I decided to make a gaming board to play on, and I have got the wood and have cut it into 4 parts which join together to make a 6x4 board. Since this is my first attempt at any sort of terrain type thing I did not want to try a modular board (I want a bit of experience first).

My question is what should I do to the top of the board? I don't want to spend too much and have sand redily availible if that is the best way to go. I collect elves so I want the board to be based around that sort area (I will have removable terrain such as woodland and structures so I can change what part of the elven kingdoms its based around) so a grassy sort of thing.

Also what sort of buildings should I have for rivindell/mirkwood? Any links to guides on making elf structures would be very helpful (I've searched myself and found nothing that would be any good yet).

Thanks

Sorry if this is in the wrong section, I only just signed up.

Hi Johnny, welcome to the One Ring - oh, and this is the right spot for your question

Sand is a good base for a gaming table and if you have it available in large amounts then that's what I'd recommend you use. Using anything else can get expensive if you've a large area to cover.

PVA (Elmers / White Glue / Wood Glue - it's all the same) is a great way to stick sand to the table surface (and your fingers). But use a kitchen sieve to spread the sand out over the glue - you'll get a lot more even coverage that way.

Painting that much area will take a lot of paint so it's best to use cheap acrylic paints from your local craft shop instead of the hobby paints (like GW or Vallejo). I usually go for Burnt Umber as the base colour, which is a good match for GW's Graveyard Earth, and then use a yellow ochre to drybrush the raised surfaces to give it a bit of life.

I'd probably cover the sand with some patches of flock and static grass to make it more attractive and a better match for your models' bases, but you can leave taht step until you've got a bit more cash - can be a bit expensive. (In any event, you can get much better value for money using flock and static grass from a model railroad store instead of GW's stuff.)

As for elven buildings - that's a big question hidden in few words. Elven architecture is probably the most complex of all building styles in Middle-earth and making them look "right" is a bit tricky for someone starting out in the hobby.

I'd recommend you start with something small first, maybe a 'flet' (a hidden platform in a tree) - the extended edition of the Fellowship of the Ring has one in the Lothlorien scene.

After that you could do some statues or ruined arches covered in moss and ivy, and work your way up to doing full buildings.

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Dagster

Well, whilst Dagorlad has covered the general way to go, here are a couple more suggestions.


Rather than texturing the board with sand, use the cheapest, nastiest woodchip containing wallpaper you can find. Talking £2-3 for a roll, which should cover your board easily. Just glue it down, and once dry, spray it black, then whatever colour you want the board to be.

The beauty of the woodchip (I'm talking solely in a horizontal sense here, hung vertically it is horrendous) is that it is easily drybrushed to add texture to the tabletop.

A similar although slightly more expensive option is patterend vinyl flooring.

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Studio gaarew; Gaming armies, by gamers, for gamers.

If I use sand how should I paint it to look like grass/woodland? Or wood the grey then yellow work well? With structure I might make some general structures first then mabye try some elven structures when I've had some practise if they are hard to do.

If you go the sand route, you really don't need to paint it like grass.

*Science Bit*

Due to the shade afforded by the tree canopy, the density of the woodland, and proximity of the trees will have an effect on the amount of sunlight reaching the forest floor. Therefore, in very heavily wooded areas, there will be little to no grass, except for patches where the sunlight naturally penetrates the canopy, or are gaps in it. The rest of the ground will be pretty much earth, with a variety of stunted vegetation, and dead leaves and other detritus from the canopy above.

*End of Science Bit*

What this means to the gamer -

Even for a woodland table, the board does not have to be covered entirely in grass, unless you are fighting on an Elvish bowling green...

A more natural look will be achieved if you keep the majority of the board as earth, with patches of grass scattered around, as this creates the impression of a forest that goes beyond the actual amount of trees on the board.

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Studio gaarew; Gaming armies, by gamers, for gamers.

Thanks a lot for the help. I'm just about to start the board, I'll post pictures when I have finished painting it but before I have made any terrain. It may take a while to be finished though as I'm going on holiday for 2 weeks tommorrow but I'll post pictures when I get back.

Hmmm.

Good luck with it all Johnny189, looking forward to seeing your pictures.

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Dagster

I know this thread is old now but I've just sprayed the board brown, and I am unsure of what colours to drybrush over it. I don't know wether to use grey/brown/yellow ect.

Well I beleive you were making it grass/woodland terrain? In that case, drybrush it a darkish brown (Burnt Umber or Burnt Sierra), then drybrush it very lightly with an equivalent of Bleached Bone. Once that's done it's up to you to put grass and trees where you find suitable.

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Hmm... what would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?

I'd suggest that you first drybrush it (heavy) with a pretty dark brown, then a bit lighter drybrush of ochre colour or something.

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Ole Blood'n'guts...

in the fellowship journeybook is a guide about it, but comes down to painting this:
basecoat snakebite leather
drybush vomit brown
drybush bleached bone
but i dont suggest you to do this(expensive paint), if i were you i would look for something like these colors

Thanks for the help but unfortunatly after sspraying the board I put it on a table to see how it would look and board has lost its shape completely. I've only just found out that water causes the type of wood I'm using to warp so I am going to have to start from scratch.

May I ask what type of board you used which cause the loss in shape? I'd like to avoid using a similar material if I plan to construct a board in the future.

I used MDF although I'm not sure if it was the wood or me using too much water. Whatever wood you use make a frame for it.

If I could give some timely advice before you get stuck in again...
Try using a styrene sheet, of maybe 1-2mm thickness. You can track one down at an industrial plastic place, if you have one nearby. That is totally waterproof and wont warp on you. Failing that, ask a guy in your local home hardware store how to keep MDF from warping.
Once you solve that problem, try applying a good amount of terrain "goop" onto your board as your first step. Its made from vermiculite (buy it at a plant store or hardware store, its a soil additive, chunky in nature) wall plaster (I use polyfilla, a cellulose based compond) and regular plaster.
Slop it around on your board and you'll never go back.
It will give the type of natural rolling terrain that even flat ground really looks like. If you want modular hills, leave spaces on your board for them.
And in case you arent now, buy your supplies at a model railroad place, its way cheaper than a gaming store, and the variety and sophistication is top notch. You can see what I have if you do a web search for "red dragon terrain" Its a hobby store I have for all the stuff I make, but it has a lot of good photos and info as well.