*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 11:50:00 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Donate

We Appreciate Your Support

Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 1686475
  • Total Topics: 118102
  • Online Today: 857
  • Online Ever: 2235
  • (October 29, 2023, 12:32:45 AM)
Users Online

Recent

Author Topic: Sand table  (Read 5036 times)

Offline Argonor

  • Elder God
  • Posts: 11336
  • Attic Attack: Mead and Dice!
    • Argonor's Wargames
Sand table
« on: November 21, 2006, 01:10:07 PM »
I just got an incredibly exciting (stupid?) idea for a 2x2 desert table.

In my childhood (late 70's) wargamers used what used to be called 'sand tables' for their games.

It's basically a board with high (5-10 cm) edges (which makes it a very shallow box) filled with sand.

The sand can be rearranged for every game - you can even bury hidden tombs/artifacts and embed the bases of your other scenery (cliffs, rocks, even houses) in a way that's very pleasing to the eye.

To make the sand stay in place, you spry some water on it with one of those sprayflasks that can spray a very fine dust.

I disregatrded this kind of table many years ago, as a full wargaming sand-table is very, very heavy and need a permanent place to be - but with a 2x2 table, you can emty it into a bag and put it away between games :-)

I think, I'll be building one of these at some point during the winter or spring - and when I get a webpage up, I'll also post some pics, if it turns out all right!
Ask at the LAF, and answer shall thy be given!


Cultist #84

Offline Argonor

  • Elder God
  • Posts: 11336
  • Attic Attack: Mead and Dice!
    • Argonor's Wargames
Sand table
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2006, 01:10:53 PM »
Oh - and I forgot: You can very easily arrange dunes on such a table, too ;-)

Offline PeteMurray

  • Parapsychologist
  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2330
  • Cardinal Murray
Sand table
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2006, 02:01:08 PM »
I'd be interested to see how it works out. Holding the sand in place will be the real issue, and I'll be curious as to how spraying it works out. The other concern I would have would be excessive wear on the paint on the edges of the figures' bases.

So in other words, I think YOU should try out these things before I do.  :mrgreen:

Offline Westfalia Chris

  • Cardboard Warlord
  • Administrator
  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 7474
  • Elaborate! Elucidate! Evaluate!
Sand table
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2006, 03:01:41 PM »
I´m sure it´ll work well with plastics, but might not be pewter minis be too heavy for the surface, ie sinking in?

Offline WitchfinderGeneral

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 779
Sand table
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2006, 06:59:21 PM »
Quote from: "Westfalia Chris"
I´m sure it´ll work well with plastics, but might not be pewter minis be too heavy for the surface, ie sinking in?

I don't think he wants to use a kind of quicksand, so no, the figures won't sink in and get lost forever.

I think this would look great but I fear that it will get messy sooner or later. Like using real water for your rivers.
"I'd like to send this letter to the Prussian consulate in Siam by aeromail. Am I too late for the 4:30 autogyro?"
"Uh, I better look in the manual... This book must be out of date. I don't see "Prussia", "Siam" or "autogyro"...

Offline Westfalia Chris

  • Cardboard Warlord
  • Administrator
  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 7474
  • Elaborate! Elucidate! Evaluate!
Sand table
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2006, 08:21:47 PM »
Well, whenever I tried to place pewter minis on a larger area of sand, they pushed away the sand to quite an extent, that´s why I asked...

Offline Argonor

  • Elder God
  • Posts: 11336
  • Attic Attack: Mead and Dice!
    • Argonor's Wargames
Sand table
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2006, 09:02:30 PM »
Quote from: WitchfinderGeneral
Quote from: "Westfalia Chris"
I´m sure it´ll work well with plastics, but might not be pewter minis be too heavy for the surface, ie sinking in?

I don't think he wants to use a kind of quicksand, so no, the figures won't sink in and get lost forever.
quote]

I actually had a short flash in the back of my mind of a buried shoepolish can (the flat ones) with a 'lid' of slit paper to act as a quicksand trap. I got a little worried, though, about 1) the fate of miniatures falling in (the paint, I mean), and 2) my sanity...   :lol:

It doesn't matter if the miniatures' bases leave marks/rearrange the sand a bit - after all, you would expect the desert to be messed up a bit during a fight, anyway (and it can be corrected very fast and easy for the nescessary battle report camera shots).

Offline Driscoles

  • The Dude
  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4326
Sand table
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2006, 09:06:09 PM »
Ok...carry on....I start painting French Foreign Legion for the Desert  :mrgreen:
Iam curious on your result too.

The whole thing will be pretty heavy. Although its only a small table. I can recall how surprised I was how heavy the sand was when I filled the 1,20 x 120 sandbox in our backyard for my daughter !
Björn
, ,

Offline Argonor

  • Elder God
  • Posts: 11336
  • Attic Attack: Mead and Dice!
    • Argonor's Wargames
Sand table
« Reply #8 on: November 21, 2006, 09:18:54 PM »
That's exactly why I haven't dreamt of using a sand table, before I came acroos 45A... (or it came across me, leaving me a complete pulp wreck.... well, actually Rugged Adventures is to blame, after all... ¤%A just finished me off)

 

Related Topics

  Subject / Started by Replies Last post
0 Replies
1672 Views
Last post June 01, 2010, 08:45:42 PM
by dreamingleopard
13 Replies
3486 Views
Last post October 08, 2014, 11:33:20 PM
by Peithetairos
11 Replies
4468 Views
Last post March 20, 2016, 10:31:27 PM
by SpaceGoblin
12 Replies
2414 Views
Last post January 27, 2021, 03:41:44 PM
by Bowman
20 Replies
2631 Views
Last post November 16, 2022, 05:25:57 PM
by Belgian