Pake's portable gaming board

[PG_Pake]

Howdy y'all!

Inspired by some of the amazing gaming tables and terrain here I wanted to start my own project.
A portable board with inserted rare earth magnets. Not to hold houses or such but lamp posts, street signs and various details that can be easily broken in the heat of gaming.
I've been working on it for the last three weeks and I think I'll have the resin parts ready in a week or so.

Pictures in chronological order:

Da plan:


And what it turned out to be:

[PG_Pake]

[PG_Pake]

The work continues...

C&C appreciated!

[Spaero]

Looking good so far. One question about balance: It looks like one deployment zone is going to have two water hazards while the other has one or none depending on orientation... How are you addressing that?

[Poppabear40]

Looks excellent! A creator after my own heart! Lots of casting there heh.

[PG_Pake]

Looking good so far. One question about balance: It looks like one deployment zone is going to have two water hazards while the other has one or none depending on orientation... How are you addressing that?

I don't think it's gonna be an issue. Since it's 4'x4' you can rotate it and play from every side. So playing "sideways" there will be two water hazards on left/right side.

[syanide]

gr8 job not sure how portable it will be tho

[Mountains of Madness]

That looks great! I like that you've added some dimension to the board with the water features. I look forward to seeing it assembled and primed.
What board did you use on the bottom to hold all that weight?
I'm curious what the final weight will be, and what hinges you choose. My portable 4x4 from Poppabear is so light I can carry it without any handles at all, so I'm curious what you will do for handles also.

[dekeduffy]

Very nice! What type of material did you use for the area with the raised steps? I'm very interested to see how the magnetized terrain turns out. Since the board is portable what are you thinking of putting the terrain in to bring with?

[PG_Pake]

@ Mountains of Madness: There is a 9mm plywood on the bottom. I bet the final weight will be around 10 kilos. I haven't found hinges I want because they should be max. 17mm wide and as long as possible so I may have to make the hinges myself. We'll see about that.
And the table will have a name. There will be a big welcoming sign between the two canals that says "Innsmouth"

The steps and the black areas are made of foam board and cardboard.

The terrain will be houses, sandbag barricades and a ton of other little pieces. Barrels, lamp posts, water posts etc. I may have to build a separate box for them

[PG_Killbox]

Holy bananahammock, that looks awesome!

[OTee]

I totaly like the part that looks like slate...

Perhaps I will steal that idea ;-) since I wanted to build a greyisch/blackish board myself and thought about slate as to justify the steep angles of hills...

The table is great so far. I totaly love the different 'layers' with the small platforms, canals and steps... this breaks the usually uniform pattern of most tables. Great work!

I have no experience whatsoever with Hirst or similar moulds and so am eager to see how those large areas come out in the end. I allways fear they would be to "repetitive".

[Ogrob]

That is looking phenomenal. I love that you have some elevation built in, was thinking that sort of solution is probably better then modular hills.

[PG_Pake]

Well, the painting has begun...






C&C welcome!

[HPSoundwave]

that table looks sweet cannot wait to see it with terrain on it. Are you making a second or third to go with it?

[Mordjinn]

Great and fun looking table. Makes me wanna build one more for our games :P

[High Prelate Shivaan]

looks so amazing!! how do you like the hirst molds? i was thinking of getting some. and how did you treat the cardboard slate so it didn't warp?

[PG_Pake]

The Hirst Molds are amazing until they start to warp from the resin's heat. Dental plaster would've been a safer choice.
For the cardboard I used regular white glue applied with a brush. Then I simply added a flat weight on it for a few minutes. No warping.
After it was all done, I painted the whole area with thinned down white (PVA) glue and black acrylic paint before spraying it with black primer.

[ForestZ]

It probably would have been better to create a batch of plaster casts then use those to create a larger mold to use for your resin pours (would have resulted in fewer pours too). Your end result is looking really solid though. I like the way your cardboard stones turned out. I was planning on trying something similar and I'm glad to see the effect is worth it.

[PG_Pake]

I agree, it would have been better to do that but since the warping occurred when I was almost done, I just thought I'd hang in there. If I would have had more casting left I would have definitely done that.
Now off to garage to try out how to magnetize lamp posts...

[havre]

Great build. Interesting take on the cardboard tiles. I'm working on a similar project and would like to run a few issues by you, sir.

