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Hi all,

So, I started thinking about making some terrain boards. I decided that they would be 2ft X 2ft modular boards so that they are easier to store and also you get more variation.

I started sketching up some ideas on my computer. These are the first two modules I came up with...



I started off with something fairly simple, just a road with some broken walls and a hill with some space to fight. The blue peg things are supposed to represent human sized figures and the blue rhomboid (damn that's a cool word) is 'roughly' the size and shape of a Land-raider.

Next I added a Tee junction for the road, some more ruined buildings and some cratered earth blocking a second road. I wanted to make sure there was a way to 'cap off' the end of a road, hence the cratered part.



I like the tight 'city fight' alleys around the ruined buildings, but more on that later...

As you can see the roads are not centered on each board. The center line of the road is actually 6 inches away from the edge of the board. This can cause a problem as just flipping the board 180 degrees will mean that the roads no longer line up, so I wanted a way to swap edges.
Rather than just 'zig-zag' the road across the board i wanted to do something a little more interesting and also add another point of interest to the board. Voila ! the ruined Manor- House.

To counter this complex board I added a plain board that can be slotted anywhere. When I eventually come to start building these boards this will probably be my starting point as its obviously the simplest and will give me a chance to experiment with surface treatments until i have the finish I am looking for.



Next I wanted to add a broad sweeping corner to the road. I also wanted a Gulch or Gully area with a bridge. Here i dug down into the baseboard to get the depression to place the bridge across. I added the pipes running across too, they are wide enough and flat topped for infantry to cross single file. I kept the gulch within the confines of a single board to cut down the complexity and increase the modularity.



So There you have all eight boards that i have designed so far. I have LOADS of ideas for more so I will probably create them as sketches and add them to this thread. I want to add more urban style boards with dense buildings, I have ideas for a large canyon that will probably take 2 boards to pull off.

Here is a view of the boards from the crater / village end.



and another from the Gulch end.



I wanted to test the boards for modularity and variety so i took the boards and swapped them about...



Lastly I will leave you with a closer look at the manor house board. Front...



...and rear.



Im planning on making the boards by starting with a sheet of plywood with a sheet of 1 - 1.5 think styro-foam on top. the hills will be more layers of styro-foam sheet.

I was in two minds about whether to go for a desert or snowy environment, but I think Ive settled on desert.

Anyway, that's where I am right now, Ive spent an afternoon planning and sketching some boards, the next step is to start collecting materials for the real thing.

Any comments, ideas, or advice would be very welcome.

Thanks for reading,

Stubby.

Well, your table and terrain needs a little variation, in my opinion. From a terrain building standpoint, making all those red x's would be a terrible bore after awhile. From a gamplay standpoint, that would be a VERY uneventful game. Very bland...



Ghidorah

You cant see the images ?

Yeah can't see the images, post them directly into the Dakka gallery.

Ok doing that now. I'm new here, can you tell ?

:Edit: done, did it work ?

Wow thats some sweet computer rendering, I love it. And your ideas are great too.

Very nice. You drew that design up with 3dsmax?

Yup, its what i do all day at work, so for me its the quickest way to sketch things out and get my ideas down. Took me an afternoon to come up with this lot from start to finish.

Ply wood maybe if it is thin like 1/8" or masonite works too

Looks very nice.

1) I would not make the buildings part of the boards. First, it reduces the flexibility of the system. Second, it makes it harder to store, since they stick up way above the rest of the board.

2) I've had some very good luck with MDF board for roads + Rustoleum textured paint. I'm not sure if I would make them part of the board or not either, that seems more like a personal call. I haven't had many issues with 6"x12" sections moving around on my city fight setup, so you might be better off not attaching them.

3) I also don't think that you gain much by putting above ground terrain onto the board. (Hills, craters, etc.) You'll gain a ton of flexibility by keeping it seperate.

4) I've seen people do very cool modular pieces by keeping a couple of the connecting points standard. Say you want to put in a hill on the edge. If you want to keep it standard say that all hill edges need to come 6" or 12" down a board side. By using standard 1/2" or 1" insulation foam, you're guaranteed that it will match up.

5) I've seen some people do very well by providing a 4x6 or 4x8 table with the plywood, and adding a raised lip to keep the foam in place. 1" foam is basically self supporting, so I use it by itself on my table at home.

LIke Biftoof said, dont glue your high terrain piece to the board, they are likely to break after a while.

Beside, your design is great! Go for it

Awesome looking plans.

Get started and show us the real stuff!

IMO, 2'x4' boards may be better - you can do "larger" themes and areas, without forcing everything to look like it's on a neat little checkerboard.

Anyhow, something to think about...

Wish I had the know how and programs to do this kind of stuff. Awesome work.

I really like the ideas of using roads that much, it's a great thing.

Suggestion= Roads are cheap if you can get your hands on one of those magnetic car racer sets.

Hi again.

Now, I don't have a car so rather than try and take a 6ft x 4ft sheet of plywood on the bus, I'm waiting till I can get a friend to drive me to the hardware store.

So for now I thought I'd start of with something small as a test.

Ive started building one of the wall pieces for the board. I will probably put this one on its own base so I can a) move it around on the board, and b) test out the ground materials I want to use for the board proper.





as usual Critique and Advice very welcome.

That's a really great....ehm... wall.

How exactly did you make the wall section? What Materials? I might just use some of your ideas on my board.

What did you use for the mockup? What 3d modelling program, I mean? It looks fantastic! Great work!

Wow, some serious thread-omancy here

The wall section is just foamcore. The tiles on top are squares of card.

I used 3ds-Max to make the mock-ups.

While you're here, did you ever finish the board?

Looking good, awesome 3d work.

The roads should be kept seperate too, I think...

StubbyGB wrote:

Wow, some serious thread-omancy here

The wall section is just foamcore. The tiles on top are squares of card.

I was looking for ideas so I typed in Terrain and found your thread. I knew you were active so I took a chance.

Where did you get the Foamcore? Is that like the pink foam material they use in construction or what?