28mm Terrain - The Institute

i'm in the usa - will i pay tariffs?

Brutal Cities are Australian-manufactured goods

• TL;DR - you won't pay tariffs unless your order is more than USD $800
• From 5 April 2025, Australian-manufactured goods valued over US$800 are subject to a tariff of 10% on import into the United States via Postal services. 
• There is no change for Australian-manufactured goods valued at, or under US$800 sent via postal services from Australia to the US. These items will be free from duty and import tax, unless they fall under the de minimis exemption list. you can find more information here on the Auspost website.

i live in the eu/uk - what are tax/customs like?

Prices will update in your checkout based on amount in your cart - If you are over the respective UK and EU VAT thresholds we will not collect tax and the prices we show will be less - customs/post service will charge tax instead.

UK: For all orders up to £135 Brutal Cities will collect 20% VAT for the UK Government

EU: Brutal Cities is IOSS registered. This means that we will collect and pay VAT on order under 150 EUR. You will still need to pay EU customs VAT for all orders over 150 EUR.

how long does shipping take?

Generally shipping (not fulfillment) takes up to 7 business days in Australia and approx 30 worldwide. See full policy.

If a product says "Made to order" rather than "4 left" on the product page it means It's not in stock and will take 2-5 weeks to fulfil, while I make it for you. (Sometimes faster if it's not a sales period)

what happens if a product/part arrives damaged?

Send me a photo of the damaged part or product at ryan@brutalcities.com and I'll ship out a replacement to you ASAP. 

do you give refunds?

If there are any issues with your products we will send out a replacement or we can refund you after the products are returned to us. We have a 30 day returns policy if you change your mind and have unopened products. Read our full policy.

does brutal cities have a distributor in my country?

Unless you're in Australia (where I live) No sorry! This is something we're looking into but for now Brutal Cities doesn't have any international distributors.

what glue do I use for mdf terrain?

PVA or Woodglue is the best. You can use superglue too. This is faster to dry but more brittle. PVA is usually the best because it's stronger for MDF. It also gives you time to fix any mistakes while it dries.

Even though I design the kits occasionally I have made mistakes too, but it wasn't a problem as I could still take it apart easily enough!

ALWAYS dry fit before gluing. More construction tips here on the MDF terrain instructions page.

do I need to seal before painting?

Brutal Cities MDF is dense and high quality. I hear people going to great lengths to seal their MDF terrain with PVA, hairspray etc. I haven't found the need to. Two coats of rattlecan primer is sufficient. I like to use rustoleum flat grey (higher quality than might be necessary, however I'm usually painting the buildings grey anyway!)

why is your terrain expensive?

Some people think they are a great price, others not. If you're in the later category, consider this;

The designs are far more flexible. You can use one set of terrain for 40k, modern skirmish games, pulp games, sci-fi games, cyberpunk games. You might want to supplement different settings with a few period-specific terrain elements, but overall you will get better value and save more time for playing games!
Some other reasons;

1. We use a small but top of the line Trotec laser which loses some efficiency in terms of bed size and power, but makes up for it with finer quality cuts. Fewer errors as the beam doesn't have as far to travel (larger lasers have higher chance of misalignment.
   
   Any misalignment is amplified. Eg. If you are 1 degrees off but walk 5 steps, you're still going straight to your destination.
   
   If you're 1 degree off but walk a kilometer, you are 17m away.
   
   I've got a bunch of terrain from other manufacturers, and with almost every other company, you can easily see the laser pulses on score lines. (little dots in a line which the laser fires) Not so with Brutal Cities. I put the frequency up so the score lines are crisp and smooth for your immersion.
   
   
2. Brutal Cities terrain is typically much larger than most MDF kits - which means more material and time. However, it looks way more realistic if you want an urban table!
   
   
3. Our MDF is the best! see above: What glue do I use for MDF Terrain?
   
   

 how do I paint my terrain?

Check out our painting techniques blog! I also have a painting MDF terrain PDF guide available if you subscribe to our email list.
You can also follow me on Instagram or Tiktok for reels with painting tips.

On the Product Page, click the third image (with the cube symbol) with a smartphone to view the terrain on your tabletop.

Iphone AR model Instructions

Please use Safari to view these 3d models to enable AR mode - Click view in space.

Android AR model Instructions

Clicking the 3d models will open the google app to view these 3d models and give you the view in space AR option.

These models were generated with Photogrammetry - they look bumpy but the real products are actually very clean and detailed! I scanned them so you can accurately see how large Brutal Cities terrain is - you you know exactly what you'll get!

Accuracy is within 1cm. Prioritize written dimensions over AR. View other AR terrain models here