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hi all,

Been doing some reading, and I keep seeing people mention display boards for tournaments. is this a required thing, or is it just one of those extra's that you can do?

It's usually just an extra you can do, and if there's a score for 'best looking army' then it might help out there.

However, some sort of tray is incredibly useful at a tourney, so that you don't have to pack your army back in it's case after every game. I tend to just get a sheet of wood, and paint it the same color as the basing on my army - instant tray/rubbish display board!!

They make moving your army around the tables a hell of a lot easier.

Indeed. Sculpted terrain gives the army a unified look when it's sitting there to be judged, and it's more portable between games that way. If you're a complete klutz like me, you can put magnets in your mini's bases and sheet metal or washers in the display board.

Heck.. at our last event... someone was carting his army around on a red cafeteria tray .. just for ease of table-swapping. His army was NOT based in red plastic.. (although that would have been interesting)

-Porkuslime

I went one step further and made my display board game functional. It has removable craters for when my vehicles get blown up.

I did a very simple one recently for a team tourney.
I took a 2'x2' piece of plywood(sold in squares that size at most big box home supply stores), cut it in half and screwed small hinges onto the back. Also, you'll want thick rubber or felt discs for the corners so the hinge isn't the lowest point. Then, I got another thinner piece of pressed board and cut it off center, glueing each half on top- the result is a foldable board that will only fold in one direction. Unfolded, it can be carried around with an army on top and folded, it fits nicely into a pillow case. I also did removable foam section to sit on top for my teammate's army.

In the process of making one myself. I've glued washers on the bases of all my wobbly plastic 'nids as the extra weight helps prevent "wobbly model syndrome".

I'm in the process of implanting a grid of magnets in the display board. My terrain is also magnetized lol.

In the end, I'm hoping I can put the board with army and terrain right in the trunk for local tournaments and the magnets should keep everything in place. If it works, I won't need figure cases or backpacks, just my board and my pockets.

As noted, a display board or tray of some kind to hold your army is incredibly practical and helpful any time you’re expecting to play more than one game in a day, and change tables between. I regularly use one at my local gaming store, and of course every time I attend any kind of tournament.

Anyone attending an actual tournament, where they usually have at least three games in a day, should not be wasting time by packing and unpacking their army between rounds. It’s just dumb. I didn’t have one for my first Grand Tournament, nine years ago, and I spent the weekend embarrassed, rushing, and late for games. Nowadays I usually bring 4-5 of the things to every tournament I go to, and lend them out when I can, to save us all time.

The point about looking nice (and occasionally being worth an extra point or two itself on your appearance score; in some scoring systems) is honestly secondary. You could be legally blind, playing in a candlelit room and have painted your whole army with a spraycan, and it’d still be a really good idea to have a display board.

I made a few that were magnetic. Here's a thread describing them. I messed up my photobucket account a few months back, but if you look through the thread, there are some videos.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/263460.page

I'm one of InquisitorMack's customers, and have been very pleased with the magnetic boards he made for me . I actually store my army in it, so I'm using it for transport and storage!

The only drawback to mine were that I got him to add all the bells and whistles, and darn if those things aren't heavy! But I need to get in shape anyway

I'm starting on a second army so the other one will finally be getting some use, too! At the few tourneys I've gone to, the TO gave me a point for display board because of how cool they looked, even though it's a metal sheet and not flocked/based etc. It just looks that good

/plug off ... but these things are really great!!

When I go to a tournament I use a wooden serving tray that I picked up at Target for $10 to carry my army during the event.. Works like a charm for me and nice and cheap too.

A tray is an absolute must for me. I just recently built myself one for use at the Boston Brawl a while back. It's just a frame made of poplar, with a harboard backer that I glued sand to, and applied a carved, painted chapter symbol in the center of:



It's not actually done yet. I'm planning to apply static grass around some of the area, and all of the bald spots around the symbol int he middle ot breakup the sea of brown.

Only cost me about $15 to make, and maybe a day's worth of work (including waiting for paint to dry).

I find even having a basic tray to move models from table to table really helps a LOT. After each game I can reset my squads, and move to the next table quickly, instead of stuffing everything back in a case, and pulling it all back out again.