About us

G'day!

My name is Ryan and I've been playing miniature wargames and building terrain since I was 10. I made a detailed post apocalyptic model for high school ‘art’ (a good excuse to make Warhammer 40,000 terrain) and enjoyed it so much I started a career in architecture.

Photoshoots are always a highlight of the job!

I graduated from uni and worked for 5 years in architecture in Sydney and Newcastle, Australia. But I got too excited about new terrain ideas I wanted to share with miniature wargamers, so went all in and left that job to start Brutal Cities.

With that architectural experience behind me I want to create stunning MDF laser cut model kits to give gamers the best gameplay experience within a memorable world.

Part of my year 12 'Art' work

What tabletop games do I play?

Games wise I've been playing Infinity for a few years now. The fantastic Infinity terrain inspired me to start Brutal Cities actually! I play Yu Jing primarily, but lately more vanilla Aleph.  The terrain you can find here is optimised for Infinity the Game tested by Australia's competitive meta and we've taken on feedback from some of our most competitive players.

Other games I enjoy (And will probably end up making terrain for) are Warhammer 40k, WWIII/Team Yankee and Bolt Action. I'd also love to try out cyberpunk skirmish game Reality's Edge and Aussie skirmish game Delta One Zero.

I hope you enjoy the designs, and that they bring some diversity to your table top and give you a great immersive experience. The models are inspired by cyberpunk and Sci-fi cinema, modern architecture (especially Brutalism, go figure), and real world cities.

From the end of 2022 I have been making more Youtube videos - please give the channel a follow. Next video will be an oil paint tutorial to help you get your terrain looking great with minimal effort! If you sign up to the email list that's a great way to be notified of new releases or hobby tips and videos when they are live.

I have also been writing semi frequent blog posts. You can find some hobby tips in the Tabletop Terrain Tips Techniques & Tutorials blog and other news in the  Terrain News Blog - If you are interested, with each release I typically will write a bit about the design process or concept, and how the terrain can benefit your own games and tabletop collection!

Acknowledgment of Country

Brutal Cities recognises that we live and work on First Nations Gadigal Land and pay respects to elders past, present and emerging. 

Sustainability

All the terrain pieces are designed and made in Sydney, Australia. We are trying to minimise material waste and practice sustainability. MDF itself recycles sawdust, and is a carbon sink. That means it is storing carbon that may otherwise be in the atmosphere. Although unfortunately it cannot be recycled in most countries. You can learn more about it here

Our plastic use in packaging is kept to a minimum. We don't use bubble wrap, unless we are recycling it. We do use shrink wrap, which I haven't found a better alternative for yet to protect the kits from moisture. Australia post, our main shipping service operates ships carbon neutral.

If you do end up buying anything from our hobby store, if you use Shop Pay, Shopify allocates part of the transaction fee towards carbon removal projects. You can read more here - https://shop.app/carbon-removal

https://www.shopify.com/climate/sustainability-fund

Follow us on social media to stay in touch (links below)

3D Printable Terrain Design

A newer aspect of the tabletop hobby we know and love is of course, 3D printing. I would love to release .STL files for you to print terrain at home, and may license designs to printing companies.

But before that happens, I'm conducting a survey on the 3D printable terrain page

If you have a moment and you're interested in Brutal Cities .stl designs, tell me what you would love and any thoughts you have about that!

There is still room of course for MDF terrain. I really think it's a better medium for many designs, but it's good to give you guys options.

Collaborations and services:

I am going to be moving away from manufacturing and distributing products myself. I'm open to working on different creative projects such as set design, concept design for architectural or hobby projects etc. I've recently designed a cardstock full colour terrain for an upcoming tabletop game by Cardboard Dynamo - titled 'Grave Trigger' Check it out here!

Please email or use the chat function if you are interested in collaborating.

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