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Hey all,

I am planning on making my own gaming board rather than forking out for GWs one. The problem is, I don't know much about wood. What type of wood would be best and at what thickness? I will mainly be using it on the floor or on top of a dining room table.

Cheers

Not something I can give advice on as I've not built my own yet
But its something I am planning. MDF sheets with a bracing on the underside to avoid warping should do the trick I would expect.
Maybe 9mm thick? or even 6mm? anyone who's made one already might have a good amount of input on what thickness will be best.

It depends...

The simplest way is just to pickup a sheet of 3/4" AC plywood from a home store and have them trim it to size for you. They might sell it by mm thickness over there, so figure 20-22mm thick. It is study enough to support things over the edge of the dining table, has better sheer strength than MDF and isnt too heavy to move around.

The AC grade has one side that is smooth and the other less smooth, but it is dirt cheap ($25 or so here in the US for a 4x8 sheet from a store like Lowes). Many places will do simple cut, like trim it down to 4x6 for a small fee.

Next would be doing a skin and batten type board. For those, you use something like 1/4 or so plywood or Hardboard (sometimes called masonite...not MDF though). Again, cut to size. The 1/4 inch thickness isnt strong enough on its own, so you will attach a frame of 1x2 stock to the backside (glued and screwed...or nailed I guess). This is lighter, but a bit more complicated to make.

Finally, you can make something that is modular. As opposed to having one big panel that you need to store, you make 3 or more small panels and connect them when in use. If you are careful, you can simply lay them next to each other, but I prefer to use a draw catch like these:

http://www.leevalley.com/US/Hardware/page.aspx?p=43997&cat=3,41399,41406&ap=1

Attach them to the edge and they pull the two panels together. They a strong enough to hold them tight during normal play, then when you are done, just open them up and you can more easily store the panels.

Some people like to use MDF or particle board for the panels, but I dont. It is cheaper by a bit, but not as strong as plywood and a good bit heavier. In terms of specific types of plywood, most your hardwood plywoods are a bit excessive (birch, oak, maple...). Since we generally coat them in a paint to represent some sort of base board (blue to use for water, grey for asphalt, black for space...) and often add texture or a grass matt as well, regular Exterior grade AC or cabinet grade AB plywood is fine.

For the wood battens, Ill tend to use soft woods if it will be a single panel or an inexpensive hardwood (poplar or aspen here) if I am mounting those clasps to it for a bit of added pullout resistance on the screws.

You can get even fancier using hinges and what not, but if you are asking about wood...lets just keep it simple for now.

6mm sounds about right if it's staying in one place.
Note that whatever thickness you use (even 3mm hardboard) it's going to weigh a lot.
You probably want to use 38x38mm battens, 38x25 min.

I am currently using 2 wallpaper paste tables from B&Q.
The build quality isn't amazing but they were only £16 each -
http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/wallpaper-wall-stickers/wallpaper-tools-accessories/decorating_tables/B-and-Q-Paste-Table-10549053

Also consider the potential benefits of lamination. 1/4" ply/MDF/HDF is reasonably resilient, but has too much flex. Extruded styrene insulation boards are light, stiff, and can be sculpted and carved, but are prone to wear at the edges and will snap when stressed, instead of bending. Glue the two together, though, and their individual weaknesses are largely mitigated.

With the hard bases being so thin, battens might still be necessary if you want to mechanically lock a modular board together (nowhere to mount hardware like Sean_OBrien's, as foam would tear out, but cutouts underneath for H-shaped staples are a possible, if finicky, option), but it can be a good way to save on weight and allow for more surface variation, if you don't plan to abuse the board(s), overmuch.

Had forgotten to mention that. We had used foam in the areas between the battens (then another skin). 3/4 inch foam with 1x2 battens nice and solid.

I went for some solid stuff.

4cm x 4cm beams to reinforce 1.8cm thick plywood.

Sturdy as all hell, didn't bend or warp at all. But it takes up a lot of space and is hard to move around (luckily I don't end up moving it around too much.

MDF can warp a bit though if you use too much PVA glue on it. Plywood can as well, but not as badly.