T&T project 1 : Gaming table

[BlueRabbit]

Hello all!
This is so exciting, its been 3 years since I left the Games Workshop hobby ring and I have to say withdrawal after 30 years of hobby was complicated, but this new project has got my blood up yet again and it feels soo good ;-)

So, a new gaming "table". The first thing I need to decide is where I am going to play, on the kitchen table (not very practical for weekend campaign gaming), the floor (horrible on the back at my age).... or on a dedicated table, in a dedicated "gaming room".... "OMG" I hear you shout, "how did you get that and still stay married for 20 years?"... well there are a number of ways you can negotiate this with your partner: child care, house work and few blood sacrifices works wonders ;-)...

So the "dedicated gaming table" I have is round, 120cm diameter.
I want to make the gaming table 3d and moduable. The base will be made out of extruded poly, as it is light and easy to sculpt.

Here I have two choises:
1: create a single block (like a mat). The main advantage would be tidying, with a hook it could be hung up on the wall. However if i want to add water features it makes the gaming table static and I have found that to be problematic in terms of strategy (some of my more competitive gaming friends have admitted to writing their army lists to best take advantage of my G-tables...sneeky gits;-) ). Also I really do not like "flat" water features, I just find they look off...

2: Create the table from smaller modula blocks, squares or hexagons that fix together with magnets. the advantage is the flexibility. I can have a set of blocks with water features carved into the poly, others with hills etc. The down side is stocking the individual blocks, I will need a dedicated storage area, because the number of blocks WILL increase over time....

...time to do a bit of house work and sacrifice my body for the good cause...

"in the next issue, will Yann be able to negotiate what he wants or will his wife and two daughters burst his bubble... only time will tell..."

[Biggles downunder]

Good luck Yann!

When we bought a new dining room table, my stipulation was that it was big enough to fit 3 gaming mats. Luckily my wife agreed to that because it allowed us to host groups of 10+ For dinner. A win-win!

[camelbeagle]

Good luck Yann!

When we bought a new dining room table, my stipulation was that it was big enough to fit 3 gaming mats. Luckily my wife agreed to that because it allowed us to host groups of 10+ For dinner. A win-win!

Lucky,
I am still stuck with either the ping pong table in the garage or the basement floor!

[Stumptonian]

I miss the days when I had a dedicated 'Wargame Room' back in the late '70s through '80s.
Now I make do with our pool table.
'Better 'n' nowt' ...

[flash]

Good luck fighting your corner Yann, I lost my indoor room when we moved house as senior management wanted a spare room again but she did encourage and help me to build the Orderly Room in the garden.
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...for-Hangar-33-!

[BlueRabbit]

*** Update ***

Interesting news, I am a go for the concept of individual tiles.

Next step: what kind of tiles. The tiles can be square or hexagonal, and to be honest the choice is not that hard, as to optimise the space on a round table Hexagonal tiles are the best choice.

Next step: size of the tiles. Now this step is total dependent of the next step which is what scale to use, but I already know that I want a single tile to be able to fit an aerodrome capable of housing 3 planes, barracks for 20 people and a warehouse....

Next step: choosing a scale for the ground level. After a bit of research and some advice, I see that most people change the scale from 1/144 to between 1/200 and 1/400. I can apreciate this as the tripods at 1/144 scale seam a bit "shot"... if I take the films that have been released, the tripods look to be between 20 and 50 meters high, not 14m as is the Cuttlefish.
However if the scale on the ground and in the air is different a lot of potential rules will be more complicated (eg crashing the planes, ground troops, air fields for landing and take off). So I am going to take a risk and keep the 1/144 scale for everything.

Next step: Tile size II. right, so I am heading down the road of a gaming table at 1/144 scale. I want an aerodrome to fit on one tile so I will start with that. The longest part of an aerodrome is the runway and interestingly enough the only reference I have been able to find on the web for this is 58 feet (17m67) and I am very doubtful this is correct..... I need to keep looking....

edit: from google and a bit of Math it seams that the runway at Stow Marries airfield is around 120meters.. which seems better

[BlueRabbit]

***Update 2nd Jan***
Ok the idea of an airfield on one tile is not going to work, with the runway being around 120m which is 83cm at 1/144 scale that makes for one tile per table, which is not what I'm looking for. So time to take a step back and re-think the project:
I could change the scale, it would make the tripods look much bigger...but I am really very much attached to the 1/144 scale for some reason.... so...

time to plunge back in time to a technique I have not used for ages:
print or draw on a page of A4 the tiles you want, fitted together into a grid.
Draw over the grid the shape of you table (round in my case) of various sizes to fit as many individual tiles as you want.

Once the size of the table is defined, work out the scale to have an aprox size of each tile...

