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.

Could I just quickly point out that across several forums, there have been quite a few people showing that you can make your own board for a fraction of the price.

Now, no offense to the people doing this, but so far they really have proven the old adage "you get what you pay for". They may have made the tables for a fraction of the cost, but from an outside perspective, it also has a fraction of the visual appeal (i.e. quality).

The only chance anyone has of making a table that looks better would be to invest an amount of time and materials that would not make it cheaper at all, and it's not going to be "modular" or easy to store.

I think the Citadel Board will really come into it's own when (or indeed if, needs to be viable for them) they start doing the expansion sections.

Then you have a nice modular board system to suit a variety of battles, without having to make lots and lots of seperate terrain pieces.

Least, thats the theory!

Wolfstan wrote:Just out of interest, what do the buyers of the new GW battle board plan to rest it on? ... another large board perhaps? So the arguement for it replacing your old heavy board is void isn't it? Whether you make it out of cheap foam or use the nice shiney GW one, you still need a board

Well what I like about it is you can use it anywhere... if you don't already have a table to properly play on, you can set it up on the floor.. or on your mom's kitchen or dining room table, or even on a bed. Then just pack it up when the game is over

I dislike modular set ups a lot, because they look nice but for a gamer it isn't that useful.
Still, if people think it's a good buy, by all means keep my plastic crack providers afloat!

it would be nice if they had it available in smaller sections, like sell it as a 4x4 board and then have expansion tiles come as a set of 2 so you can make your "starter" 4x4 a 6x4 and then a 4x8.

There have been countless threads across all the hobby related boards debating the price issue. yes we all know it is possible to make a board for less. but some people dont care, dont want to make their own, or dont have the space/tools to do so.

as to the amount of terrain issue, for 40k you are right, the hills alone are not enough, but for fantasy, all you would need is perhaps a small wood or modular hill and yes, this board would then provide all the other terrain needed.

lets please keep this thread for discussing the actual plastic boards. People that have them:

1)have any of you seen any warpage(it is large plastic pieces afterall)
2)have you had any problems with the clips that hold the sections together?
3)have any of you taken pics of the stages as you paint your board?
4)For those of you who dont like the skull pits, do you have any pics showing how you covered them?
5)for people who like the skulls(chaos/undead players?) any pics of how you painted them?
6)what solutions have you come up with to prevent paint rub while in transport(wtf is a tea towel. i'm a dumb american bachelor. i dont know these things)
7)did you prime the board and paint existing texture, or did you sand the board? OP pics show a lot more texture on the plastic flats than i expected.

i am especially interested in any pics of moonscape/chaos ash waste paint schemes.

I picked up mine the other weekend as well, and I really rather like it. I would point out that if Mikhaila here hadn't hooked me up with one for 200$, I wouldn't have bought it. (As it was, I zipped on down, and got a nice tour of his lovely store to boot!) Still, I am glad I did, because it really is a nifty bit of plastic.

The hills look good, and are just high enough to hide a rhino behind 100%. I haven't fully painted or flocked it yet, since I haven't decided whether I want it more wilderness looking or more city scape looking, but I am fairly confident I can pull off either pretty well. Currently I am leaning towards desert scrub land, since using it for Legends of the Old West would be fun.
There are really a lot of skulls. One can not really talk about the table without saying that, but they could very easily be filled in or covered with terrain. I left mine there, though I think they went a little overboard with the mass grave thing.

Personally, I am hoping they come out with expansion tiles, with city blocks, rivers or other tiered features. Really, that is 60% of the reason I bought it, since I sort of intend to make those sorts of things myself, but have little extra time for such things, and less motivation since I would much rather be painting and sculpting on troops and such.

Price wise, it is salty, but I think everyone is capable of deciding whether having a table like that for their home use is worth it. I have a decent table currently, but I think this one will make a nice addition, and I can even take it over to Shrew's place when we game there due to him watching his kids. Being able to supply some nice terrain for your games at your over worked buddy's place is a nice thing

Belize: I will try and get some pictures of mine posted. So far I have primed it black, then did a light over spray of brown. Took a few hours, but 90% of that was drying time in the garage; it's winter here, and the space heater doesn't bump it much above 50-60 in there.

Da Boss wrote:I dislike modular set ups a lot, because they look nice but for a gamer it isn't that useful.

I'm curious about this sentiment... can you elaborate on it? I don't understand how a modular setup isn't useful to a gamer?

