is to make sure maps are no more less than 25x25

Meanwhile, Battletech maps I see online are like 17x17

25mm hexes make it a lot more practical for me to cart terrain in my backpack to a local meetup at a tavern

just my 2c

Kickstarter looks great!

Now what we need are people making 25mm base mech models :P

[round plover]

the 32mm base is just much more compatible with minis all around. BTW they have 25mm products on their webpage https://theupgradefactory.com/collections/all

[fading idol]

Oh, I fully understand the rationale from a marketing perspective, and I already bought the 25mm terrain a couple months ago

This was more a response to the earlier discussions in this thread last month I guess

[granite reef]

@fading idol thanks for your input in that other message. It definitely was a challenge determining which size to launch with. We’ll continue to support both sizes long term too. For our home table we had been blessed/cursed with maps that were 40x50 hexes our GM went a little crazy! So those would be much harder with larger hexes, and a lot of larger hexes out there were 1.5” and larger, so we tried to go as small as possible while still accommodating a large existing game. If I had my way, we’d get Lancer out there on the same notoriety that D&D and battle tech have 😅 I just think it’s an incredible game and it needs more mention than what it currently has. There’s also really no miniatures at that scale. I’m working with a Patreon artist right now to come up with some solutions, and he may allow scaling to accommodate both 25mm and 32mm.

[fading idol]

I'd be curious what the ratio of Lancer to non-lancer players are for the KS

Really the thing I'm looking for right now are mech standees

It is goddamn impossible to find anything for "paper standee hex bases" anywhere

KS is looking good!

[granite reef]

This brings up a good point. I was curious about it too. I’ve got a discord server that has about 30% of the backers in it and I could put up a poll in there and start to see.

I’m interested in your need for paper standees, sounds like a fun thing to work on

[fading idol]

Well, I need tokens for the mechs. I went all in on 25mm terrain knowing that I wasn't going to have minis available to me for purchase, so I need some other option for representing the mechs on the field

Retrograde lets you print foldable standees, so that's an easy choice

After that though, it gets tough

I can print them and fold them and cut them and glue them

But how do I actually stand them up? How do I represent a size 2 or size 3 footprint?

Right now I'm gluing some stuff together and it's not working great

I don't have a 3d printer

Ironically @granite reef someone posted a picture to your Etsy of them using hex token bases with cardboard standees and I have no idea where they got them

Where the FUCK do I get something like this

I literally spent 30 minutes today searching and found plenty of slotted bases but nothing for paper/cardboard standees

And even if I find something, that doesn't solve the problem for size 2/3

[granite reef]

Yeah the size system in lancer is one of the coolest I’ve seen and there’s just not a ton out there to represent it

We’ve used these and just stuck the retrograde miniature pictures on top of them

But standees would be much more cost effective because these things are just massive lol

[fading idol]

I saw those and was intrigued but wasn't sure how the magnets worked

I would only be interested in magnets if it made it easy to swap token icons on the top

[granite reef]

The magnet is more just to use a little stick with a magnet in it to pick them up and move them. Totally unnecessary tbh my GM just uses his fingers to pick them up

[fading idol]

Ah

[granite reef]

I thought it was cool but nobody ended up using them like that 😂

[fading idol]

Lol

If I had a good workflow of retrograde > standee my life would be so much better

The steps are very DIY so far though

Like, even just sizing the retrograde prints is a challenge

[granite reef]

Do you print them on standard paper and use those? Just wondering to see about the paper thickness

[fading idol]

So far standard 20lb printer paper

I've been gluing them to index cards and cutting them out

So that they had more body

[icy quail]

thank you for providing a shipping estimate. It's been very frustrating getting burned by surprise shipping costs in the past

[granite reef]

Of course! I went through about 3 different shipping companies before picking one that gave a solid answer, and even on top of that I’m looking at splitting distribution to make it even more cost effective for some of the higher priced areas. Shipping is one of the big challenges, but we’re doing all we can to reduce those costs

[granite reef]

This sounds like it makes them much easier to handle

[cosmic rapids]

This is really interesting, but being physical only it rapidly makes it non viable from the EU, particularly stuff that's bound to be very heavy 😦

That said, your estimates look very low for the EU zone, from what I've experienced in other KS projects. Will you be shipping from inside the EU? Do you know how VAT would be handled?

