I have been making small bits of terrain for some time and recently
a lot of Western front WW2 type stuff. Unfortunately I have an
Eastern front type terrain board which has been disguised , very
badly as of late to look like Normandy 😦
So without a further thought of what I`m letting myself in for
and inspired by Arkiegamer ,its off to the shed and out with
power tools 🙂
Now I started this project a couple of months back and to be honest
I have been up to other things but in an attempt to get myself moving
its time to post up my progress and get on with it.
Stage one was to build the standard boards which I already use. By
keeping to the same sizes they will fit perfectly in my terrain storage
tower(sounds impressive but wait for the picture).
My terrain boards are 610 x 610 in size, which fit nicely on most tables
and are not to bulky to move around as a permanent set up board is out
of the question.
I basically cut out four battens of strip wood(2cm x 2cm) and sand off any rough
These are then glued down onto a 6mm MDF board using industrial PVA
Once dry a couple of small screws are screwed through the MDF from underneath
the board into the battens to add to rigidity.
Next up I use styrene boards which just happen to be the exact height of
the battens. Cut out the desired shape with a saw(best tool for cutting large
bits of styrene neatly) and glue down again
with industrial PVA, use plenty. Please note by industrial PVA glue I mean the
stuff builders use for sticking just about anything . You can also use wood glue for
sticking down the wood if you choose.
Now we have the basic battle board all ready for whatever you plan to do.
For my project I made four of these basic boards.
Just as a note in case any body is interested, this is what the basic costs
are but a large amount of the stuff I already had in stock. The prices quoted
make at least four boards.
1. 6mm sheets of MDF x 2 £10.
2. 2×2 lengths of strip wood x 2 £12.
3. PVA glue big pot £8.
4. Styrene in packs of 5 £14.
5. Small screw pack £3.
So £47 so far or $80 dollars for you guys over the pond 🙂
Compared to GW boards x 6 at £170 or $289 and I will have lots
of kit left over for more boards.
This is exciting! I love terrain boards-I wish I had the room to store them. Looking forward to following your progress and stealing any/all good ideas you come up with. 🙂
Steal away 🙂
Scratchbuilt stuff, when done well, works quite nicely in terms of costs. This is very nice work!
I look forward to following your progress.
[…] stuff for the historical wargamer. Check out his excellent tutorial on how to make a very spiffy Normandy gaming table. He also excels in painting FoW 15mm […]
Hi thanks for posting thhis
No problem,glad it might of been of help.