Build a storable, portable, folding gaming table.

[Andrew May]

I have two wooden batons on the bottom of my board that clamp nicely to my kitchen table to stop it slipping, but I do have to put a cloth on the table to stop it scraping.

I think I will be shamelessly stealing your foam mat idea to negate the need for the cloth and to help grip better.
Nice one!
 

Got mine from a camping supply store on Amazon, supposedly sleeping mats but pretty small (cheap though), they're about 8mm thick. I initially searched for exercise mats thinking they'd be thick and durable....but adding the word "yoga" to a product seems to quadruple the price!

I used the dregs of a uhu tube and some old araldite to glue it on (I'm not entirely sure what the mats are made of) neither seemed to melt it, do a "patch test" first.

[Mason]

Now this is going to sound weird, but I bought a pack of two camping/yoga mats on Amazon only last week.
I only bought two as they come in a twin pack and were so cheap.

I reasoned that I may find a use for the second...and then you go and do this.

Fate, I tell ya!




Anyone else looking for cheap mats by the pair...they are here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001927P2O/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They have a foil backing which may help, as it should help them stay in one piece.



 

[Andrew May]

8mm too! 

[Andrew May]

Here I am for today.
Last layer of styrofoam went on and to my relief is pretty flush with the internal frame edges (the filler isn't as caked on as it looks!) All of the paved areas are Wills plastic sheets and there's some other dressed stone plastic sheeting on the walls that I picked up from 4D but didn't notice the brand name.
You can't see well in the photos but one recess is the collapsed basement and one is a sewer (it looks a bit like it is purposely open rather than collapsed  but it might look better painted).
Next up I've got some basketball textured fabric to make cobbles, loads of putty work to blend and edge the paving and some grit to glue on!  

Edit: The filler is B&Q brand flexible filler to try to avoid cracking, we'll see how it holds up.

[Mister Rab]

Nicely done so far, Andrew - you may tempt me to attempt something similar 

[Dewbakuk]

I look forward to seeing this develop. I've got a 3' square basketball fabric board in my dining room currently, it works well. I'm just waiting on some clear weather that coincides with free time.

[Andrew May]

Hey everyone, some more progress has been made on the board.


Here's the next stage. The red area is suede "basketball" textured fabric, it will look just like cobbles when it's painted. I glued it down with a thin layer of PVA, there may be a better adhesive solution however as I had a lot of annoyance with it wrinkling unevenly when it absorbed the moisture. A coat of thinned glue to seal it and a few hours in the sun got it tight as a drum again but we'll see if I've got it completely sealed when it comes to painting it. The brown areas are dry soil, collected  from the garden and sieved to remove pebbles etc. Again I used PVA to glue and seal it, brused at the edges to feather it out a bit.



Close ups. I'm going to sculpt "curbs" with putty and add more filler and cut card loose flagstones.


And now for the "baffles" I'm going to cover bits of 2mm plasticard with the same textures as the board to eliminate the built in terrain features, to give more flexibility for gaming.

[Hammers]

This is a brilliant idea and a very helpful tutorial. Thanks

[obsidian3d]

Great looking work so far. You're way more industrious than I!

[OSHIROmodels]

Coming along nicely Andrew 

cheers

James

[Mason]

Looking good, mate!
 

[Justin Buck]

That looks fricking awesome! I my have to steal this!

[Andrew May]

I had a little time over the weekend to construct an experimental baffle (as mentioned above) for obscuring the recessed areas on the board. hopefully these pics should give you (and I) a better Idea of what the board will end up looking like.



I covered the 2mm plasticard with some Wills sheeting, "basketball" fabric, a little dry soil, some cut card flagstones and sculpted some curbstones with "greenstuff" putty.



Next up came a coat of primer followed by a couple of layers of ink washes and drybrushed grey. I used watered down Talens acrylic ink for the washes, mainly black but a little brown/green/sepia for tonal variety. Some cheap acrylic craft paint did fine for the drybrushing, a thin wash of ink over that helped finish it off.


Here's the finished article, A coat of matt varnish has been applied.


Afterwards I glued a sheet of 2mm neoprene foam fabric to the underside to protect the tabletop and help it sit nicely on any slightly uneven surface.

[Centaur_Seducer]

Looking good mate!

[Dewbakuk]

Ooh, that looks good. I've been a little worried about dry brushing my big piece as it might look too bland. Clearly I need to do some ink washes first, not afterwards!