Multi-use terrain boards.

[The Eponymous M]

I have finally found myself in a position to build a decent gaming board; no more playing on the kitchen table with "she-who-must-be-obeyed" wanting to use it for mundane things like making food or (God forbid) actually eating at it!

Having done my happy dance of joy, I have started looking at various how-to guides across the internet and checking if my local B&Q has sheets of pink foam.

Now, I'm terrible for sticking to one project: Currently on my painting table is a variety of Black Cat Bases mythos goodies, a whole heap of FantaGreek bits and pieces, a box of Warlord Games British Commandos and enough German zombies to take Stalingrad in a weekend. This means I need to make them fairly flexible as Witchfinder General is giving me sleepless nights and I'm only one impulse buy away from starting something completely new! Luckily, I'm completely a 28mm gamer, any moments I have where I consider smaller/larger scales tend to be put to bed quite quickly when I think about having to build new terrain.

As such, I'm thinking about the practicalities of use and storage. I was thinking about 2"x3" modules, partly because they can be used as individual Strange Aeons boards, but mostly because they scale nicely to larger skirmish boards and fit neatly into the storage space I have.

Currently I'm planning about 6 boards, all flat(ish) or with terrain cut into them to allow me to place existing buildings/hills/etc. on top.

1: Hamlet/village/edge of town board. I don't have the resources to build a big, pretty city right now. As such I was planning a board that has about 50% grass and 50% "town texture" with a transition between the two. I'm a bit stuck at to how to do this; I've read a couple of articles and seen a couple of lovely examples using woodchip wallpaper to provide a cobblestone effect. I think this is realistically a possibility for me. However, is this correct for the typical New England town where most Mythos stories seem to be based? The pictures I can find online seem to show roads paved with stone blocks rather than a rounded cobbles I think of. According to Wikipedia, they're called setts. Is this the case? If so, does anyone have a simple way to model this? As fool proof as possible please!

2: Harbour. Pretty easy this one; about 1/2-2/3rds of the board covered in whatever texture I use on board 1 with a simple cut stone seafront, possibly with a slipway (depending on how I feel at the time), but most probably some rickety wood jetties made from coffee stirrers. Can be butted up against the "town" side of board 1 to make a larger gaming space. Possibly a little bit of "natural" edge at one side to allow to be put next to Board 3 without looking unnatural.

3. "Natural" riverside. 1/2-2/3rds grass, leading down to the waters edge. Can be butted up against another "grass" board, against the water side of the harbour board to make a river or next to the harbour board to make a longer waterfront.

4. A marsh. Fairly plain grass board, with detail carved in. Not exactly sure how to do this one. I've seen some good ideas on the internet. I was thinking or haphazardly digging some sections out, painting them brown, possibly burying some painted skeletons/logs in these sections and filling with a tinted water effect. If anyone has any better ideas on how to execute this, I'm really all ears!

5. Trench system. Dig out trenches. Line with coffee stirrers/matchsticks. Slosh enormous amounts of brown paint around to make it look muddy. I think this one is simple, but suggestions as to make it work better than I have suggested here always welcome.

6. Plain grass board. Kind of what it says on the tin. Rolling grass. Possible some minor undulation, but nothing serious.

Now, all these will have to be mounted on MDF. At least I think MDF, everyone else seems to use it as it doesn't warp and gives me a nice flat surface to paint the water sections. However, if anyone has a revolutionary idea. I was thinking about backing these so I can stack them without causing damage. Felt perhaps?

Apologies for the somewhat haphazard way of writing, I tend to write as I think and sometimes it follows a logic that only makes sense to me! This the first time I've tried to build a gaming board that is more involved than sticking a grass mat to a sheet of hardboard, so advice is deeply appreciated!

[Daeothar]

If you will consider storing your boards vertically instead of flat, you could do different textures on each side of the sections, giving you double the options. I'd say something townish, verdant and green on one side, and grimdark desolatate desert wasteland on the other side.

However; say you use 12mm MDF for your boards, and stick with the section sizes you stated; 60cm by 90cm (converted to metrics, for his calculating pleasure   ). When you build a simple rack to store those boards in, with shallow slots in the bottom for the 60cm sides of the boards, and 1cm strips inbetween, you could potentially store 40 board pieces on the footprint of a single section. Of course, this system will have your stored boards stand up their full 90cm, so you would need that amount of vertical storage space.

