In this new series we’re looking at various terrain layouts for Warhammer 40,000 and exploring how they work, what you need to know about playing on them, and how you can improve your play when you play with those layouts. 

Many games of Warhammer 40k are won or lost in deployment and a key part of that is terrain. In this series we’re going to look at various terrain layouts, looking at how the affect the game and how you can use them to your advantage. In this article we’ll start by looking at Layout 1 from the Games Workshop Tournament Companion, specifically with regard to the Chapter Approved 2025-26 Missions Pack.

A Note on Terrain

In these articles I’ll be using Games Workshop terrain but it’s worth noting that terrain will change from event to event, and the layouts shown in the Games Workshop Tournament Companion are guidelines more than hard-and-fast rules about how terrain has to actually look. Most often you’ll find that terrain features may be longer or shorter than the layouts dictate, based on what the tournament organizers have available.

With that out of the way, let’s get into the layout:

Meet Layout 1

Welcome to Games Workshop Layout 1. The most notable feature of this layout is that massive “L” shape in each corner of the table, formed from two 12″x6″ terrain bases. Those act as two distinct terrain features, while two additional “L”-shaped ruins sit in the middle of the table, each made of a 10″x5″ area base and a 4″x6″ base. This layout is recommended for missions with the Search & Destroy, Crucible of Battle, Hammer & Anvil, and Tipping Point deployment maps. According to our data in Tabletop Battles, Layout 1 is the most commonly-played layout in the Tournament Companion, accounting for nearly one third (32%) of games played.

When you’re setting this table up, it’s worth noting that the top of that big “L” shape of ruins in the corner of each board sits right on the line going down the middle of the table, 22″ in from the long table edge.

Those ruins collectively create a kind of wall for your deployment zone, giving you a large area that’s protected from enemy line of sight, but can also trap your larger vehicles in, making it difficult for Land Raiders, Rogal Dorns, and Wave Serpents to deploy out of sight. If you put them in that large box, they’ll be safe, but they may have to spend multiple turns finding a way to drive out, limiting their effectiveness in key early turns.

It’s worth taking a moment to label this terrain, so it’s clear how we’ll be referring to everything later. For that, I’ve created this handy diagram:

Where A refers to the standalone 12″x6″ ruin parallel to the short table edge, B is the “top” of your corner L-shaped ruins, and C is the bottom half. D refers to the combined middle L-shaped ruin, and E refers to the 4″x6″ ruins along the long edge of the table. As I refer to these, I’ll denote them with “yours” and “your opponent’s” to differentiate which half of the table they’re on. For the E ruins, I’ll use “top” and “bottom”, and you can differentiate those via the diagram.

Let’s start with that big L-shaped ruin formation in the corner with B and C. Each of those ruin bases has been been placed 4″ from each table edge to form roughly an 18″ by 18″ box, meaning that more narrow vehicles like Rhinos and Venoms can comfortably fit in the space between the ruin and the while while wider vehicles like Plagueburst Crawlers are going to overlap the ruin footprint if you place them against the table edge. This means that to hide them you’ll need to use the ruin itself to block line of sight to them if you want to place them around that corner.

On Tipping Point, Hammer and Anvil, and Crucible of Battle, you’ll have the option to deploy vehicles behind the A Ruin footprint. As that particular ruin is placed 6″ away from the short table edge, you can fit a lot of larger vehicles in that space pretty comfortably.

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A land raider will fit this space parallel to the footprint, while you can fit an entire rhino or vindicator in the space perpendicular to the footprint. That’s a big deal, because even moving 8″, a Vindicator can cross the footprint in one turn in order to see beyond the terrain and fire at targets on the other side. Those end up being your primary options when it comes to hiding vehicles during deployment, making this layout kind of a pain for vehicle-heavy lists to work, particularly if they’re tanks and not flyers.

The L Gap

The big question you’ll have to contend with on Layout 1 is the gap between the B and C ruins that make up the big L-shape defining your deployment zone. The width of this gap will vary based on the terrain being used and the event’s layout choice. For the most part, events tend to define this space as being 4.5″ to 5″ wide, which is large enough for most vehicles – including the Plagueburst Crawler there – to pass through, even if that’s not physically how things are set up on the table. You’ll want to be aware of this going in – whether you can move through that gap makes a huge difference in your game plan.

Objectives

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As a layout intended for lengthwise deployment, Layout 1 largely avoids having long sightlines between midtable objectives. The big exceptions here are Hammer and Anvil – where each midtable objective can see the other two – and Hidden Supplies, where the middle objectives will be visible to each other. Note that on Hidden Supplies it will still be possible to hide on the inner crook of the midtable L-shaped ruin while standing on one fo the objectives.

Note that on Crucible and Tipping Point, the two midtable objectives are placed 20″ away from the short table edge, meaning that the objective control range for each extends to 16.5″ away from the short table edge. This means that on either table, it will typically be possible to reach the objective from the 12″x6″ ruin if you have a 6″ movement characteristic, though with the realities of terrain width or a deployment 1″ back from the wall, a 5″ move will not be sufficient to bridge this gap, requiring slower units to Advance to make it to the objective.

