I've longed for a very particular kind of gaming board. Flat green like an upside down Subbuteo pitch isn't it and for years that's all I ever had. My dad built me one when I was about 14 which consisted of a sheet of hardboard and a spare scenic grass mat from my old trainset. He really pushed the boat out. From the age of 18 onwards I've only ever used a dining table or floor.
That was until I started getting into Malifaux.
I wanted to be able to play in a town during one game, the desert in the next and then follow it up with a jaunt around the sewers and use the same board each time. Basically what I wanted was a modular board but one that wouldn't break the bank.
I picked up an mdf board roughly 4' x 3' along with some polystyrene sheets and some batons. The idea being that I make a frame on the board to hold the polystyrene sheets and can then swap out the boards as and when the scenery needs to change.
As I had a bag of Scenics turf kicking about the first board was coated in brown paint and then liberally covered in this stuff.
It's not how I imagine Malifaux when I think of the place but it gets us a battleground for our crews to fight on straight away.
I threw together some scenery from the left over polystyrene and we're away.
Next up comes the badland board which is, to begin with at least, going to be the existing boards turned over, painted and then covered in Hornby fine early autumn coloured turf. It almost matches the colour of my Guild model's bases so I can live with that. Then all I need is some rock formations built out of polystyrene and I can worry about finding western style buildings later.
Next up after that are a bayou board for my sons gremlins, a sewer system and the cobble streets of Malifaux itself. Now if I can find a source of pink foam that's closer than a 2 hours by public transport I'll be laughing!
As for the base board itself I chose a 4' length as when it's not being placed on my dining table it needs to also be able to be placed on some Ikea trestles in my sons bedroom so that we can play games on it in there. With that in mind to stop our cards, counters and models being placed in our deployment zone I've made sure there is a 6" lip on either end. The board is going to be painted black, sealed, and then Malifaux stenciled in white onto either lip. Hopefully it will look the part.
For someone that has never done anything like this, or any woodwork for that matter in the last 20 years, I've impressed myself
