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I just had an interesting idea for a desert styled game board. you could make a few pieces of terrain like buildings and stuff like that but intead of using a flat table you could build a sandbox. and you could make rules for when the sand accidentally shifts and stuff like that. What do you guys think?

That sounds interesting but it would be a little difficult to pull off and they would never have a board like that in a store but for home games why not? The only problem would be making the models stand up in the sand and not sink down, especially the metal ones.

And sand could chip models paint as well if not varnished

sounds like there is a great possibility that the sand could hurt the minis paintjobs... personally it sounds at first glance like a grand idea but when i think of all the hours of painting i would not try out that table...ruleswise and gameoptionwise this would be quite a challenge but...

I don't think it would easily mess up the paint. If you put them in a sand blaster or you were rubbing them with sand then it would. just sitting on top of the sand I don't think would mess the paint up. And if you were really concerned about it you could give your minis a clear coat finish.

It would make hills a little easier as you could dig the model's bases into the sand to make they stand on the slope.

The paint job issue wouldn't be a problem. Just falling over would actually provide a very soft landing and wouldn't do much at all. Of course you would want very clean sand and there is the issue with models potentially going missing or vehicles getting sand inside.



I may just have to steal this idea. The board will have to be an inside one. Outside it would collect dirt and possably little presents from fluffy.

Yeah and you would have a hard time keeping any neighbor kids out. If you do this post up some pictures I would love to see it come to life.

Sand can get everywhere, which is a problem. However, at conventions I've played games on tables where after putting down the table, terrain, and so on, they covered parts of the board in sand. Just make sure the sand is CLEAN. Beach sand is full of bacteria and all sorts of little critters you don't want scurrying about. Bleach it, bake it, whatever you gotta do to clean it.

Buy fine sandbox sand and wash it throughly before putting it in your board, and also wash it from time to time afterwards(you can wash it in 5 gallen buckets in small amounts at a time. and let it dry in the sun)



This is a really good idea. i have considered making a "Living battleground" before, using moss to be the grass and have real hills. the issue is that it wouldn't be at all portable and it would require watering.

Buy some builder's sand. It's fine, clean, and you get a 20-40 kilo bag for cheaper than if you were to buy 'proper' modeling sand. And it's better imo.
I was thinking of something like this myself, but I don't have anywhere to put it. Maybe build a sand table with the ability to drain it easily, and make sure you can take the edges off so if you want a non-sand table you're not messing up your models' eye view.

Yes, I have done this.

Back in the early 90s (pre-2nd ed).

We had an 'L' shaped sand table, that was 8' long and 6' on the bottom of the 'L' but the average width was 4'.

We'd carve out the terrain prior to gaming and level it off again afterwards.

It's rather harsh on models though (as the sand WILL rub paint off.).