I have often found myself lacking space to store all my gaming-related things. Due to my family growing exponentially over the last few years, room is quickly becoming a valuable commodity in the FoxPhoenix house. Anything I can do to save room, without sacrificing good looking terrain and models, is definitely worth looking into.
Most of my games are played on ruined city boards. These kinds of boards are easy to make, being entirely flat and 2-dimensional, but make for some decent looking battlefields. The addition of a few craters and ruins and I can get a few decent shots for the battle report.
The battle for space, though, means that I have no permanent game board. Since everything has to be easily storable, this used to mean that I had a piece of black felt that I would simply drape over the kitchen table. Now, however, even this surface is off limits, because I can't tie up the only table where my children can eat at. Thus, I was inspired to make a folding game board, that I could attach the felt to. I didn't want to mess around with trying to drape the felt over a table anymore. So, I gathered the following supplies:
A 4'x4' sized board (the standard board size at most competitions I have attended)
3 Hinges and fasteners for them
My 6'x6' felt piece, black with white spraypaint dusting
A heavy-duty staple gun with 1/4" staples
2 sawhorses (aluminum and collapsible, about 15 USD ea. at a hardware store)
Using the pictured method, I made myself a much more convenient board! There are many other ways I could have gone about this, but I like my method as it is most convenient to my lifestyle. I store the sawhorses in the bottom of the closet, and this board fits perfectly under the bench on the front patio. Out of sight, and out of mind, keeps the missus happy!
It is late, but tomorrow I will set up the terrain on it for its first photo shoot!
Great idea. I have the same problem of space being a premium. I still haven't gotten around to building a portable gaming board. The Citadel boards were very tempting but too far out of my budget. I will use your idea for something like a trifold, 2'x4'(making a 6'x4' table) but actually paint/terraform the surface. Hope I could get the missus to sew up a large carry bag.
ReplyDeleteThis is a brilliant idea. I have enough hobbies that storage is at a major premium in my house. Well, that and the small child running around destroying anything he can reach. I'm going to have to build one of these.
ReplyDelete