Every Build Your Battlefield set starts with an idea of a place.
Before we open Blender or start thinking about individual wall sections, we try to imagine what the finished battlefield is supposed to feel like. Is it an industrial district filled with pipes and machinery? A ruined city that has already seen decades of fighting? An overgrown temple slowly being reclaimed by nature? The theme gives us a direction, but from there we try to think beyond simply making a few pieces that look good together.
We want the battlefield to feel like it existed before the game started.
That means thinking about what the environment was used for, who might have occupied it, how it was built, what has happened to it since, and what kind of details would naturally exist there. Those questions help turn a general theme into something that feels more believable and immersive.
Starting With the World
A lot of the design process is simply imagination.
When we start a new theme, we build a picture in our heads of what that part of the world might look like. With an industrial sector, for example, we do not just think, “this needs pipes.” We think about where those pipes would run, what they might connect to, whether they would be supported along walls, and what other infrastructure would logically exist around them.
The same applies to ruins. Rather than adding random cracks and damage everywhere, we think about how the building might have been damaged. Some sections might still be relatively intact, while others have collapsed or been reinforced after the fact. Barricades, broken panels, exposed structure and improvised repairs can all help suggest that something has happened there.
None of that needs a written story behind it. The important part is that the terrain gives you enough information to imagine one yourself.
That is what we mean when we talk about making a battlefield feel alive.
Bringing the Idea Into Blender
Once we have a clear direction, we move into Blender.
Blender is where most of the actual 3D design work for Build Your Battlefield happens. It allows us to take the ideas in our heads and gradually turn them into physical terrain pieces.
Most designs start very simply. A wall might begin as little more than a rectangular shape with the correct dimensions. From there, we build up the architecture and start adding the details that give the theme its identity.
Panels might be recessed into the surface, structural supports added around them, or sections broken away to expose what is underneath. Depending on the theme, we might add pipes, stonework, vents, doors, machinery, vegetation, signs or decorative elements.
The important part is that the detail has a reason to be there.
It is very easy in 3D modelling to keep adding detail simply because you can. The problem is that more detail does not automatically make a better terrain piece. Sometimes a relatively plain section of wall makes the detailed parts around it stand out more. It also gives the painter room to work with weathering, markings and colour.
Our aim is not to fill every square millimetre. It is to create enough detail to make the environment convincing.
Designing a System Rather Than a Single Model
One of the biggest differences between designing a display model and designing Build Your Battlefield terrain is that every piece has to work as part of a larger system.
A wall can look fantastic on its own and still be a bad design if it does not work well beside other walls.
We constantly look at how different pieces interact. If several walls are placed next to each other, do they still look natural? Does the detailing become too repetitive? Does a damaged wall work next to a doorway? Can the same piece be used in several different types of building?
This is especially important because Build Your Battlefield is modular. The pieces are not designed for one fixed layout. The same walls might become a small outpost in one game, a large factory in another, and part of a dense city block the next time they are used.
Because of that, we try to create families of designs that share the same visual language without looking identical.
You might see the same panel shapes, architectural details, materials or structural elements repeated across a sector, but arranged differently on each wall. That gives the set a coherent identity while still creating enough variation to build larger environments without everything immediately looking duplicated.
Making Terrain That Tells a Story
Some of our favourite details are the small ones that suggest something about the world without explaining it directly.
A maintenance hatch tells you there is probably something behind the wall. Pipes suggest that the building once had functioning infrastructure. A barricade tells you someone expected an attack. Damage around a doorway might suggest that somebody tried very hard to get through it.
These details are relatively small, but together they can make a big difference to how a battlefield feels.
When terrain gives you those little visual clues, your imagination starts filling in the rest.
That is also why we like creating signature elements for each theme. The walls establish the basic architecture, while the signature terrain helps push the environment further. Industrial piping, barricades, risers and other larger elements can immediately change the character of a table without forcing every wall to become overly complicated.
As we introduce more themes, those signature elements give us even more room to explore what makes each environment different.
Designing for the Table
Everything still has to work as an actual gaming product.
Something can look fantastic when zoomed in closely inside Blender and still be a poor piece of tabletop terrain. Details that are too small might disappear completely when printed. Thin pieces can become fragile. Deep recesses or awkward shapes can make casting unnecessarily difficult.
There is also the question of viewing distance.
Most of the time, you are not going to look at a terrain piece from five centimetres away. You are going to see it on a table surrounded by miniatures, dice and other scenery. That means important details need to be bold enough to remain visible from normal gaming distance.
This often means simplifying designs rather than making them more complicated. Panel lines might need to be deeper, damage slightly more exaggerated, or fine details made larger so they remain visible after printing, casting, priming and painting.
We also have to keep the modular system itself in mind. Connector areas need to remain usable, wall dimensions have to stay consistent, and decorative details cannot interfere with adjoining parts.
There is always a balance between what looks good digitally and what works well physically.
Prototyping and Refining
Once we are happy with a design in Blender, we print it.
Seeing the physical prototype for the first time is one of the most useful parts of the process because it immediately reveals things that are difficult to judge on a screen.
Sometimes a design works exactly as intended. Other times, a detail that looked prominent in Blender turns out to be barely visible. A surface might feel too busy, a damaged area might need more depth, or a connector might need a little extra clearance.
When that happens, the model goes back into Blender.
We adjust it, print it again and compare the new version.
That cycle continues until the piece looks right, works properly within the system, and can be produced reliably. Only then do we move on to creating the master and preparing it for casting.
Building a Theme
A new sector does not really come from one great model.
It comes from many pieces gradually starting to feel like they belong to the same place.
As we design more walls and accessories, certain ideas naturally start repeating. The same architectural shapes return, similar kinds of damage appear, and particular details become part of the identity of the set.
Eventually, we reach the point where you can put several pieces next to each other and immediately recognise the environment they belong to.
That is usually when a theme starts to feel real.
It is also one of the reasons we enjoy working in Blender. We can quickly explore an idea, change proportions, test completely different versions, or create new components that build on what we have already designed. The digital workflow gives us a huge amount of freedom before anything becomes a physical production piece.
From Imagination to Battlefield
The process starts with imagination, but every step after that gradually makes the idea more real.
We imagine the place, decide what belongs there, model the parts in Blender, print prototypes, make adjustments, and eventually turn those designs into the resin terrain that reaches the table.
For us, that is one of the most enjoyable parts of Build Your Battlefield.
We are not just designing individual walls. We are trying to create enough pieces, details and possibilities that you can build an environment that feels like it belongs to a much larger world.
We provide the building blocks. What that world eventually looks like is up to you.
That is the whole idea behind Build Your Battlefield.
