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Hey Folks,

I thought I would share how I am progressing at getting myself and the family into the hobby for under $500. Its incredible how expensive this game has become. It had always been expensive, but I do not recall it being quite at this level before. Between the models for an army, a table that looks decent, all of the paints, the books, the terrain etc, this hobby easily can exceed $1000 for a single player. If folks are interested, I'll post some pictures of the progress.

What is into the Hobby?
By into the hobby, I mean the gaming aspects, so having a fun modular table with terrain, models, the required books, dice, etc as well as the paints and materials to create an artistic and story based hobby as well for those rainy days and weekend nights. Getting into the hobby and treating it like a hobby is what makes it possible to do so; but still, you have to get in enough to have fun.

Tools
This is where things 'could' get expensive. I do a lot of DIY, so I have a lot of tools. Tools are expensive.
1. Miter Saw
2. Table Saw
3. Random Orbital Sander
4. Power Drill & Screw head
5. Xacto Knife
6. Razor Blade
8. Various Clippers & Sculptors
9. Various Buckets

Building the Table ~$100
You can make a 4x6 table by purchasing 2 more 2x4s for $6. Here I'm building a 4x4 table.
1. Four - 2x4's at 8' each. (home depot)
2. 2 4'x8' 1" pink foam (home depot)
3. Bulk sized plaster of paris (paint section - home depot)
4. Hot Glue & Hot Glue Gun (wal mart)
5. Craft Sticks (wal mart)
6. Cheapo bulk plaster based tile from the flooring section of Home Depot (its like 1/8" thick.
7. Pavement Base (50' bag)
8. Woodland scenics Rock Molds (amazon)
9. Woodland scenics Tree Armatures (amazon)
10. Woodland scenics Clump Foiliage (amazon)
11. Woodland scenics fine turf (amazon)

You can possibly replace various of these materials with stuff from around the house or outside. Like, I went to the beach and got a bunch of sand and into the forest and got a bunch of tiny sticks. The kids love the collection part and creating their own modular terrain with it.


Basically what you do is build a frame out 3 2x4s.
Use the miter saw to cut them each into 4' sections.
Then use the table saw to cut the routered edges off.
Then use the table saw to cut them into 1.25x4 (long ways).
Miter 4 of them at 45 degree angles. Arrange into a sqaure and screw them together (predrill your holes)
Save 2 2x4s to slice just the routered edges off and cut to leg height ~36". Place inside the frame w/ Approximately 3" of space between the top of the leg and the top of the table remaining.
Screw the legs on.
Cut the remaining 2x4 material into 1"x4" (long ways) using the table saw.
Use 6 of those to create a frame inside the table. 2 supports sit directly on top of the legs while the rest bridge between the supports (on top of those supports) between the legs. It should look like 2 long sections with 4 cross sections evenly distributed through the table.

Create the Table Terrain & Forms
Cut the pink foam into 4'x4' (minus 2x the thickness of your frame). Get 2 of those cut out and glue inside the frame. The pink foam should be nearly level or slightly above level. You should notice the pink foam has a break away pattern. Ensure the break away pattern is perpendicular to your cross support wood frame and the second pink foam is perpendicular to the first one's break away. (ensures it doesn't just snap and has some strength).

You can get a blow torch and torch some river forms if you want. You can add some hills etc using the left over pink foam. I blow torched 1 river through the middle but want the rest to be modular, so it'll be terrain on bases.
Mix plaster, glue, water & the fine parts of the pavement base mix into a bucket. Get to a sandy yogurt consistency. Layer that stuff all over the entire board. Fill in holes, Try to avoid getting it directly on top of the wooden frame (more work later to clean that off, but you can clean it off).

Spray paint it black heavily. Spray paint it dark brown lighter, Spray paint it very lightly with a lighter brown. Thin out some dark brown cheapo paint to wash consistency, wash the whole thing, then layer up with dark greens to lighter greens for grass, browns for mud, light sandy colors for sand.

Modular Terrain
There are tons of videos, this stuff is more complicated to make, I'll have to have a video on this on its own. You have enough materials to build houses, hills, mountains, towers, a forest or two etc. I put them on the 1/8" plaster tile material as a base which I cut up with a razor blade.

Paints ~$263
See this thread on what I did: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/779274.page#10548042

Models, Books Etc $136
I ended up with Soul Wars. You get 2 armies, the books and everything you need to play. Plenty of cool models and you can start playing scenarios. Expand from here as you create a campaign. Create a consistent character who the players in the family can create an affinity for and use them to explore various parts of the universe.