This tutorial will explain the steps to create a lava gaming board. These same steps can be used to create many other types of terrain too. Sorry if it is a little long. I figured more detail was better then less.

What you will need:
1. Dow foam insulation. This can be found at most construction supply depots. It comes in blue or pink sheets. It comes in 2’x8’ sheets, so you will need 2 of them.
(If you are having trouble finding it give this web site a look and call them and they can point you in the right direction. Either for ordering it or a local dealer. http://www.layoutvision.com/id44.html)
2. 3X 2’x4’x ½” pre-cut plywood sheets. These can be purchase at any Home Depot type store.
3. Heated wire foam cutter and Hot Knife.
4. tubes of subfloor glue.
5. 2+ tubes of ACRYLIC latex caulking.
6. 1 caulking gun.
7. 1 plastic tarp to work on.
8. 1 long bladed utility knife or kitchen knife.
9. 1 bag of play yard sand. These can be purchase at any Home Depot type store.
10. 1 sheet of ¼” masonite board.
11. 1 quart of black latex wall paint
12. 1 bottle of cheap white acrylic craft paint
13. 1 bottle each of yellow and dark red/orange cheap acrylic craft paint.
14. 1 sharpie.
15. Something to cut masonite boards with. I used a Jigsaw.
16. Sandpaper to smooth the edge of the masonite templates.
17. 1 large paintbrush and 1 medium sized one for painting the lava rivers.
18. 1 small can of Drywall patching compound.


Step 1:



Take your 2 sheets of foam and lay them out. Cut them each equally in half so you have 4 2’x4’ sections. Make sure to measure you precut plywood sheets to make sure they are actually the right size to match the foam you are going to cut. If they are a little off make sure to adjust your cut on the foam to match.

Once you have your cut line drawn on the foam use a long straight edge and cut the foam with the utility knife. Do not use the heated cutters as it will distort the edge.

This will leave you with one 2’x4’ section leftover to make hills and other terrain out of.




Step 2:

Lay out your boards edge to edge and draw the pattern you will want for the lava channels and any other features you will want to cut into the foam board. Take a good look at it once you have drawn out what you want. Keep in mind that you are doing to want to be able to play on this board. So make sure you do not make it to busy.




Grab your hot foam cutter(s) and start working on cutting out the pattern you have made. If you do not have a straight hot knife you will need to use the utility knife to get to the sections you can not get with the hot wire easily.



As I was cutting stuff out I numbered the “little islands” so I would know where they go after.



Once everything is cut out you are left with smooth edges, which you don’t want. Take the hot knife (or the wire cutter) and score the edges to make it look more like a broken lava field.





Step 3:

Now that your board is all cut out and the edges are “textured” get out the subfloor glue and get it loaded up in the caulking gun.



Flip your boards over and apply the subfloor glue to the back. Make sure that all the areas near and edge have glue so the foam will not be able to pull up from the wood boards. Once it is well coated flip it over onto one of the wood boards and press it down.




Finish gluing the other 2 boards and stack all 3 of them one on top the one another with the wood backings facing up. Now that they are stacked put a bunch of heavy stuff on top and let it sit over night so that the glue will have plenty of time to dry.



Step 4:

Now that it is the next day and the glue is dry it is time to texture them. You will need your large paintbrush, the black latex paint, the sand and a tarp to work on.
First lay the tarp on the floor so you will have somewhere to collect the sand as it falls off the boards. Lay the boards on the tarp and brush on a thick coat of paint onto the top flat surface of one board. Once that is done, poor the sand onto the paint you have just put down. If it is particularly warm you may want to do a small section at a time.
At this time I also painted all the little “islands” and put sand on them too.




Once the first board is done, repeat the steps on the other two boards. They will need to sit for a few hours to let the paint dry all the way.



When you come back in a few hours tip the boards over onto the tarp to get all the loose sand off. Use the tarp to poor the sand back into the bag or a container for use later.

Now you need to paint the vertical edges of the lava field and put sand on them. Be careful not to get too much paint down on the lava channels. You can cover up the little bits of sand that will stick down there when you do the lava itself. Once all this is done and had had a chance to dry go ahead and shake off the sand again and put the extra back in the container.



Step 5:

Now it is time to apply a coat of latex paint over all the sand to seal it in. Grab your large brush and give all the sand a good coat of latex paint. Make sure to pay attention to getting paint in all the little cracks you make along the lava channels. Also paint the outside edges of the boards at this time.




This will last step will take a while to dry so lets move on to making the movable terrain (if you had not started it already).

Step 6:

First we will start with the masonite board. You will be using this to make templates for your forests (Burnt out husks of trees) and any other rock outcroppings and lava cinder cones.

Draw out the shapes of the templates on the masonite board and cut them out with the jigsaw. Once they are cut out take your sandpaper and smooth out the edges.





For this board I cut out of the blue foam rock outcroppings and some cinder cones. Once these are cut out any that need templates will get glued onto them with the subfloor glue. Take the Drywall patch and use it to fill all the gaps along the bottoms of the foam and masonite.

Also cut out some hills and some small flat “sheets” of rock, that will be used for bridges over the lava rivers, from the left over sheet of blue foam.

Once the glue and plaster patch is dry go ahead and paint with the latex paint the areas of anything that you will want to have “sand” on them and cover them with sand.








Once that first coat of paint and sand is dry clear off the excess sand and paint everything black. This will seal in the sand and also give you a black base coat to work up from for the rocks.

Step 7:

Now we will go back to the boards that have dried and work on getting some “color” onto them. You will want the large brush, black and white paint and some newspaper or other surface to mix the paint on. First, mix up a medium grey and drybrush* the boards and your mobile terrain pieces this grey.

*Drybrushing is a painting technique of wiping most of the paint off a brush, so as you paint the brush will only leave paint on the raised surfaces, as there is a minimal amount of paint on the brush being used.

Next, lighten the grey paint with a little more white and paint the edges and some patches on the boards and moveable pieces with this. Then take an even lighter shade and get just the edges of the lava rivers and the movable terrain pieces.

Now all the boards and pieces should be finished with as much grey and white as you like.








Step 8:

Now we are going to me making the lava. You will need the Acrylic caulking and a medium small paintbrush for this.



What you are going to do is lay a large bead of caulking down the middle of the lava rivers and any other place where you will want lava. Once that is done, take the paint brush and spread out the bead of caulking. Sometimes you will need to dip the brush in some water as the caulking can get quite thick and sticky and will need to be thinned out aome. Give it a rough texture so it will look like a rough lava flow. Do the same for any mobile terrain pieces you also may have made that have lava on them.








If you want to make some “lava bubbles” go ahead and put a dollop of caulking down and smooth it into a bubble.




This will take up to a full day to dry depending on how thick the caulking is.

Step 9:

Now that all the caulking is try it is time to paint up the lava.

First you will start with yellow paint and a medium brush. Paint all the lava yellow. Once this is all done go ahead and heavily drybrush* the lava the red/orange color.




