Under construction

Now I really love small scale skirmish games, the sort of game that can be played on your average kitchen table.  Better still a game where only a handful of models are on either side.

With so many awesome games out there these days it can be hard to persuade people to try things outside of what they normally play.  It can be a huge investment in time to sit down and try a new game and there is nothing more annoying then being stuck playing a 2-hour introduction game to a system that just doesn’t grab you.

So I set about making some very small demo tables.

The idea of these tables is just to showcase the basic rules of my chosen skirmish games.  Ideally each intro lasting less than 30 minutes.  Much less in fact.

The games I had in mind were, Dark Age, Wrath of Kings and Eden, of course these little boards could also be used for other post apocalypse type settings.

I decided on round tables.

I thought that given these are to be used to welcome new players a round table is less confrontational.  It gives less of a feel that you are facing off against someone sat opposite you.

I found some nice round bar tabletops 60 cm across.

For my first table I had in mind to do a shipwreck on a beach.  Not your normal wooden ship but something a little more substantial.  I used high density foam to make an island shape.

Cork bark was used to make a rough cliff on one side with the rest of the island gently sloping down.  I repeatedly tested figures on the surface to make sure they could stand up okay and that no part was too steep.

I cut out a section of the island to insert my proposed section of ship and covered the entire island with sand.  I used filler to smooth off sections that were a little rough and added some cork bark as rocks.

The section of ship was built from cereal packets wrapped around a polystyrene core.

I painted the ship up to look weathered.  I added text to the ship using a stencil that I printed off.  This ship is ‘Unit 57 Haulage’.

I glued sandpaper to the deck to give a nonslip surface for figures to stand on and then added some small jet pack exhausts I found on an old toy.

I added more plastic components from my bits box and made a simple mast from plastic tubing.

The whole island was then covered in sand.

I painted the sand in regular household paint.

Then I made a simple sign from copper sheet and a copper wire.  The sign is a decal I printed off at home.  This was weathered to look old.

I added streaks of weathering to the ship and glued it in place.

Next, I added some chains.

I masked off the rocks and painted them, so they stood out better from the sand.  I also painted the blue around the island.  It’s quite bright and not a colour I would normally do water, but I figured it was eye catching.

I added sand to hide the join where the ship met the island.

I decided that the sign looked better on the opposite side.

An anchor was added to one of the chains.

I masked off the entire board and poured resin over the water area.

Using ultra clear two-part glue I dabbed the water area to create an uneven surface.

After the Island board was finished, I moved on to a second tabletop.   This time an old, abandoned petrol station.  I pretty much used the same techniques just changing colours.