Jump to content

Gaming tabletop - pine, foam, felt


prof_bycid

Recommended Posts

Here is my attempt at making a gaming table.  It is just the top, and I can move it around and drop it onto existing tables.  The lower shelf is working well at keeping things handy and organized, as well as out of view of the opponent.  The surface for cards is raised a bit off the playing surface, which is appealing to me for no definable reason.  The surface is green felt stretched over rigid foam insulation.  Bases do not slip on this surface, so I'm pleased with it so far.  Using foam and pine wood keeps the whole thing light and easy to move around.  If I ever get a dedicated gaming space, I may build a new table with a heavier surface and use finished oak, so I'll call this the test table. 

   The blue painters tape down the middle to separage the two gaming areas is a temporary solution.  I haven't come up with a good-looking finished idea for this yet.  I guess I could just use a sharpie marker and long metal straight-edge. 

   The main thing I like is having the shelves.  Anyone else build a gaming table and find features they really liked?

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love it, very neat and elegant. The extra shelves will help keep things in order during the game and look very professional. Another great thing is that four people can comfortably play on this table. And it's light and portable - how awesome is that!

 

I built my gaming table a while ago but compared to yours it's quite primitive. I started by ordering a 6mm wooden thick 110x115 cm piece of plywood. Since Malifaux is played on a 90 x 90 mm terrain, I wanted to have some extra space for character cards, markers, fate decks etc. I used an old gaming mat that was in a pretty bad shape. I had to cut it into several pieces and use some static grass to cover the whole surface. Once that was done I outlined the gaming terrain by gluing a thin line of darker static grass along the lines. I like the way it turned out as it's more subtle than simply gluing tape or using a marker, maybe you can consider doing something like that? Overall, I'm really pleased with the final effect. It's simple but it's also portable, the terrain (I didn't make it' ordered the whole set from an online store) looks nice on it and my living room can be easily turned into a neat gaming area. 

gaming_table_1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks really nice, Prof.   A little stain, and it would look downright commercial.

 

A friend of mine has a gaming table that's both incredibly crude and quite effective - it's a 4x4 sheet of whiteboard.  Since it's used about 90% of the time for D&D, we've gotten rather used to just drawing on the terrain-of-the-moment.  :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Viruk and Eldarion! 

Viruk:  I like that the grass extends into the card area on your table.  Your idea of the black static grass is great -- could make this much thinner than masking tape.  My one attempt at using this was didn't work very well, but I'll practice it a bit and try this on the board if I get it figured out.

Elarion:  I've done the whiteboard D&D thing as well!  Now if only I could have found a whiteboard with a fine-scale grid on it.

   Cheers,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made mine out of 1/8" hardboard screwed onto a wooden frame I made from scrap lumber to keep it light.  Then I covered it with brown duck cloth (canvas) as most of my terrain is swamp themed.  It's a 36" x 36" square so no lines required.  I haven't taken any pictures of it after I painted the surface but here it is after I got the cloth stapled on...

 

MalifauxBoard1_zpsa36e091b.jpg

 

Since that picture, I added some decorative nails to the edges to better hold the cloth in place then painted some shades of brown and green to make it less uniform.

 

This typically goes on my dinning room table which is 4.5' x 4.5' which leaves plenty of room for models and cards around the perimeter of the board.

 

-DavicusPrime

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Davicus, I like the canvas idea---should be extremely durable. I expect the texture would prevent bases from slipping. Is this correct? Would probably be a solid surface for holding paint and glue as well. Adding canvas to the list for my next table.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information