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Post by dougeye on Nov 15, 2012 9:13:34 GMT -5
Hello Guys,
Im thinking of making a gaming board this weekend and was looking for any useful tips etc for the design.
What i have so far...
1 x 8x4 11mm MDF
1 x Grey spray paint can 500ml
loads of pva glue and materials like sand etc (i live on a building site lol)
Ok so the theme of the board (or at least 1 side) is going to be a city fight scenario. Hence the grey spray as the base for the concrete colour (will find a cheap way of washing / drybrushing the board later).
The main element of this board though will be its modular pieces system, exactly like the realm of battle boards by GW i will have 8 2x2 ft 0r possibley 4 4x2 board sections that can be interlocked in a number of arrangements.
I know the standard board is 6x4 but i like a longer board so artillery and long range weapons dont get a first turn advantage if they are hugging the back of the long table.
I plan to have at least half the board ready to have urban scenery placed on it and the other half open is terrain enabling for a range of settups, either two urbanareas one at each end, or one large urban area in the centre or at either end.
the hard part will be creating a design in terms of road layouts etc that can be put together in a variety of ways. Things like hills, raised areas and barracades etc (exept texture and small rubble) will be placed on afterwards so that the board sections can be stored flat when not in use.
any tips people have will be handy and ill keep this thread upto date as i build it, ill aslo do a step by step if people want it.
Im no stranger to practical trades so the actual building of the board will not cause me much trouble its more the layout and design. anyways ill keep you all posted!
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Post by BG. Foster on Nov 15, 2012 10:34:04 GMT -5
Have you seen my board thread?
That might give you some ideas.
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Post by dougeye on Nov 15, 2012 11:47:29 GMT -5
no can you give me a link please  |
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Post by BG. Foster on Nov 15, 2012 12:07:56 GMT -5
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Post by hendrik on Nov 15, 2012 12:14:37 GMT -5
a couple of concerns you need to think about: 1)mounting the board. what will it stand upon? a normal table?trestles? you can use a smaller table to mount a bigger surface upon it. since you mention a mdf sheet might i suggest you leave that sheet into it's original size and buy some additional, thinner mdf sheets,cut into 2 by 2 feet sections. now the larger mdf sheet will act as the structural board while the tiles allow you to create the gaming surface. afterall, why would you stop with the cityboard? by using thin, seperate tiles that can be mounted upon the bigger mdf sheet you can easely expand, adapt and restore your gamingsurface as needed. mdf wood is relatively cheap so don't doubt to buy more. If you have, say for instant 16 tiles instead of just 8 you can have 8 tiles that belong clearly to the city, a couple of cityboundry tiles (where the city meets the outback/got overrun by a dessert/ashland/whatever and even just a couple of grassland/dessert/ashland ones.. you could even then attach polyurethane pannels to all of the individual small tiles, creating an easely convertable surface to work with. instead of only being able to build things on the board you will now also be able to build IN the board, such as trenches, foxholes, city canals etc. since the structural board only acts as a surface to mount the thinner,smaller board sections on you also have the benefit of being able to use this board for something else, say when having a big party etc.. 2) storage: you will need a way to store your scenery AND your board sections if you ever want to be able to use the board for something else. storage is always an important factor. and easy way to do this is to get a couple of big bixes that fit underneath the table itself, that way the scenery is only in the way of your vacuum cleaner... 3)scenery: what do you want to put on the table. personally i'm a big fan of games workshops' cities of death buildings. they look good, are highly convertable and interchangeable (all GW terrain is nowadays made so it can work together. If you want to use a large amount of these you might want to consider casting some copies for personal use (if such a thing is allowed is another debate) the following page might give you some ideas of how the cities of death sets can be used to create excellent terrain, both ruined and unscratched: www.ifelix.co.uk/wh40kgallery/scenery/2000.htmlPS: all imperial cities should have a wall as good looking as this one: www.ifelix.net/gd2009/GamesDay_2009/My_Albums/Pages/GamesDay_2009.html#2 |
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Post by dougeye on Nov 15, 2012 13:12:58 GMT -5
haha how many bastions? thats nuts lol 1)im planning a light wooden frame to act as a support for the board sections, this frame will then sit on tressills / old strong collapsable shelving i have. It has to be smaller sections as i do not have space to store an 8x4 on a permanent basis, its currently in the workshop waiting to be cut but then it will be stored in my gaming room. Im currently living at my parents again for my last year of university so its not going to be permanent but i would like the option to take it with me when i move out to a pokey flat somewere lol 2) don't worry about storage i have plenty of that. Scenery i build i build in a way that it is collapsable if it is bulky. large flat scenery is no problem. 