History of a Gaming Table Part II

Hey there Chaos worshipers! Glad you could all come around to this neck of the woods again. I'm a bit of a happy Chaos camper these days- I'm feeling a lot better health-wise, and I've gotten back on track with my 40K modelling addiction. I just played a game (see my previous post for the Battle Report), and it was a close one but a fun one (just how I like it... except against Joe... then I just want to win immediately and crush his hopes). The new Codex is looking really good so far, and I'm getting the hang of 6th edition now.

A few months ago, I put on this blog how I had to give up my gaming table. I simply no longer had room for this behemoth which had been designed by my friend Pete, put together by several friends, and painted by yours truly. But now, I simply can't let it take up so much room, so I gave it to Joe. It is now in his garage (more on that in another post). However, I still wanted my own gaming board of some kind- after all, what would I do with all my urban-themed terrain?

So, after considering several options, I decided to go with wooden boards from Home Depot. These boards are sized 4' x 2'. I figured that they would be sturdy enough for the job, but also very storage-able, so that they don't take up much space (which is why I needed to get rid of my table to begin with). Best of all, they are two sided- I could very easily paint up both sides, thus doubling my battle surfaces.

After buying 5 boards, I began the project on Memorial Day. I had bought tow shades of grey as well as black paint for the roads. I wanted it to look like my old table as much as possible (see: History of a Gaming Table Part 1 for a comparison). On the first two, I measured out the roads and the blocks. Now, I'm not the perfect with measurements like that, but I managed to have the roads be the same size and connect between the two boards. It was unbearably hot that day, but I finished the two boards by early evening. I was very pleased with the boards, I managed to make them look just like my old  table- or at least close enough to make me happy.

I got to the other three boards at the end of June. I decided to play with the roads a bit, leaving bigger blocks on one, more roads on the other, and finally one that was just block, no roads at all- if I wanted to make a very crowded section of buildings all together. Again, it all went together very well, and I was very pleased to have my "urban battle table" back, but in store-able form.

I began to plan for the other side of the boards. I had made my Dark Eldar with desert basing (Chaos was urban basing, natch), so I decided to make the other side into a desert/wasteland. I bought appropriate paints, and decided to try sand to add texture. Now, because I was ill, I didn't get to do it till this past week, however, I had a marathon session, and I painted 4 boards in the desert color (didn't do the 5th because I ran out of paint, and I figured 4 would be enough anyways). I dry brushed a lighter brown on the texture, and it turned out surprisingly good.

My brother and I decided to play our recent game on the desert side, since it looked so good. The board looked great during the battle. We used a few things that matched the table terrain-wise, and I now want to make a ton of desert terrain... My friend Pete is ready to help make hills and such. I am also re-painting my crashed Aquila ship for desert terrain (I had it urban/grey crash debris, easy enough to change and, frankly, I have more than enough urban terrain anyways).

So, by going the board route, I now have a double sided board system, and it takes up zero room when stored. That's exactly the solution I was working toward, and I'm thrilled that it worked the way I wanted it to. At any rate, I hope that "History of a Gaming Table" parts 1 and 2 will have inspired you, whether its about a gaming board, terrain ideas, modeling inspiration, or whatever. Hope you've enjoyed this.

Until next time...