Topic: gameboards?

[magenb]

Are there any alternatives to the GW gameboards, with any luck ones that don't cost a packet

I know I could make something, but I'm all thumbs.

[jawmonkey]

I've slowly developed a love for making terrain and gameboards, here's a few brainstorms

Go to your lumber yard (Lowes, home depot, ace hardware, etc in the US), be an arse and have them cut a sheet of plywood into six 2'x2' squares, around here a 4'x6' sheet runs about $30, then spray paint them with green/grey/pink/whatever textured paint, or paint/flock it...

Buy the Realms of battle gameboard anyway, I sold my Chaos Space marines to get that beast and don't regret a minute of it (it is expensive though, but you'll never want to play on a flat board again).

Sabol makes a $50 game mat, in two different rocky/desert styles, I have one and its very durable and nice (a second favorite to ROB board).

My LGS uses large sheets of felt...

I suppose you could tear up an old refridgerator box too...

Are you talking about a gameboard specifically? (or game mats as well?) because buying a sheet of plywood might be one of your only options (e.g. do you need a big board to put on the kitchen table or something, or so you have a large playing surface available?).

I make lots of scratchbuilt terrain, and have about a half dozen game boards/mats, feel free to PM me and I'll help you out; I'll walk you through every step of making a board if you want.

[magenb]

The table I have is a little shy of 4x6 and I currently have some flat painted MDF, but I quiet like the built in hills on the GW board. I thought there might be a competitor or two floating around as the GW one is the average weekly wage down here.

[RandomGuardsman]

Go to your lumber yard (Lowes, home depot, ace hardware, etc in the US), be an arse and have them cut a sheet of plywood into six 2'x2' squares

  Not sure about Lowes, but around here ACE, Home Depot, and Menardes refuse to cut anything due to liability issues. Also, I noticed that when you have a sectioned board of 1' x 1' or 2' x 2' you can actually cheat by learning distances based on the model positioning if you do not cover the cracks.  Hanith and I had to scrap our first board due to this issue because he worked at Menardes, and I work as a pooltable mechanic, so we can judge distance really well just by looking at it.

  What I ended up doing, is taking a 44" x 48" piece of scrap MDF, covering it with a Camel/Khaki paint, then after it dried covering it with Elmers Glue (PVA). I took some Sand box sand, and put a few sprays of Orange onto it, then spread it around on the Glue, and after drying we shook it off. I made a slightly off kilter road by gluing Sand I had spraypainted black/grey  to it. The biggest issue we forsee, and some people have told us about it, is that it will scratch models/bases unless we coat it with a layer of PVA glue. We have not had the issue with base/model damage yet, but we are pretty easy on our models. We pick them up, and set them down, so no sliding involved.

  Just an Idea to kick around.

[jawmonkey]

IDK I rather enjoy the ability to more easily guess ranges

If you don't want to use a sectioned board, or cover it, your only option will be to figure out how to store a 4x6 panel of wood; IMHO I think its worth it to deal with the easy guestimation. That and if one were to make their own sectioned board they could make modular hills like the ROB board (which is awesome).

[High Grandmaster smithmyster666 of the Grey Knights]

I found using insulation board was the easiest way to go, its light, and itd cheap, and some places will sell it pre cut too.
With regards to the cracks, the distance issue works both ways, as mine is 1'X2' the 12" deployment line is visible so no measuring and such to see if its 12" in or not, which saves masses of time, and besides, over time you get pretty good at judging distance, so having the lines there doesn't really make a difference to seasoned players.

[jawmonkey]

IDK about 1x2 sections, don't they move around a bunch; about the only problem with the ROB board (bulk and wieght aside) is that those little clasps are worthless and the board can slide and move.

I make a lot of terrain out of that polystyrene sheet insulation (so you know what to look for at the hardware store  ), and I'm currently sitting on a panel and a half of the stuff, slowly contemplating what kind of board I want to make (volcanic, craftworld, icy, so many choices!).

I did previously forget to mention the foam stuff, you even have two options; a thin sheet of foam glued to thin pieces of plywood, or simply use the thick sheets. I can only find 2 or 3 inch thick stuff out here, I moved from Missouri where I could find 3/4 inch thick stuff (which was awesome), but I've usually found it for $15 a sheet, I don't recall the demensions, but I know that I'll need 2 sheets to make a 4x6 board.

I'm aware of no company that makes a comparable product (e.g. modular gameboard), so as far as I know, you can fork out $250-$300 for the ROB board, or a probably a third of that making it from scratch from foam and whatnot.

Again, Meganb, if you want PM me and I'll be happy to talk to you personally about making one of these (or anybody else for that matter).

[Shas'La robo]

Again, Meganb, if you want PM me and I'll be happy to talk to you personally about making one of these (or anybody else for that matter).

Considered making a tutorial??

robo

[jawmonkey]

Considered making a tutorial??

Err, click the second link in my signature line, the one that says "terrain tutorial". While I haven't made an entire gameboard yet, the various examples could easily be modified to do just that (just make them on a larger scale).

[Angrygreek]

Granted they don't have built in hills etc., but I do love the Zuzzy game mats.

http://www.zuzzy.com/

[jawmonkey]

I haven't seen one in person, but after reviewing the site, I do like the look of the mats. The price seems reasonable as well, sort of wish I could have found those before getting a sabol battle mat; I still like it, but it doesn't have any texture, although the sabol mat is washable.

[Lt_PliskinAJ]

I for one love the Zuzzy game mat. I have one and love to use it. If anything the only downside to it is the fact that is rubber and the first few times we rolled dice on it they kinda went everywhere. Once you realise that its fine.

Foam boards are a great way to get a board for cheap. I have never had a problem with home depot, Lowe's or any of the others cutting wood for me. I think they do up to 3 cuts for free per sheet where I live. The foam table I made tho just was a series of tiles and I just bought a few 4x8 sheets and cut them up into 2x4 sheets with a box knife in the parking lot before loading them up in the car. The smaller precut 2x4 sheets were around the same price of the 2x8 sheet so I went the cheap way. I think it was around 40ish dollars to have a textured modular trench board instead of the 200+ for the GW one.

[jawmonkey]

I didn't have anything to make a straight line with when I got my foam board. I'm sitting on a few chunks of the stuff building up enough courage to make my own board, use the scraps to make terrain to sell/trade.

[High Grandmaster smithmyster666 of the Grey Knights]

on the sliding issue, they only slide if you give them a good nudge, the weight of the terrain and models seems to do a pretty good job at keeping them in place.

+ the boards stack so neatly down the side of my wardrobe its unreal

[Partninja]

Our LGS tables are made from cheap 2'x2' squares of MDF board from a local home supply store. Grab a can of textured spray paint (ours is a mix of black, gray, white) and spray it on. Then go back with a sharpy and ruler and make squares/rectangles to make "slabs" of pavement. Spray a good bit of varnish over it all to keep the paint from chipping. Done and done. Looks nice, low cost, easily storable and transportable.