Sightlines

There are four key sightlines on layout 1, two of which are mirrored:

• The most notable is the one running down the middle of the table, between the two middle D ruins. While technically this gap is the width of the table (44″) across, in reality with two vehicles in either spot it’s more like 36″. Most vehicles and heavy weapons can manage that, though shorter-ranged vehicles like Vindicators will usually need to Advance and shoot (using Devastator Doctrine) to make it out from behind the C ruins to fire across the table.

• There is a 24″ sightline across the middle of the table which goes from the corner between one set of B and C ruins to the other. A vehicle sitting in that indent can typically stick out far enough to see across to the other corner. And if you push them out they can see to the table corner as well.
• There’s a long, 40″ sightline that runs from the space between the A and B Ruins on either side of the table going to the corner near the opposing A ruin. A vehicle moving out from the corner of the table into this position can more or less shoot all the way into their opponent’s deployment zone, provided they have the range.

• There’s another 24″ sightline going from the small ruins (E) on the long table edge to the gap between 12″ ruins (A and B) on either side of the table. This one shows up often because vehicles can often safely stage behind that 4″x6″ ruin on the first turn, then come across it the second turn to shoot anything up in that gap.

The other thing to note is that L gap between B and C – you can push a vehicle out through the gap while keeping it on your home objective when you’re playing on Crucible, Search + Destroy, or Tipping Point. This will give you access to multiple sightlines as it can see past the ruins. Note that you can also typically point out the nose of a vehicle this way even if the full vehicle itself can’t fit through the gap, letting you still take shots on the center objective – and sometimes that’s all you need.

On top of this, having the 12″x6″ ruins along the sides of the table makes it easy for vehicles to get wholly within them and see large chunks of the table. I’ve included some key sightlines and visuals below for what these might look like.

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Note that for Towering units, you’ll be able to toe in on both the B. and C. ruins simultaneously, giving you view of anything that isn’t hidden by the two L-shaped D. ruins in the middle of the table or the smaller E. ruin on the table’s long edge. Or you can pick whichever one you need and get a sightline down the middle of the table between the two D. ruins.

Who Does Well Here?

For most intents and purposes, this is a pretty open table if you’re playing on Crucible of Battle, Hammer & Anvil, or Tipping Point. On Search & Destroy the ability to deploy in the midtable ruins helps melee armies quite a bit, but the connected nature of those ruins means they can shoot across at each other pretty easily. You’ll generally want to avoid walking into that long, 36″ killing zone that runs down the middle of the table between the two small Ls unless you can completely own it with your own shooting. This often will push melee units to fight on the side objectives, forcing vehicles to cross the small ruins at midtable to engage with them, typically at a range where they can close and charge.

Those small ruins can be more or less annoying depending on what’s on them, but vehicles typically have to clear the entire ruin when moving to hit targets on the other side. Those ruins also prevent having unbroken lines of sight down the long table edges, making deploying near that lone 12″x6″ ruin safer.

Vehicle-heavy armies can struggle on this layout, particularly if they’re running heavy on big tanks which can’t easily hide behind ruins without being inside the big L – larger vehicles will struggle to get out of the L, and so need to be placed in more open areas, which can make them easy prey early in the game. That’s not a problem for knights – who can just walk over the terrain – but Land Raiders, Baneblades, and Wave Serpents can all have some trouble with it and will either need to deploy outside the L or in reserves or spend a turn moving around the B ruin – there’s typically enough space behind the ruin on that 12″x6″ plate to move around, meaning you can start on the table but you’ll have to to take the long way. This will often push you toward the objective marker in the upper left corner of the table.

While infantry can generally move however they want through the ruins on this map, the terrain is naturally going to flow models – particularly vehicles – to one of three lanes. The most common area for staging here is inside the crook of the small L-shaped ruins (D) in the middle of the table.

Where you can place infiltrators/scouts will depend on deployment map – you have to stay 9″ out of your opponent’s deployment zone – but generally speaking you have a few options here. That crook inside the smaller L ruins (D) isn’t just great for staging, it’s great for infiltrators and scout moves, and you can also hide inside that ruin if you have a smaller unit. Hiding behind the two small mid-table ruins (E) is also an option, but just be mindful that you can still be visible across the table if your opponent has something capable of shooting you from 36″ away. Hiding in the solo ruin (A) is also a common option for infiltrators, particularly on Search & Destroy, where you need easy access to the objective marker.

When it comes to deep striking, that big L-shape creates some similar problems. As you move your units out of it, you leave a massive area behind it where units can drop in. That area labeled “A” up there is also a great spot for deep strikers who want to charge in, as it lets you typically drop outside the ruin (and out of line of sight of units on the enemy’s home objective). This is a very common drop spot on round 3, when units have typically moved out of that alley between ruins and toward objectives at midfield.

Final Thoughts

Layout 1 is interesting in that it’s hostile to tank-heavy armies while still being pretty open, with a large firing lane down the middle that units like Exocrines and Repulsor Executioners can make good work of. As the most common layout, it’s worth acquainting yourself with it and understanding where your army can be placed on it for various deployments so you’ll be ready to play on it when it inevitably comes up.

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