Scatter Terrain

Scatter is any object that can be added to a game setting, from basic furniture within dungeon rooms to extensive elements of a landscape (trees, mountains, etc). Characters can interact with these pieces (piling up chairs and tables to barricade a door, or hiding behind trees or rocks). 

This has become popular in wargaming and D&D games in which terrain tiles are used to heighten engagement.

Many Patreon or Tribe Subscriptions include terrain elements. 

While you can print these using resin printers such as the Phrozen Sonic Mighty 4k or other 5x8" vat size printer from Anycubic or Elegoo, but while I find these ideal for 28/32mm miniatures, larger pieces are often challenging to print. 

For buildings and larger scatter where ultrafine detail is not as critical, a filament printer like this new entry from AnkerMake may be more cost-effective and efficient.

Many free scatter STLs are available on Thingiverse and MyMiniFactory

Sculpey -  Try your hand at terrain creation using bakeable polymer clay like Sculpey or airdry clay. Both are easily sculpted and take paint well. 

An easy starting point might be to create spell effects, or objects that don't need much detail, such as Wall of Fire, Wall of Force. 

There are also new polymer clays that remain translucent after baking; this can open an entire world of easy-to-sculpt options

Mini Sculpting by Hand -  There are many options for sculpting minis yourself. Prior to 3d printing that brought software sculpting into common use, minis were cast from molds made from wax, resulting in resin, plastic or metal miniatures that still held significant detail. 

Today you can also sculpt at a larger format, then produce 3d scans for finishing within Zbrush or similar tools. 

The Dungeon Denizen has started sculpting, learning much from SpiderZero's classes.

Recyle - Take a close look at plastic parts before you recyclintg. Often, they can be ideal scatter components. Just need some additional sculpting and painting. 

A Tropicana orange juice cap, for instance, makes a great looking Elven fountain!
(photo forthcoming)

Aquarium / Terrarium decorations are inexpensive, durable and readily available from local pet stores or online stores like Chewy. They're often an ideal scale for D&D or wargaming scenes, and make great caves, lairs, or dungeon entrances. They let you quickly enhance gameplay with elevation and line-of-sight obstacles but don't need much prep work.

Enhance the look with Culture Hustle Black 3.0 to deepen the cave shadows, add grass tufts for realism, and drybrush with Pokorny Paints to color-match with other Dwarven Forge pieces.

Fossils -  It's only fitting to add ancient ammonite fossils to your flayer lair! 

Crystals -  Instead of 3d printing crystals and spending hours trying to mimic their refractive nature with paints, try adding acutal crystals! Small crystals are inexpensive and can be easily glued onto to bases or other terrain pieces. Use washes or dyes to match the theme of you setting.