3)i looked at the GW kits and almost ordered 3 imperial sectors an imperial strongpoint and some of the other single structures from the range the other day but i decided against it to buy more figures as im going to produce 3D models and have them lazer cut / 3d printed (Im a 3D modeller by trade, well Uni student lol). This way i will save a shed load of money on scenery and have spent the money instead on expanding my Marine and Chaos forces  The only thing i did buy was a wall of martyrs so no need to sculpt trenches. Since posting earlier i have come up with a road map design, each road will be 8 wide (just wider than a baneblade) i will have 4 tiles with strait roads in the centre, 2 tile with T junctions and 2 tiles with bends. this is the optimal way i can see of being able to use different road network layouts. With roads that are 8 wide i then am left with an 8 gap on the narrow sides for buildings etc and a gap of 16 between the 2 roads. i am considering making up a low detail 3D model quickly to show people what i mean. i am confident that by making the roads this way i will be able to make some realy interesting layouts. Once the 8 tiles are finished i may invest in more mdf to create blank / unique tiles. I may even reduce the amount of road tiles to 6 and have 2 blank as that may also allow more options. |
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Post by AshotNINJA on Nov 15, 2012 16:47:32 GMT -5
i have recently made a 6X4 playing board ... and i was given lots of tips... so if you dont mind, im gonna pass them on..
mdf is prone to warping so the thicker you get it the better, 12mm was ok for me, but others recomended 18mm or 22mm ... the thicker board you get the more expensive it is..
(tip... go to b&Q to get the mdf, if you need to... they can saw it up for you in store... also if you buy loads, lie to the person on the till, and say its just one board, guarrenteed they wont know the difference and put it through as one...hehe)
also because MDF is prone to moisture, seal the boards first with pva gue both sides... its worth it in the long run.
if you want quick texture added to your board, and dont want the mess of glue and sand... find a textured spray paint, they are fantastic and after it dries, can be repainted and its raised enough to drybrush and can make convincing sand effects.
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Post by dougeye on Nov 16, 2012 1:43:35 GMT -5
ah thanks i didnt know about textured spray! ill look into it, also on mdf, yes it will warp if left in large sheets and not stored flat. with the smaller peices i will make, touch wood i won't have the problem, also i have a trade account at Bradfords building supplies so i get 25% off on materials and we claim the VAT back lol The only thing they don't have is a saw bench to cut it at the yard, no matter though i have all the tools at home. |
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Post by treadiculous on Nov 16, 2012 3:26:53 GMT -5
I would suggest you avoid mdf and look for plywood as mdf contains carcinogenic fibres which cause damage to the lungs.
My main table is a 6 x 4 piece of ply and I have 2 pieces of 2 x 6 which I use to extend it.
I also have some ply which is about half and inch thick which I cut into contour lines so I can make layered hills of different shape each game.
I make roads and rivers out of hardboard which then sits on top of the table, hard board is quite cheap and very thin so is easy to cut into wiggly shapes, and since it will sit on the plywood table it doesn't need to be all that strong.
Have a look at the battle reports I have done to see images of the various tables.
(I need to paint the table extensions properly as they look weird being a different colour)
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Post by dougeye on Nov 16, 2012 3:44:43 GMT -5
thanks for the heads up but i am aware of the issues regarding mdf dust, ill be cutting it outside with dust mask etc and then sealing it with pva |
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Post by dougeye on Nov 18, 2012 14:54:44 GMT -5
UPDATE So i got round to starting the Build today! Thought i would show the steps ive done so far. 1)First off i cut the 8x4 10mm MDF into 8 2x2 sheets. I then treated the sheets with PVA 50/50 mix to seal them.  2) Next i sprayed one side of the boards and the edges with chaos black (this was a silly and expensive way of doing it as i used nearly two whole tins. find a cheaper spray!  Non need to be perfect black as long as it gets the primer. 3) The next step once the primer was dry was to mask up the road ways i designed and the edges of the boards to prevent the texture paint i will show next from effecting those areas.   4) Next step and the last step i reached today was to apply the texture paint, do not believe what it sais on the tin below about fast drying, its 5 hours touch dry and 24 do go fully hard lol    As you can see the spray offers a nice texture. If you want it the be rougher just keep spraying the same area. a thin coat gives the same sort of detail as the realm of battle board texture. The next stage tomo will be to spray the sections with a grey spray, this will be experimental as im not sure if i will want pure grey of just enough to make it look concrete in appearance. The part im not sure about is how im going to finish the details. Dont think GW washes are going to be right for this job, i mean they would make a good job of it but i would need about 50 pots the cover the area lol What about black gloss watered right down? anyways ill update when it finished, the frame it will sit on ive decided will just be some old planks i have for now so i wont bother showing that side of the build lol |
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Post by Welsh Paul on Nov 18, 2012 16:01:34 GMT -5
A word of warning on using MDF as a game board - it can warp very easily so be careful to store the board sections completely flat.