Once the orange is dry, mix some of the black paint with some orange paint and drybrush* it onto the tops of the lava. This will give you the look of lava that has cooled somewhat on top. If you want it to look even cooler you can use more black as an additional coat of paint.






Now that all the lava is painted you will want to recreate the glow that hot lava radiates onto the adjacent rock.
Take your medium paint brush and the orange/red paint and drybrush* it onto the walls adjacent to the lava. Also drybrush orange strips onto the bottom of the “bridges” for the lava that would be glowing up at them.






Step 10:

Go Play! You are done!








Here is the section on making trees. I also have included it in the OP. Enjoy!

Step 1:



This part of the tutorial that will cover how I created the burnt out trees.

What you will need:
1. Plaster Cloth
2. Bases to mount the trees on (I used the flat 60mm GW bases)
3. Armature wire (Or some other easily bendable thicker wire)
4. Wood Glue
5. Sand for the bases
6. Red, Orange, Black and Gray Paint (Or white to mix with black)
7. Knife to cut the Plaster cloth
8. Bowl to fill with water
9. Wire cutters/pliers
10. Paint burshes



Step 1:



Cut 8x 8” sections of wire for each tree you want to make.
Each 2 wires will make one branch, so if you want more or less branches add or subtract 2 wires.

Bunch up your set of wires for a tree and grip them with the pliers twisting the wire to create the trunk. After you have a long enough trunk, go ahead and twist out the branches. After you have twisted them out, bend them around enough to look like a gnarled tree. Trim the “roots” so that they fit on the base you are using.











Repeat this as many times as you would like trees.



Step 2:

Warning: This will make a huge mess. Either, do it when you parents/spouse are not home, or give them fair warning that you are going to clean it up.

Cut an 1” to 1.5” strip off the Plaster Cloth



Fill a bowl with water and get one of your trees. Submerge the plaster cloth for a second then remove it. Do not squeeze it out. I would recommend doing this somewhere where it will not matter if you drip plaster all over the place. I used the kitchen sink (don’t tell my wife!). Start wrapping it around your armature until you have covered it all. You may need to cut multiple strips to cover the whole tree. You can also press it down and smooth it out in areas as needed. Do not move to slowly either as the plaster strip can harden on you while you are working with it. Repeat this until all the trees are wrapped








Once they are all wrapped up set them aside to dry for a few hours.



Step 3:

Once your trees are dry it is time to mount them. I drilled a few holes in the base so that it would be easier for the glue to adhere to them.



Next, spread some wood glue on the bottom of the tree and plop it down on the base over the holes





This will take a while to dry, but will be very strong once it is dry. After it is dry spread glue on the rest of the base and dip it in sand to texture it. Do this to all the trees and set them aside to dry.



Step 4:

Once this is all dry, get out your paints. First off I painted them red then let it dry, then painted parts of them orange. This is to achieve a glowing charcoal log look once you are done.



Once all this is dry, dry brush them black and also paint the bases.



Once this is all dry, dry brush them varying shades of gray to give them the cooling ash look. When finished should have a tree that looks like it has been set on fire and all that is left is a burn out husk that is glowing from within.



I then coated them with 2-3 layers of clear coat as paint will chip off plaster fairly easily when they rub together in a storage box.

Enjoy!

WOW looks amazing, will try to do this one day

That is a staggeringly good board! 10/10!

I'm not usually a fan of Lava terrain, but you've almost managed to change my mind.

An easy to follow tutorial, well illustrated and leading to a good looking result.

Excellent work

Really fantastic. Great tutorial. Thanks!!

Very cool! My son and I recently priced materials to make our own modular table and this is a great inspiration to get started. Very detailed and great pics to go with the explanations. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for the comments! It is just a shame that I did not finish it last month.

God Damn that is beautiful!

AWESOME! I'm in process of making a table and seeing this just motivates. Thanks!

Looks fantastic! Have you or anyone else that can attest to the results tried to use something on the majority of the flat surfaces of the gaming board itself to give it a more natural look with variation? I was thinking along the lines of for that first coat of black paint using a spray-paint can from varying distances so that it slightly dissolved the top layer of foam slightly giving it an even rougher, more varied appearance?

Although that's a great thing about a lavaboard, magma hardens to form lavafields that can look vastly different from each other, from smooth to the bumpy, ripply type of thing you see when you think of some volcanic islands I suppose.

I suppose the drawback might be ruining the huge sheet of foam so a fair amount of testing it out would be in order on some scraps first.

Mmmmmmm that's one good board. /thumbs up

Holy crap dude that is freaking amazing. I will have to remember this when I start making bits of terrain with my roomate.

10/10 good sir

Scherdy wrote:Looks fantastic! Have you or anyone else that can attest to the results tried to use something on the majority of the flat surfaces of the gaming board itself to give it a more natural look with variation? I was thinking along the lines of for that first coat of black paint using a spray-paint can from varying distances so that it slightly dissolved the top layer of foam slightly giving it an even rougher, more varied appearance?

Although that's a great thing about a lavaboard, magma hardens to form lavafields that can look vastly different from each other, from smooth to the bumpy, ripply type of thing you see when you think of some volcanic islands I suppose.

I suppose the drawback might be ruining the huge sheet of foam so a fair amount of testing it out would be in order on some scraps first.

I thought of that a but decided against it. These boards see a lot of transport and a flat top surface makes them much more durable. Also, as cool as a surface like that would look it makes it more difficult to game on, which I at least prefer over a "prettier" board. I have made quite a few outlandish terrain pieces in the past and have now settled on making more serviceable terrain that is easier to play on and still looks decent.

Makes total sense. Nothing much more frustrating than having to keep fiddling with your minis to be certain they're going to stand up and not fall over or cause a domino effect on the models around them because of an uneven surface.

Beautiful work. I am so jealous.

The beauty of this tutorial, is you can take the basic idea, and pretty much use it for any type of gaming board, me and my friends are planning on using the basis of this tutorial to make a desert with an oasis, with streams running to and from it.

SgtPunishment wrote:The beauty of this tutorial, is you can take the basic idea, and pretty much use it for any type of gaming board, me and my friends are planning on using the basis of this tutorial to make a desert with an oasis, with streams running to and from it.

That sounds very cool. I hope it turns out very well!

thank you sooooo much as i was going to make a terrain board but was not sure what to actually make it. now i know great thanks and 10000000000/10

This is a wonderful tutorial. I plan on putting it to use!

WOW, thats a really nice looking gameboard! I can just imagine some Salamanders trodding through that.

wow just wow amazing board and great tutorial!

awesome looking.
i wish my lgs had some.

Looks incredible man great job on the table and a very well written and easily followable Tutorial. Do you happen to have an idea of what the material's costed you?

garret wrote:awesome looking.
i wish my lgs had some.

The best way I have found to get LGS to get some terrain is to offer to make it for them. Usually you might be able to get them to pay for half (about $80 or so) or even all the materials if they are very generous. I have justified it to them in the past by saying "With awesome terrain to play on this is the only place people will want to come to play, thus buying more stuff from you."

