Necromunda GW's late 1990s scratchbuilt Necromunda terrain

[Raven Morpheus]

Hey all

So, I've been looking for images of GW's original scratchbuilt Necromunda terrain that they used for photos/batreps in the late '90s. Not the catdstock stuff.

Because I'm considering picking up 'oldmunda again, but unlike the last few games myself and my gaming buddy played I'd like to try to improve the board layout.

To do so I'd like to compare what 'oldmunda terrain I have with GWs board for inspiration on what extra buildings/walkways I could build to fill the board a bit better...

I have the White Dwarfs of that era, however the photos showing terrain are almost all in closeups of the figures. There never seems to be a good overview of the board photo showing building footprint sizes, number of levels etc...

Probably a longshot, but, does anyone here happen to have images showing the GW scratchbuilt terrain from a useful distance?

Thanks in advance as usual.

 

[Hobo86]

the paper pdf's are in the vault (without the plastic bits)

 

[Ben_S]

I remember a couple of battle reports in White Dwarf. I don't recall whether they actually showed pictures of the board, but they should at least have maps, which should give some idea of the overall layout.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Yes, there were 2 batreps, in issues 191 and 203. The batrep in 203 uses the same buildings as in 191, but in a different layout and with the addition of GWs "ruined cathedral" terrain pieces in the middle. The best images I can find are a double page spread and a top-down map, both from issue 191. I'm hoping there's better images I've overlooked...

Call me obsessive but they're still not quite enough as there's buildings obscured, or not even in the photo. Although I've examined them further and can make out where each building in the photo is on the map. I'll continue looking at those, I should be able to work out both number of levels of each building and footprint, and compare them to the cardstock buildings where possible...


EDIT -

So, having compared the photo/map to the cardstock, they both share "the tower" (minus it's base in the cardstock version).

The third building in the og box set, 2 levels with a tower, and the outlanders building, don't match anything in the photo/map (although see below).

There's a 1 level platform and L shape walkway in the og box set which could represent the same platform with the L shape walkway in the top left of the map.

Whilst "the refuse sump" is smaller than "the minehead" both are similar in shape to one of the buildings in the og box set (minus the gubbins through the central circular hole) - I'd say "the refuse sump" is the closest in shape/footprint to the og cardstock building, and all 3 are the same vertically.

No idea about the building coming off the L shape walkway to the right, apart from it's two levels high. Ditto "the stack" (top mid on map) other than its 4 levels high. And I'll guess the building to the left of "the minehead" is 3 levels tall.

No idea what the building in the bottom right of the map would even look like as it's not in the photo. It's possibly two levels high as there's two bulkheads just before the "zoom in box" in the bottom right of the photo where that building should be.

The 1 level rectangle platform in the bottom left corner of the map/photo could almost be the bottom part of the 2 levels with a tower cardstock building...


The map seems to indicate in places where bulkheads are with thin white long rectangles, so sizing the buildings footprints should be straightforward given that we know bulkheads are 3" square, assuming the map is to scale...


So, thats 5 buildings, 2 walkway supports and a 1 level rectangle platform, on GWs board, not replicated by the og cardstock. Obviously I could use the og cardstock 2 level building with the tower, and the building from outlanders, leaving 3 buildings 2 walkway supports and possibly a 1 level rectangle platform I'd want to replicate or build something else in their place with similar footprint, LOS blocking and verticality...



Don't know if any of that is of help/interest to anyone here. Not sure it even helps me, I'll have to continue looking and measure stuff...

 

[Raven Morpheus]

OK, continuing from the last post, and because I can't sleep, I did some rough measuring...

Using the international standard "the bulkhead" (3") and making the assumption GWs map is to scale, the building footprints are approximately below.

Going clockwise -

Platform under L shape walkway (top left of map) - 2x1.5 bulkheads - 6 x 4.5 inches and 3 inches tall
Building 2 - 3.5x2.5 bulkheads - 10.5 x 7.5 inches and 6 inches tall
"The stack" - 5x3 bulkheads - 15 x 9 inches and 12 inches tall!
Building 4 - 4x4 bulkheads - 12 x 12 inches and 9 inches tall, seems to be a solid impassable building with ladders up to the roof
"the minehead" - 2.5x3.75 bulkheads - 7.5 x 11.25 inches and 9 inches tall
Building 5 (bottom right) - 3x2.5 bulkheads - 9 x 7.5 inches and possibly 6 inches tall, looks like 2 levels on the map...
Platform 2 (bottom left) - 3x2.25 bulkheads - 9 x 6.75 inches and 3 inches tall

Obviously the footprints of "the tower" and "the refuse sump" are already known because they are in the og cardstock (see previous comment about "the refuse sump"). Probably just add an inch or two round "the tower" for it's base.



Here's my "working it out" image I did in photochop, note the white lines (they're cut/pasted bulkhead lines from the image) -

Again, don't know if any of that is of help/interest to anyone here.

Still not sure it even helps me, I'd have to transport any such terrain I make on buses/trains (16 miles, approx. 2hrs journey).

