OpenLOCK Explained: How Modular Terrain Clips Together

If you have ever looked at a photo of a dense sci-fi tabletop and wondered how all those walls, walkways and buildings hold together without a mess of glue, the answer is usually one word: OpenLOCK. It is the small clip system hiding underneath modular terrain, and once you understand it, building a full city stops feeling like a craft project and starts feeling like snapping bricks together. This guide is written for players who are new to modular terrain, so we will keep the jargon light and focus on what actually matters at the table.

What OpenLOCK Actually Is

OpenLOCK is an open, royalty-free connection standard designed specifically for 3D-printed tabletop terrain. Instead of every wall being a solid, glued lump, OpenLOCK pieces have a slot on the underside shaped to accept a small bowtie-style clip. Two pieces are placed edge to edge, the clip is pushed into the shared channel, and a quarter-turn locks them together. The result is a rigid join that you can take apart again in seconds.

Because the standard is open, terrain from different designers is meant to be cross-compatible. A clip from one kit will hold a wall from another, which is exactly why modular terrain has become the default way to build sci-fi and cyberpunk boards. You are not locked into a single product line; you are buying into a system.

The Two Pieces You Need to Know

There are really only two components to learn. First, the clips themselves, usually printed as small bowtie or dogbone shapes. Second, the edges of your terrain, which carry the matching recesses. Most modular kits are built on a base and wall logic: floor tiles clip to each other, and walls clip into the floors or into each other along vertical seams. Once you have handled a dozen clips, the muscle memory takes over and you will assemble a building in a couple of minutes.

A practical tip for beginners: print or set aside a small pile of spare clips before your first build. Clips are tiny, they roll off tables, and you always want a handful more than you think you need. Keeping a labelled tin of them next to your terrain box saves a lot of mid-game frustration.

Why Clip-Together Terrain Beats Glue

The obvious win is reconfiguration. A glued building is one building forever. A clipped building can be a two-storey hab this week and a sprawling market stall next week. For skirmish games where the board layout should change every session to keep matches fresh, that flexibility is worth its weight in resin.

The second win is storage and transport. Modular pieces break down flat, so a board that would fill a car boot as glued terrain collapses into a couple of stackable trays. If you play at a club or store, this matters enormously. And the third win is repairability: knock a wall off the table and it pops apart at the clip instead of snapping at a glued seam.

Building Vertically with OpenLOCK

Modular clips are not just for flat walls. The same system is what makes multi-level cyberpunk boards possible. Take the Cyberpunk Elevated Transit Bundle, which pairs a printable trainline with a 24-piece modular walkway and stair system. Because the walkways clip into place rather than being glued to a fixed height, you can route an elevated fighting platform wherever your board needs it, then reroute it for the next game. That is the whole point of a modular standard: the terrain adapts to the mission instead of the other way around.

For an even bigger centerpiece, the Cyberpunk Suspended Monorail is built around a modular OpenLOCK track, so you can extend the line across the table in sections and add real verticality above the streets below. Both kits ship as unpainted, printed terrain in 28mm, 32mm or 40mm scale, so you assemble and paint them yourself and size them to match the rest of your collection.

Making a Whole City From Clips

Once you are comfortable with single kits, the natural next step is a full board. The Cyberpunk City Terrain Bundle gives you five futuristic buildings plus vehicles and scatter in one purchase, which is a fast way to reach a dense, playable table without printing piece by piece. Because it shares the same modular design language as the transit and monorail kits, you can weave elevated walkways between the buildings and run the monorail overhead to tie the whole skyline together.

A Quick First-Build Checklist

Before you sit down for your first assembly session, do three things. One: dry-fit everything without clips first, so you understand how the pieces relate before you commit. Two: keep your spare clips within reach and work on a tray so nothing rolls away. Three: decide on your paint plan before final assembly, because some interiors and undersides are far easier to reach while the building is still in flat sub-assemblies. A little planning here saves hours later.

The Takeaway

OpenLOCK turns a pile of separate printed parts into a single, reconfigurable, easy-to-store city. You do not need any special skills to use it, just a handful of clips and a few minutes of practice. Start with one modular kit, get a feel for how the clips seat and lock, and then expand outward. Before long you will be building, breaking down and rebuilding entire tables on demand, which is exactly how modular terrain is supposed to work. If you are ready to start, the cyberpunk kits above are a great on-ramp into the system.