You can always give that a try.

This is fantastic. I'm going to try something almost exactly like this, but with less jigsaw involved, And i may try to build up some crazy ruins in my lavascape.

This came out great and looks pretty easy too. Gotta try this.

this is freakin amasing im goin to try and attempt it with someone in my gaming group

This is amazing. Where did you get the lava painting technique?

Very nice.

With a "down to the brass tacks" approach that you've taken here, these techniques are very easily adaptable to regular ol' rivers and creeks running through a gameboard as well as lava, or maybe even ice! Super tutorial all around.

That's fantastic, will be trying this one on a smaller scale soon!

This is great! Love the result!

slice of toast wrote:With a "down to the brass tacks" approach that you've taken here, these techniques are very easily adaptable to regular ol' rivers and creeks running through a gameboard as well as lava, or maybe even ice! Super tutorial all around.

Thanks! I do need to get some pictures of my river boards. It was pretty much the same steps, except where I filled the rivers with Resin.

Very nice, i'm going to have to try this. Maybie with some ruined buildings in tho because I like that sort of terrain ^_^

Yeah. THis wil be great for a battle between my friends Salamanders and my Eldar!

WOW.... AMAZING! awesome detail, i would try (i mean try) but the turn-out would not be that good!

Quick question as I am having difficulty finding this myself. Where can I find and/or what are good how wire foam cutters and whatnot. Anyone have any good suggestions?

Want!

Excellent job, sir. thanks for the well done tutorial!

I had the pleasure of playing on this table a few weeks ago. Even with my mech heavy army, it was great fun and a beautiful table.

WOW!! Do you make any other boards(he says with hopeful look in his eyes)?

That looks god like
amazing board man

deadratman wrote:WOW!! Do you make any other boards(he says with hopeful look in his eyes)?

Yes I have a river board that is similar and 3 other "flat" boards with themed terrain on them. Maybe one of these days I can get some pics of them too!

Wow. I'm building one!

Okay... I'm making one... which way's the styrene shop?

That was awesome how it turned out I might have to try that.

Just wanted to make sure, is the foam 2" thick? I know they sell different thickness foam and just wanted to check to see if this is whast you used, thanks.

Impressive. The modular board I make will be a little bit more verdant, but the your instructions will still carry over. Thank you very much.

disposable24 wrote:Just wanted to make sure, is the foam 2" thick? I know they sell different thickness foam and just wanted to check to see if this is whast you used, thanks.

I think the standard DOW foam insulation is 1.5". If you start going larger then that the boards will take up quite a bit of space to store and transport. To me transporting them is very important to me as they get carried around to games all over the place.

Brilliant, would love to get my dark angels or crimson fists out on it.

I want to add my thanks as well for this fine tutorial.

We have a local competition here soon for Gaming boards. I think I am going to make it so the volcano in the middle spews out smoke via dry ice beneath it. I think that would be very cool!

Maybe we should just give you the prize now, none of the rest of us are going to come close to building anything so cool.

Relly Nice Job!

Ozymandias wrote:Maybe we should just give you the prize now, none of the rest of us are going to come close to building anything so cool.

I think it is submitted as a game club though, so it would be a SLOgamining entry. At least that is what I thought.

Oh in that case, go get em!!

thank you so much for this tutorial its great and it has inspired me to base my next gaming board on this! orky hats off to you

So, in theory wouldn't this tutorial also work for an Ice Flow board, too?

Like if you left sharper edges around the cracks and sprayed it white plus added some snow flock.
You could then paint the crevices a blue color and fill them with water effects gel or just leave them as-is.

Euron Crowseye wrote:So, in theory wouldn't this tutorial also work for an Ice Flow board, too?

Like if you left sharper edges around the cracks and sprayed it white plus added some snow flock.
You could then paint the crevices a blue color and fill them with water effects gel or just leave them as-is.

Actually I have some ice boards too! though they are just flat boards with movable terrain. This would work perfectly for ice flow boards too. I would recommend a light blue for your base color for the entire board then drybrush white over it. A plain what board would recreate snow better, but it is just kinda boring to play on IMO. For the ice in the cracks, you can just use similar techniques to make the ice; ie. smooth out the caulking more and draw cracks in it with a nail. Then once that is dry you can paint it up like ice. After that take some gloss coat and paint the ice to make it all shinny.

Hope that helps some!

I love this board. It is an easy beginner board for someone like myself who is getting into 40k (you did a more advanced job!). You don't need to spend cash or huge amounts of time for buildings, trees, etc. When I finish mine I will post pics, although yours is much nicer than mine is so far.

I like it too its a great effect and theres no need to buy builidings (as already mentioned) however this isnt really versatile and i cant see it being used in WHFB, perhaps in the chaos wastes though, but this is a very small disadvantage especially if you play 40K only. Honestly great work.

Eldar Own wrote:I like it too its a great effect and there's no need to buy buildings (as already mentioned) however this isnt really versatile and i cant see it being used in WHFB, perhaps in the chaos wastes though, but this is a very small disadvantage especially if you play 40K only. Honestly great work.

What you can do, and what we have actually done in the past is just ignore all the lava rivers, especially with WHFB. We just pretend that they have cooled enough to walk on. That way we can still enjoy the board without it being a total pain in the ass to play on.

Very nice

My freind was going to create one ill just show him this tutorial

Very well done, both the tutorial and the clear result. It certainly motivates and inspires.


Iechyd da!

I loved the way you painted the lava.I love everything!

Thanks! I almost have the burnt out trees done too for it (I have been procrastinating). I will get pics of those other boards when I get the trees done too!

O_O! Sheer awesomeness from this board! I think I am going to be building one now!

Just one question: I"m pretty sure somebody already asked this (too lazy to go back and look though), but does anybody have an average total cost for all the materials needed to build this board?

Here are the average costs.

What you will need:

1. Dow foam insulation. This can be found at most construction supply depots. It comes in blue or pink sheets. It comes in 2’x8’ sheets, so you will need 2 of them.($28 each)
2. 3X 2’x4’x 1�” pre-cut plywood sheets. These can be purchase at any Home Depot type store.($4 each)
3. Heated wire foam cutter and Hot Knife.($15 for the wire cutter)
4. 1 or 2 tubes of subfloor glue.($3 each)
5. 1 or 2 tubes of ACRYLIC latex caulking.($3 each)
6. 1 caulking gun.($8)
7. 1 plastic tarp to work on. ($10)
8. 1 long bladed utility knife or kitchen knife.(Free, as long as your wife does not catch you!)
9. 1 bag of play yard sand. These can be purchase at any Home Depot type store.($2)
10. 1 sheet of 1�” masonite board.($4)
11. 1 quart of black latex wall paint ($5)
12. 1 bottle of cheap white acrylic craft paint ($3)
13. 1 bottle each of yellow and dark red/orange cheap acrylic craft paint.($2)
14. 1 sharpie.($1)
15. Something to cut masonite boards with. I used a Jigsaw.(Varies)
16. Sandpaper to smooth the edge of the masonite templates.($2)
17. 1 large paintbrush and 1 medium sized one for painting the lava rivers.($5)
18. 1 small can of Drywall patching compound. ($2)

Great looking table, i made one similar for the FLGS, i used wooden balls i clipped in half to make different size bubbles.