I have a tendency to round up or down at this point to make the "makings" of each tile easier

then draw a single tile onto a ridged surface (card or thin wood) and place it on the table with the minatures to "see" if it works.

[BlueRabbit]

+++update 24/01/2021+++
cut out as many tiles as I could with the leftover poly in the shed, and then put them together to check if I have correctly drawn and cut out the template. It is so annoying to create a template and then to realize after I have cut out the 5th tile that the angles were wrong and I have gaps between the tiles... If this is your first time, I would suggest that once the template cut out, test it on cardboard or some other free material before using the poly.

[Blackronin]

These tiles look amazing Yann. Are you going to do half tiles?

[BlueRabbit]

These tiles look amazing Yann. Are you going to do half tiles?

Thanks, if by "half tiles" you mean to fill the gaps on the outer edges, I'm not sure for the moment, It would be good to have the "deadspace" for the gaming aides.

[Blackronin]

Thanks, if by "half tiles" you mean to fill the gaps on the outer edges, I'm not sure for the moment, It would be good to have the "deadspace" for the gaming aides.

Sure. WoG needs extra space beyond the playing mat. But the half hexes can compose very well the scenery IMHO.

[BlueRabbit]

+++Update: 1 feb+++
And they came from the stars...
For the first tile I thought it would be best to begin with where it all begins. Now there is a lot of "artistic license" as to the size of the crater and the colours, but hey.. got to start somewhere :-)
1: So I start with a tile of 20mm thick extruded poly, cut and stick with wood glue the outer edges, to make a total thickness of 40mm.
2: With a set of "files" (nomaly used for sculpting stone) I rough down the edges and inside of the crater, the bits of poly I then stick to the walls of the crater with wood glue for a rubble effect.
3: cat stopped play... very confortable crater apparently...
4: three coats of water based paint, a darker brown for the base coat, mid tone brown with a "wet dry-brush" technic, and Black "dry-brush" for the impact streaks.
5: the cylinder is made from what I found in the house, again "artistic licence" for the scale.
6: As I wanted the top to come off, I had to model the interior and the original idea was to add some LED lights, but I'm still trying to understand how that works, so that will be for another time.
7: some bonze paint from "flames of war", a green wash and then a dry-brush of bronze and silver to match the tripod "look".
8: Silver paint for the exteria, brown wash (citadel paints are very good for this), then dry-brush.
9: some flock for the grass (not sure I made the right choice here, I would prefer to use static grass but I feel its too long for 1/144 scale..)

[Flying Helmut]

Excellent progress report, Yann!

And the cat picture is fantastic!

[camelbeagle]

Wonderful!

[BlueRabbit]

+++update 12th feb+++
tiles 2, 3 & 4.
the next three tiles are done using the same technic.
1: file down the poly to "rough up" the surface so that the paint will hold better.
2: undercoat the tile with a dark brown, I use a paint usually used for painting indoor walls :-).
3: highlight the dark brown with lighter browns on certain areas. I also tried to paint on rocks with black, grey & green, but I don't feel that it works (once the first 7 tiles finished I will see how they all "look" together and probably redo this).
4: glue on flock to the areas not highlighted. Interesting situation here as I used two pots of the same type of glue, except that the first was old and dried "white" which gave me a much lighter finish, looks a bit "naff" but hey to late now :-).
5: use black plumbing tape (5cm) to seal the edges.

[Biggles downunder]

Looking really good!

[BlueRabbit]

+++update 26 feb 2022+++
Tiles 5, 6, 7 & 8.
1 & 2: The 4 tiles were all cut from a single plack of polly. Then the shinny finnish was filled down on one side to better hold the paint and glue and it give a "rough mud field" effect.

3: The four tiles were then flocked.

[BlueRabbit]

+++update 26 feb 2022+++
With 8 tiles done, it is time to see how they all fit together...


so as you can see I made quite a BIG mistake, I started a project without checking if I had enough of the same type of flock to finnish....and after quite a lot of time surfing on the net, I did not manage to find the same product... which gives me a small colour difference. But the new flock is soo much better!!

However the flock glued with my old pot of wood glue that dried white looks auwfull, I will (eventually) redo those areas.
And the attempt at painting on rock formations does not work for me either.

so the table is finnished for scenario 1 of T&T..... And I am all set up to give it a go and for my first Battle report... exciting times :-)

[Baron Rolf]

Nice project Yann. I cannot wait to see it finished .

[Teaticket]

Very nice Yann. Look forward to seeing your planes flying on the finished project in an AAR.

[Biggles downunder]

Love the Martian cylinder over on the left - a nice touch!

[monse]

That is a beautiful playing surface.

[Marechallannes]

Nice project - impressive result, Yann!