Concept: What Is A Building?

A. Tkachev, S.Tkachev. Farewell to the beloved home.

Sandwyrm here. After I posted the rules on Movement and Terrain, MasterSlowPoke asked a question that I decided needs a fuller explanation. Particularly since 'Buildings' as opposed to simple ruins, are so little-used in 40K.

Here's MasterSlowPoke's Question:

"Do you have any examples of what a building would look like? I'm thinking something like a 40k bastion, but it doesn't have the internal structure to handle it."

Sandwyrm's Reply:

In 40K, true 'buildings' are treated as immobile vehicles; which is why nobody uses them. Because the broken vehicle rules make buildings too unbalanced. Put a couple on one side of the table and not the other, and... well it basically gives you a free bunker. Because the building has to be destroyed before you can get to the troops inside.

Games Workshop Imperial Bastion

It doesn't help matters much that this is basically the only non-ruin 'building' that GW makes.

So here's a clear example. On the left is a simple 28mm Building. On the right is a multi-level Ruin.

The Ruin is on a base to define it's extents and is mostly open. The building, like a vehicle, doesn't need a base because it starts and stops at it's walls.

Four walls, a roof (this one can't be stood on), and some windows. Simple.

Of course, these terrarium caves could be considered buildings too. The one on the left even has another 'door' in the back.

This aquarium piece has a hole in the front that someone could climb into.

And another in the back, with a hollow space inside. Building!

What about this weird mushroom-tree-thing? Well, since it's mostly open, I'd more comfortable putting a base under it and calling it a ruin.

 As for alien packing-crate artifacts... Just treat it as a Ruin.

As for 'ideal' buildings, let's look at some 15mm desert buildings from the Battlefield In A Box line.  These would be easy to build in 28mm scale, and have nice flat roofs to place models on.

But those roofs and floors can also be removed in order to place troops inside. These are perfectly scaled to fit Flames Of War sized bases.

Scale that up to 28mm with some foam core, plasticard, plus a few layers of texture-paint and they'd be great buildings for M42.

As for making buildings playable, well it's all in the rules approach. Instead of making them vehicle-like bunkers, they're just a different sort of terrain to move through. Easier to move inside of, but harder to cross walls or maintain command from the inside to the outside, or vice versa. They're also a bit more concealing for troops hiding inside.

Ruins, on the other hand, are slower to move through, but you're not slowed any further by walls. Ruins also don't penalize your Command Radius nearly as much because there's holes in every wall to shout through.

Thoughts?