Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

At the moment im making a game table, its a snow battle field. what i didnt realise is, is how hard it is to make one.

the materials i used:
sand
adhessive spray( its bad, dont use it )
watered down pva glue(i tried it secondly)
and white spray paint(snow effect)

the probelem with using the spray is 90% percent of the sand doesnt stick, the wartered down pva glue helps, but you have to do several layers.

i just wanna know about any of you guys tables and how you built them(if you have one)

I tend to go down the textured paint route. Durable and fast.
Build areas of heavy texture with sand/gravel/pva/artex/whatever and leave overnight.
Mix emulsion paint, pva/wood glue and sand.
Roller it onto board.
Overbrush/drybrush a few grades of highlights with a roller.
Stain for variation between highlights with watered down artists acrylics.
Remember to do your hills at the same time!!!

My usual method is paint, glue, flock, more glue (thinned down with a drop of dishwashing liquid to break the surface tension), more flock if needed (bare spots), followed by the top coat of glue/water/detergent and after it dries, seal with polyurethane varnish.

Takes up to two weeks to do a 6x4 this way. Lasts for decades.

My boards are always flat. My terrain is designed to be movable anywhere on it. That way, I don't have to have a big hill in the centre, or play in a valley with hills either side. The terrain goes into storage tubs (those 50l roll away things) and the boards stack up.

What about mixing the sand with the glue rather than putting it on the glue itself? That way there is no sand left that does not stick to the board. You can still put the sand over the top while it's drying if you want to add that type of texture, but for snow probably not.

I've tried that, but then it's just easier to use textured paint.

The sand/flock and glue layers give a more textured and non-uniform surface (it's still flat, but not bowling ball flat).

Much of a muchness. This was how I was shown how to do it, and how those in my gaming circles do it. YMMV.

I havnt covered mine yet BUT I helped a buddy build a really nice table in his basement. The PVE glue is really the way to go. Pray it down a few times until the sand seems to stick. Then in a less watered down pva glue, use a paint brush for houses and such. Then just go crazy. PVA(elmers is what we used) dries clear. That doesnt matter because your going to paint it obviously. So the glue mixed with paint makes that stuff stick pretty much forever. I played on that table for about a year until I left the group, and it never really had problems

I generally want a little texture, but not too much. I'll prime the surface first, with house-paint primer (roll it on, like painting a wall), and then mix some sand into more acrylic house paint (flat, non-gloss), and paint that on with a big brush. You get plenty of texture, the sand stays on, and it isn't too much that the minis have trouble standing on it during games.

I put the construction of my current table into an article: http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Desert%20Table%20in%20a%20Week There are pictures of the painting process (as well as the rest of it).

if ure not straped for cash you can buy some perma frost as long as you don't mind the odd bloody caveman chunk

I have only limited space, so I made my table modular. It's stored most of the time and I bring it out when my son and I play. Instead of textureing a giant board, I use different colors of felt to represent different terrains. Green for grass,forest or jungle, white for snow, tan for desert. I might airbrush a lil texture on them someday, or not. I made different terrain pieces to go with each one; desert hills and dunes, stands of trees for forests or jungles, as well as a few buildings that work well on any configureation. The nice thing is that I am not limited to one, fixed design or theme, and it was far easier to create the small terrain pieces than to do an entire table in texture and color; plus the table board stays in the garage most of the time, while the terrain is stored in a closet. We put it on our dining room table when we play, then pack it away when finished. I have a friend that did a similiar design, except he used 2ft X 2ft squares of mdf and textured them individualy. He has a desert set up and is working on a city set up. It is modular, and each set has 6 pieces that can be configured differently. He dosn't however have a table large enough to hold all the 2ft square tiles, so he plays on the floor. His modular approach is a nice idea, and is handy for storage, though.

Is there any reason not to use a paint/sand mixture as your basecoat, then flock on top? Seems like you'd get the best of both worlds - uniform coating underneath just in case you get thin spots, but a "texture" that's not completely flat for variety.

I can tell ya from experience, that flock isnt the best of materials to use on a table. At least not if you want it to last. Flock, just falls apart and succumbs to abuse rather quickly.


Red beard, that was a really nice tutorial on table building, and the terrain gave me a few ideas too. Thanks for posting that one

I use wood glue and apply it to the board, use a good ammount of glue(you dont want it to dry while your sanding) and then pour all my sand over the board and let it set overnight. When you get to it the next day flip the table up and dump the excess sand tapping the board on the back(to knock loose sand away) then i use a watered down base color(for ice i would use light blue) and dry brush it up, flocking where needed. If the board doesnt have exposed foam you can spray paint it your base color and save some time.
Always wash your brushes with soap and water afterwards.

KingCracker wrote:I can tell ya from experience, that flock isnt the best of materials to use on a table. At least not if you want it to last. Flock, just falls apart and succumbs to abuse rather quickly.


Red beard, that was a really nice tutorial on table building, and the terrain gave me a few ideas too. Thanks for posting that one

Well, on a giant static table it wouldn't be too bad - such is life. But on a modular one that gets transported a lot (RoB)... yeah, I have to vacuum/sweep after every game.

I made a bucket of sand/glue slop. It dried fine, didnt shrink hugley, and nothin fell off. Ever.