Seriously damn good!

I want to do an Ice world and a dessert world similar to this.

Absolutely awesome looking board. Unfortunately I don't have the money or resources to make something alike, but I love the idea

Awesome board-you could do this and make trenches and trails from tanks or footprints etc... I only get £4 a week so i can only dream of it. inspiring and awesome if pricey, my reasonably sized mdf board was a fiver from wickes.

this is perfect

I may have to try this with a snowscape table.

Mother of god...

This will be the foundation of a trench system.

(based in the system of ultramar of course)

I might use this idea and make a ice flow river down the center and make some bridges

Very Impressive

Regarding this project - it is HOT!

Does anyone know an online source I could purchase the foam at? Its not sold anywhere around here (Ive been told by people its illegal to sell in cali... I dont believe it... especially since it was a red shirt probably trying to protect their methods >:O ) so I need to buy it online sadly although that will definintelly suck on shipping I assume >.<

Buttlerthepug wrote:Does anyone know an online source I could purchase the foam at? Its not sold anywhere around here (Ive been told by people its illegal to sell in cali... I dont believe it... especially since it was a red shirt probably trying to protect their methods >:O ) so I need to buy it online sadly although that will definintelly suck on shipping I assume >.<

I did a little digging and I found a site online where you can get it. Check out http://www.frpshop.com/styrofoam-c-39_40.html. I am not sure how much shipping will run you, but at least you can get some!

What a great tutorial, perfect for beginner hobbyist like myself. Thanks so much!

Fantastic!!!!!!
i really need to try this someday......

15/10 from me!!

Ack! What happened to the tutorial?

Menelker wrote:

Buttlerthepug wrote:Does anyone know an online source I could purchase the foam at? Its not sold anywhere around here (Ive been told by people its illegal to sell in cali... I dont believe it... especially since it was a red shirt probably trying to protect their methods >:O ) so I need to buy it online sadly although that will definintelly suck on shipping I assume >.<

I did a little digging and I found a site online where you can get it. Check out http://www.frpshop.com/styrofoam-c-39_40.html. I am not sure how much shipping will run you, but at least you can get some!

Home depot or lowes? I don't know why it wouldn't be there. I got a 2 inch 4' x 8' sheet for 15 bucks on sale.

J-Roc77 wrote:

Menelker wrote:

Buttlerthepug wrote:Does anyone know an online source I could purchase the foam at? Its not sold anywhere around here (Ive been told by people its illegal to sell in cali... I dont believe it... especially since it was a red shirt probably trying to protect their methods >:O ) so I need to buy it online sadly although that will definintelly suck on shipping I assume >.<

I did a little digging and I found a site online where you can get it. Check out http://www.frpshop.com/styrofoam-c-39_40.html. I am not sure how much shipping will run you, but at least you can get some!

Home depot or lowes? I don't know why it wouldn't be there. I got a 2 inch 4' x 8' sheet for 15 bucks on sale.

I actually did a store seller locator thinger on Fomular site I think it was and apparently a home depot right next to me sells it so Ill have to look... although last time I went I swear they did not carry it but Ill have to check again... Anyhow I got a few replies with sites so Im happy... Sorry for going off topic!

villano137 wrote:Ack! What happened to the tutorial?

Is it not showing up for you? Everything looks ok to me for the tutorial posts.

Awesome looking board, really inspirational!
And for a terrain newbie like myself the step by step really helps to get this stuff clear in your head! I've often seen great terrain but get lost when I try to imagine how it's made!

I'm wondering, how do you store your terrain? At the FLGS we've been having some problems storing our larger terrain 'tiles'. Stacked, the surface detail gets alot more of wear and tear, individual shelves take loads of space. Any clever solutions you've come up with?

I built a rack in the garage that the 2'x4' boards stand on their side on. That way I don't have to move the individual boards to get at what I need. I have that lava board set, a similar rivers board board set, and 3 other sets of just differently colored "flat" board sets. I am not sure how practical this would be for a store space, unless they have lots of floor space. As for the hills and all the accessories, store them in one of those 10-15 gallon plastic bins that you can get at Home Depot or such. They will protect the terrain and they are stackable

No matter what you will see some where and tear. But if you use exterior house latex paint to base and top coat you will see quite a bit less. Craft paints are just not made to hold up to the abuse boards get.

Hope that helps!

Great board!

Hmm it's just showing an image link and part of the text for me; on multiple computers. Did I disable something?

Something looks broke to me too. It is like Dakka broke my first posts. You can look at http://coolminiornot.com/article/aid/825 for an alternate location for the tutorial.

By request here is a picture of the wrack I have for my boards...pardon the mess
My flat boards are not there as they are currently residing at my LGS. Also in that picture you can see one of my river board set.
It is built out normal 2x4s and I am quite happy with it out off all the solutions I have tried over the years.

I am going to be making something like this with my friend, however it will be ice/snow/wintery themed instead of lava. This tutorial is very helpful for something like that. Thanks!

Is there any reason not to just mix the sand directly with the paint instead of "flocking" it like you have? Seems like it'd stick better and apply easier....

What happens when you do that is you will get clumping and a more uneven board surface. It would look cooler but it would be quite a bit rougher, mini's would not stand up as well and you would have breakage issues when transporting the boards (if you made them modular like I did). Also you would waste any left over sand and paint mixture that you did not use. It is a good idea though and was the first thing I tried when I started making terrain.

Man, thats amazing.

Awesome lava field at the beginning, I must say

Here's the fruits of your labors! Well, my labors, your instructions. Terrain is still drying so I'll have to post that later.

Overall I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I assure you any screw-ups were my own (or my toddler's). Considering this is the first piece of terrrain I've EVER put together, I'm practically ecstatic.

Things I've Learned:

I cut the main pieces of the field using a razor saw and then smoothed them using a dremel. This worked out really well (MESSY!), and the dremel does a nice job shaving the foam into realistic rock shapes.

After cutting the pieces, I realized I had an old solder gun I could use as a hot wire. That's what I used to cut the cracks. For some reason, I had it in my mind that you made much bigger crevices than what you did, so I was pretty aggressive with it. While I'm not dissappointed in how it looks (yours is better, mine is acceptable though), I wouldn't do it this way again. Those tiny cracks are a PAIN to paint. I didn't even bother trying to get lava in them.

When you say 1-2 bottles, you mean 2, and 3 if you suck at conserving material.

The hardest part was the caulk. That stuff does NOT want to cooperate. Part of it was I was using far too small of a brush. In the future, I would use a 1/2" to 1" stiff bristled brush to spread this stuff out, cause basically I ended up using the stick portion of my brush to push things around. This gave me a really, really rough surface. It works, but again, probably not as nice as the original. I'd put off drybrushing the land until you have the caulk laid down, because if you're like me you're going to do a lot of touch-up.