Weight is allways an issue with portable tables. I'm trying to obtain sufficient structural integrity with a 4 mm plywood base. In hindsight, do you think you could use less than 9 mm yourself? And do you think regular plaster of paris could be used for the casts, as that is somewhat lighter than resin and dental plaster?

[Poppabear40]

LOVE the board. I am going to have to step up my game for the next portable one I do. Love the moss/mold painting near the water. How about a close up?

[PG_Pake]

Thanks, Poppabear. I really appreciate the comment, especially since it was your table/tables that inspired me to start building my own.
Close-ups will appear when there's something to show

[kc7sbp]

Did you use Hirst-arts molds for some of the tiling? If so what kind of plaster did you use for it?

[PG_Pake]

Got the hinges assembled. 2,50€ a piece...



"They" say it's all in the detail...




There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Still a lot of work, though...

[Helvetica]

very professionally done! looks like a malifaux board tho tsk tsk! :P

[PG_Pake]

It does?
Honestly, I have heard about Malifaux but I have no idea what it's about. So any resemblance to Malifaux is purely coincidental...

[Helvetica]

It does?
Honestly, I have heard about Malifaux but I have no idea what it's about. So any resemblance to Malifaux is purely coincidental...

It's not a bad thing, their card terrain is very nice. It just reminded me of that keep it up.

[Poppabear40]

Absolutely beautiful work! I like the side hinges, and I think I will switch to those on my next board. I have also been playing with the idea of making a removable board to cover the open end when the board is folded. I tend to sit the board on the open end and I am sure I will end up damaging the seam.

[High Prelate Shivaan]

This is seriously turning out fantastic- thanks for the tips, and it really looks amazing with the accessories.

[PG_carnage4u]

very nice board. Hirst arts are getting popular with this forum. 3 of have big projects which all have a heavy focus on them..

[PG_Pake]

I have also been playing with the idea of making a removable board to cover the open end when the board is folded. I tend to sit the board on the open end and I am sure I will end up damaging the seam.

I'm playing with the same idea. There will be a board covering the vital parts but I'm not sure yet how to make it removable without having to compromise the minimal use of various bits.

[PG_gabbadj]

very inspiring! can't wait to see more pics!

[Ulfast]

Wow, looks really good. As the fellow above me said, can´t wait for more pictures and progress

[PG_snapshot_superhero]

I'm playing with the same idea. There will be a board covering the vital parts but I'm not sure yet how to make it removable without having to compromise the minimal use of various bits.

My first idea would be to drill 6 to 8 small holes into the board on that side. Get a thin piece of wood, attach thin dowels to the board that will insert into the holes drilled into the board. Then attach rare earth magnets to where the dowels would insert to hole the board in... Confusing enough yet? lol

[PG_Pake]

Not confusing at all!
I actually thought about that but abandoned that idea because I don't want to rely on magnets.
If it accidentally gets caught on something, falls under my foot, I fall on my face and the vital parts are exposed because of the fallen cover under my foot, something bad might happen. So no magnets.
I think I have it figured out. I have the piece of plywood already sawn, just need to stain it and slap it on.
The table is finished, more pictures when the clear resin has dried... 24 to 48 hours... Blah.

[ForestZ]

I think what I'm planning on doing for that gap is this:

If you look at Poppabears table he has a frame around the bottom of the table (for structure). What I'll do is inset the frame piece along this open edge, just a little on one half, and on the other half, the same distances as the depth of the folded board.

On the smaller inset, attach piano hinges and to that a piece of board big enough to cover the gap. When the board is folded up, this piece folds up to cover the gap (and will latch at the end to the bottom of the other board.) Then, to unfold the table, you open this panel and fold flat, then open the other half of the board. The panel will sit in the hollow created by setting the other frame back.

The only issue I think might be the latching mechanism on one half of the board being in the way of the unfolded flap when you open everything up, but if the latch is thin enough it hopefully won't be a problem.

[Brownboot]

Nice working adding those little touches of green to break everything up. It really makes the stonework feel old.

[PG_Pake]

I can honestly say I'm exhausted.

The plate covering the open parts.


Standing up.


The bottom cover details:


Bottom cover removed, vital parts exposed:

[PG_Pake]

Hinges & bottom cover fasteners up close:


Zie table:



Lamp post magnets: