Citadel Realm of Battle Gameboard

[jus]

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... prod730814

hmm I want one.

However, if one were to attempt to DIY, what kind of materials do you think would be good to use? I like the 61cmｘ61cm square boards for ease of packing and storage.

Plasticard or some sort of wood would probably be durable, but would require cutting it up.

[Tenorikuma]

I've often thought about trying to make something similar, but I think it would be challenging to make something that was thin and light enough to carry around. Wood boards will warp just enough to be annoying unless they're thick enough. Sheets of ABS might be stiff and light enough to work... you could probably get Tokyu Hands to cut them to size. And then you'd want to make the hills and stuff with polystyrene foam and a foam cutter.

[Spevna]

I would go with the blue polystyrene(perhaps?) boards they use for insulating walls with. Dont use the white stuff that TVs come packed in as it breaks up when you try to cut it.

The blue stuff is very light, very strong (for it's weight) and leaves a nice edge when cut. It needs a coat of watered down PVA glue before painting though as it will soak up anything you put on it.

[Primarch]

I second polystyrene as your best bet. It's lightweight, easy to cut to shape and regular white glue is enough to hold it together. It's not the most durable stuff though. Blue foam is good, pink is better if you can find it. It will set you back a fair amount of cash though.
I have never seen plasticard in the size needed to make a tabletop out of, the usual stuff would bend and flex like crazy.
Wood is ok, but very heavy if you want to bring it to games.

Having gone to the effort of making my own modular set of terrain boards I can honestly say that you will get more use out of a decent set of terrain and a grass mat than you ever will out of the boards. Put together enough terrain to fulfill the 25% suggestions before you even bother with a set of boards, that would be my advice.

[ashmie]

Wooden boards are great for sculpting a board and painting it all from scratch but wont make it further than your house or town at a stretch. Too heavy. Great if you have a space to leave it stored or set up though.
I mean if you have the money Jus, why not get one of those realm of battle boards. It would save you a bit of time and would be fun to use for all of us.

[me_in_japan]

oooh!oooh! *MiJ raises hand*

my table is light as hell. Aside from being inconveniently large, there's not much to stop you carrying it around. Also, mine is waaay deeper than it needs to be.

to build such a thing you need:

thin wood sheets (3mm or so thick)
square wooden batons (2-3cm thick)
a big sheet of that blue polystyrene folks are talking about (the same thickness as your batons.)

cut your wooden sheet into the desired size of square
Screw or glue batons along the edge of each of your wooden sheets. This makes it much stronger and keeps it light.
cut the polystyrene sheet to fit inside each of your wooden sheets, now framed in wood.

Use spare polystyrene to make hills n shit. Think long and hard where you put these, if you want to have any chance of arranging your boards freely. Or, just plan out one layout and accept that itll be that one always.

using a hot soldering iron or just a sharp knife, cut out some rivers or whatever from your polystyrene. A forward thinking bloke would do this before he stuck it to the wood

paint the whole thing in a mix of glue, cement and paint (cheap paint from DIY store)
drybrush a few times with lighter shades etc.
add some greenery/flock etc.

enjoy

[Tenorikuma]

Btw, I have a foam cutter if you want to borrow one. It makes it very easy and avoids the mess of foam chips everywhere.

[me_in_japan]

Do you find the foam cutter to be useful? I had one and ended up chucking it out. It cut the foam cleanly and all, but it took aaaaages to do so. Not a big deal If youre just making something a few inches around, but when you're cutting 20 or 30 feet worth of river bed it gets real annoying real fast. I found a good sharp knife to be much more efficient, but maybe my cutter was duff, I dunno.

[Tenorikuma]

You do have to apply some pressure for it to cut quickly, but I do find it useful, yes. Maybe yours didn't get hot enough?

[Admiral-Badruck]

I saw a review of this product... The two main problems were the dice bounced around and they made a lot of noise.