by Zak Rockman

Faction terrain rules range from “Eh, that’s cute” to “Oh, my whole faction relies on me getting a second mortgage to afford the basic rules of my army.¹” You’ve got OBR players who have a 50/50 chance of doing the thing, while Sylvaneth players are over here summoning their Ikea flatpack forests. And let’s not forget Stormcast Eternals and Orruk players, who are the literal embodiment of “Mom said it’s my turn to play with terrain.” Love it or hate it, the writing does seem to be on the wall now that every faction is getting their own faction terrain and manifestations².

Now as 4^th has changed the rules regarding faction terrain and manifestations, giving units the ability to charge into them, it begs the question which terrain features are actually useful? And which are better left at home collecting dust?

Huh? Why wouldn’t you?

One of the major concerns with adding in faction terrain is against armies or units with the ability to deep strike or teleport. Turning an opponent’s dicey 9 inch charge to a very reliable 4 inch charge can cost people games. Particularly in competitive play, they can give your opponents easy battle tactics via Do Not Waver by having two units rub their faces on a brick wall. Terrain pieces also give opponents the opportunity to slingshot units across the battlefield, giving them the ability to cover greater distances, and even score objectives otherwise out of reach.

So they’re not always the auto-include they may first seem, and this review will go through which faction terrain pieces are essential – and which are better left at home.

Actually Useful Terrain

These are the terrain pieces that are either essential to an army or do not have the issues of the others.

Awakened Wyldwoods for Sylvaneth are basically the whole faction rules. For instance Belthanos has the ability to turn regular terrain into trees, and so many of Sylvaneth’s rules rely on them being wholly within 6″ to 12″ of that terrain. Yes, this gives your opponents options to play around it and do some sneaky charges. It’s made worse by the fact that these terrain pieces are fucking massive, which can result in very sad times for the trees. However, it’s something the forest folk just have to cop on the chin; if you use your brain you can often prevent your opponent from exploiting the shit out of it.

I have been on the Sylvaneth bandwagon for the last few months and I can tell you from first-hand experience that there is a whole 4D Chess match going on in my head during my opponent’s turn, trying to deny them very marginal advantages across the game. Sylvaneth do have the movement shenanigans to offset the amount of terrain they put on the board, while scoring enough points to make up any deficit.

Similarly, Skaven’s Gnawholes are also crucial to how they play. They give a whole bunch of maneuverability to that army and also unlock some decent recursion to keep them standing on circles³. Gnawholes have a relatively small footprint and can be positioned sneakily (who would’ve thought) to reduce your opponent’s opportunities to abuse your faction terrain. They add enough tech to the list that they are an auto-include for the army.

Likewise the Loonshrine is also definitely a keep, enabling Gitz to recycle units and providing some more longevity (in addition to the Bad Moon aura). It’s also a piece that typically has approximately 167 models between it and your opponent, so it shouldn’t be too much of a hinderance.

The Fane of Slaanesh is an interesting piece. I think it’s fine to keep it in the list – the benefits are minimal but since it’s an army that is already castled up (to keep those Blissbarb bastards nice and safe), the Fane is fine for those bonuses to cast⁴. If you aren’t screening your terrain piece, you are either going in for the kill or have been tabled (most likely the latter as Slaanesh have about three good warscrolls⁵ and need to give their opponents some free 6s). 

Nurgle’s Feculent Gnarlmaw⁶ has a small base size and assists in the spread of Disease. It also has a weapon profile?!?! Trees are a keep – a lot of the top Nurgle lists⁷ include a slug to add extra trees and Nurgle are generally OK with taking a hit.

There is also the Beast of Chaos Herdstone. This one’s a keep but since GW is neglecting you – I will too.

Garrisoned Terrain

On the flip side – key buff pieces that can be garrisoned into faction terrain are another terrain abuse, but this time by the player using them. It expands the range of buff bubbles, and has some bullshit where the faction terrain needs to be killed before the unit, giving time and opportunity for the foot hero to fuck right off.

One of the two Ogor pieces (Mawpot and Mawpit) should be taken – they both have some decent utility. The Mawpot is pretty useful, adding an extra power level to a Wizard that provides the ability to cast and still banish an Endless Spell. Ogors have two decent spells, so they appreciate the chance to cast both as well as abuse various Manifestation bullshit. The Mawpit can be garrisoned and spits out some ranged mortal wounds. I think Ogors can take either piece and have an argument for it.

Khorne’s Skull Altar should be taken most of the time (unless you are running Bloodthirster spam or a “Pin and Win” strategy, when it might not be super relevant). Giving Khorne their classic 5+ spell ignore and some other minimal buffs to a Priest, it does have some benefit. Since it is usually Garrisoned, opponents don’t get to abuse the faction terrain rules as much. This one has been debated internally between the Plastic Craic writing team – but I think I’m right and Pat is just grumbling as usual⁸.