I think the board does indeed look good, and I hope to see people use it... I'd never buy it, as I've no need to own my own table, especially for the price, but it seems like a well made idea, and once there are some expansion sets out, I hope it sees alot of use.

belize13 wrote:lets please keep this thread for discussing the actual plastic boards. People that have them:

1)have any of you seen any warpage(it is large plastic pieces afterall)
2)have you had any problems with the clips that hold the sections together?
3)have any of you taken pics of the stages as you paint your board?
4)For those of you who dont like the skull pits, do you have any pics showing how you covered them?
5)for people who like the skulls(chaos/undead players?) any pics of how you painted them?
6)what solutions have you come up with to prevent paint rub while in transport(wtf is a tea towel. i'm a dumb american bachelor. i dont know these things)
7)did you prime the board and paint existing texture, or did you sand the board? OP pics show a lot more texture on the plastic flats than i expected.

1. No warpage on my sections, nor any funky lines, flash or other things that plague the average GW kit
2. The clips are a little wonky at first but with the proper manoeuvring and pushing the tiles can be clipped together easily enough
4. We're covering ours up with the vac-formed craters for 40k and the fantasy buildings and woods when playing Mordheim, maybe in the long run I'll try my hand at greenstuffing the three larger pits into dirt or cracked rock instead
6. Thin bubble wrap plastic does the trick for us (we don't use our precious tea towels )
7. We didn't prime it instead we applied several thin coats of brown included in the paint set, the big flat brush is a big help, if a little hard to use on all the nooks and crannies, especially with all those fecking skulls and cracks everywhere

ONOZ... WHERE'D THE SKULL PITS GO?

Lol, nice one Oni.

see thats what i was thinking. paint up the skulls and have the ground be ashen wastelands to suit my fantasy demons/undead and then plop down some moonscape craters or buildings and presto moonscape 40k board.

why yes i do want to take a grey plastic piece, paint it black and then paint it grey.... why do you ask?

Prometheum: Well, modular limits your terrain configurations considerably, which as a gamer is annoying because it limits your tactical choices.
Also, some games like warmachine have rules for placing terrain which a modular board makes it impossible to obey.
Basically, I prefer a flat board that I put my own hills and stuff on. It's more flexible and allows for more variation.
I can see the attraction of modular stuff to people for whom looks are more important, or shops, or people with a lot of space for multiple boards, but I prefer utility over looks.
I do love the citadel woods though, pity the new LOS rules render thier most useful feature obsolete.

Chiming in here too, but I have made quite a few boards over the years, most of them very weighty and unwieldy for me. They did about the same thing this plastic board does, but either they were tough and too heavy or weak and light. This is rather tough and light. My Gf's 12 year old boy can get this out of the closet, carry it upstairs and set it up on the kitchen table. When done, it folds away and goes back out in the garage. Any of the board setups I have had in the past he couldn't deal with, or I couldn't trust him with. This is a really great product for those like me that are gypsy gamers and now we have a board to drag around to different places to play on. The worth is really all up to you. Long term is what I am wondering. will this still be a usable table three years from now?

Wolfstan wrote:Just out of interest, what do the buyers of the new GW battle board plan to rest it on? ... another large board perhaps? So the arguement for it replacing your old heavy board is void isn't it? Whether you make it out of cheap foam or use the nice shiney GW one, you still need a board

I got three of these for the table part of the table: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7679248

Deathklaat wrote:some online retailers are selling the Citadel Realm of Battle Gameboard for under $200.00 USD

Who? Links please!

yeah,
I'm getting my board today or tommorrow.
I already have a decent table, but I think this will trumph it, the detail looks awesome. and the quality is reported to be there.

Modular.
I'm a gamer and I have to have modular tables, I don't want a static board. and this looks like the hills can be moved around enough to offer lots of tactical play.
I'd have been happier if they supplied 8 tiles total, 2 extra blank/flat tiles...
I'd still have played with 6 tiles in most games... but the extra flex would have been welcome.

Mobility.
a massive dissapointment for me is that the board doesn't spport it's own weight when connected. Being portable is worthless If you can't find a table big enough to support it.
I'll need to keep my game board to go under the battle table... my old game board isn't portable so if i can't find a table where i'm going i wont be able to play there.
there are probabily lots of other locations I'm not thinking of?
But i can think of three options:

a Friends house

a Pub! althought I've played blood bowl openly in my local Pub and the number of interuptions (what's that? is it like chess?) annoyed me... But alot of Pubs have private rooms you can book for free (as long as your drinking!) or fairly cheap.

at work either in the office or in a meeting room.

Cost.
I agree that the board costs alot of money, £150 is alot to most people and a big investment. Most Under 16s will struggle to find this money and have to save to get one. It could have been cheaper, but I don't think that it's Overpriced! Look at the costs involved in this hobby? it's a expensive hobby. and in the Long run I figure the table will add value to my games. And offers a good investment to all... Plastic vs Wood, I think you'll get more of your plastic investment back should you want to sell it.

