"Canvas gaming surface" Topic

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Hey all—I have been playtesting a set of rules and found the need to very quickly set up and take down games. I don't have a dedicated gaming space, and usually play on the kitchen table when time permits, so something in as few parts as possible, and relatively small, would be best.

I was rummaging through my gaming closet, looking for ideas, and found a cheap 16"x20" canvas, left over from a two-pack my wife bought ages ago. Thinking of the great portable tables I've seen online, made from everything from dry-erase boards to folding portfolio, and having just read a few blog entries about using canvas drop cloths as gaming mats, I thought that this canvas could be useable. I'm sure it's been done before, but it was a new idea for me.

The game I'm designing plays well on small tables, and what's more, I'm doing a lot of the game's playtesting with my WWII 6mm stuff, since the figures are on hand and easy to transport around. In game terms, the canvas represents a space twice its size---40"x32"—which is an ideal size for the game at its full 15mm/20mm scale.

While watching a rerun of Northern Exposure last night, I painted the canvas, using simple blending/drybrushing techniques, and set it up this morning with different types of terrain on it.

The board is simple---some fields and two roads that come to an intersection. Some of the fields are painted green, so could be the templates for wooded areas instead. Of course I can place additional fields on top, and could add streams. The one thing I need to do is make some new hills—the ones I have just don't look right on the board.

I plan to buy more canvases and make an expansion to this board, make an urban combat board, desert, snow, etc. I might give them a try with bigger scale miniatures, too.

I'm going to attempt to texture the next one I make, with sand/glue/etc.

Pics below, and a link to my photobucket account where more can be found.

Thanks for looking!

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Photobucket link: link

You surprised me by the canvas being stretched and framed--I thought you were just going to roll it up. I think it looks good. You can also use smaller frames (9x12 or 12x12)that interconnect at roads, so you can mix and match.

Along the same lines. I have been looking at canvas drop cloths. In the painting supplies section. A wide variety of sizes to choose from.

Here is an excellent discussion canvas battlefields on Fanaticus

link

Great idea and new to me! Easy to paint, light transport, cheap and stored hanging on the wall! Thanks chaps

If a guest doesn't appreciate your new art work, just shake your head and call them a "peasant."

Strictly on it's own I wasn't initially impressed, but with some trees and units, it looks great and the abstract lines suddenly make alot of sense.

Nice work!

@ordinary bass---When I finished painting it, I looked at it and thought, crud, I should have textured and flocked this…

But then the next day I set it up with terrain and was pleased.

Thanks for the comments. Good idea to hang these in the gaming room! ;)

Curious idea to use pre-framed canvas for a gaming surface. I've now painted up three large canvas game mats (6' x24') and adjusted to the reality of shrinkage. Didn't bother with "sizing" or framing, just too big. I do plan to paint up some smaller canvas pieces for "specific" terrain set ups. I might try this framed idea but I think I will stick with unframed just because they are easy to roll up and store.

But I love the comment about "peasants". One man's art is another man's dreck. I once saw one of the most famous – and expensive – paintings ever at a world famous museum and said out loud, "Yeah, nice control of color but otherwise nothing more than any second grader does in art period." Yeah, there were a few gasps and some stunned silence. I prefer to recall the knowing chuckles. Then we went and looked at the works of actual masters and other evidence of great talent. Million dollar art pieces are just silly. I love great art but none of it is worth that kind of money. Well, maybe the entire Terra Cotta Army!

@Early morning

I believe it was your post/blog about canvas mats that got me thinking about the idea in the first place!

That looks pretty neat.

I was surprised to see it was a framed canvas as well. Didn't catch that at first.

I've bought some canvas drops cloths for that purpose, but have never done it, since I was concerned about the paint cracking and peeling, though maybe by using latex, or acrylics there is less of a concern with that happening.

Perhaps, if it is rolled up for storage, or sufficiently thinned, that would be okay.

Probably even better would be to use fabric dyes, instead of paints.

Anyone have experience using dyes vs. paints, for a project like that?

Thoughts?

Mako, I used the cheapest household acrylics I could fine for my canvas projects and several years on no problems with cracking or peeling. Even with eight layers of paint (each one less thorough than the last, of course), the paint just seems to absorb into the canvas just fine. I'm guessing you are being influenced by oil paint on canvas – which is often put on in very, very thick layers to achieve varying effects.

Grignotage – the reason I posted up what I did was to allow others to see what can be done. For me, the biggest benefit of this process is no seem lines anywhere. Only down side I've found is you can't have below surface features but I've dealt with that by creating so many above surface features that the base cloth can seem to be 'below'.

I think canvas base cloths will be seen more and more going forward. With hardware store drop cloths so cheap and already hemmed to minimize shrinking, it will be easy to paint battle specific terrain cloths and keep them around rolled up for use.

The posts definitely inspired me. I plan on attempting one soon.

Another idea … rather than painting, just get a pack of pastels to use on the canvas. Put some odd-shaped cardboard cut-outs under it, add some odd-shaped cuts of odd-textured cloths for crop fields, and you've got a battleboard!

It's not permanent … if your canvas is not mounted you can just toss it into the washer and it's ready for an entirely different map next time.

Not as fast to set up, but flexible to use for many different maps.

Some examples from my games:

A Russian village street scene. Done in low-light deliberately, to provide a pre-game look at what the recon troops saw before the dawn attack.

The same village, seen from the gamer's viewpoint during the light of day. This board uses a light green canvas.

Here is the same canvas, used for a very different map. Quite flexible!

A village in Tunisia, using a tan canvas. Most of the same trees and crop fields can be used (though I add some palm trees for Tunisia). The pastels can be used for waterways, dirt roads, and paved roads. Also for rocky slopes, and to outline woods.

Just another approach to using canvas.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Love it. I've been wanting to use pastels for a while.

I think I like the Tunisia board best; lovely gradation of color you've gotten there.

Ran a playtest last night using the board and took some pictures. Not only did the playtest go well (felt like a WWII battle!), but the board did its job quite well:

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