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I'm planning to make a gaming board for Kill Team (so, 22" x 30"). My intention is to make something very plain - ideally just 1" thick MDF cut to 22" x 30" that I'll use PVA to stick sand to, then paint - with separate modular terrain I can arrange on top. This way I can store the board easily, and pop it on the dining room table, or even the floor, when playing.

My question is, should I also make a frame around the edge of the board to avoid warping? I'd rather avoid the extra work, expense and storage space, but I don't want to find the board warps when PVA and paint are applied.

You could put a pva film on the backside of the bord to prevent warping, i know it works on smaler pieces.

If you have access to flexseal(brush-on) it works great on the underside of mdf boards(also helps them not to slide around). I'd also recommend giving the entire piece a nice coating of PVA glue on top before you start the decorating.

That’s a pretty thick board so I would be surprised if it warped due to anything you put on one side.’however it should also be flexible enough that if it does warp, then You can just post-fix some reinforcing strips to fix the warping.

MDF is quite heavy; although it’s more work, you’ll probably find that a simple frame with a thin ply skin will be lighter and stiffer.

Key thing would be how are you going to store it? Anything other than flat and horizontal is likely to make the MDF bend over time, even at that thickness.

Yep, a simple piece of 1/4” plywood or luan with a frame made of 1x2 underneath will be much lighter and stay flatter.