Stars of the Games Shed: Best Value Terrain and Miniatures

After looking at my probably-will-never-complete projects, I was considering my most used, most bang-for-buck miniatures and terrain. What are the stars of my man cave - miniatures and terrain that were the best used and the best value. There are two clear winners, and you may be surprised at what they are.

TERRAIN WINNER

My most-used terrain is a bunch of pine boards, cut in 5, 10, 20 and 30cm sections and sprayed grey.

I was inspired by how my daughter's toy blocks spread all over the floor yet packed into a little box. I use this wooden block setup almost every time I playtest.  Besides caves and dungeons, it has been a research facility, has been arranged into city blocks. It has been a drowned city, Mordhiem... It has served in 28mm, 15mm, and even 1:300 and smaller scales as spacecraft comb asteroid caves a la Descent.

 Here is is the bunkers under Gibralter, and Tommies are clearing out Nazi zombies in 1948...

Here it is underground caves as hunter-killer antigrav gunships battle for the Hollow Earth.

Here it serves as Area 51, as US soldiers fight an alien artifact.

Here it is merely serving as a testbed for my Middlehiem skirmish rules.

It cost $13 and two hours with a bench saw and a spray can.

It's so basic, yet so versatile. It is the most basic of terrain, barely a step above the "cover books with a sheet" - its low effort - and this is coming from someone who specializes in low-effort terrain. Yet I use it so much. Looking at it, I have been thinking of ways to modify it.  Instead of pine boards, what about foam strips? I could texture it and make it more cave-like and organic - but I'd lose some versatility.  Have not used it for multi-level games - how could I adapt the design?

MINIATURES WINNER

There is another clear winner.  These EM4 plastic starfighters have served as super-cavitating sub fighters, as micro-drones flying amongst blades of grass, and currently do service as PT-boat sized gunships/assault landers.  They have starred in about ten sets of homebrew rules as well as their original game Silent Death, and have playtested games like Jovian Chronicles, Renegade Legion, 5150 Fighter Command among others.

They've gotten use at least 5-6 times a year for the last 10 years.

Here they are gunships escorting 1:600 tanks on the moon against alien life in my latest game Gunship Vector.

This time they serve as fighter submarines defending an undersea refinery.

Even today they are $6 (3 pounds) for a dozen, including bases - 50c each!   Easily the best bang for my buck miniatures, ever. 

So... the most used miniatures and terrain in my shed cost under $20 combined, and both sport a single grey basecoat. *Shrugs*

Do you have any minis or terrain that just get so much use you can claim them as your MVP?