Hey all,
Since I'm getting back into the game, I've been looking for a space/place to play. But after a couple weeks of searching I decided I needed to get a gaming surface for home because my area doesn't have a big enough community to have Battletech scale terrain at a FLGS. I also wanted a gaming surface that wasn't just 2d hex maps, because I'm jumping back in with Alpha Strike, which feels to me limited by hexes. Most commercially available boards are too expensive for me (just bought a house :-\ ), even if they weren't custom. And, because I am on a budget, I want a degree of flexibility in the possible arrangements of my terrain so I don't have to have too many boards (plus the wife won't let me store that many). All of which led me to the idea to make my own.
I've decided to post the process here because I am interested in feedback from the community as the terrain develops. This is to be a labor of love, and I won't be rushing it. So as I proceed, and post progress, please do feel free to offer suggestions and commentary. I have experience in model and diorama building thanks to my profession, so I hope to leverage that toward a higher quality product.
After a significant amount of research and tutorials on techniques used in most major gaming communities, I landed on starting with 1 1/2" insulation foam. Very easy to manipulate, very light, and cheap. And my local lumber yard delivers it.
That decided, I moved on to figuring out what I wanted this terrain to be. I still haven't decided on a biome, but I know I want water features. And I know I eventually want some kind of urban space on the map, to provide cover and hidden unit situations without always needing to have trees (again flexibility, sometimes an urban map, sometimes not). That said, I haven't decided what those LOS blockers will be yet, per se.
Hopping into my favorite 3d design program, I laid out a number of board sections that could be swapped about, with built in water features that match up depending on the layout I'm feeling at the moment.
I will also be treating one 2'x4' panel with no water feature, to have a large open space available (maybe for a mountainous area).
Next step is to layout this topography on the panels that I'll be cutting in a couple of minutes.
Thanks all. Stayed tuned, and please do feel free to comment.