HMS Gaming Table

The first step was to come up with a design. I am not really one for technical drawings but I usually have a rough idea in my head of what I need to make and roughly how to construct it. This can make me quite difficult to work with (ask my brother who helps me build these things). In order to come up with a design I needed to know exactly what we wanted from the end product. There were some design requirements that the table had meet, some carried over from the original build.

1) Must accommodate up to an 8′ x 4′ gaming area
2) Must have additional space to place drinks away from the gaming area and also the gaming area should be protected from accidental spillages.
3) Must be a comfortable height to sit at
4) Must be rigid enough to support people leaning on it

Requirements 1) and 2) are carried over from the original design and requirement whereas 3) and 4) are new requirements based on experience with the last table.
With the requirements in mind and with no more need for modularity or portability it was clear that I could build a fixed table and that requirements 3) and 4) could be easily met by careful measurements and choice of materials. So I got my brother to sit on a chair and I measured the height to his knees and simply added a bit on. He’s quite tall at 6’1” so it should be fine for most people. I settled at a height of 65cm, which is slightly lower (10cm) than the painting desk, with the gaming surface eventually sitting around 5cm higher. To ensure rigidity I simply opted to use a thicker wood (24mm thickness) with a set of legs at each end and at the join of each of 4 sheets of wood that make up the gaming surface for a total of 5 sets of legs. Those legs would also neatly divide the table into 8 places, perfect for seating people at d&d sessions.
So with a design in mind it was time for a trip to the local DIY warehouse to feel manly and buy a load of timber. As I already had 4 big sheets of marine plywood I only needed to buy stick timber to build a frame.