Modular Terrain Boards

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:18 am

For anyone who's interested (and doesn't already know), I have an ongoing series of articles on my site describing the process I use to build terrain boards. I just posted the fourth installment and the fifth will be up soon.

Feedback would be appreciated and I'll be happy to answer questions about anything I didn't explain well enough...

http://www.quindia.com/studioarticles.htm

Post by **barr7430** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:49 am

Clarence,

I'll be in there today! because I am just about to embark on yet more terrain buiding

kutusov · Post by **kutusov** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:31 am

I've really enjoyed reading this great series of articles

how much do the finished boards weigh ?

Can't wait for the next chapter(Now I know what Harry Potter fans feel like.

Kutusov

ps why not submit it to one of the magazines I think loads of gamers would find it a clear precise guide to building terrain, before I read it building terrain always seemed rather daunting.

sharnydubs · Post by **sharnydubs** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:35 am

Great article, well photographed, clear guidance, just what is needed

many thanks

Post by **barr7430** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:04 am

Clarence,

for some reason I had missed these articles. They are fabulous!!!! Absolutely inspirational and so well laid out. Congrats on a top piece of work

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:24 am

Thanks for the articles. Very helpful.

Two new improvements i discovered in making terrain boards are:

1st (by Barry). Use papier-maché (right term? i.e. paper with glue) to make the hills and edges smooth. Working with a knife is really too much mess.

2nd. For the parts of the board where you dont need the grass mat: Find a rough stone ( a round one is the best) and press and roll it on the foam. It will make the surface rough and break the cutting edges on the foam.

It is interesting for me, that you dont put the roads and river in the middle of the small board sides. So you have a more irregular look, but not all your boards fit together. (The big river boards cannot switched for example.)

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:05 pm

While not all of the boards will fit together, the combinations I can get with the six boards are still impressive. I came up with fifteen different layouts without even trying. I have made boards in the past that would line up no matter how you placed them, but found the layouts to still be very similar. I wanted a more "organic" look.

Starting with two river boards in my initial example probably wasn't the best to show the versatility of the set becasue those three boards can only be placed in three different layouts (second row from the top in article one). River boards are always limited in that they need to either flow off the table or onto another river board. Also If I feel I have to have a certain layout and I have a road that dead ends, I can drop models of an inn or an orchard that I have and have the road lead to the gate. One or two of the boards may feature - earth on an edge that will meet up with the roads as well.

Something else I didn't show was the combinations with four boards. Many of the boards will fit together on the short ends. My table is only 4x6' so I just posted three board layouts, but I am going to build a small table that allows me to extend the area to 4x8' so maybe I'll post an article when things get slow (and I need an update!) to show some of the four board layouts.

Finally, as master of my own destiny, if I feel like I need a certain layout and can't figure something out (for instance, I don't have any coastal boards yet), I'll build more!

Thanks for all of the feedback! Article five will be up in a week or so...

18th Century Guy · Post by **18th Century Guy** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:07 pm

How much does each board weigh?

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 4:54 am

???

No idea. I'll find out. I rarely (read never) transport my terrain so I only have to move them about four feet from the storage closet!

I'll weigh one tomorrow and let you know...

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:17 am

Each board weighs 15-16 pounds

, but the MDF weighs around 12.5 pounds with nothing on it...

While much heavier than foam alone, these boards will take a beating. They may be heavy for transporting, but you could hit every convention on the tour with out having to repair them! As I said, mine don't travel so the weight wasn't a problem...

Ed Youngstrom · Post by **Ed Youngstrom** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 3:51 am

Thanks for sharing.

Just out of curiosity, are your MDF boards really 2' x 4' straight from the store? I bought a small stack for my project and was well into the first one when some things weren't matching up.

I went back and found the MDF were really 50 inches long, not 48! Arrgh.

That first board is the prototype for new ideas.

Ed

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 4:48 am

Actually, the last batch I bought was 49" long. What's funny is that both my desert boards and urban boards were true 48" and I have made numerous 2x2' boards in the past by cutting boards in half. They always ran true until this last batch...

They still line up ok. Just make sure to always measure roads/rivers from consistant corners and they will still line up ok...

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 12:30 am

All twelve articles are up... these boards are finished!

Post by **barr7430** » Mon May 01, 2006 4:09 pm

Another fantastic piece of work Clarence. I drew inspiration from it this very weekend(Public Holiday weekend). My wife and daughter went off to visit relatives so I spread myself out in the kitchen and built 6 feet of river for my Lodz game. Have not yet got to the water creation but hope to do that within the next week.

So far I am really pleased with the results. I even went back and read my own terrain making guide

and combined ideas from it and from yours

- Trans Atlantic cooperation

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Mon May 01, 2006 8:55 pm

Heck, I'm happy I documented the process so I can go back and figure out what I did when I make the next set!

Modular Terrain Boards

Modular Terrain Boards

Again, excellent articles