HowTo: Modular Gaming Table - Part 1

As promised I will do a HowTo-series about how I build my gaming table. The gaming table was build last year, toghether with a close friend of mine and has seen now three battles (one you can in my first battle report). We had enough of playing on a normal dining table. The Citadel board was too expensive for us (since we only play on an irregular base) so we researched a bit and planned our own modular board.
Modular because:

• we wanted a table which looked different when we wanted to
• I have not enough room to store one or three big plates
• and we wanted to save some money :)

So we made a masterplan and went shopping in the local hardware store. After the first tour we replanned everything because we didn't want to spent as much money for material as we would have to pay for the Citadel board... Therefore I will do a Step by Step how the boaard was really build and will give an overview how much the material had roughly cost.

Step 1 - Building the frames:

Material and Tools for the building session

3mm MDF boards (cut by the hardware store):

6x 60x60cm
12x 60x2cm
12x 59,4x2cm
Approx. cost: ~ 15 Euro.

Styrodur/Styrofoam plates (unfortunately the stores only had the one with structure):

3 boards, 122x60x2cm for the moduls
1 board, 122x60x2 for the hills
Approx. cost: ~ 16 Euro

Montagekleber (I think in english that could be No more Nails?):

Approx. cost: ~ 8 Euro

After you have everything together build a frame from the single MDF fragments. This part is somewhat annoying. Be sure to have a helping hand. Out method was to use a wet brush to "paint" some water on the edges. This helps the glue to stick. The press the smaller MDF pieces on the board and wait for a short time until the glue has started to work.

One frame for the gaming table

Then cut your Styrodur/Styrofoam that it fits into this frame. If there are some minor gaps don't worry, they can be filled later with the structur paste you will use. Again we used the glue and pressed the board into the frame.

Tip: If the frame makes problems because the glue is not dry, use some duct tape to fix it. The glue needs some time until it really hardens.

Preparing for the board

Then let it dry under pressure. This part is really(!!!) important because this prevents the board from bending. And be patient before starting with the next steps, this whole thing needs to be completely dry. Otherwise you risk damaging the frame or worse breaking it.

If everything is complete you should end with something like this:

Detail of the raw module with some dark elves

As you can see, the Styrodur/Styrofoam has a structure in it. This is because normally they are used for building bathrooms and the plaster will cling better. Plain Styrodur would be better, but wasn't available in my area. In one of the next parts you will see why the structure is a minor problem (but it also has one positive aspect).
For better comparability I placed some dark elves on the board ;)

This is the end of HowTo: Modular Gaming Table - Part 1. The next part will be about making different modules means making the hills for the gaming board. If you have questions about the steps so far, please feel free to leave a comment.

Hope you enjoyed it so far. 

So long,

Paradox0n


P.S.: If you missed one of the parts, here is just a short linklist to every part of this series:
Modular Gaming Table - Part 1
Modular Gaming Table - Part 2
Modular Gaming Table - Part 3
Modular Gaming Table - Part 4