The Vet issue...
I think of myself as a vet and This is how i look at it... Most Vets Have a ton of unpainted mini's stored away, so they don't see this table as something directly competing with getting a new army... In fact I have three unpainted 40k armys awaiting paint, so I look at buying this table as a way of buying something new for the hobby that isn't adding to my mini unpainted masses!

New Gamers...
For new gamers it's a choice, but it's good to have options!?
It's a one off outlay... but If you can't afford the board or want to concentrate on getting your men, get a MDF board and battle Mat. the important thing is to get gaming. my existing table was cheap and has served me well.

Let our Powers Combine!
The other point I havn't seen mentioned much is that the modular aspect allows multiple tables to be seemlessly connected.
Meet up with 2-3 gamers with tables and have a massive 12'+ Long Table.
In WD this month (WD348UKdec08) the tale of 4 gamers play a apoc game on 2 battle boards (12tiles) connected in a T shape. It looks awesome. So i'll be nudging my fellow gamers towards a board!

Expansions...
I've got hopes for offical tiles. roads/rivers/citystreets/smaller hils.
Saying that custom 2'x2' additions wont be hard to make.
I also expect to see a number of spare tiles and third party additions appearing on eBay.

Panic...

Again, I just need to say something....

Isnt buying this AGREGIOUSLY priced product reinforcing the GW idea of: "regardless of price, they will buy it." Yes, I know the arguments about how our hobby is expensive and such. All the rationalizations given to purchasing this product really dont seem to make sense.

-people dont have time to make their own table: how long does it take to play several 40K games again?
-There is no space to store it: its really impossible to slide a 4X6 piece of plywood behind a dresser?
-It cant be transported: no one you know owns a truck? Alright, you may be able to get me here, transportation of a pre-made table is difficult without a truck. So thats it, the only downfall.

The pre moulded hills was something I'd not thought about until mentioned here. It does all look very nice, especially after seeing one painted up in my local GW store, but the hills do mean that your battlefield will always have to have hills, unlike the skulls, which can be covered (as shown). Themed boards usually have a WOW factor when you look at them and the GW is up there at the top of the list when it comes to the WOW factor, but it is still a themed board. What happens when you get bored with this £150 themed board and want to have a City fight board?

I feel that GW should of gone the route of producing some of the Forgeworld scenery in plastic, giving you more variety on the battlefield. Roads and rivers would of been nice. Or maybe produce textured foam tiles with no hills on them, which can be painted up in whatever style you want. This way your battlefield is neutral and can be setup as you want.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Price pales into insignificance next to *value*.

However, I am the first to admit value is what you make of it. I'm getting me one of these, because it means I can then game more than once a week. This is obviously a sound investment for me. YMMV of course, but to rubbish it because of the price is a little short sighted.

Price determines a big slice of the "value"

Rubbish something you consider ridiculous overpriced even by GW standarts is short sighted? That probably makes sense in your wonderfull world of " those who have diferent views are short sighted" but sorry to bring the bad news to your parade... Not buying 6 pieces of plastic silly priced is as valid as buying them.

I think it is alright, but I will put off buying on until they release or even announce new tiles. I don't want hills in every battle I play.

markoseugene wrote:Again, I just need to say something....

Isnt buying this AGREGIOUSLY priced product reinforcing the GW idea of: "regardless of price, they will buy it." Yes, I know the arguments about how our hobby is expensive and such. All the rationalizations given to purchasing this product really dont seem to make sense.

-people dont have time to make their own table: how long does it take to play several 40K games again?
-There is no space to store it: its really impossible to slide a 4X6 piece of plywood behind a dresser?
-It cant be transported: no one you know owns a truck? Alright, you may be able to get me here, transportation of a pre-made table is difficult without a truck. So thats it, the only downfall.

They're not rationalizations. They're reasons. A rationalization is an effort to make something
SEEM reasonable, often to yourself, because you already know that all those reasons are false.
However, they are not deluding themselves. In fact, the price jumps means that I suspect
everyone who bought one thought long and hard about whether or not they had good reasons
to buy it. Really I think this became less of an impulse buy because of the fumbled release.

1. People don't have the time to get the skills to make a similar quality product.
2. People don't necessarily want to put their aborted attempts at plywood tables behind a dresser.
3. I know people who own trucks. They have already made their own tables that they keep in
their homes. Most of them have little or no desire to transport those tables.

Instead of flocking it, could you not use the battle mat, cut to shape and glued down? Would also deal with the pesky skulls nice and quick, even if it's just patches to cover them up.

I think flock would be faster than battlematting it, especially if you want
the battlematting to look nicer than flock.

markoseugene wrote:Again, I just need to say something....

