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How do?

Around 18 months ago, give or take, I moved into a lovely new flat - and I now have more than enough room to get me a gaming board.

Not only is flat of a good size, but glory of glories - it came with a 'farmhouse' table. 6'x3.5'...which lets face it, without getting something custom made is pretty damned ideal for gaming, no?

So the time has come. Time to make me a gaming board.

For flexibility, I want a nice, flat surface - I'm not a fan of modelled on hills etc. Terrain? Well, I can see to that later - likely a mix of handmade monstrosities, and GW bought building kits (I know what I'm doing with them is the main reason. Having a shop just up the road is another big plus!).

And this is where you guys come in. What material is best for a board? What are the relative pros and cons? The board itself won't be up permanently sadly, as I now have flatmates (intended gaming room now contains my fartsack), so needs to be something sturdy enough to be moved on and off, and light enough that it's not a pain to do so. Temperature? Well, I'm in Britain and have no central heating, so although flat is cosy for the most part, general conditions could lead to warping of the board.

And how is best to paint it? I want some sort of texture, think sandy bases in the old style, but again I need the surface to be flat, if not actually smooth. As my terrain is likely to be scatter terrain (not a fan of based buildings), is there a particularly technique that won't break the bank?

There are literally too many options to list for a custom made board. Lately I've been playing on the gaming mats at my FLGS and they work rather wonderfully with terrain set on top of them!

I would agree; gaming mats are pretty good now, roll up, lay flat in about 2 minutes, and come in a massive range of colours and styles. Add in some cheap ply/chip 2x4 boards with a thin batten added underneath to match with the edges of the 3.5' table width to prevent sliding, and you are laughing.

£8 for this 10ft by 4ft chip board (and you should be able to get them to cut it for you in store), and you can use the extra to make the battens with.

Couple of screws, and probably some duct tape to help seal the edges and you are sorted.

Then either paint and sand it, or grab a gaming mat. I have a couple from Artistic Impressions and they have stood up to quite a lot of handling and being stored in a shed outside (I have loaned them to my local gaming club for over a year). - Although I note that the two I have they no longer seem to sell which is a shame as their "Red Planet" mat is really good!

Total cost ~£70? Obviously cheaper if you go for paint and sand rather than a gaming mat.

I think a lot of your choice will depend on your use of the board:

- Does it need to be packed up after each use?
- Does it need moving often?
- Where will it be kept?

I use a big 6x4 piece of MDF that I keep laying against the wall in the garage. It then gets placed on the dining room table and realm of battle board goes on top of that.

It's thick enough that it doesn't warp, but it can't be folded away and is pretty heavy, so moving it is a 2 person job. luckily most games tend to involve more than one person

If you're not planning on moving it often, I like my setup and recommend it for cheapness.

if you plan to go the gaming mat route, or even have it as an option, I'd simply coat the MDF on one side with a mixture of PVA and fine sand of different sizes (not too big as the larger stones might make it uneven if a mat is placed on top).

Then simply undercoat black (cheap acrylic paints from Poundland work here) and drybrush a few different colours on top (reds for martian theme, browns for wasteland etc).

you could do it in an afternoon (excluding drying time) and it's a fairly straightforward process that will give you a bit more atmosphere than a standard flat block of MDF will at any rate!

let us know how you get on, and post pictures!

Didn't realise how relatively plain some mats can be - most I've seen have 2D representation of rocks and that.

Definitely give that some thought - also clears up the 'but where do I paint it' issue!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Overall it should be ok to be left up - but needs to be dismantlable without too much fuss.

And as it's going on top of a table that isn't mine (it's my land lady's) perhaps some felt for the underside?

Not sure if these images will show up, but we have three gaming mats at my local club (all loaned by members):

Arctic mat:


Wasteland mat:


Red planet:

Nice.

Any idea where they came from?

Wayland Games do some good mats and are a good price. Plus they're based here in the UK so delivery is pretty quick and well packaged.

http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/2878-deep-cut-studio-game-mats#/page-4

On a side note, there are 3 versions of each mat they do. PVC, Cloth and Mousepad. We've tried all 3 and it's definitely 100% worth spending that little bit extra to get the mousepad version. Doesn't get creases easily and the dice roll nice and smoothly over it.

Ignore the Space Wolf in the pic, but it's the only one i currently have in my gallery that shows our mat. You can see up close it looks amazing so when playing a game it looks spot on!
(It's the Plains mat 6ft x 4ft)

I bought my mat (Fallout Zone) from https://www.incomgaming.co.uk/collections/gamemat

Love it. They are quite expensive but it looks great.

Yeah mousepad appeals. It's got the weight to lie properly flat, and adds a nice spongey layer in case someone takes a tumble off a tower.

I've knocked up an MDF board - 6x 4 cut into 3 2 x 4 sections to make lugging about easier

1 side I painted with a mix of terracotta paint left over from painting the kitchen mixed with a load of sand from the beach (trashes your brush)

when I got bored of that (if you excuse the pun) I painted the other side in grey and sand mix with some black scortch marks as a base for city games - 2 boards for the price of 1

If your table is big enough already the mats are probably the easiest for storage though - only used MDF for mine as my dining table wasn't quite wide enough


- Dont forget to put something under your board if you make it double sided or it scratches your table to sh** and your misses tells you off -

I built mine flush 4x6 with no overhang lip so I can push them together for Apocalypse games and cover them with various Game mats. I built a simple frame to mount the top too and use cheap (harbor freight) saw horses for legs for easy break down or moving outside or wherever.