The disadvantages of Lumineth’s Shrine Luminor (that moves?!?!?!!?) are also offset by the fact that it can have a pansy-arsed elf sitting in the tower giving a golden shower to the army. Because it has a twat in the tower, it does not suffer the same charging shenanigans, so Lumineth players go wild and take it. But just remember that not only is your army a famous fountain of NPE, if you recently dropped a few hundred bucks on some kangaroos, even GW doesn’t like you.

FEC’s Charnel Throne is the same as the rest in this category – with the garrison ability to have one unit farming Noble Deeds, it’s fine to slam down on the table.

Terrain to the Tip

The Ossiarch Bonetithe Nexus (faction terrain, or a real adventure of a butt plug?) is garbage. This is definitely one to not bother taking to a tournament and should be left off your submitted list. Roll a 4+, consult the chart and do something small. Its base is so fucking large that it’s an absolute liability. OBR is such an issue in the meta in the moment – this array of insane warscrolls is bonkers, and all OBR players should definitely leave the terrain at home – I assure you, you don’t need it.

The Seraphon Realmshaper Engine was an auto-take last edition – people would win games by having that extra little bit of chip damage, and a free screen that had no downside nicely complemented the two frogs zapping armies off the board. In this new edition – lots of people are taking it to “relive the glory days” or “I had it painted so I might at well take it.” Its impact is mediocre at best and often leaves armies with the ability to teleport across and smack the obese frog off the table.

Yes it can give maybe +1 to hit for some units here and there, but I think most opposing armies get a lot of counterplay off it. It gives armies the freedom to hit the units they want, rather than the “Ignoring-point-of-rend” Kroxigor who’re making sure to not toe out of their deployment (wtf is this netball?). I think this is one to not deploy in most matchups. Seraphon often do just want to smash up in the middle of the board and declare a winner. In those matchups – yes it has its uses, but it’s enough of a liability in the others that I wouldn’t bother.   

The Fyreslayers Pizza Oven offers some decent buffs to the Priests. However, it does have some late game issues as once the 90+ naked men have ran at the opponent (the dream), you have abandoned your screening units and given your opponents the ability to assault your back lines. Furthermore, since Fyreslayers are struggling across the board… take it or leave it, you will probably still get tabled. The risk is offering a teleporting unit an easy charge into your key buff pieces, and losing them early could be the difference between winning and losing.

The Slaves to Darkness Nexus Chaotica is also a useless piece of shit. It has some cute rules – but it doesn’t overall affect the game enough to be taken. This terrain piece is also massive and gives your opponent so much opportunity to ruin you. Tying Slaves in their deployment zone is a Feels Bad for the army and can have a major impact. Most S2D people don’t even own it – and I wouldn’t bother picking it up.

Now I would argue that the Stormcast Portaloo (aka the Futurama suicide booth⁹) is also best avoided. Given that this army can already deepstrike, and has a prayer to teleport, this faction terrain’s usefulness is significantly compromised. A common use is “oH I cAn tElEpoRT aND GEt fINesT hour,” which isn’t a full on game-changer, but most importantly that super-large base gives other teleporting armies the ability to hit specific pieces easily. I don’t think this is one for the golden babies to pick up, and most of the top current SCE lists don’t require the use of the Portaloo at all.

Final Thoughts

Between the obnoxiously huge bases, the occasional “Why does this even exist?” rules, and the potential for your opponent to turn your carefully-placed buff station into an express lane to victory, it’s safe to say these plastic monstrosities are a very mixed bag.

Sure, some pieces are absolute must-haves, like Sylvaneth forests or Skaven Gnawholes. But then there’s trash-tier terrain like the OBR adventure butt plug or the Stormcast suicide booth, both of which are better suited for Reddit memes than competitive play.

Ultimately, if your faction’s terrain is that good, you’re either a Sylvaneth player in need of therapy, or a Lumineth player wondering why your friends stopped replying to your texts. And if it’s bad? Well, congrats—you’ve just unlocked the true Warhammer experience: paying too much for something that will inevitably betray you, or sit in eternity on the shelf.

Here’s to faction terrain, folks: may it forever be the hobby’s most glorious clusterfuck. Cheers. 🍻

If you’d like to help us continue our work, we’d love to have your support. All Patreon Tiers include Discord access, exclusive articles and regular contests. Our Tiers are priced to be within everyone’s reach, so please click here to join us today!

1. And a giant suitcase to carry the bloody thing ↩︎
2. If you don’t have a local Orruk player still yapping on about the Foot of Gork, we’ve got a few you’re welcome to borrow ↩︎
3. And taking those backline objective that the smooth-brain Destro players forgot about as they Waaagh down the board ↩︎
4. I have literally never seen it used for anything else and refuse to learn its other functions ↩︎
5. Glutos, Blissbarb and Twinsouls ↩︎
6. Had to google that one tbh, commonly known as “The Nurgle Trees” ↩︎
7. Top is an overstatement – more like mid ↩︎
8. “Something… something… Khorne isn’t good … blah … blah.” ↩︎
9. Shoutout to Nigel Weir ↩︎