That many buildings with that sort of footprint/verticality will make that difficult, especially as I'm disabled (on crutches) and because I doubt I can make them flatpack.

Been there, done that, got a building I built for "Judge Dredd I am the law" I can't transport...

 

[Punktaku]

Is there a way to look for pre-2017 photos here in Yaktribe? Those would all be oldmunda scratchbuilds.

 

[ClockworkOrange]

The Tower once came up on Ebay for sale, the actual one in the picture with metal not plastic bulkheads (if you look closely you can see that they are a different design) it’s a great regret of mine not buying it, it didn’t even go for big money because I don’t think people understood what it was.

A couple of them are similar to the final designs, they were probably used as a test. The refuse design with central pipes massively improves that building by adding cover.

 

[Ben_S]

The scratchbuilds look an improvement on the cardstock that came in the game but I've seen a lot of (imho) better boards since. If your motivation is what makes for a good board, then I wouldn't start from these. They were essentially prototypes.

 

[Tiny]

Not sure if these are of any help as you're specifically looking at footprints, but they may be of inspiration to someone.

Back cover of WD190

And a similar one on the back of WD192

 

[ClockworkOrange]

I used to look at those for hours - still awesome and better than most tables you see after all this time.

 

[MusingWarboss]

Wasn’t there some reasonably decent photos of these included in some of the fold out sheets included in the 95 box set?

 

[Raven Morpheus]

@MusingWarboss for the win as usual!

I found a couple of images of a leaflet page via (a very quick) google (the first had too much glare to be much use, it's attached though). It shows some of the buildings on GWs board. Apparently its the painting and modelling booklet. There's one on ebay for £24.99, lol. (not mine)

That page appears to show (from the photo/map I posted) "the stack", the building between "the stack" and the L shape walkway (top left on map), the rectangle platform (bottom left on map), the 2 level building in the bottom right of the map and "the refuse sump", "the tower" is also shown.

The two not shown being "the minehead" and that rather detailed impassable 12" square footprint probably 9" tall brick of a building in the far mid right of the map (to the right of "the minehead" on the map).

I'm wondering now if the shape on the map for "the minehead" is just it's base, and it's in fact that red "coke can" piece...


It might not be the best terrain to replicate but those 4 buildings look mostly flat-packable, in theory relatively quick and simple to make, and different in shape to the og cardstock. Painting it so it looks good is another matter of course.

If I were to replicate those buildings though I'd need a quicker/better way for scratchbuilding bulkheads (or several bulkheads joined into 1 piece) than my previous attempt...

 

[Fold]

There’s no question that the minehead is the red can piece, going by the first image you posted in the thread, as the label is right on the can. I’d speculate the base is that shape due to a ramp sloping up to the structure and some greeble detail either side

This has been a very pleasant walk down menory lane, I hope you follow through and build some of this stuff

 

[Tiny]

Found a larger image of that page.

 

[ClockworkOrange]

I’m not convinced that’s made out of cereal packet card, but then maybe even that was better back then

 

[Stoof]

I think it probably is cereal box card. Back in the day I had some interesting shaped platforms made of cereal box per this page. They were fine until I painted them and of course they all warped terribly - a more experienced Stoof would have known that possibility and reinforced before painting like the ones in the image seem to have been. It's not like the stuff that came with the game is that sturdy really.

 

[MusingWarboss]

The two not shown being "the minehead" and that rather detailed impassable 12" square footprint probably 9" tall brick of a building in the far mid right of the map (to the right of "the minehead" on the map).

It is... its the one on the bottom-left of the, errr, bottom-right photograph. You can recognise it by the silver tank which has a "W" on it. Look at the brass opening hatch on top and the chimney (?) vent thing which indicates this is the back view of the building whereas in the first photo you can see the "front" of it.

That silver tank is a mini-Pringles can if that helps.

You can even see on the “Deployment map” that they included the red and yellow pipe/greebles which aren’t visible in the photo that accompanies it but are in the other one where you can see the “W” on the back of the tank.

Necromunda buildings

• MusingWarboss
• Feb 26, 2026

Plus I concur that “The Minehead” is the Red tank with two plumbers solder joints on top acting as chimneys. It’s also mostly fully visible in the two photos @Tiny posted above, which does indeed show that it is on a large flat base.

 

[MusingWarboss]

I think it probably is cereal box card.

It’s about 1-2mm thick looking at how it fits into the bulkhead gaps. Pretty sure it’s an A4 sheet of white mounting card. That’s what I used back in the day.

The old Kellogg’s box is most likely for show. Useful for adding extra details but not really structurally sound!!

 

[Ben_S]

I remember making a small building (well, more a walkway) out of two or three bulkheads and an ice cream tub - i.e. poor man's plastic card - rather than a cereal box.

 

[Mr. M]

I still use cereal box cardboard for stuff like trim, but for actual walkways using sheet styrene is really the way to go... It even comes in white like the stuff they show in the old photo! Might as well make it more sturdy than cereal box cardboard if you go through the effort to recreate it!