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So I'm looking to pick people's brain in regards to good materials to build a gaming surface in particular for 40K in 9th edition.

Previously I've made a 4" X 4" table that you can fold in half for easier storage. (I'll add a pic as soon as I'm home)

It was made from 2 layers of corflute at 90degree angles with a layer of thick foamcore on top and edged with pieces of plastic material with hinges to let it fold into a 2" X 4" bundle. It was more of an experiment to be honest. Trying to make something portable and most importantly lightweight. But some of the materials have warped a bit. Not sure if it was because of the glue I used, where it was stored (cold, dryish basement) or simply age.

With 9th i'm thinking of making a second one of the new 44' by 60' dimensions but was hoping to get some wisdom from you all. MDF is the obvious choice as it is cheap, but also fairly heavy in thicker sheets. Would multiple thinner sheets glued together be stronger perhaps, or would that be a source of warping?

I think gluing sheets of MDF should be fine, With titetbond-II or better (water proof), and if you have enough clamps, and if there are supports underneath.
I made me table from 2X4" beams and a thin (1/6"th) Plywood sheets just nailed on top. But I do not need my table to fold.
MDF,masonite board, particle board, will blow up on ya if water gets on it. On that extremely rare occasion of spilled tea or beer, or if left outside by accident.
Unless you are stain-seal-varnish it Id rather get something else. Well, anything in Wood will be heavy, and need finishing and sealing, and if not supported will warp unless you are using some kiln dried oak or something.

Personally Id make it out of wood because I gotz the tools, and would not mind the cost or the weight, and would always keep it inside.

How about customizing a wallmart plastic fold able table?
Never done it, just throwing some ideas.

Part of me wants to shy away from MDF to be honest. And certainly from heavier woods. The previous table was more of a field type aesthetic. Dirt road, minor hills and patches of grass/rock. The next one will likely be more of a city terrain. What's popped into my mind is 3 sheets of corrugated polypropylene again. And cover it with squares of card from cereal boxes and the like. Should be able to give it an affect like slabs of concrete while also being very light and cheap. Whole thing will likely be under $50 if I have my guestimates right.

Curious about the durability though. The crosshatched sheets should be fairly resistant to bending if I get the gluing right.

Hold on, I am a bit confused.

You said (gaming surface), but also said a (table). Those are a bit different.
Do you mean, a fold-able terrain that is the size of a table? or an actual table with legs that is also has terrain on it that can also be folded?

The warping you experienced might be due to glue type, and age if it basement was not hot or humid.

In any case, corflute and card-stock with glue should work, just take some time during the assembly to increase the longevity. Use Titebond II or better (good wood glue) it dries water proof and will resist warping, Use roller or ruler to spread glue evenly (ink roller, rubber roller)
Also weigh sheets down flat and let glue do its thing.


What I do to make sure glue dries fast is Iron it in with an old iron, applies pressure to top piece, and dries the glue with heat.

Also, glue in the corflute in the corrogated-alternating directions, Kinda of a crossed layer, I hope I am making sense.
With solid glue, and proper surface area coverage, and crossed direction sheet stacks should aid with warping as much as the base materials will allow.

The only thing I would use wood for in this case is: Exterior, light construction, support frame. With smaller pieces of about 1" by 1/2" by, however long your surface is, wood that don't need to be strait or look pretty but provide that addition support for durability and anti warping for the outside, when folded. A picture is 1000 words, think of the back of the picture frame. So in your case instead of canvas you got corflute.

Hope this helps.

Finally got around to taking a pic of the previous project. You can see a bit of the warping near the centre. But yeah. 3 layers, 2 corrugated plastic sheets with their "grain" running at right angles to one another with sheets of foamcore ontop. Sadly didn't have the foamcore big enough to be one sheet per side hence the visible seams that became more visible with age. (trying to hide them with static grass atm.)

Folds up nicely on the hinges, I can lift it with one hand without much effort. Probably used the wrong type of glue as I mentioned, a epoxy which is strong but I don't think it's rated for polyethylene.

I think you may be spot on with the wood glue to be honest. Other people are saying it should work but i'll likely do a test on some offcut spare material just to make sure it bonds as I hope.

Find yourself a used one of those fold'able Ping Pong Tables. Use the mechanicals from that, and put a new top on it.

cody.d. wrote:
Finally got around to taking a pic of the previous project. You can see a bit of the warping near the centre. But yeah. 3 layers, 2 corrugated plastic sheets with their "grain" running at right angles to one another with sheets of foamcore ontop. Sadly didn't have the foamcore big enough to be one sheet per side hence the visible seams that became more visible with age. (trying to hide them with static grass atm.)

Folds up nicely on the hinges, I can lift it with one hand without much effort. Probably used the wrong type of glue as I mentioned, a epoxy which is strong but I don't think it's rated for polyethylene.

