My Favorite Dwarven Forge Pieces
I have been using Dwarven Forge terrain for years, and I use it in almost every in-person session I run. I have mentioned specific pieces in my adventure writeups, but I wanted to do a dedicated post on the pieces I use the most. I was originally inspired by a post from SlyFlourish, and I will link his Buyer’s Guide here. I vaguely remember his guide mentioning specific pieces like the Stairway to Violence, but the current one doesn’t seem to. This post links specific pieces and gives my individual recommendations.
Starter Sets
The starter sets are always worth buying, and honestly you can’t have enough of them if you want massive builds. I pick up some form of starter set with each kickstarter. I have at least one of all three listed below. They are fine to get unpainted as they are fairly fast to paint, and especially for the dungeon set, I like my lighter hand with the paint than the painted versions. I’ve used all of these more times than I can count.
Stairway to Violence
It’s D&D, you are going to be in caves a lot. And there is nothing like Stairway to Violence to add elevation and make some monsters hard to get to. Minions on the ground, and your ranged caster on top of the stairway able to hide behind it, leads to a great tactical fight. My players have run at least half a dozen variations on this fight, and I have never been accused of repetition. This piece is also easy to paint.
Watchtower Set
The Watchtower is a big flashy set. I used it as the centerpiece of The Mystery of Maeralon’s Tower, and it worked great. I’ll admit, I think I have only used this piece a couple times, but it was memorable every time. The interior is a little cramped, and multi-level combat is doable with a little work and accepting you have to break the tower down. It’s also pretty quick to paint.
The negatives are it can fall apart on you easily as you break it apart in play, especially the crenellations. I also think the stickers that come with it don’t look great - they cheapen the look of the piece, so I just never used them.
Dungeon Bridge
A smaller purchase but one I keep coming back to. I used it alongside the Watchtower to give the party cover from a ballista. It’s also a useful piece for any river crossing or chasm encounter, so it comes up frequently. Pairing it with elevation pieces and terrain trays works great.
Terrain Trays
Terrain trays are essential for me. I do every DF build on them or battleboards, and I prefer the terrain trays. They’re rigid trays with metal in them, so your magnetized pieces snap right onto them, and it makes the builds very functional - I can break down a build and reassemble it quickly. I use the Raging River tray as a river base, the Rough Stone/Lava tray for lava encounters, and the Quicksand/Cave Stone tray for cave builds.
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