For the DBN battle I decided to contract another table for the battle. I used the Shako Scenario Book to design the table from that map.
For this DBN battle we changed the scale so that each unit were battalions. So I was able to increase the size of the village and forest area to give us a better historical feel. So this is a 2 x 4 foot table constructed just for this event at the CSGA/CMH 2013 throwdown.
So I built the usual frame using a 2 x 4 MDF board for the bottom and 1" x 2" boards for the frame. I used #6 1 1/4 inch wood screws to secure the frame. So I end up with a framed box with 2 inch sides. I purchased some blue insulation foam from Lowes. I purchased a 1 1/2" sheet and a 1/2" sheet. The 1/2 inch sheet was glued to the bottom. I then added a few foam pieces in on corner to give the next sheet some angle.
I next glued the 1 1/2" sheet (of course cut a little shy of 2' x 4'). You have to take into consideration the frame. I used a foam cutter for all the foam cuts by the way. I let the foam sheets bond overnight with books weighing it all down. Then I added my hill and Village pieces and a few more small pieces to provide some curves in the surface.
The next steps are captured in the pictures below.
I taped it off with painters tape and cut out the Plaster Cloth. I also gouged out the stream in the foam before this step. |
Then with a water bottle shot sections of the cloth and smoothed out the plaster over the contours of the board. |
Doesn't that look great?! Already has color, nice hard surface that has natural texture to it. It goes on like thick mud or concrete. And don't forget to use Surgical gloves! |
So here I am trying to size the area for Plancenoit. And I know there are many renditions of what this board should look like but we wanted to keep it simple and not difficult to play with DBN rules. |
More trees |
Gave the road a darker brown color as well as the stream. Then I added water. |
The water stuff takes overnight to harden completely. I added some rock to the bottom of the stream. |
After the first layer was set I then sprayed the same solution from a water bottle over the entire board. I did that twice to make sure the flock would stay in place. |
Almost ready. View from Prussian right flank. You can see I painted the sides of the table dark brown. |
View from Prussian left flank. |
Trimmed up the green walls and hot glued them down. |
Another view. |
Prussian and French in the thick of it around Plancenoit. |
Dan
Great table! It looks very playable too.
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