[granite reef]

Sorry about the delay. So far we have two shipping hubs, one in the US and one in Asia. We’d plan to ship to the EU from our Asia distribution hub. VAT would be collected at the same time as shipping to avoid any delays in delivery. As more and more backers pledge and fill out the shipping survey we’ll identify options to use more distribution centers in attempt to reduce shipping costs as much as we can

[cosmic rapids]

Thanks for the info 🙂

[granite reef]

Small update on these, we're about 7 days out from the Kickstarter closing date. Lot's of good feedback from many of you, and thanks for the DMs! So excited to get this project moving forward and start seeing all the great maps that everyone will create with it.

[river sequoia]

Quick question : will there be any future for this beyond the quickstarter ?

Like, will people still be able to purchase some after it's done ?

[granite reef]

Thanks for checking, yes we're planning long term support for this. We'll have it available through our online store once the orders for the Kickstarter are taken care of, and we have plans to expand the hex line as well as introducing a grid system for squares using the same interlocking design

[river sequoia]

Oh hell yeah, nice !

Don't currently have the space, money or in-person players to justify the purchase, but the thing is just so dang cool !

Makes me feel a whole lot better about not buying now, I'll still be able to once I actually have a use for it

[granite reef]

Just a heads up I finally got around to putting these on the site. The ones in that photo you posted weren't mine, but I did make some for size 1, 2, and 3. They work for standard printer paper folded in half. I haven't made a style for cardboard due to the varying thicknesses cardboard can be. I'd be happy to modify some up to match the thickness you need. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1840924665/tuf25-stands-for-npc-and-player

Also, for anyone who had missed the Kickstarter window, you can use this link for the rest of this month to get the modular hex terrain: https://the-upgrade-factory.pledgemanager.com/projects/tuf-modular-hex-terrain/participate/

[fading idol]

Oh amazing! I'd love to pick up a set!

TUF25 is the 1" hex version, right?

Also, I see that the pictures show a size-4 base but there isn't a size-4 purchase option, is that intentional?

[fading idol]

Hmm, maybe one set of green (or blue) and two sets of red? for allies vs. hostiles

[fading idol]

re: thickness of standees, were you just testing with standard 20lb printer paper? Would my strategy of gluing the printouts to index cards result in something too thick for this? Wondering what the tolerances are... Are you able to pick up the whole base + standee from the standee itself?

[granite reef]

Oops, yeah that was an oversight. I added an option on there for size 4 now and a few bundled options. There are two listings now, one of them is TUF25 which is for 1” hexes and the other is TUF32 which is 32mm hexes.

So good question on the spacing. Right now it’s designed for a single sheet of 20lb printer paper that’s been folded in half (or the equivalent of two pieces).

The slots aren’t just flat, they have ridges inside to help with paper variance. In its current state though an index card, adhesive, and paper would likely be too thick.

I’d love to adjust it though and make sure it will fit that stack up. I’m sure it would be good to have that as an option as well.

And as for colors, the listings on there show one color selection for the whole set, but if you want you can let me know which assortments of green/red or whichever colors and I don’t mind a mix and match sort of thing to get the right quantities for your games

[granite reef]

Would you prefer to be able to pick up the whole thing from the paper character itself? This is what my GM prefers, but I’m curious to see what others think. It’s just been nice not to accidentally lift the paper off the base when trying to move

[fading idol]

So, regarding quantities, my thoughts right now are:

1. I want to separate "friendly" vs. "hostile" base colors

2. I want enough bases to support 5 PCs and 10 structure worth of NPCs + deployables (imagine Hydra vs. Engineer lol)

So, that's why I'm thinking 1x bundle of blue and 2x bundle of red. The only way that doesn't work is if my players all go mono-size-2 or mono-barbarossa on the PC side. On the NPC side, 8 size-2 bases feels a little on the low size (I love grunt Bastions) but it's probably fine and a reasonable creative constraint. 24x size-1 is definitely more than I need for NPCs though, as well as 12x size-1 for PCs, unless everyone is going ham with deployables.

