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I have been working on a gaming table for me and my gaming group for one and a half years now, and today I finally finished it. I'm really, really proud of this one. I went for a desert planet look.

Prepare for a lot of pictures:

General layout:
Please pardon my messy basement. As you can see there are 2 prominent mountains that dominate the table:


In each of these mountains I worked in statues within the rockface. I was going for a look like those statues were carved into the mountain:


There is also a bridge and some alcoves, which are being held up by 4 pillars:


Different perspective:


Another different perspective:


But wait! Theres more! I also built dice boxes for each player with corresponding faction logos, that mount on the side of the table and can be removed and are also interchangable:


Let me know what you think. I'd like to get some C&C

I think that looks absolutely great; lots of fun to play on, and lots of space to add additional scatter terrain. I look forward to seeing it during a game.

 JamesY wrote:
I think that looks absolutely great; lots of fun to play on, and lots of space to add additional scatter terrain. I look forward to seeing it during a game.

Thanks! Yeah, we play with a lot of ruins and other modular terrain that we mainly place in the middle part of the table I left purposefully "empty".

Though I am working on 5 big thematic modular terrain pieces. One for each faction represented in our gaming group. Right now I am working on a big Tau outpost that has a droneport and a tidewall buit into a cliff. I'm also working on a necron tomb world, a big mechanicum forge that is semi integrated into a mountain and a massive ruined imperial cathedral.

Finishing this table for me is getting the sunday, finishing those thematic modular terrain pieces will be the cherry on top.

Tremendous work! Really like the arching rock scenery, it adds quite a lot to the board without blocking too much line of sight for regular games. Would love to see some terrain and minis on the board for some action shots.

Table looks amazing!
Highly playable all over, and still visually spectacular with lots of tactical points.

LOVE the woodwork aspect of this. Well done!

Looks absolutely awesome! Cannot wait to see it finished and with some clashing armies on it

I am a big fan of French Cleats like you used for the dice tray. Awesome craftsmanship!

The table is really well-done! I also love the woodwork aspect. The dice trays put it over the top! Dice rolling on a table with well-done terrain is always an issue. Just love that!
Thank you for sharing, and please share a few photos of a game in progress so the scale pops better!

Thank you for all the kind comments!.

I am going to post action shots and pictures of scatter terrain down the line, but I only have the table completely painted right now. I still have to paint all of the scatter terrain....ruins, containers etc.

I have one update though: we quite recently had a new player enter our gaming group. Naturally I had to craft an additional dice box for him with corresponding faction logo:



It's not 100% done, but the exciting parts are already there.

Edit: just a disclaimer about the quality of my woodworking. I am not a woodworker by trade and my skills in that area are middling at best. I just had an idea and found a way to implement it within my skillset and limitations. There are a myriad more sophisicated ways to craft these dice boxes. This is just the best I could do.

I really like how it turned out! The only thing that I think will have long term issues is that you will always play with that board as you build the features into the table. If you don't mind then it's not really an issue but I really enjoy different theme's when I play (like snow, jungle, desert, etc). I get the base of those theme's with FAT mats and make my terrain to match.

But I don't want this comment to come across as negative, I really think that the table is super cool and would love to play on it if it were in my area!

 Kaptin_Grubkrumpa wrote:
I really like how it turned out! The only thing that I think will have long term issues is that you will always play with that board as you build the features into the table. If you don't mind then it's not really an issue but I really enjoy different theme's when I play (like snow, jungle, desert, etc). I get the base of those theme's with FAT mats and make my terrain to match.

But I don't want this comment to come across as negative, I really think that the table is super cool and would love to play on it if it were in my area!

No, this is a valid criticism. This build is definitely style before substance from a game design standpoint.

We quickly figured out while gaming that the tableside with the bridge offers more tactical advantages and is therefore preferable to take as your deployment zone. We know this though and you can counteract it with modular terrain.

It's also rather interesting actually, I spent an ungodly amount of time on the terrain features, but with the mission design of 9th, most of the action during actual games happens in the middle of the table where we always have alternating modular terrain. So it doesnt feel like the same game every time we play, but your point is still valid. My table offers less variability than most other gaming tables. For now I'm still happy with at and my buddies seem to like it aswell.

The thing is though....when you spend this much time on a project you realize your design and layout flaws from a gaming perspective along the building process. I changed a lot of things along the way and the layout is still not balanced on both sides. So now I already started planning my next table to improve upon this one.

Oh, I didn't mention this in my inital post, but the gaming table is actually 2 parts. The basis is a sturdy folding table and the tableface with the terrain features is built in such a way to slide onto the folding table. So essentially I can remove my terrain plate and store it and the folding table away.

Oh well in that case you shouldn't really have much of a problem getting varied terrain types! I think I haven't forayed into the set table design because of space concerns at my place. I'd love to make one like yours someday though!

As I said I'm gonna post action shots with more terrain on the table eventually, but for now I wanted to share some picks on how the table can be dismantled and stored away as I'm quite proud of the little contraption I built (also please ignore the horrendously ugly carpets on the floor, I had those as a teenager and for some reason kept them in my attic, they have a nice size for my gaming room though..):






Stored away (again, pardon my messy basement):

That is awesome. Engineering is partly about knowing all of the old solutions but also about coming up with your own bespoke solutions. The second part can be developed, but can't be taught to someone with no skill of their own in that regard.

Two points regarding the design of the terrain;

1) I think a great looking board is more important than 100% modularity and playability. A bit of both is important, and the blank spaces give you that.

2) I think three dimensionality is a great design point. My own personal long-term ambition is to build a 40k version of Bow Interchange in East London, which is a two-lane roundabout, with a busy North-South road that passes through a tunnel under it, and an East-West road that goes over it on a flyover bridge, with slip roads joining all possible routes. Next to it is a canal, a McDonalds, a small, ancient church and a couple of twenty story towers!

 Fifty wrote:
That is awesome. Engineering is partly about knowing all of the old solutions but also about coming up with your own bespoke solutions. The second part can be developed, but can't be taught to someone with no skill of their own in that regard.

Two points regarding the design of the terrain;

1) I think a great looking board is more important than 100% modularity and playability. A bit of both is important, and the blank spaces give you that.

2) I think three dimensionality is a great design point. My own personal long-term ambition is to build a 40k version of Bow Interchange in East London, which is a two-lane roundabout, with a busy North-South road that passes through a tunnel under it, and an East-West road that goes over it on a flyover bridge, with slip roads joining all possible routes. Next to it is a canal, a McDonalds, a small, ancient church and a couple of twenty story towers!

Thanks a lot for the praise!

Also your project idea sounds really intricate and awsome, but qute complicated. I'd like to see that project when it's finished

Right, so here is my first properly finished scatter terrain for my table (with some custodes action for scale):

I will post a picture of the ruin on the table at a later point, have the table stored away now and it's impossible to lift it alone off the contraption I built to store it on my shelf.











C&C welcome