I think you may be spot on with the wood glue to be honest. Other people are saying it should work but i'll likely do a test on some offcut spare material just to make sure it bonds as I hope.

I see! Yeah that thing is supper light and eazy to fold and store for sure. At same time super flimsy, if uncle Joe leans on it it would not hold up long at all lolz. I am kinda surprised it warped with triple layered stack.
Yes do a test first, good call.
I would recommend the light wooden structure on the outside. Thin sheets of anything, short of concrete board, seem to bend over time if not in a stack or with a frame. Wooden frames them selves bend over time.too.

Sidenote - What was used to keep wooden boards from bending and warping back in the day and still are: Are tapered hard wood(aok) wedges hammered in opposite directions into similar cut tapered wedge shaped groves in the board. I cut a few when i did some art on the wooden boards, and yes it keeps the board strait, but damn it is time consuming, and ends up heavy. Yeah stay away from heavy woods or cut the wedges for em

So, been busily working away at this during my free time. Got all the gluing done and pretty much have the base assembled. Just need to get my hands on the type of hinges I need to actually get it to fold.

Starting to work on the detailing. I plan to use cardstock from cereal and cracker boxes to try and make something simulating the decking of a ship and have been sketching out plans. Besides big metal plates with pi s for rivets I want a few landmarks such as hatches to lower levels and big strands of hazard stripes. Any other ideas or suggestions?

Ventilation grilles and electrical or fluid distribution gubbinz?

I think that anything that builds up too much like loading docks or wet/dry storage stuff (crates, barrels and silos) are probably better off as scatter terrain.

See if you can get some photos of an aircraft carrier hangar deck?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ooh, in terms of markings, you can go to town with things like "no step", directional arrows and area names (e.g. Zone a4).

And maybe an out of the way corner riddled with graffiti.

 Flinty wrote:
Ventilation grilles and electrical or fluid distribution gubbinz?

I think that anything that builds up too much like loading docks or wet/dry storage stuff (crates, barrels and silos) are probably better off as scatter terrain.

See if you can get some photos of an aircraft carrier hangar deck?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ooh, in terms of markings, you can go to town with things like "no step", directional arrows and area names (e.g. Zone a4).

And maybe an out of the way corner riddled with graffiti.

You're right on the higher stuff being terrain. I have a bunch of shipping containers built, a few buildings that can sit in as warehouse buildings/storage and administration, and one that's going to be a tuckshop. (Will be looking for standard tuckshop signage to plaster on it.

But yeah you're right. I can make a bunch of injokes with paintings on the floor. Blood splatters with the white outline around it, direction arrows pointing to toilets for male, female, astrates. That sorta thing.

I think the buildings will be the best places for graffiti. already got some motivational posters slapped on some of the shipping containers.

An update/opinion of the table. The base of it has been built. Just waiting for the type of hinge I want to come in via mail.

Gathering card for the deck, searching around for round headed pins that are maybe a cm or half an inch long to make revits around the edges. Maybe the larger panels will have some big imperial symbols embossed on them.

I'm also wondering if I should be sort of random with the deck panel orientation or have a defined pattern going on.

And I just had to have some big chunky hazard stripes in the middle. Make the iron warriors happy.

So, been putting more work into the table, managed to find some dressmakers pins that were the perfect length. Just enough to go through 2 so layers of the corrugated plastic but not enough to go all the way through and poke out the bottom. Don't have to glue them for them to stay in tight. Makes it fairly easy to rivet in a couple hundred in short order.

At this point it's a case of coming up with detailing ideas and stockpiling the cardboard. I prefer jatz boxes, the cardstock just feels solid for what I want.

I made a foldable 4x6 table for fantasy where I made 6 2x2 squares in the thick foam insulation board back by hard board, so they were super light and I could re-arrange the squares to make different table layouts. The frame clamped around the outside using ruibber bands to hold it all tight together, but it still needed to be placed on my OTHER folding game table I made, which was completely flat.

Here are some pics of the project and some with the different configurations you can do. The last pics are how the frame is done. When storing, the squares all stack up and the frame is hinged at two corners, so you can open and lay completely flat.

Is there something underneath the frame? A lip or something along those lines to keep the panels level? Or would the panels be uneven if you didn't have a proper sized table to rest them on?

It does all need to sit on a table. The frame with the rubber bands secures two of the corners, so it squeezes it all together tightly to keep any squares from shifting. It makes opening the frame to rearrange the tiles super easy. You might be able to tell on a few of the pics it sits on the other foldable table I made using a framework and the same thick foam insulation sheets - folds in half and really light weight. It was slightly bigger along the edges to sit your defeated minis, dice, drink, whatever, so it sticks out a little to see.

Been working on my table some more, finally got one side fully plated. Just working on some detailing at this point, gathering up another supply of cardstock to start working on the other side. Looking forward to doing some touch ups then getting around to painting.