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Post by hendrik on Nov 18, 2012 17:50:23 GMT -5
cheap washes can be made by using cheap water-based paints and lots of water.
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Post by dougeye on Nov 19, 2012 2:24:07 GMT -5
Thanks Welsh Paul, this is part of the reason im not having any raised features on the section themselves so that they can be stored flat, also should not be too bad in smaller sections.
thanks hendrik ill take a look at the local hobby shop.
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Post by Welsh Paul on Nov 19, 2012 3:42:05 GMT -5
cheap washes can be made by using cheap water-based paints and lots of water. They can also be made with oil paints thinned down with white spirit - one tube of oil paint can last years. I use this technique on all of my vehicles and buildings; it gives a more even finish than water-based washes due to its lower surface tension, dries faster and gives a lovely, matte, gritty look to models. |
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Post by Adkenpachi on Nov 19, 2012 4:01:14 GMT -5
Youd be better going somewhere like wilkinsons than a hobby shop, a hundred times cheaper if your not bothered about quality.
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Post by dougeye on Nov 19, 2012 7:24:43 GMT -5
hmm ill take a look at oil based stuff aswell, i want to get the grey on first before i make decisions and see how it turns out.
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Post by dougeye on Nov 19, 2012 15:34:49 GMT -5
Small Update 19/11/2012 Ok so i got around to spraying the textured boards grey. I sprayed the roads also. I then sprayed the road sections again with a metalic silver tinted black in the hopes of making it look tarmac in style but to be honest it just looks black again lol, ah well, i think ill have to paint on some road details and see how it looks, i also need to find a nice solution for dry brushing / washing the boards as they look like just block colour at the moment.  I was looking at this and thought how fun it would be to have a convoy themed battle were the convoy had to get from 1 end to the other 16ft lol     black is still wet here, hence the shinyness...  so im at this stage, what to do next? hmmm |
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Post by Q'Eltari on Nov 20, 2012 18:09:41 GMT -5
Looking city-licious Dougeye. I'm not only jealous of the ambition and work, but also the space you've got.
Can definitely see the idea of a convey breakthrough down the long road, or an entire armoured regiment lining up on one side for a tank on tank fest. I'm going all grandiose now, but expand it to 16'x4'... awww go on now! ;-)
Really looking forward to seeing this develop.
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Post by dougeye on Nov 21, 2012 2:32:53 GMT -5
haha unfortuantly the space i have in the pics os not for gaming, its a cellar in the middle of a conversion, the reason im making it moduler as because im stuck in a pokey flat sized room lol
There will not be much in the way of progress on this for a couple of weeks now as ive got UNI work and oh yes a 3000 points chaos army to build lol
Ill keep it updated when it does progress do not worry.
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Post by 3ff3ct on Nov 25, 2012 16:19:33 GMT -5
Get some cheapy builders PVA, water it down and seal the MDF before you spray it, as it'll stop it being absorbed. It'll add a day on in drying time, although it'll save you buying loads of spray!
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Post by dougeye on Nov 26, 2012 7:54:44 GMT -5
PVA was first thing i did  it used an ok amount of paint, not much absorbtion, just one coat, but in hindsight i should ahve used some halfords primer rather than the expensive GW primer for the black layer. |
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Post by 3ff3ct on Dec 3, 2012 12:17:54 GMT -5
Ouch, that's a lot of money on spray!
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Post by dougeye on Dec 3, 2012 12:29:21 GMT -5
Got some pics of the board assembled and armies deployed which ill post up soon |
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it used an ok amount of paint, not much absorbtion, just one coat, but in hindsight i should ahve used some halfords primer rather than the expensive GW primer for the black layer.