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So I've finally decided to work on my RoBb this winter so my son will stop pestering me and we have a place to play without having to trudge down to the LGS.

As the thing cost a pretty penny to purchase, I want to do it right. Currently I am working on a base coat of paint and some detail work, but eventually each board will be flocked. I have multiple systems to play (40K, fant, warmahordes, FoW, Infinity) and want a basic generic field that wouldn't seem out of place with any particular set of models on it.

To that end, I'm going to flock the entirety in static grass. I've seen a couple "how to's" and one table at a con done in this fashion. It looks nice and seems to hold up decently as long as it is applied correctly.

Problem is I have never applied grass to this large of an area before and am a little lost as to quantity needed. I"m planning on using the Woodland Scenics products in the large shaker with multiple colors and blends to try and pull a natural look, but no real idea how much sq. footage one of those shakers will cover. Gut tells me "three" will be enough, but I'm fishing for experiences out there is there are any. I don't mind having extra but also am not made of money and don't want to run out half way through.

Also looking for possible experiences with Pegasus Hobbies terrain. The gothic temple look seems like it wouldn't seem too far out of place on a green based table and give decent usage for 40K and warmahordes. Does anyone have any experiences with the product or using it for an Infinity setting? It seems the downfall with Infinity at my local play group is the terrain density and the cost of useful Infinity terrain. If need be, I'll pull some scratch build plans and some foamcore and do my own.

Thankfully I think I have him convinced that if I leave -some- of the skulls on the board, I can turn the skull pits into swamps rather than having insanely weird skull geology going on.

No clue about the static grass coverage, unfortunately. Although, since you want to use multiple colors, anyway, buying a shaker each of several colors doesn't count as "waste," even if you only use half. I'd say get as much as your budget allows.

I'd also recommend actually electrostatically applying it. The "dump on, turn upside down, and tap" method isn't a terrible option, but the weight of the fibers just isn't enough to overcome the surface tension of the glue - if they landed sideways, they're staying that way. I just don't think it looks nearly as good as grass that really stands. Fancy applicators marketed to serious model railroaders cost a pretty penny, but you can rig something up yourself for very little. Roughly following a tutorial I found online, I knocked together a surprisingly effective applicator out of an electric fly swatter from HF (the yellow tennis racquet job that's perpetually on sale), an old wire mesh tea strainer, some wire offcuts, a straight pin, and an alligator clip. Cost me all of $3, since I had batteries and the various scraps already laying around. Starting from scratch, the whole lot would likely run you less than $15, even if your swatter uses pricier D-cells, like mine did.

As for the Pegasus kits, I think they're a good value and would definitely serve you well for most of the games. The modularity is nice if you want to keep changing up your layouts, but they're a little plain if left as simple chunks of wall. The smooth tops and pegs for stacking sort of kill the suspension of disbelief, as well. All of the more impressive buildings that use them require permanent assembly to allow the degree of dressing up that really makes them shine. If you're willing to do that, by all means grab a box or two.

Part of the issue with setting up tables for Infinity is that terrain designed for the more popular games is frequently too open to be much use in a TLoS skirmish game dominated by shooting (and with weapon ranges that frequently span the table, no less). The Gothic City range isn't quite the swiss cheese that many of the ubiquitous 40k corner ruins are, but there are quite a few windows. That can make for great, cinematic gameplay... or you might get so tired of models being able to effectively ignore the walls that you house rule the thing as an impassable, LoS-blocking brick. The kits certainly do allow for some nice inside spaces, though, which many of the scratchbuilt buildings I see lack, for the sake of ease of construction. Splitting inside and outside space adds a whole new dimension to gameplay, instead of 'simply' navigating a maze of variously sized bricks.

My realm of battle board was done with the generic field theme, and the grass provided in the Citadel scenery kit was enough. In fact I have a lot of that stuff left over that I'm using for bases now. It just depends on how thick you want to lay it on. I applied flock with a shaker and covered it pretty nicely, then the static grass was applied liberally. Shake off the excess and you'll see just how much you actually have. I think three shakers is going to be overkill, but it won't go to waste as you continue in the hobby, that's for sure. A little tip for when you're doing the realm board - give each board a good wipe down with a damp cloth before applying paint, the manufacturing process seems to leave a faint layer of oil or something on the surface which causes the initial coat of paint to separate and pool in certain spots. Wiping it down first will remove this film. Also, when you go to flock the inclines on the board, where the hills begin, do a little bit more flock/static grass than usual there - this will ensure models grip those inclines nicely and don't slide down during play.

As for the Pegasus kits, I actually own all of their sci-fi kits except the power plant one. I didn't grab the gothic temple because quite frankly I already had a ton of Amera plastics buildings and they're much larger than Pegasus'. My only gripe with the Pegasus kits is that they have a zillion pieces in them - not a bad thing depending on how you look at it, but they've got good detail and they're modular, you can configure them in a lot of different ways provided that you don't glue critical points of the sets. This modular design should go a long way to providing you with plenty of Infinity scenery, since you can turn one large kit into several small points of interest or two medium ones, etc.

Good luck.

I've been batting around the idea of buying one for some time but I've always hesitated becuase if the price but mostly from the board itself. We have a few at the local shop but none of them are textured or painted so the store owner can sell them if someone wants to buy one. The detail is nice, I could do without the skull pits. My biggest problem with the thing is dice tend to want to slid rather than roll.

Does texturing fix this problem or does it still happen?
Do you texture with a little bit if balast as well?

The bare board is smooth plastic, and dice are the same, so they slide. The finished board is textured (assuming you apply texture, of course!), so the dice have something to grip and spin around.

You can theoretically texture the boards to whatever extremity you wanted. You can mix a bunch of sand/rocks into the diluted glue and apply it - this would work nicely imo.

While not the most practical surface for 40k, it certainly looks the best once properly painted and flocked. At least until the Secret Weapon boards come out.

Thanks for all the advice. I agree on the statement that it isn't the most practical of surfaces, but I sort of fell into possession of it and its easier to store than a large 4x6 board.

Just realized that thewarstore will be having its black friday sale next week, so I'm going to hold off a bit and hopefully score somethign useful there.

I own one that is flocked and dice roll fine on it. I do not like the mountain features though, they're a bit too prominent

i hate those things. back when i was in korea i played on one - that thing's slants drove me nuts. if youre willing to spend a mess of time to make the price of them worth it, i'd buy some foamcore/blue house insulation and just build your own terrain.

My FoW terrain is all scratch built. Fields, hills, roads, river, bridge, trees, hedges...all of it.

Like I said I sort of fell into this battleboard. Store got one from GW, gave it to me with the idea of doing this to it as I was the one that built the majority of their terrain. Store fails to get me supplies to complete table. Store goes out of business. I have table.

shouldn't the table still go back to the owners though?

Check out eq2templar on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdM_0bK-cBg

and video 19 also goes into some good topics, Ive followed this Tutorial, and love my board. He has some really great tips.

Good Luck

Anybody else noticed the 2x2 squares of insulation Home Depot carries now? What an excellent coincidence.

Hey Shotgun,

If you're going to flock the whole board, I might suggest going to a model train store to get your flocking and scenery materials for alot cheaper than games stores. The best stuff is made by Woodland Scenics and I *think* Caboose Hobbies in Denver is having a few sales this week and next.

http://www.caboosehobbies.com/catalog/index_brief.php

I did up my RoB and extensions with stuff bought from there and am very happy with the results. I use my boards for multiple games as well. Here is my WIP/Tutorial if you like;

http://billsravingrant.blogspot.com/2013/03/realm-of-battle-wip.html#more

Good luck and enjoy!

v/r
Bill