[fading idol]

I absolutely want to be able to grab the token by the paper, yes.

Would it be possible to make the base, like, a "clip" of sorts? I don't know how durable the 3D printed plastic is, but my jank ass solution right now are these things, which seem to accommodate multiple card thicknesses well enough, though it doesn't have the ridges like you mention. (The photos on the Etsy page are a little too low res to see the ridges.)

I think my concern with just using paper is that the tokens will be bent and flop/fold too easily. At the very least, I'd probably glue the standees back to back and cut them out too, but even with index card backing, it can get floppy. Kind of undecided though, I could be overestimating how hard it would be to use.

[fading idol]

Oh, one more question: any chance these are compatible with the status token rings? As in, can the rings fit around the base under the paper token

[granite reef]

I love the amount of intense detail and thought you put into squad compositions. Maybe this is why I just play and I’m not the GM 😂.

[fading idol]

Lol

[granite reef]

This is easier to do with stiffer medium like card stock, index cards, card board, etc because with paper the amount of force to “jam” it in would likely bend it. So with thicker papers it’s easier to make it so it doesn’t just come lose

[fading idol]

Makes sense

[granite reef]

As for the clip, I drew up a design that I’m printing this evening to emulate that sort of function. Although it may even be an option to just snap/glue those same pieces into pre-made bases. I ordered a set of those to experiment with

[granite reef]

And yeah, they’ll work with the ring, but the challenge would be the size of the paper or cardboard used on top. For size 1 not really an issue. Size 2 and 3 would be oversized. Though I was looking at adding some “ring holding” features to the larger ones so they’d settle on the base so they could be moved all as one

I’ve got some models printing out this weekend and can throw a few more pictures in here with some examples

[fading idol]

Gotcha, good to know!

[fading idol]

Thanks for looking into it! Very interested to hear how it goes

[fading idol]

Made new token bases using gorilla glue. Having some fun today

[granite reef]

Just saw this message! This literally makes my day 😍 I love seeing maps come to life and how others use this. Seriously so cool!

On a side note I did order those clips you mentioned on Amazon and modified some NPC standees to just accept those super glued on top. I’m still working on an independent design that doesn’t use those, but it’s a work in progress

I love the scaling of your miniatures and how the pictures look positioned on the field

[fading idol]

Thanks! The standees are sized at 1in, 2in, and 3in. I made a standee template in Typst so I could easily make standees at arbitrary sizes with arbitrary images (something I thought surely should already exist but I could not find it)

I'm glad I added the red/blue color to the bases, that seems helpful

Also I think the clips are just small enough to fit the status rings around them

[granite reef]

That’s a sick template! Definitely makes it easier. I’m sure my GM would find that useful.

I had toyed around with the idea of a hex “ring” but it was even more challenging to get it to sit nicely on things. So I stuck with the standard circle. If there’s any other statuses or conditions you would want let me know. I have an exemplar mark for one of the players at my table. Someone else asked for a special drone one. But yeah I tried to cover all the major ones

[fading idol]

Playtesting the last couple nights

[fading idol]

Playing around with random map generation. Hurl a pile of D6's on the map, then add terrain with these rules based on the die result:

1-3: size 1
4-5: size 2
6: size 3

[toxic dawn]

@granite reef Is TUF still available for kickstarter pledges?

