Clever Paper Terrain For Your Tabletop
In the past, I’ve mentioned Clever Paper (here and here), a Russian company which also goes by Keranova. They create a broad set of fantastic models, both medieval and Wild West. I’ve been collecting them for a little while now, and wanted to share how great they are and how they can be used in both RPGs as well as wargames.
All Clever Paper sets come in a flat-pack kit and are punch-out cardboard with detailed instructions, paper miniatures, and a tooth pick to punch out the tiny window parts and such. You don’t need any additional tools at all to build them.
While everything is in Russian, the instructions are purely numbered with arrows showing how they assemble, so there’s absolutely no translation needed.
Each building is around 25mm-28mm, so a little small but not enough that you’d really notice when you’ve got it all on the table. The doors are slightly too short for the usual 28mm-32mm you see in most American wargames and miniatures (35mm in the case of ASOIAF), so the models look like they’ll be bumping their heads as they pass through the doorways. Middle Earth minis are the perfect size, however. Again, you’re not really gonna notice them, because everything looks so nice.
All the paper is textured to match the terrain, so castle walls actually have a slight brick texture, the roof shingles have a shingle pattern. You don’t notice it too much in the pictures, but you definitely see it on the table.
The buildings also are all designed to open up, and have fully detailed interiors, ready for you to place terrain and miniatures. Most open on the side, and there isn’t much space inside, quite realistically, so you couldn’t really use it for a session of D&D, because everyone would have to crowd to one side of the table to peek inside. It’s mostly for asthetic reasons, but they look really great.
The image you see here is three sets: The Old City Gate, Corner Tower, and Merchant House. Each took only around 20 minutes to construct, and are immediately ready for the tabletop. When ordering, most you’ll find on Amazon or Ebay are actually coming from Russia, so expect them to take a while to arrive.
The sets come with miniatures as well! Each set has minis that match the building, with villagers, soldiers, knights, and royalty. They’re all 25mm, have a front and back, and have small foam inserts they slip into. I haven’t tried it yet, but I think they could also slot into the Pathfinder cardboard standup stands easily too.
The sets I have are the ones I mentioned above, the Stables, Burgher House, Bakery, Mill, and Water Mill. The Hunting Castle is on its way, and will be the largest I’ve built so far, so I’m looking forward to that.
When hunting down these models online, you can find them on both Amazon and Ebay, under the names “Clever Paper” or “Keranova.” There’s a fantastic variety, and you should be able to fill up your table pretty quickly and cheaply, since each set is around 15-20 bucks.
There’s a great little video here showing a fly-over of a town built with Clever Paper. Enjoy.
