Modular gaming table WIP

[Jerre]

I recently decided to make myself a 40k gaming table. I had a look around and first considered the GW Realms of Battle board but found it too expensive for what it was. I also checked out Ziterdes products and although they came close to what I wanted, I didn’t like the colours they used.

 

I first made up a list of things I wanted :

- It had to be modular so you don’t have to always play on the same board

- scenery had to be fixed as I don’t like it when scenery starts to shift across the board when it is nudged while placing minis

- Not too expensive

- Not too time consuming

 

The articles on the GW site about the City of Death modular board caught my attention, so I wanted something similar but suited to play both City of Death and regular 40k battles.

 

I have two 180 x 90 cm tables in my hobbyroom so that gave me a 180 x 180 cm surface to play on. If possible I wanted some room left to place dice, rulers, reserves, casualties, …

 

After a trip to the local hardware store, I dediced to use 40 x 40 cm tiles of wood for my modular board pieces. I briefly considered taking 30 x 30 cm tiles (about 1’) but with the dimensions I had in mind of both the buildings and the room in between, 30 cm was not enough. I had in mind to use 16 of these tiles to create a 160 x 160 surface, leaving a border of 10 cm around the gaming board on the table. This would create a gaming area of a little bit more than 5’ by 5’.

 

When I ordered the wood, I bought a large 1cm thick wooden board that was cut by the local hardware store in 40 x 40 cm pieces. With the dimensions of the original board, this gave me 18 pieces. That means I had two spares.

 

Another thing that I discovered is that I can also put the tiles in a 5x3 setup. This gives me a rough 4’ by 6’ gaming surface while the outer tiles are only barely sticking over the gaming table. If I would get some more wood tiles, I might consider making an 5x5 apocalypse board 

 

I wanted the concept of the gaming table to be a post-apocalyptic scene. More specifically, I wanted the table and the scenery to look like it had been on the edge of a nuclear blast. It should look barren, devoid of vegetation, with predominantly ruins. On the other hand, this event should have been a long time ago. The board should show some signs of returning occupation. The ruins can look a bit cleaned of rubble, roads show sign of repair, etc.

 

Now on to the actual tiles …

 

I wanted some (ruined) buildings but needed to make sure that there was enough open space so that line of sight would not constantly be blocked. I dediced that the ruins and buildings should not occupy more than 25 cm, leaving 7,5 cm on both sides free. That would mean 15 cm free space between buildings, enough to let even a mighty landraider pass!

 

Recently I had bought the set of plastic craters from GW. I glued them to some of the tiles, making sure individual models could still move in between them. These would make an excellent start as they create areas of cover but do not block line of sight.

 

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/4324/crater55.jpg

 

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/796/crater61.jpg

 

Next I though about making some road tiles. Both my blood angels and some of the other players in my FLGS use vehicle heavy lists but at the FLGS we don’t have a road in the scenery collection. To break up the straightness of the road, I wanted at least one turn in it. I decided to make three straight road pieces and later discovered it was handier to have two turns.

 

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/5315/road53.jpg

 

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2605/road57.jpg

 

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3739/road60.jpg

 

Just to keep it simple and fast, I also decided to make two plain tiles.

 

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3739/road60.jpg

 

That meant 10 of my 18 tiles were simple. The rest should be buildings and ruins. Here’s the result so far …

 

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/1477/board50.jpg

 

To cover the main surface of the tiles, I covered the tiles in white woodglue (it dries clear). I then sprinkled on some small rocks. I got these from a local pet store. They are used in fish tanks. These little rocks will break the evenness of the surface without leading to too much “wobbly model syndrome”. After adding the small rocks, I covered the board in sand. After letting it dry and , I spray painted the tile brown. Using a can of spray paint had the result of some areas getting a heavier coat than others, giving me some variation in colour.

 

The road tiles were made using the same technique as for the plain tiles. I decided to divide the road in the middle with white markings. Painting free hand is not my thing, so I cut out some pieces of cereal cardboard and glued them onto the tile at regular intervals. The road itself I spray painted black (to get even coverage and not show brush marks). I then went over the cardboard with white paint.

 

My first building already took me a while and is still under construction but now first on my todo list so expect an update in the near future. I still need to drybrush the walls and rubble and then paint the floor tiles on the first and second floor. Here’s the WIP shot …

 

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/796/building64.jpg

 

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/3557/building67.jpg

 

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/5219/building72.jpg

 

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2689/building71.jpg

 

I am also making my second road turn. I bought the new GW scenery set and placed the shattered acquila next to the road, excellent cover for infantry models. The grey paint is too shiny for my taste, so I’ll most likely redo it with a mat paint.

 

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/9162/acquila78.jpg

 

I am going to try to make a tile for each type of terrain. So an impassable building (perhaps a bunker) is on my list, and so is a minefield (dangerous terrain). Then some more buildings (an imperial chapel, a landing platform, …). I think I still have a lot of work ahead of me.

 

Let me know what you think about my efforts so far. C&C welcome!

[mcgeeza]

Looks great so far apart from one thing. I think the road markings look a bit cartoony. I would remove them and leave it blank or maybe use an airbrush and stencils to give a more worn look. Or you could paint them with a stencil and then bring them down a bit with some weathering.

 

Great overall though and I wish I had the time and patience to do something similar.

[IronDuke]

Yup, got to agree with mcgeeza on this one. The aquila, craters and building all look very nice, but the roads just look out of place. Maybe add some dust or dirt will help blend them in, or some rubbish on the road sides. Aside from that, very nice table!

[Hemal]

I'd apply textured paint and some cracks and craters to the roads - and the road markings could be yellow dot-dash-dots instead - I doubt they follow Earth conventions of teh late 20th century :-)

[Crazy Eight]

im liking what you have done simple and cheap yet very good really impressed im going to have to give this a go myself

[Jerre]

A small update.

 

I finished my first building. I am quite pleased with the result. I know it's a little barren on the outside but this is just my first go at it and I didn't want to lose sight of the whole picture.

 

I drybrushed the building's interiour and exteriour (and the rubble) with grey wall paint. The local hardware store has a machine to mix paints and I got to choose the color myself. It cost about 6 euros for 250 ml.

 

I then added pieces of clear plastic to the windows to represent shattered glass. I used white wood glue to attach them as it dries clear.

 

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/7901/dsc00927or.jpg

 

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/1588/dsc00930fu.jpg

 

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/886/dsc00932f.jpg

 

And to get an idea of how the table will look when finished : a view of what I have so far ...

 

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/3596/dsc00938ot.jpg

 

Next up will be the second road turn with the shattered acquila. Still have some work on that one.

[Brother-Captain Devlonir]

I love modular gameboards like this! They make a wonder basis for any battlefield, you make sure the buildings you have there do have a purpose and give required cover and you can always add some more loose ruins and whatnot to create extra cover if needed.

 

Looks great, can't wait to see the results!

[Jerre]

Another little update.

 

As suggested, I painted the road marks yellow. I am pleased with the result. It brings some color to the table. For the moment I will not put more stuff on the tiles with the roads because they take up less place like this to store.

 

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/3127/dsc00939x.jpg

 

I also finished the second road turn with the acquila.

 

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/4950/dsc00942fr.jpg

 

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/3425/dsc00946l.jpg