The sand trick works really well for texturing the board. Makes it similar to sandpaper though, so will be interesting to see if there's wear and tear on minis (I doubt it unless you're clumsy).

This sucker isn't free. The materials list the OP listed is pretty accurate cost-wise. I think I have about $60-$70 wrapped up in my board all told, but I was also using scrap foam I had from another project. Now I DO have some extra material left over (Lots of sand and hardboard), but when I want to do another board I'll have to shell out another $40-$50 probably. All that glue, caulk, and paint add up - not to mention plywood seems to have gone up in price again.

Anyhoo, thought I'd post my results from using this tutorial. Overall I give a hearty thumbs up!

Now two things:

One - WHERE are your scorched trees? I've been waiting for weeks and weeks for pics!

Two - Do you recommend a coating/varnish of any sort to protect the board or is it fine with just the paint? It seems pretty durable, but I'd like it to last.

VERY NICE! It is nice to see that this tutorial is relatively easy to follow and also to get comments on it from someone that has put it into practice!

I agree that the cracks are a PAIN to paint, especially the little ones that ended up with.

I would suggest with the Caulk for the lava to use a wet brush to smooth it out. As long as you get acrylic caulking you can do that.
You don't need to seal it, though if you transport it you may need to touch up the corners every so often as they get bumped. But there is nothing sealer would help with that. You do end up with a sandpaper like surface that is rough on metal mini's if you drop them on it, but that is what also gives it its' durability.

I do have pictures of the trees and I will work on them right now! I have been lazy with the holidays and with getting them up and written out.

And that is an amazing board for your first piece of terrain ever.



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Here is the section on making trees. I also have included it in the OP. Enjoy!

Step 1:



This part of the tutorial that will cover how I created the burnt out trees.

What you will need:
1. Plaster Cloth
2. Bases to mount the trees on (I used the flat 60mm GW bases)
3. Armature wire (Or some other easily bendable thicker wire)
4. Wood Glue
5. Sand for the bases
6. Red, Orange, Black and Gray Paint (Or white to mix with black)
7. Knife to cut the Plaster cloth
8. Bowl to fill with water
9. Wire cutters/pliers
10. Paint burshes



Step 1:



Cut 8x 8” sections of wire for each tree you want to make.
Each 2 wires will make one branch, so if you want more or less branches add or subtract 2 wires.

Bunch up your set of wires for a tree and grip them with the pliers twisting the wire to create the trunk. After you have a long enough trunk, go ahead and twist out the branches. After you have twisted them out, bend them around enough to look like a gnarled tree. Trim the “roots” so that they fit on the base you are using.











Repeat this as many times as you would like trees.



Step 2:

Warning: This will make a huge mess. Either, do it when you parents/spouse are not home, or give them fair warning that you are going to clean it up.

Cut an 1” to 1.5” strip off the Plaster Cloth



Fill a bowl with water and get one of your trees. Submerge the plaster cloth for a second then remove it. Do not squeeze it out. I would recommend doing this somewhere where it will not matter if you drip plaster all over the place. I used the kitchen sink (don’t tell my wife!). Start wrapping it around your armature until you have covered it all. You may need to cut multiple strips to cover the whole tree. You can also press it down and smooth it out in areas as needed. Do not move to slowly either as the plaster strip can harden on you while you are working with it. Repeat this until all the trees are wrapped








Once they are all wrapped up set them aside to dry for a few hours.



Step 3:

Once your trees are dry it is time to mount them. I drilled a few holes in the base so that it would be easier for the glue to adhere to them.



Next, spread some wood glue on the bottom of the tree and plop it down on the base over the holes





This will take a while to dry, but will be very strong once it is dry. After it is dry spread glue on the rest of the base and dip it in sand to texture it. Do this to all the trees and set them aside to dry.



Step 4:

Once this is all dry, get out your paints. First off I painted them red then let it dry, then painted parts of them orange. This is to achieve a glowing charcoal log look once you are done.



Once all this is dry, dry brush them black and also paint the bases.



Once this is all dry, dry brush them varying shades of gray to give them the cooling ash look. When finished should have a tree that looks like it has been set on fire and all that is left is a burn out husk that is glowing from within.



I then coated them with 2-3 layers of clear coat as paint will chip off plaster fairly easily when they rub together in a storage box.

Enjoy!

Here's pics with some of the terrain I whipped up. Again, I'm a terrain novice, but I think they turned out well. I took your advice and tried to make things that were playable and weren't nightmares to balance minis on. The popsicle stick bridge isn't even close to finished, but we needed an extra bridge so I tossed it on there - I actually like the look of it and can see where it'll turn into a nice piece with a little piece. I doubt Chaos (or Orks!) would defer to OSHA regarding wooden bridges spanning rivers of molten lava anyway. Definitely going to throw a few more together.

The cinder cones and whatnot are taking forever to dry. I'm going to have to move them to a warmer room in the house I think.

Also played the first game on this board today. It was a blast! We counted lava as impassible and rocks and whatnot as difficult (also had some random barbed wire scattered about to muck things up more). Had a lot of terrain and cover to hide behind, but moving to engage took some planning. Never wished for jump packs troops more.

This is cool!!1!

Very very, VERY cool!

@Menelker:You my friend, are a friggin' genuis!

Hey guy's im just going to the hardware store to get my materials and wondered when you said you get the foam from consruction sites can I just get it from my local Bunnings (B&Q) or watever you guys call it. Also I had an idea to mix the lava paint with water effects and 'ard coat and I tested it on a piece of cardboard and its looking good. Oh and 1-UP nice job on the board its REALLY awesome. Well.. thats all wish me luck with my frankenstein of a game board.

Great job on the board! Need my shipping address so that you can get it to me? : )

Im back from the shop (and a little detour) and i've foudn they do not have any of the insulation foam in blue or pink, infact they dont even have any of the foam I've looked in all 3 of my local hardware stores (Bunnings,Stratco,Mitre10) and they had nothing. Could anoyone give me advice to the whereabouts of its location [In South Australia] thanks guys (and gals) if you could help me on this one.

Seriously. A+ on this tutorial. Very nice.

Awesome guide very professional work you got there. Also I would like to know where to get the foam because as Nom Nom Nom said they don't sell it at my local hardware stores and building stores. Please reply.

Umm just saying but has anyone noticed this?
Look at the top of the page where to url is.



i just saw it o_o fluff fluff fluff take that kittens?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hmm it just changed again o_O I HAVE PROOF!

Lol @ the kittens. The tag line changes every time you reload to a page.

Here is a shop online that you can get some at http://www.frpshop.com/styrofoam-c-39_40.html. I don't know what they would charge to ship to you Aussies though. You may be able to do a little searching around online and see if you can find some. Or maybe have one of your local building supply stores special order it for you.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the reply but it just happnes that I have just found a place where I can get it. Very much thanks for the reply though

-=Scar=- wrote:Thanks for the reply but it just happnes that I have just found a place where I can get it. Very much thanks for the reply though

Cool deal! Make sure to post how it turns out!

