Building houses is all fine and dandy, but what can really bring about a spooky atmosphere to your scenery collection are small, themed pieces. These can range from small bits that fit onto a 25mm round base all the way to a complicated project. They can be macabre or as ordinary as you please, but a good combination of the two is best! Small scenery bits like this can be crammed between buildings, strewn about a city square, or placed just about anywhere. This adds variety to your terrain and games! Once you build up a collection of these guys, you'll find that setting up the table is almost as fun as playing the game!

Scattered about this page are several examples of creepy scenery pieces from the US studio scenery collection. They have been placed here for you to use as a springboard for your own dark and delusional ideas, but feel free to copy some of the ideas presented here if you're stuck!

Starting out simple is always a good idea. Here is a basic card altar or statue from the Mordheim boxed set. It has been transformed from a ho-hum generic piece to something a little more cool. All that was necessary was a bit of sand and glue! It's amazing what happens when you add a little texture to an otherwise boring surface. You could take this idea a bit further by adding some spare zombie arms, skulls, or discarded weapons and equipment to the piece.

Following on the idea of using existing pieces to create new terrain, check out these barricade pieces.

They are simply a collection of various metal bits from the line of Siege models. In particular Manlets and ladders were heavily used. Basically the bits were cut in half and glued down to a sturdy base material like hardboard. Then bits and pieces were piled up to create a barrier that looks like it had been hastily constructed. Final touches are then added, like heads on poles, and chains. After laying down some sand, the whole thing looks really cool, and was quite easy to make. It's just as easy to build this type of piece from scratch. Just use a bunch of balsa wood strips cut up and glued in place.

Instead of barricade-like structures, you could try to create some 'piles' of stuff like this huge mound of barrels. It was made by supergluing a bunch of metal barrel models together. Simple! A terrain piece like this can provide great cover while looking really nice on your gaming table.

On a smaller scale this little piece on the right is just a few models placed on a base. However, the creepy element has been added by having a bloodied hand stick out from under the lid of the barrel. It's weird stuff like this that can make or break your creations.

Stepping into the realm of slightly more difficult scenery creation are the two pieces shown below.

The stocks are neat because they really look good on the table. This one was made from a piece of balsa wood that had a few holes drilled into it and then cut in half. Mount this on a few more balsa wood bits and then add a victim. This piece even has a bucket full of stones just ready for the passerby to pick up and huck at the folks being punished!

The Well is a basic square shape built up from some Warhammer Fortress Walls, plasticard, and balsa wood. It's a simple idea that can expressed in several ways. In my humble opinion there's nothing creepier than a stagnant well. Who knows what lurks underneath the diseased waters at the bottom? This piece reflects this haunting question by painting some green fluid that trails out of the well onto the base. Yikes! Terrain like this can spawn an entire scenario based around it, which helps make your games that much cooler.

Moving on that idea, above is a selection of neat "Objective" counters and various cool tiny terrain bits. These multipurpose pieces are great for tons of things like treasure counters, cursed idols, magic weapons, or whatever else your imagination can come up with. These are great fun to paint and add so much to your games. I can't emphasize this enough!

Once you've mastered some of the more advanced skills necessary to create your own terrain, you can move onto really complex terrain that's made almost entirely from scratch. This "Heretic Cage" is one such example. It's made from all sorts of stuff that ranges from wire to balsa wood, but still remains a simple project. The prisoner has long since expired, but I guess that's the point!

Finally the most gruesome of all the pieces I found is this Gallows Stage. Here, offending criminals and other varmits (as well as the innocent!) meet their fate via the hangman's noose. The stage construction is a bit more involved, but remains simple in design. Whip up a few ropes, trim and assemble a few zombie and skeleton models and you're in business!

These two pieces are probably my favorite because they really drive home spooky feel I try and achieve with my Warhammer Fantasy terrain. The Old World isn't the friendliest of places, And I want that reflected on my battlefield! There are absolutely tons of other ideas that you could pursue in this vein. The pieces here are only the start of what could be a truly rewarding hobby experience, so get started today!