But 40x2=80 different sections for you to choose form. In this way, you could do desert, ice, grass, wasteland, woods and more and still have enough of each type to make up a whole table! Since you'd probably need just 4 or potentially 6 sections for a large setup, you could potentially create 13(!) different types of terrain, each of  which would allow you to lay out a 120x270cm table. That's 4"x9"; probably more than you would ever need, bar for Apocalypse games and full fledged Waterloo setups of course.

And if that's too much, just halve the amount of boards stored to 20, for a 60x45cm footprint. That's still 6 differently textured 4"x9" tables.

Think about it...

[Dewbakuk]

Marsh can be done incredibly simply. I'll take a photo of one of mine tomorrow when the sun comes back up.

[ffrum]

I offer a few suggestions for your terrain project.
I use Formular (pink foam) for large 4'x8' panels, or sometimes 4'x6' (more transportable).  These are somewhat fragile on the edges but if you have the skill/determination/time, the edges can be reinforced with glued on strips of wood, etc.
I build these large panels with matching contours to other panels when adding hills, rivers, etc. so they can be combined in a variety of configurations.
Storage is a consideration.  Look at my model of Fort Duquesne on this forum.  It consists of four 4'x8' panels, buildings, plus trees and stockade.  That is a lot to store and I am fortunate to have the room.
If all your boards are flat then matching edge profiles is not a problem.  Could you incorporate (foam) hills and area treatments (farmstead, field, forest, etc) as separate pieces to place on the boards?
You could use a mat painted for the town area and just place that where required by the scenario.
“The pictures I can find online seem to show roads paved with stone blocks rather than a rounded cobbles I think of. “
Make a roller of 2" diameter or larger with the sett pattern in raised lines on the surface of the roller.  Then you can place plaster on you stone roadway surface and then while still wet use the roller to make the brick/sett pattern by rolling it along the damp plaster.  This works for courtyards, and various stone type paved surfaces.
I would use a hot knife to cut the cut stone seafront, possibly with a slipway  and add probably some rickety wood jetties made from coffee stirrers.
I have made swamps and marshes by cutting some sections out, painting them brown/greem/grey and other colors blended, and I have submerged skeletons/logs in these sections.  For water I have used  (tinted water effect) clear resin cast in place, or clear plastic from the hardware store cut to become the water surface, fogged on the underside, with the edges concealed along the riverbank shoreline.
Trench system. I have made trench systems bby cutting out trenches in foam (thicker panels) using a hot knife that will cut channels. I have also built hills with trenches along the top ridge.  Use coffee stirrers and other small wood products for effect.
Minor undulation can be achieved by using foam contoured with a large hot knife or sanded (outside) and smoothed into the surface of the board with filler or plaster and painted.
Instead of MDF (too heavy), I would use 2” thick Formular (pink foam sheet) with the edges reinforced.
Good luck and show us your results!

[Burgundavia]

I have some foam boards that you can see here:


Near the end now by burgundavia, on Flickr

They are quite flat, but also quite light and flexible, even with flocking on them. They have silicon caulking on them, with flocking on top of that. We place our foam-based terrain on top, as well as the river, which you can see in the distance. Hope that helps.

[The Eponymous M]

Some excellent ideas; I hadn't considered using a roller to provide an even texture.

Planning to start the practical building next weekend. I assume something like gaffer tape would be adequate to reinforce the foam board edges?

Daeothar: I had planned to store the boards under the bed; but I do like the idea of building racking... Possibly a single wardrobe with batons screwed into the sides... Although I doubt I'll ever again play games large enough to need 80 boards (apparently I'm a responsible grown up with a job and a family and stuff) about 40 or so would mean I can manage most conceivable scenarios, even if only on a skirmish level.

Thanks all. I hope to show you all badly photographed pictures of poorly made terrain shortly!

[Burgundavia]

Planning to start the practical building next weekend. I assume something like gaffer tape would be adequate to reinforce the foam board edges?

My mats are actually a foam play mat designed for floors. Specifically: http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/3/HouseHome/HomeDecor/Flooring/PRD~0686044P/Kids+Reversible+Tiles%2C+24-in..jsp?locale=en

They need no reinforcing because they are designed for people to walk all over them. They flex too (and mold flat again in a few hours). Aside from the 2'x2' size and my failure to initially spraypaint them black, they are near perfect mats.