After my last attepmt at making a gaming board which went wrong, I want to have another go. But this time I concidered modular, for a fist board would the be advisable? If so how should I make it, what materials would I need and would it be best to have several part to it or one big sheet?

Thanks

There's an article on making a modular Cities of death board here.http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=cat60007a&categoryId=100001a&section=&aId=6300002. I don't know what kind of board you're making, but this article might help a little.

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Flying is the practice of trying to crash into the ground and missing.

Thanks for the link, I hadn't noticed that article before. It isn't much help on the spesific board I am making but it has given me a good overview of making modular boards so thanks.

The board I want to make will be for elves, all 3 types so I want a woodland area which would suit all 3 of them (high elves are the bulk of my army).

a modular board it more advisable for a first board for two major reasons: one, it take alot less space to store a modular board then a larger one, and two, you can rearrange it into different combinations for different games.

for inspiration, onyx created one in his gallery here:

http://www.one-ring.co.uk/phpBB2/album_ ... ic_id=7557

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"...all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." -Gandalf The fellowship of the Ring

Why does it take less spcae to store, surely it can be the same size as a regular one? Also wouln,t a plain board be easier to re-arange if you had movable terrain?

for example rather then having a four foot by four foot board to store in one place you have 4 two foot by two foot boards that you can stack on top of each other, or store in different locations. its more manageable that way. If you were planning on building a topographic gaming table, then modular is easier to store. plus you could move each tile into different combinations.


you can see the idea here:

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e387/ ... ery162.jpg

you could then also add other independent terrain elements.

If you were planning on just having a flat table, which you then add the hills and trees, either way is fine, it just then comes down to how much space you have to store a large, flat board

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"...all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." -Gandalf The fellowship of the Ring

How would I actually build it? I have no idea what to do.

Would it be better to have several parts for a wooden board for easy storage and have movable hills/trees ect?

here are two ways i found online. hopefully they help!

for a large flat board:

http://www.thezombiesquig.co.uk/making_ ... _board.htm

and for a modular topographic table:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/po ... 43963.page

not the best example for modular but the best i could find online for tutorial.

If you can get your hands on the sbg one ring book, there is a great article on building modular gaming boards starting on page 182. And its more suitable for lord of the rings.

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"...all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." -Gandalf The fellowship of the Ring

I would always go modular on boards and terrain. It means that any damaged section or piece is more easily replaced and you have benefits in terms of storage, transportation and flexibility. What more could you want?

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Doesn't those boards leave nasty cracks between each piece though, when putting them together for playing?

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Gold, silver, mithril.. You call that stuff treassure? Copper is the real deal!

More like a 1.5mm crack, and that's not what I call nasty.

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Ole Blood'n'guts...

Thanks for the help, I have a friend with the rulebook so I'll be sure to borrow it. I was thinking of having a modular board with a river runing through it and then having seperate movable hills/rocks/trees ect so the board will have many different options. I was also thiniing of some elven bridges across the river using designs from the films (a bit simpler though) for people to cross at.

there is a little instruction on building a tile with a river on page 222

sounds like that should work perfectly.

also here is good design for elven bridges:

http://www.thomarillion.de/index.php?se ... b9f59cc8fc


should be pretty easy to build your own. but if not, and you want to shell out the money, this site should work.

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"...all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." -Gandalf The fellowship of the Ring

Now I've decied I'm going for a modular board I have a couple of questions.

1.

What should I use to make the board? Does anyone know about any particular brand that you know is good for the materials?

2.

What should I not do when making it? Does water warp it? Does glue or paint dissolve it?

I just had an idea, would it work if I cut out several 2x2 sections, then cut a bit of river into all of them in such a way that the different sections could join together to make countless different rive options?

yes, you will just have to have the river's edge on each tile be in the same location. for instance you will probably want to have them all match up at the center of the respective side.

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"...all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." -Gandalf The fellowship of the Ring

Thats what I will do, and to make sure they all match the river will go into each of the tiles about 1cm straight before curving off.

One of my friends suggested I use polyfilled or papier mache to make the board more durable, is this a good ides?

One more thing, how will I know if the polystyrene I get will be dense enough, is there a way to tell if it is the right thing to use? I don't want low density as it will be damaged easily but I have no idea how dense polystyrene gets.

denser the better, but even the densest polystyrene will break off rather
easily, so i suggest you do what they did in the book. they took black duct
tape and taped the edges to strengthen it against damage.

or you could glue balsa wood to the edges instead

polystyrene would be a much easier medium to work with then paper mache. i could see it being really difficult to do the rivers with paper mache.

for the tiles with the rivers, you will want to strengthen the bottom of the polystyrene with a board. otherwise the tile will no doubt break right along the river at some point.

good luck and when you get around to building it give us some pictures in a wip tread!

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"...all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." -Gandalf The fellowship of the Ring

He didn't mean papier mache to make the board, he meant to go on top of it to make it harder so less likely to brake.