"Light weight tiles - what materials to make these out of?" Topic

I'm looking at developing a game that revolves around limited visibility. So . . . the terrain is not revealed to the players except on a "discovery" basis.

I think this would work best using 8" square tiles . . . or may be 6" square tiles.

Would help if the tiles were already brown or green.

Would also be helpful if the tiles were relatively light weight -- easier to transport and cheaper to ship.

Tiles should be resistant to warping or chipping (but not necessarily spilled Coke proof!)

Anyone have any thoughts about this?

If you suggest a product, where can I get it?

mjc

Foamcore or Styrofoam?

at that size warping is not a big issue

These are my tiles:

link

link

and the plain tiles can be bought from:

siestacorktiles.co.uk

mine have lasted me 4 years so far and that includes sticking in the car for long journeys to games.

I have done a couple of games based on the old board game, Source of the Nile. In that game the board is just blank hexes and the players map each one as they enter them.

I did this once set in Africa and another set on Skull Island. The table is marked with hexes and when a group enters the hex, the player rolls dice to determine what is there, or the gamemaster can pre-determine the outcomes. If just a plain savannah area do nothing, if jungle add trees, other options are hills, rivers, gorges, swamps, lakes. Hexes offer more direction options. Player also rolls for what is in the hex. The Source of the Nile game is an excellent source of info for "terrain discovery" games. I shows up on ebay regularly.

Here is a picture a Skull Island section
picture

The table
picture

The process is described here
link

Hexes are home made but there are some vendors who sell these. I got some nice ones from Pictors Studio but I went for a larger hex so it could hold much terrain in 25mm. I made most of the thick terrain hexes from styrofoam and thiner ones from foam core board. The table cover is indoor outdoor carpet, and some hexes cut from that, also. With the pre marked table, you can just put down terrain pieces not need a separate tile. Here is an example of some ruins just put on the "raw" table top
picture

My next project (a few years late) is a Lewis and Clark expedition discovery game.

Have you considered the WorldWorksGames stuff? It is printable terrain that is mostly based on a 7" tile. That might suit you. There are quite a few sets of 3d card terrain for you to print and build covering fantasy/medieval, modern and scifi genres. Might be worth checking out:

worldworksgames.com

Check out what Matakishi did here with flooring-grade cork tiles:

matakishi.com/hills.htm

CC

Also on Matakishis site check out his dungeon blocks.

Robert

The cork looks like a great idea but . . . at $2.00 USD a square foot it gets pricey fast.

mjc

Cheap adhesive floor tiles- approx £2.50 GBP for 6 x 1ft. This gives you 24 tiles. On the adhesive side you stick paper if only to stop them sticking- the backing paper is MEANT to come off so may not stay on. Also their could be a symbol to give a hint- what the troops could see at a distance (It's a wood yes- but what kind?)

TMP link

for strength, durability, colour (hundreds of colours, matte or gloss) and weight, then undoubtedly "foamed-PVC" aka Sintra(?) in the USA.

3mm thickness is all you will need and there's nothing to beat it: warp resistant, lightweight, coke resistant, chip resistant, biologically resistant, fire resistant yet easy to work with, cuts with a knife and can be drilled, sanded and carved.

it is THE modelling material for the next generation, so wave goodbye to foamboard, cork, card, styrofoam, depron, styrene or polystyrol.

(its cheap in the Uk, should be cheaper in the USA)