Making a Gaming Table

[Scorch]

It's been on my mind for a while, that I would like to build my own gaming table, not to buy the rather expensive Realm of Battle gameboard, currently flogged by the GW.

My problem is that I have next to no idea where to start, or how to go about building one.
It's been decided amongst the group that we would like it to be arctic/snow themed, so how would we go about texturing and shading such a large area of white/blue (6'x4') without making it look completely flat?

Then comes the question of what unique ideas we build into the board, or can add as scenery?

And ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[Wolfshade]

One idea is to make it fairly modular. He made it from 6 2'x2' tiles of styrofoam so that he could have hills and troughs.

One thing i would like to see in any table is an area of water, like a river or some such let the Chimera amphibious rule come into play!

[bethor]

Basic building of the table is easier than you would think. We've built our from 4x8 wood panel, cut down to 4x6. we then use 1x1 backing around the outsides, attached with wood glue and brad nails. we put two additional 4' struts to divide the support into three sections. This will leave 4 4' supports, and 2 6' struts.
We then attach a piece of 4x8 cut down to 4x6 1" pink foam insulation with industrial glue (applied w/ caulking gun) and a few brad nails to hold in place.

Once the glue is set, you can texture using spackle mixed with water to give a light flowy texture. If you want some areas of heavier texture you can mix in a bit of sand.

If you want a winter theme table, I would recomend finding a cheap acrylic paint, and put down a coat of medium grey then a coat of light grey. Once that has set, you can use spray paint to add some visual interest (do not use spay paint on the bare foam, it won't work!). using two or three different colors/gloss levels to add some contrast in white.

Snow is the hardest table to work, but that will give you a medium quality table fore under $50.

[Denzark]

Cheap table tennis table - even folds away as well...

[Strangleweb]

Best thing to do is get a little design brief together and post it and people can give you more targetted advice. For instance:

What size table are you after? 6'x4'?
Modular or Fixed? Fixed is cheaper, but lacks flexibility
How are you storing it?
Fixed terrain or movable?
Do you want hills built in or just a flat table?
Do you have any scenery already?
How experienced are you in carpentry?
etc etc...


You want a winter board, but i'd look at real tundra environments for ideas to break up a snow table. Search for tundra and arctic in google and compare - it's difficult to make a full snow board look interesting, so intersperse with some grassland or rocky outcrops.

[BolterBrains]

The link below is the base for the boards me and my buddy's built in high school.

http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Materials-Insulation-Rigid-Insulation/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbaxx/R-100320293/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051#.UMf5foPBF8E

The foam boards in MHO are some of the best ways to start a good board. They combine mobility, ease of creation, and sturdiness in a cheap package. All you need is a little paint and some material to texture the boards with. The boards are designed to be fitted tightly and lock together and then in this case they can come apart for easy storage. all you need is a good table to put them on. Me and my buddies actually had a painted, textured green field on one side and a painted and textured city fight board on the flip side. another advantage of the foam board.

Just don't use spray paint or spray glue, unless you want some really wacked out moonscape type textures..... (melty melty)