Great board man. nice job!

I gotta board a bit like that but mine has a marsy type surface with the lava rivers. Not as good as yours though :-(

1-UP wrote:

-=Scar=- wrote:Thanks for the reply but it just happnes that I have just found a place where I can get it. Very much thanks for the reply though

Cool deal! Make sure to post how it turns out!

Yes I have Nearly done and i have put wiring in a board (I thinks its a worlds first) for the lava and it really gives a good effect for the lava it looks like its glowing O_o
I shall get some pics up in a few days or so ^^.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
OOh i didnt say there LED'sto the wire xD

Amazing, I'm making one next week!!

This is very cool, but alas, I have a city board and I have no intention of making another board. This is a GREAT tutorial, though.

That's like having one army but not wanting to have a second (or third... or fourth...).

^Yes, I know, but I like the board that I have right now, (it's not even 100% finished), and at the moment I don't want to make another at the moment. But it is cool!

I really should get around to taking some pics and doing a simple step by step for some basic transportable boards.

@Menelker: Absolutely great board there mate. Beautifully constructed and very versatile too. I wanted to ask if you thought these techniques would work for something like an cities of death urban wasteland, rivers of toxic sludge and what not?

@1-UP: Congrats on have the courage to undertake something as big as this for a first project. I whole-hearted agree with the other posters, you've done an amazing job.

Beautiful board. I tried making my own but royally frakked up some of the calculations. Currently removing the Foam from the MDF Boards so I can try again after fixing...but fixing requires a saw. So it may be a while. Lol.

Will get pics once I've gotten everything fixed.

very well explained mate.
Soon as i can save up the cash, and persuade my father (the harder of the 2 tasks ) to help me construct this beast i'll be cracking on with it asap

if not i can dream...

Thanks!

What you can always do if cash is the hard part is just skip doing the built up part of the boards and just get 3 2'x'4 and do the sand and paint treatment. You can still make all the terrain and at some further point you get the time and money you can make another set of boards that are built up.

Just finish this terrain an it looks almost as epic as yours!

Pics or it didn't happen.

Definitely post pics! I've just about finished my army upgrade and am ready to look at making more terrain. Most of my inspiration comes from what everbody else has come up with!

I will try to get pics but dont expect anything soon my camera has been broken for awile and i am getting a new one, will be as quick as possible

Anyone got some aussie links for the DoW Foam it's hard to aquire from places

Incrediable.

As awesome as it is, I'm not a big fan of the trees. The ashen effect looks great, but I think there should be more color variation in the parts that are supposed to be glowing. Where's the yellow/orange?

Then again, it's all just terrain for one purpose: Giving your guys some cover. B)

It doesn't really show up in the pics but IRL the trees do have orange and yellow and have the same "glowing" effect that the rest of the board has.

Ya, the colors are a little washed out because I used a flash to take the pictures as there was not enough light in the garage.

3 Things I gotta say.

1. It Rocks
2. Water effects(only a bit might make it cooler)
3. I'm making a board like this, but it's gonna be acid themed...

That sounds awesome. The black (or another dark color) will contrast nicely with a bright green. We must have pics once you are done.

Nice tutorial wish I could make one

kravus master of Horus wrote:Nice tutorial wish I could make one

I would recommend to just start off simple. If you don't have room to make some flat boards, maybe just make a few hills and some forest templates to get started and get the feel for making terrain.

I started this board about a week ago and finished the caulking yesterday, that crap is messy I should have made the channels larger, and am about to start the yellow base coat for the lava.
Thanks for the tutorial, it really helped.

A great Tutorial indeed. I will give this a try one day. Thanks for sharing!

Regnak wrote:A great Tutorial indeed. I will give this a try one day. Thanks for sharing!

Look forward to seeing it! And yes, this makes a huge mess.

Well done, thanks for doing all that work, then doing all that work (in addition) to show us, fantastic images, great results, very easy to see how it is done! Thank you!

I'm a terrain builder as well, I did something similar, just didn't put the hills on a board permanently, while it makes a board thats not as scenicly sharp with larger channels making loose hills and painting a ground cloth of lava to put them on with similar techniques also works really great.

Plus it's a bit more portable and collapsable, but not quite as cool looking for finished effect. It can however be recofigured slightly so it's not always the same board. Here's the board I did:

I like the modularity of it and being able to keep the board new and different most of the time. And yours fits nicely into a storage bin. Which mine does not ><

Here are some pics of my attempt, let me know what you all think about it.

That looks great! I like your longer bridges too. I can just imagine tank shocking from both sides along the long bridge and seeing all the little troopers go screaming into the lava!

Imagine all the special rules you could use on these boards!

Looks really good Skelerate! Thank you for posting the pics.

Is the bridge just styrofoam? How well does it hold up with some weight in the middle? I agree, that long bridge makes a really interesting tactical point! I've had plenty of games a SHORT bridge works as a choke point, that long one must be a doozy!

Wow, seriously amazing. I absolutely must make some lava terrain. Do you know if they sell DOW Foam at Home Depo?

Thanks for the compliment. On the bridge, its hard to see but there are 2 abutments under it to support weight, and yes, it is a great choke point, yesterday I used a predator and a rhino to stuff a trygon, 15 ish gaunts and 2 others I cant remember into the lava on turn 3, it turned the game.

well the abutments are invisible in the pic!!!! they were added after!

Very nice. really in depth with details. The tree thing I like. I wanted to make a Daemon world type terrain, that will go nicely with it.

Robed_Chaplain wrote:Wow, seriously amazing. I absolutely must make some lava terrain. Do you know if they sell DOW Foam at Home Depo?

You would have to call them and find out. They might be able to order it. Or if have a contractor building supply place around they might have some too.

It depends on where you live, I had to drive to Arizona to get mine because no stores in cali (that I could find) sell it.

Very nice and easy tutorial for beginners like me I'm going to make this board for my chaos army (sons of horus!) I just bought the foam and the plywood at home depot. I bought this one:
DOW Foam
Is it the right one? It was the only one i could find.
I will begin this week to build the project.
Thanks

Hey there, Warrior-of-Horus.

Welcome to Dakka Dakka!

A word of friendly advice: Don't try to bring back the dead threads, it gets people annoyed.

whooaaoo!!!! cooool!!!!

looks nice anyway relly chaos

That looks like the right stuff. It should be the same color all the way through like the first few pictures here http://www.figurepainters.com/tutorials/trenches/trenches.htm
Good luck with your boards too!

And don't listen to nightwatch, IMO threads that help people out are never dead and there will always be new people looking at them and having questions which I am more than happy to answer

P&M Blogs and Tutorials have a lot more lee-way when it comes to thread necro-ing. I'm always happy to see quality stuff floating to the top.

