One
of my other parts of the hobby I enjoy is the terrain building.
I just had a listen to the latest
Mantic Radio pod cast and would like to say one of my Favs I am a terrain guy
and this one is about display boards, well display boards to me are just gaming
tables after the shrink ray has been used.
Display boards should tell a
story that enhances the army that is displays; they add character and give
context to the army in action.
Well gaming tables should do the
same, tell a story, enhance the armies on the table - if a player is going to
spend hours to painting those armies then the tables need to finish them off.
Each table should add character to the game and all the fun that can be
had.
Five years ago I and a couple of
mates started a club in the local area, now there is a whole article on that
but not for now. When we stated we had to find terrain and tables for the
players to use. Back then I made tables out of whatever I could get my hands on
the experimented with building them.
Some were good some not so good
but we always had painted tables even back then.
I also had to send my hobby money
on the purchase of terrain for the club to use.
In those early days a lot of the
tables had themes and character as they were all hand built the tables all had
a story to tell.
these are some of the old tables when the club started a deadlands and a first type jungle table
Well one of the things I have
ensured I do when I build tables is to make sure they have those elements of
enhancing the armies, telling a story and adding character.
There are even times I have
been known to build a table; this can take up to 60 hours of work just for an
event or campaign. But to me that is what the game is.
above is the Castle walls I built for an event, as well as a jungle table for the club held a lustria campaign
I will event write rules
for the table to use, these help add character and also help with the fact
there may be terrain limitations for units, e.g. if we are playing in a dwarf
hold there is only troops on foot (horses do not like the dark), and any model
with flight or hover can only walk (ouch I hit my head). These to me are what I
like to play on.
With that in mind I have really
had to do some thinking about the topic and how do we play the game. It also got me to thinking about the next
project for my terrain efforts.
Those in mind I like to bring
at least one new gaming table to life each year. These tables always have theme
and character, with the only thing that is generic is the game system, I like
to build them so they can be used in multiple systems. How I have a plan this
year to build a series of linked tables so that if I would put them all together
they will tell a story as well. The tables are always 8x4 allowing for use in
larger games or for give the players more room.
This is where I hope to take
the next phase of my terrain building, on the plan I hope to take the tables
from the mountains to the sea. So when you look down the row of empty tables or
join then together you will see the story.
So up first is year will
involve a bit of a refit I made a cavern table about three years ago, this is
just a basic one I hope to rebuild the table and make repairs to the table to
bring it up to what I build now. Then this will lead to an abyssal table next.
I am looking to having these finished by May for my Kings of War event – these will
be the feature tables for the event.
The caven table to rebuild.
But thank you for the podcast
boys and keep it up I cannot wait for the terrain cast.
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