[Starship Trooper]

I want to make some roads and bridges but I want the scale to be right? How many inches wide is the norm? Sorry if this has already been talked about elsewhere.

Thanks for any help guys!

 

[TechPr1est]

speaking of scale has anyone noticed that guardsman are nearly the same height of a space marine- arnt space marines supposed to be like 7 and a bit feet tall ? guardsman are supposed to be an average 6 foot, but anyway trooper what type of bridge are you doing? a highway bridge, a park bridge, a river bridge ? they are all different sizes

 

[Starship Trooper]

I'm most concerned with the width of the roads.

 

[Magpie_Oz]

Depends a bit on the road.

Highways are usually about 4m lane width
Urban roads are about 3 to 3.5
Rural .... whatever but can be as little as 2.5m or even just the track of the wheels

A bridge will usually have another metre or so clearance, minimum.

So a bridge on an Urban road would probably be about 9m wide (2x3.5m lanes and a metre either side)

9m = 354"

GW Minis are "28mm scale" which is around about 1:64 scale so that would mean you bridge would need to be about 5" wide (354/64).

Not sure how that would compare with a GW vehicle tho'. If I were doing it I would scale my bridges to accommodate the vehicles.

 

[Dicrel Seijin]

It depends upon you. What units do you want to be able to navigate the road/bridge? Rhinos/Chimeras would need about 4-5 inches (single file), a Land Raider would probably need about 6 inches, and a Baneblade... probably wouldn't (use the road). An additional consideration is if there are going to be buildings/ruins on either side (like Cities of Death) and if you want to be able to disembark units from the access points.

 

[Macrocalculator]

Realistic scale and wargaming tend to mix poorly. Look at the size of a Wave Serpent for example and imagine 12 Eldar fitting in there, even 10 marines in a Rhino would make it hard for them to get out. Making a realistically scaled 2-lane road using the 3 inch width of Rhino as a guidance would mean you need a 6 inch road. That would make it a seriously large piece of terrain. The same problem applies to rivers by the way. I would consider a 2 to 3 inch road (or river) to make it look reasonably impressive without dominating the table.
What really helps when planning roads and rivers is to cut out the planned size on paper and put that on your wargaming table, that makes it easier to spot how the terrain will fit on the table.

 

[VanquisherMBT]

1:35th terrain should do for roads and bridges, as they have no set size and if they are military themed they should easily fit most if not all basic 40k vehicles on

Although for roads you might be better off money wise just using strips if wood with sand on

 

[Starship Trooper]

Thank you for all the advice guys!

 

[the-ad-man]

i'd recommend the underside of the bridge be big/wide/deep enough for a rhino/chimera/trukk to comfortably fit through if you are looking for that, whilst the bridge would ideally be wide enough for a rhino and a model each side to unlock it's FULL GAMING POTENTIAL!!!

 

[space_cleric]

what scale trains work? h-o? o? the models and tracks are awesome... to have a derailed train on a woodland board would be cool. anyone know what tracks and train cars work right?

 

[Macrocalculator]

The scale used for Games Workshop/Heroic wargaming hovers somewhere between 1:48 and 1:36. HO scale is 1:87 which generally is too small to use (except for parts, and the trees somehow usually do scale well). The N scales at 1:148 to 1:160 and the Z scale at 1:220 are worse. You could give the O scale (around 1:45 to 1:43,5) a go, but in my experience it will make you appreciate the low, low prices of Games Workshop .

 

[The Son of Horus]

I've always just eyeballed it when I've made terrain. Games Workshop says that 40k is "28mm scale" but it's a dirty lie... it's actually its own scale... the average model's eye level is 30-31mm, but they don't scale with "heroic" 30mm ranges like Reaper's Dark Heaven, for example.

The roads for Flames of War that Galeforce 9 sells (part of their 'Battlefield in a Box' range) actually works pretty well for 40k- we've got a set of it at the FLGS, and even though it's meant for a MUCH smaller scale, it seems to "scale up" just fine.

 

[chromedog]

There's also 'S'gauge, but this is not common.
A 6" road width works for LAnd Raiders (clears the sponsons) and will probably fit a baneblade (they're tough enough that buidling rubble shouldn't trouble them).