Just be careful with this particular thread - it's a gateway drug into making lots and lots of additional boards! I used pretty much the same basic techniques to make this board:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/303181.page

Only real differences are I used drywall compound instead of caulk (cheaper and imo easier to work with) and I used a fabric dye to get the mottled color. Other than that, same board, different colors, little experimenting with texture.

This looks beyond amazing. It looks real!

Although, if you were really good, you'd make your own lava from melted rocks.

Nice tutorial, I'll have to try this out when I finish my army up.

@1up: "Just be careful with this particular thread - it's a gateway drug" I got a great laugh out of that as it is totally true...

Lets just say amazing

your boards is so bad ass!! and log you have to it makes it more fun to look at. big thx for this one

Wow that's awesome. When I get to actually building a game board one day I think I'll follow this

double post ftw

Might have to use this technique for my up-and-coming Nid army

I'll have 3 different Nid schemes I think... Who says they can't band together

I approve of this guide, Menelker. I've never created any terrain until this board except for crooked cardboard buildings. Your guide was very helpful and I was able to come up with this:

Looks really good Lt. Coldfire. I really like the blockier looking terrain pieces - they blend the line of natural looking and man-made, perfect for a chaos world or someplace bombed into oblivion.

I think Menelker may have the most influential tutorial on the board based on all the folks who've followed his instructions for terrain. I'm really enjoying seeing how folks have ran with this.

That board looks great Coldfire! I see on your volcano you added more texture so you did not end up with a line around it like me where I glued the two pieces together Have a great time playing on it! Now we just need some pics with it with some minis on it

@1up: That for the props. I guess I need to put together some more tutorials of the stuff I have done.

1-UP wrote:Looks really good Lt. Coldfire. I really like the blockier looking terrain pieces - they blend the line of natural looking and man-made, perfect for a chaos world or someplace bombed into oblivion.

I think Menelker may have the most influential tutorial on the board based on all the folks who've followed his instructions for terrain. I'm really enjoying seeing how folks have ran with this.

Thanks 1-UP. I'm obviously enjoying this thread as well

Menelker wrote:That board looks great Coldfire! I see on your volcano you added more texture so you did not end up with a line around it like me where I glued the two pieces together Have a great time playing on it! Now we just need some pics with it with some minis on it

@1up: That for the props. I guess I need to put together some more tutorials of the stuff I have done.

Thanks. The volcano was actually an epic disaster cause I had three pieces stacked to make it and, since I all I had to work with was a hobby knife, I couldn't cut the pieces to blend into each other to save my life, so I grabbed the silicone caulking to fill in all the gaps lol--took more than half a bottle. Turned out good though. All my chaos models are unpainted and partially primed; I doubt you want to see them spread out on there.

Amazing tutorial Gonna try to make one of those sometime . Thanks a bunch! ^_^

I'm pretty happy with it. I'm going to make some Necron stuff to add some different color to the board.

Thanks a lot for this tutorial

WoW, very nice I like your rock bridges and groupings, they look very cool!

Stuff like this makes me really wish I could get Pink or Blue foam, but that's California for ya.

I live in Cali too. Give this web site a look and call them and they can point you in the right direction. Either for ordering it or a local dealer. http://www.layoutvision.com/id44.html
Hope that helps!

I'm really speechless... Incredible work!

Very nice Saruus. The only problem I see is the Steelers rug. Your bridge is really badass; I might copy that sometime =P (I'm very unoriginal).

I would have to agree too. I really like that bridge. I might have to steal that idea too.

Lt. Coldfire wrote:Very nice Saruus. The only problem I see is the Steelers rug. Your bridge is really badass; I might copy that sometime =P (I'm very unoriginal).

Don't worry, it's not my rug. :p

Are you guys talking about the elevated bridge? I hope it's functional, trying it out tonight for the first time.

I think we are both talking about the elevated bridge. Let us know how it works out for you.

Saruus wrote:
Are you guys talking about the elevated bridge? I hope it's functional, trying it out tonight for the first time.

Yeah, that's the one. Take some pictures of your battle tonight!

The pictures i took weren't in focus very well, I didn't notice until after the battle. It was Necrons vs. Tau and my Necrons couldn't get across the lava fast enough, I'm going to make a few more bridges to help balance things out.

Hey man I just wanted to say thanks for the great tutorial. I made a few progress posts on my blog.

Here's my board so far!

Some how a wooden bridge of a river of lava doesn't seem like the best of idea . Looks cool dude.

Looks good, you'll definitely need some more bridges though.

It looks good and I'm by no means a lava expert, but there is an awful lot of black in the lava for the flowing appearance that it is shaped in. That's just a minor thing though and I very well may be wrong, it looks good regardless.

Saruus wrote:Looks good, you'll definitely need some more bridges though.

It looks good and I'm by no means a lava expert, but there is an awful lot of black in the lava for the flowing appearance that it is shaped in. That's just a minor thing though and I very well may be wrong, it looks good regardless.

I agree that there's too much black in it. I was looking through some lava pictures and I think I'll change it a little.

The wooden bridge is "use at your own risk" lol

Very cool! I kinda like the "whipped" up look of the lava, it gives it a nice texture. You did a very nice job too on your blog and look forward to seeing it with all the goodies and stuff on it! I have some more ideas for fun stuff for my board. I just have to get around to it. I was thinking about doing some pieces with exploding lava coming out of them. The picture I attached would be something cool to do maybe as a movable piece. This picture is not mine, I had found it somewhere browsing around the web.

very cool

Menelker wrote:Very cool! I kinda like the "whipped" up look of the lava, it gives it a nice texture. You did a very nice job too on your blog and look forward to seeing it with all the goodies and stuff on it! I have some more ideas for fun stuff for my board. I just have to get around to it. I was thinking about doing some pieces with exploding lava coming out of them. The picture I attached would be something cool to do maybe as a movable piece. This picture is not mine, I had found it somewhere browsing around the web.

Thanks man.

Yeah that's exactly what I had in mind. I'm thinking of making a chaos shrine or portal for Planet Strike.

Very cool board, chief. Like Saruus said, you're going to want a lot of bridges though =P. I played on mine with 10 bridges and even that hardly seemed like enough! I think your lava looks fine, by the way.

Lt. Coldfire wrote:Very cool board, chief. Like Saruus said, you're going to want a lot of bridges though =P. I played on mine with 10 bridges and even that hardly seemed like enough! I think your lava looks fine, by the way.

Thanks man.

I have five bridges to paint from scrap foam and I think I'll make more like you said. Playing my Daemon's army on this board will be interesting lol.

My minis bases are a volconic plain type but now i definetely want tobuild the board now to. Cheers

I think it would be VERY cool to see a lava themed based army on a board like this too!

Menelker wrote:I think it would be VERY cool to see a lava themed based army on a board like this too!

I'm working on it. Gonna take pics when it's good to go

Nice work, lol the bottoms of the trees are swasticas (sp)

I took your advise and repainted it a bit. I added in red to the mix and I think it came out a little better.

Nice. Yes that does look better

Yeah that looks way cool. What kind of red did you use?

