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Soon(ish) really need to work on surface of gaming board(though I know already it's going to be alpha version to be redone one day! Too much issues during building but let's finish these to have some sort of boards for while and learn rest of hickups of whole process for next ones...). Trying to build cityfight themed one. Originally for surface to avoid just flat insulation foam had been planning mix of sand and glue to surface to give bit of texture followed by coat of dark grey with lighter grey drybrushed(or airbrushed) over it.

Dunno where but this morning waking up had idea if cork board sheets over the finnfoam would result in more interesting texture which also wouldn't be basically sand paper which would be nice for models falling over which is nice. Especially as I have bunch of resin and some metal models to worry about.

More expensive solution certainly but assuming that is affordable enough for me how would look be? Worry would be that rather than stone it would make board look more like grey wood than grey stone...

Do like them on surface of walls I have made following this guide:

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2014/10/hobby-create-ruin-wall-terrain-in-5-minutes.html

Anybody done similar? Guess I could first do small section on spare pieces(since every 2 120cmx60cm board results in 10cmx60cm waste I have plenty of that)

I have done this; with a decent stiff backing they work. Mostly good for an easy-to-cut-into surface.

Well that's promising sign. Not sure how stiff the insulation foam(essential for the depth) is though...Well not too soft either though. How does cork board survive handling? Due to weight of hard board(base)+finnfoam it requires bit strength to lift so worried corkboard might soon have finger sized holes!

There is the dense insulation foam 4' x 8' sheets that hold up very well. I used these to make my modular game board and just backed the 2x2 pieces with thin masonite board - all very inexpensive.

Just do not use the soft foam sheets, which are no better that shipping styrofoam and will not hold up. You can carve and shape the dense foam sheets really easy. I do not know if cost is a factor, but I think the cork is much more costly and would still need some sort of backing.

Did this once.

It was useful for about 3 months, but I had an accident that took out a big chuck of the cork. Left a crater that kept getting bigger until it was unusable. Not to mention it left a mess each time I pulled it out.

Someone earlier said to make sure the board has a good stiff backing. To avoid the issue I had, reinforce the surface as well. Thinking felt, foamcore or polystyrene could do the trick.

Now, the one I put together could be folded for storage. You might want to consider a joint for it. I used clasps for folding doors, which are in stock at most hardware stores. To get them to fold properly, I needed to add some height to the side of the board, which allowed the clasps to attach a little lower and ensure a flat playing surface.

But that's it. Were it not for the fact the first one broke the way it did, I am sure I would have come back to it. There's something very nice about a light folding table that can be laid out on demand for gaming.

Cork board is terribly soft, sucks up paint like a sponge but has a fantastic rough surface to adhere to.
I do not like how it has a fair bit of spring to it, which makes rolling dice on it "exciting".
I find it is also an insanely expensive building material.

Foam can be almost any grade you want, I was awestruck when I got to see custom foundry pattern foam that you can machine (yes, milling machine):
https://www.generalplastics.com/markets/tooling-and-molds
This stuff becomes more of a challenge on how to cut it.

For insulation, you should look at the technical papers and see how "hard" a foam you prefer to work with.
You would look for "Compressive strength" like what I found for Foamular sheet:
C-300 = 30psi
400 = 40psi
600 = 60psi
1000 = 100psi
(Just love product names that match their properties...).

Usually the surface hardness is not as important since I tend to hit it with a few coats of watered down white glue for a hard surface.
I think it really depends on what kind of use the terrain may see.
Flat surfaces you can add another layer of laminate or plasticard / styrene something to give some impact resistance say if it is heavily used FLGS terrain.
I found it handy for gluing/welding plastic detailing directly to it for extra durability.

I use combinations of steak-knives, hot wire cutters and an electric carving knife for cutting this stuff.
Scroll saws would be ideal but I have not got into those yet.

I use cork tiles from the dollar store for a small skirmish table for another game. It was expensive but it worked well. I attached them to adhesive floor tiles-- the thicker kind that was like 2x1. Painted it grey, washed it drybrushed it and it looked like a concrete street. Made cracks with a knife and washed them brownish black to stand out.

It's definitely better than making sandpaper out of sand and paint. I only do that for areas on terrain where a model will never stand.

Well made small test piece and tried the dark grey I had bought previously for terrain painting with some administratum grey drybrushing. Seems hard to drybrush. On bare grey today I'll try airbrushing but any suggestions for drybrushing this?

Also WIP of Sons of Horus herald there.

Like the surface texture for sure. Pricewise seems to be about 7 euro's per 120cmx60cm part. Maybe tad more due to sizes of sheets not being optimal so waste pieces are likely though those are good for walls etc

Makes me wonder if I should have used this for walls of buildings and ruins though too late for the ones I have done already. Maybe for future.

You need a big fluffy brush basically. I think I had a 2cm wide soft nylon brush from a discount store. It might be easier to just paint it the lighter colour and wash it darker.

Also, cork has different textures depending on how it is made. It looks like yours might simply have a flatter texture than the tiles I used which are meant for making bulletin boards with push pins. Yours looks more like a flooring underlay material.


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Or a sponge where you dab most the paint off? That might work as well?