Personally if you're in a flat, I'd recommend a portable/mobile solution. I picked up two large heavy duty folding tables (i.e. the pricier ones at a hardware store) and use gaming mats. It's a nice solution which allows me to fold the tables and roll up the mat and take it with me wherever I go if needed.

Also doesn't take up any space when considering a full, real table. Definitely the smart solution if you're not in a house you'll be keeping for 10-15-20 years.

So, board surface pretty much set in my mind - chipboard or MDF (whichever my local Homebase has in stock really), some felt for the underside (to stop it damaging the table surface), and some batons to match the table's width, preventing the sections from sliding.

To go on top, an as yet to be decided upon gaming mat - probably mousepad, likely relatively plain (don't want drawn on roads. Interferes with things in my opinion)

Next? Scenery.

Buildings - very happy to use GW's building kits. I've used them before to good effect, and of course they complete suit the aesthetic.

Hills - well, I'm not adverse to GW's hills, but I find the slopes a pain in the arse for slidey model syndrome. This is of course lessened by the models being plastic or resin and thus lighter, but I reckon some textured paint, or a layer of sand will help mitigate. But if anyone can point me to similarly sized hills without the pronounced slop, I'll have a gander.

Woods/Plantlife? Will probably try to have them converted to be swamping building ruins, because that always looks cool.

Any other useful terrain (oh, and two sets of Shadow War. Can't pass that terrain up) people can recommend?

I'd also echo a mat so you can get yourself multiple tables if you wanted with little storage needed. As for hills, look at insulation foam board at your local hardware store; make the slopes yourself so you have full control over the end product.

For other terrain, I'd actually suggest finding books on making the stuff and keeping an eye open with a bit of imagination. Like this for example:

Flip it upside down and with a bit of work you can have a scifi themed tower or generator (with double sun power). Plan on using a couple myself for some Tau stuff.

Sadly, when it comes to arts and crafts my hands might as well be feet.

I can assemble kits no problem, but I'm absolutely awful at scratch building. The scale is either way off, or the buildings structurally unsound!

Shall have a browse online, see what I can find (wouldn't mind rocky stuff, spesh if it contains infantry sized tunnels through it.)

For Hills I'm a fan of the old school cliff edge type - i.e. no slope to worry about and if you make them in decreasing sizes you can stack them to make big rocky features.

If you keep them "cliff" sided you can make these reversable too - got a set which are barren rock one side but have trench works on other so the same hills can be used for wilderness type terrain or entrenched positions.

Double the terrain for same storage space.


If anyone finds a cheap source of trees colour me interested - ready made ones are too expensive and making my own looks like a right ballache.

Lots of MDF options available for buildings - some quite cheap, and a simple coat of spray paint and some detail painting and you're set.

 Kinetochore wrote:
For Hills I'm a fan of the old school cliff edge type - i.e. no slope to worry about and if you make them in decreasing sizes you can stack them to make big rocky features.

If you keep them "cliff" sided you can make these reversable too - got a set which are barren rock one side but have trench works on other so the same hills can be used for wilderness type terrain or entrenched positions.

Double the terrain for same storage space.


If anyone finds a cheap source of trees colour me interested - ready made ones are too expensive and making my own looks like a right ballache.

You can buy bendy tree trunks and scatter foliage (the green natural sponge stuff) which you glue on. Kind of half way between prebuilt and make your own trees, and with a far better price tag. All from Woodland scenic.

Cheers - I'll take a look

Not especially keen on MDF stuff, it always looks cheap and nasty to my eyes.

Anyone got any comments about GF9 stuff?

I've been poking about their website and I like what I see. But is it actually much cop for 28mm?

Gale Force Nine?

Anyone?

Bueller?

Dust?

Reckon Imma set meself a monthly budget for this, and try to paint/assemble as I go.

First month (this month most likely) board, batons, felt for the underside. Maybe a building or terrain piece or two.

Second month, the (first?) battle mat

With a table that size supporting your boards, you're unlikely to need batons. I used 15mm MDF for my boards, and they work nicely.

If you're interested, I did a few posts on how I built, detailed, primed and painted my boards – might prove helpful?

https://apologentsia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/inload-worldbuilding-mean-streets.html

https://apologentsia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/tutorial?updated-max=2015-10-20T11:48:00%2B01:00&max-results=20&start=8&by-date=false

https://apologentsia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/inload-worldbuilding-load-of-old-cobbles.html

https://apologentsia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/inload-worldbuilding-exciting-bit.html

https://apologentsia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/worldbuilding-nightfall.html

Cheers fella

Batons are to stop the boards sliding around.

GF9's stuff is pretty good - namely the Battlefield in a Box style stuff. Can be dressed up, but isn't bad out of the box. The natural stuff is mostly scaled either 28mm or for 15mm Flames of War.