"Table Surface?" Topic

Not sure where else to post this. Looking at the numerous great battle reports here and elsewhere makes me want to build my own table. I've been pondering this for a while, but am still at a loss for what to use as the main surface. What do those more experienced than I go for? Train mats? Multiple train mats cut up for different colored fields? Ballast laid and then painted? Flock/turf type stuff?

Thanks for advice!

I use a felt table covering and various ways of coming up with terrain.

If you have a place for a permanent table I have played on sand since the mid 70's.

To see some of it's versatility here is a link to my Flickr page.

link

I use flocked game mats. Cheap, portable, light, flexible. A great basic mat that is probably the most versatile is a basic green, flocked mat. I like the ones from Monday Knight:

link

Here is a thread of mine with numerous shots of the mats in use:

TMP link

If you can leave your table permanently set up, you could use styrofoam (or equivalent) for the base. You can then paint it and flock it as you wish. If you make your hills from the same material, then you can match the paint and flock on the hills with the base.

I use styrofoam as AussieAndy said. I glued 25mm thick foam to 6mm MDF 600mm x 1200mm. I made the board undulating by gluing 6mm foam onto the main base by stepping it up levels.
Then I glued craft corrugated cardboard onto this which gives the appearance of ploughed fields over the whole board. And then flock over this.

I have recently purchased the Mat-O-War mats from Antenocitis workshop link ,they are a felt type material ,here is a photo with some of my 18mm Bavarians. link The mats have a really natural colouring that I think looks good.

I use mottled cloth, from the fabric store. Here is a photo demonstrating the type that I am talking about:

The photo is pulled from the blog of a friend, as I don't have any pictures up, showing my cloth. Mine is almost identical, however.

There are many patterns to choose from. By using mottled fabric, you can replace it as needed, for different types of games: sea battles (use a mottled blue pattern), desert games (use a mottled tan pattern), etc. For larger table surfaces, you will need to sew two pieces together to get the width required, but it works rather well. The cloth cover can be washed, dried, and even ironed, if needed. Cheers!

From what I've seen, some of the best ones are done with a grass green fabric (frequently synthetic felt, or pool table baize), and then various fields, roads, buildings, forests, and other details are added on top to break up the bland look of the single, fabric covering.

Hills are usually placed underneath, for best effect. Some people use carpet underlay material to give the hills, ridges, etc., more support underneath, so they don't flatten out during game play.

The nice thing is all of the above can be easily transported and stored.

Thanks guys, a lot of good insight!

Not sure what I'll go with, and don't be building for a while, but good thoughts! Keep them coming!

Does anyone have much experience with train mats? If so, are they worth it? Any pics of them used for gaming??

Thanks!

I would use train matts, they tend to shed and get messy

Yea, they won't really stand up to game play for very long (I think Clays was really trying to say he wouldn't use them), since the material will shed off.

Felt, and other fabrics are much better options.

Ok so question to those how use sand/ballast over wood or foam. Do you paint it with varying greens and browns? Or do you paint it with a flat coat, and use flock/turf for colors? I'd like my permanent surface to have color and variation, and not be a flat color that I add fields to in order to break the monotone up (tho I'll probably do that anyway for additional variety).