"making large wargame boards from layered cardboard sheets" Topic

here are the steps I took to make this large gameboard for 1/300 microarmor
the scale is fifty meters to the inch
the vertical scale is similar, with each cardboard level representing one hundred meters
I started by cutting and gluing together eight large sheets of cardboard from a refrigerator box which a neighbor had carelessly thrown away
the map I used to make this board was superimposed using a grid system onto the cardboard sheets before cutting the topo lines
the next step, which you can see happening here, is gluing thin strips of cardboard to the EDGES of all the cardboard exposed. this is vital
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as you can see I feed my dog beneful, which is cheap, and she can digest it easily

heres what it looked like once it was painted green and the road net begun
the roads were simply black construction paper cut and glued to the surface to give a slightly raised appearance
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the total height os the board is about two inches, representing roughly eight hundred feet
heres what it looked like from the side of the town, along germantown avenue where the battle of germantown took place in the revolutionary war
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as you can tell I am a fairly poor man, with few possessions other than an iMac computer and this wargame board made out of thrown-away cardboard

here are the forest boxes I made to represent heavy forests for this board
they took three weeks and are made from cardboard and little bits of closed cell foam painted in various shades of green
units can hide inside the boxes and cannot be seen by the enemy until they fire

they each have a lid on the top so that they cannot fall off during storage and transport
there are eighteen forest boxes in all
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Great stuff, thanks for sharing!

P.S you own more than me – I have an iPad and no wargames table at present.

ah but I am not even finished friend
here are the trees I made, which represent trees
yes, these are pretty big trees but they grow to a hundred feet tall around here

they are made of bits of toothpicks and little bits of closed cell foam painted green
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carly simon wrote some wonderful songs in the seventies
nice boobies too

here you can see up close the germantown avenue side, with houses made from clay and some of the trees planted
there are farm fields painted there too.
oh look some russians are cruising down the avenue already!
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this is the finished board as it stands now
it has the wissahickon creek, made from paper, and all the forest boxes have been glued to the board
all 120 trees have been planted and there are also a few outcroppings of gravel and boulders, especially along the creek. there are a total of forty houses glued, mostly along germantown avenue where people lived back then
its not much of a roadnet but thats all they had back then. it makes it tough for russian tanks to advance from the south end
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the total cost was roughly three dollars, for a tube of green acrylic paint
it took five months!!!

yes, I know you cannot move the forests around
it is less flexible than forest boxes which you can move
but on the other hand, it is fairly representative of this neighborhood
germantown philadelphia
as it was two hundred years ago during the battle of germantown
in the revolutionary war
its such a shame that I only play modern micro-armor
but I like the design, its fairly balanced, not too cluttered looking but has plenty of different types of cover for a good battle
oh, the finished size is 60 by 35 inches, about two inches high, and it is hanging up on the wall when not in use (minimizing dogfur accumulation)
the forest box tops do not fall off

now I am finished
you may jeer away

Jeer? Not at all. Shout huzzah! For sure.

For some time I've pondered this approach as I rather like the idea of playing on a large map, as against a reproduction of terrain. Also, I love zero budget (or as close as possible) terrain

Well done sir! As Ms Simon says, Nobody does it better ….

I find it old school charming

Impressive. Like the forest box idea, but doubt I would ever use it.

nice work, simple is often the best way to go

It is magnificent ! I am not sure I understand this remark however: "its such a shame that I only play modern micro-armor". If it's a shame, what stops you to move in other (earlier) directions ? I for one would not only like to see the modern ones on this table but also (for instance) Baccus 6mm in various periods !

I would love a board like that for my 6mm FPW!

Looks great, I may have to invite myself over to your place!

Brilliant ingenuity. I love it.

it's such a shame that I only play modern micro-armor

Have you read the Tim Truman comics Scout, New America and Swords of Texas? Plenty of eighties goodness in there to inspire your modern micro-armour AWI. :)

Very nicely done. Thanks for sharing!

thank you very much for your compliments, rhysius, alan, clay, garrison, redroom, porthos, dynaman, and Dr B and Hal

DYNAMAN – when can you come over? I live in Philly and this thing has never seen real combat yet. you have to be cool though, no cops or anything okay?

PORTHOS – I just never got into historic wargaming as much as the moderns. its a philosophical thing for me really, about available weapon systems and destructiveness. this board would be perfect for a revolutionary war scenario, however, and I would of course let other people use it for such

Dr Berserker – no , I have not read that book. but thanks for the suggestion

to all – I will of course be presenting a thread very shortly which depicts a modern scenario I played solo on this thing
the title of that thread will be something about laser designators, and will probably be in the terrain forum, and the modern forums

Oh that is quite nice! And only from scrap cardboard too!

Fantastic.

If you are in Germantown, give us a jingle at epturner29 AT aol DOT com and we'll see what we can do about you "only" playing modern micro-armour…

I'm not far away in Montgomery County.

Eric

As a retired cop, I have to say that looks very good. And there is not a doubt in my mind that my west german micro armor or my 15mm AWI armies would trounce anything you put on the table. hahahah

thank you for confirming my hypothesis

Big 15mm ACW battle! Looks like central kentucky

Nice work. You might consider buying some of Testors Military spray colors and randomly spray different terrain colors on it. I did this and the effect was way better than expected. Practice on another board, you have to have a light touch.

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