I pledged to the mapmaker tier earlier today and worried that i won’t get my pledge rewards since it says « all gone » on the actual kickstarter

[granite reef]

Hey, thanks for reaching out. Yeah the pledge manager is still open and we're still working on production so you'll get the corresponding reward

[toxic dawn]

ok perfect i was worried about not getting it when it was produced

[granite reef]

We accounted for excess inventory just in case, as well as to provide long term support for future orders or expansion. So no worries 🙂

For anyone who may still be interested in the kickstarter, but hasn't had a chance to pick up some terrain, you can use this link here:

https://the-upgrade-factory.pledgemanager.com/projects/tuf-modular-hex-terrain/participate/

[granite reef]

We’re finishing production now, and everything is being packaged up for shipping.

We’ve moved the pre orders to our website, and will begin shipping next month.

https://theupgradefactory.com/products/tuf32-modular-hex-terrain-core-kit

So excited to finally be delivering this project that’s been in the works for so long. If you have any questions please feel free to DM me!

Also, since Lancer has been at the core of our team gameplay while this terrain was being developed, as a thanks to this wonderful server make sure you use code PILOTNETSPECIAL for an extra discount on your terrain order.

[granite reef]

Small update, we’re out of a few colors for expansions but still have a lot available. If you have questions please reach out, but we’ll be ending the pre order sales by the end of next week as we begin shipping out all the backer rewards and additional pre orders that have been coming through.

[spring olive]

Was looking at possibly pre-ordering the Mech Stats Tracker for Lancer RPG -
but a number of the color examples show the green accent pic, not the listed color.
Magenta, White, and Yellow all show as the "Green" accent pic.

The color accent I was personally interested in wa the "gold'-ish one, like in the video example.
Which accent would match the one in the video, with the LANCER callsign plate?
(Would have emailed TUF directly, did not see a contact us email)

[granite reef]

Hey sorry about the delay on this. You can DM me, or reach out to me at [email protected]. that gold one would be “gold”, there should be a spot in the order notes to specify a customization

All the 32mm hex terrain is now heading out to fulfillment centers!

To help buffer some of the costs from tariffs we’re adding a sale on the 1” terrain for 40% off.

https://upgradefactory.etsy.com

In case you prefer the 32mm terrain we’ve got a sale on that right now as well:

https://theupgradefactory.com/products/tuf32-modular-hex-terrain-core-kit

Every little bit helps as we start bringing the shipments over seas and tariffs are charged. We didn’t pass any of this cost onto our backers. Thank you to all of you who have supported this project. We’re excited to deliver!

[spring olive]

@granite reef
Thanks for the etsy link - looks like it does list the Gold Properly.
When looking at the 'original site' https://theupgradefactory.com/products/customizable-mech-stats-tracker-for-lancer-rpg?variant=49606051725615

We see this for the Tracker, currently - several colors do not show an example, defaulting to Green.
Additionally, there is a Yellow, but not a "Gold" option?

[granite reef]

Thanks for pointing that out. I’ve added the Gold option. I will need to import pictures of the other colors as well. Be default it goes to green if there isn’t an assigned image for that color selection. For orders it goes off the selection, and picture is for reference. I’ll get that updated this week, but for now the Gold has been added to the drop downs

[granite reef]

Here’s a little bit of a teaser. We’ve been working on getting TUF Terrain into retail stores around the globe. For now, you can pick it up on our website as we’ve stocked our local warehouses and are actively shipping out. Thanks to everyone who supported this project along the way!

https://theupgradefactory.com/products/tuf32-modular-hex-terrain-core-kit

As for upcoming projects, we’ve got our square terrain launching soon too:

https://modularsquare.theupgradefactory.com

Here’s a little bit of a teaser. We’ve been working on getting TUF Terrain into retail stores around the globe. For now, you can pick it up on our website as we’ve stocked our local warehouses and are actively shipping out. Thanks to everyone who supported this project along the way!

https://theupgradefactory.com/products/tuf32-modular-hex-terrain-core-kit

As for upcoming projects, we’ve got our square terrain launching soon too:

https://modularsquare.theupgradefactory.com