I started making some large basalt columns for my board with cracks of lava showing through and one exploding at the top. Hopefully this weekend I will get them finished and make a quick tutorial on them too.

Starting to build my own board would like to try this on maybe two section or one large section haven't decided if i wanna have three panels. But maybe with toxic lakes and pools all those manufactorums gotta make a mess some where hahaha.

Sounds very cool. Just a word of warning though on the water. If you are using resin make sure to coat the board with like 5 layers of paint and seal it. Even them make sure that you have the resin curing fast. It will eat through the foam board quite quickly if it gets in contact with it. I had that happen to my water boards and some other people have had the same experience.

madd props

Here are some more pics of the lava board with the new obelisks and trees on it. I took pics of the obelisks and will get a tutorial of it together soon to add to this.

I also had a request for my water boards. You can see where the resin ate away at the foam because it did not cure fast enough.

Dang, what the heck! Those obelisks are awesome! I will definitely make some of those once you get the tutorial out. Nice water board as well... way better than mine lol. Lava board looks pretty epic.

Wow, those obelisks are fantastic! The exploding one is a real eye-catcher. Would definitely appreciate the steps on those when you get the chance.

I keep thinking I want to try resin, but then I price it out and just can't see myself doing a board in it. Testors high-gloss seems to give the desired effect at a fraction of the cost.

I think I could actually hide a valkyrie behind that exploding obelisk.

Want to play my IG?

wow there is some really beautifull work on show here great way of painting lava, and the trees are fantastic! 10/10

fantastic tutorial and great work!

this tutorial is amazing! if I made any board I would make it using this guide. I would really like to make a board but I'm not sure how I'll get the room or the equipment easily.

ya, unfortunately it does take a decent amount of room. Though a tarp and a living room works pretty well if you don't have a garage. I made the water boards in an apartment and managed to get resin all over the carpet...Good thing I had not paid a security deposit..

cool, that might work well, the thing is I'm in a house but the garage is full, two cars parked in it, hopefully the equipment won't cost too much, I'm in australia and things tend to be overriced compared to america.

WOW!!! It Looks like it's really glowing!

One word. WOW!

I think i love you

Awesome stuff!


Has anyone ever come up with experimental rules for terrain like this? Terrain and environmental dangers and what not?

I have played with warmachine, and I expect it would work with 40k too. With the various volcanoes on the board the spit out templates on a die role every turn. The little ones can should out small and the the big ones large templates. In warmachine everyone takes a fire hit. For 40k it could be like a str6 ap 5 hit. It really depends on how brutal you want it. When they explode the templates land 4-5 d6 away in a random direction.

And I have the pictures for the tutorial for the lava spires, I just have to type it up....

PURE AWESOME, IT LOOKS REAL!!!

BTW, does anybody know, where can you get the insulation boards in southern-central Europe? I can't find it anywhere, not even online (in my vicinity)

AMAZING! Pure awesomeness!

Probably one of the best tutorials i've ever read. I will have to give this one a try.

I can't believe how amazing this looks. Absolutely fantastic tutorial and really inspiring!!

Might have a go myself.

This is brilliant, very thoroughly presented tutorial! I would like to try a similar process but maybe go for more of an ice-world result.

liking the trees

Thanks. Great tutorial. You make it seem very easy and explained things very well.

Thanks!

Very Cool

Hi again,
sry that I have not responded to your post Menelker after I asked you for the foam. I finished my Lava Board a half year ago and may find some time to post some pictures (maybe also with my CSM on it). I haven't thought that anybody would respond to this threat and so I haven't looked some time. I hope I am not disturbing anybody also if nobody wrote on this threat since 3 months.
I like the obelisks a lot and may build some of them for my terrain.
Now for the experimental rules:
After playing Wh40k on the board with some of friends, we decided to do a dangerous test for every figure that is within 3" of the lava. We also decided that the volcano spits 4 clumps of hot lava after every round. The clumps were represented by the small blast template (Scatter dice and four D6) with Strength 3 AP 5 hits.
I also really like the River board and would love to see a tutorial from you.
Thanks,
Warrior-of-Horus

Awesome!

AMAZING!!!

Hi again

So here are some pictures of my board (first of all without any minis):








Look at at my gallery for some more pictures!
Maybe I will find some time to post the board with some minis on there
Thanks,
Warrior-of-Horus

Very impressive work
You are just making me want to give it a shot myself more and more

@Warrior-of-Horus: I friggin' love your technique on the lava, awesome stuff

Looking nice Warrior-of-Horus! It is nice to see other peoples boards. I still have all the pictures for the tutorial on the obelisks sitter here too to do! ><

Thx I hope you will soon post a tutorial for the obelisks and maybe one for the river board?
Your tutorial helped a lot for building my board. I may also build some trees for it

That looks awesome; it's something a friend and I always wanted to do but could never figure out quite how. Our problems are solved!

So much coolness!

Very well done, wish i could play on something like this.

This is amazing, I hope you don't mind if I use it

I love that tutorial, very easy to follow and i hope i can make a board as fantastic as yours!

Wow, thats simply amazing, my gaming club has one, but not nearly as many details as this one.. what a project.. good job, two thumbs up!

This is incredible, just wish I had the space to do this, I'd love such an amazing board.

Tzarkahn wrote:This is incredible, just wish I had the space to do this, I'd love such an amazing board.

Thanks! Well the nice thing about making terrain is you can do it out side or even in a parking lot if needed. It is not as convenient but can be done. I made those water boards when I lived in a tiny apartment in the parking space out front.

Suddenly I feel warm...


I love this!

I found a good terrain-changeable playing table,

when I eventually get around to it, the lava surfaces will be from THIS tutorial...

phenomenal work dude, rockin'

Well done! Amazing board.

Thanks!

I keep meaning to get together the tutorial on the pillars and exploding pillars. Need to put that on my to-do list so I don't keep forgetting (avoiding) it

Awesome, have to give this a try. Going to base DE with lava to match board- anyone know any good tutorials for this?

Very nice good inspiration

Awesome!

I know what I'm doing for my gaming board

Looks just like how I imagined my marine's home planet. AWESOME JOB!

Awesome.

To create a more "natural" feel to the board I propose this: (bearing in mind i have only read first page of posts )

Go to a very well ventilated area, grab suitable flamer unit (My preference is deodorant+lighter, but this is too dangerous for some people) and flame the foam in various places. foam melts very quickly, and releases a lot of fumes when it does (personal experience) so be careful when doing this, dont want any deaths on my conscience

Man those trees are an epic piece to add to any board that's seen a little fire they will come in handy

HOLY CRAP THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!!

What an amazing tutorial, and a very creative process you made up. Thanks for sharing!

Awesome board. Quick question: How thick is the board?

This is a great board. Thanks for the tutorial!

This is an awesome tutorial. Subscribing for later use, going to do one of these someday!

I too have only read the first page, but am subscribing for future lava building! Great effect.

Wow...just WOW.

Best. Tutorial. Ever.


EDIT: Oh, gak. I helped necro this thread. Sorry.