Isnt buying this AGREGIOUSLY priced product reinforcing the GW idea of: "regardless of price, they will buy it." Yes, I know the arguments about how our hobby is expensive and such. All the rationalizations given to purchasing this product really dont seem to make sense.

-people dont have time to make their own table: how long does it take to play several 40K games again?
-There is no space to store it: its really impossible to slide a 4X6 piece of plywood behind a dresser?
-It cant be transported: no one you know owns a truck? Alright, you may be able to get me here, transportation of a pre-made table is difficult without a truck. So thats it, the only downfall.

The point is that people want to buy what they want, and they don't want other people telling them they went and got shafted.

Personnally, I think this product is a matter of taste. It's a luxurey item in this game.
GW's going to make money, regardless if you buy 3 whole armies and DON'T Paint them, or you go buy this, that, and the other thing.
One thing I see thats good about this is that it is an ALTERNATIVE.

Options are always good.
It's one of those things a Hobby club, or Game group could throw in and buy together. Another thing could be a store, gaming hall, or your LGS panning in and getting a few of these to counter the roll of used up felt or worn out battle mats that they leave under the counter until Saturday or Sunday.

I have a couple of 4X4 ft. boards, and an additional 2X4 ft. for my gaming area. I set them up in my garage on Saw horses. It is basicly a stand alone gaimg area for whatever game I want to play. I have a garage, a game room, and the front room to play in if I want to, but most other people I know don't.
Most of the gamers I hear around here have our local gaming clubs, and thier own rooms to play in.
This product will give you a 2X2 board that you can add to, depending on your room to play.
You can go get the Pink Styro boards, do all the extra work, OR you go drop some cash down on this. A ready made, ready to play 2X2 boards to play on right out of the bag.
This thing that GW came out seems to me to be a happy medium between the GW Scenery book, and the Resident GW scenery team.

It is a superior option for those that have the inclination, but not the time. GW products are ALL over priced, but in this hobby, it is a known fact.
Codex's, Armies, Scenery, All of it is expensive on the whole. Personally, The stuff wasn't designed to go in and jump in full with both feet to throw $4,000.00 in on it just to sit around and wonder what you are supposed to do, next.

You buy in incriments, you get more out of it, both in basic quality in your time, and then in designing, building up, and building and painting your stuff up.
Playing is the overall goal, and in this product, the devil is in the details. You get a good product, but you are going to have to pay the price for it.

Your basic statement that it's overprice is an already given. But the fact of the matter is that people are and will buy it.
They will buy it at any price.

malfred wrote:I think flock would be faster than battlematting it, especially if you want
the battlematting to look nicer than flock.

Zuzzy battlemats do seem to have a very nice texture.

Wolfstan wrote:The pre moulded hills was something I'd not thought about until mentioned here. It does all look very nice, especially after seeing one painted up in my local GW store, but the hills do mean that your battlefield will always have to have hills, unlike the skulls, which can be covered (as shown). Themed boards usually have a WOW factor when you look at them and the GW is up there at the top of the list when it comes to the WOW factor, but it is still a themed board. What happens when you get bored with this £150 themed board and want to have a City fight board?

I feel that GW should of gone the route of producing some of the Forgeworld scenery in plastic, giving you more variety on the battlefield. Roads and rivers would of been nice. Or maybe produce textured foam tiles with no hills on them, which can be painted up in whatever style you want. This way your battlefield is neutral and can be setup as you want.

Theme? The board was designed to be as 'generic' as possible without being 6 flat, plain tiles (which probably would be a complete waste of $) as GW intends the RoBG to be used across all of their tabletop games. - Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, The Lord of the Rings. Which ever you like, which ever you play, even if it's all of them you can use this game board.

My question to you is why is the RoBG unsuitable for Cities of Death? Surely the lack of moulded roads won't prevent this.

NAVARRO wrote:

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Price pales into insignificance next to *value*.

However, I am the first to admit value is what you make of it. I'm getting me one of these, because it means I can then game more than once a week. This is obviously a sound investment for me. YMMV of course, but to rubbish it because of the price is a little short sighted.

Price determines a big slice of the "value"

Actually, no it doesn't... value is independant of price, in the sense that the price you are willing to pay is directly related to the value you expect to receive. You don't value something more or less based on the price of it, but are willing to pay a certain price for the value you perceive.

One man's rubbish is another man's little plastic soldiers

I have to say that is a sweet looking piece of plastic. I like the 2x2 configuration.

I like the skulls and things around the edges of the hills. It is a sweet looking piece of terrain.

If / when I do get one of these I don't plan to flock it. Just paint it as is. There's already a slight texture in the flat areas and I really don't wanna be dumping that much flock and baby gravel all over it. Just gonna spray it black and drybrush it with a big brush with some light browns.. I think it'll look just fine like that.