Millicant's Cities of Death modular terrain board project

[Millicant]

Introduction

Hello all,

I've begun construction on my first 40k board. Until now I have played on my local game shop's or my fellow 40k players boards, and have finally decided I need to have/make my own. Not wanting to do anything halfway I decided to construct the board from scratch and build it up as a modular Cities of Death board. I've had quite a bit of inspiration, not only from the GW Cities of Death book but also from Dav0r over at warseer. I won't link it but search for davor's modular cities of death table and you will see what I mean.

I'm going to update this as I go along because posting my progress will help my stay motivated, and any feedback I can get will only make the board better! So from here on out, constructive criticism or any comments are welcomed and invited.

Table Construction

First up, I spent the weekend building the table itself. I started off buying the supplies:

-(1) 4x8 plywood sheet (table top)

-(5) 2x4x8 boards (reinforcement)

-(2) 4x4x10 board (legs)

-Hardware (screws, bolts, etc)

I'm keeping the board at 4'x8' on purpose and will be using the extra 1' on each end for players' reserves, armies, dice, codex, etc... However a 4x8 plywood sheet will bend and bow over time so I decided to reinforce it with 2x4. Below is the result:

Pretty sturdy - not going to sag anytime soon...

Legs were next. I actually cut two sets of legs - two options for table height. While I typically prefer a taller, waist-level table, my friends made a convincing argument for a lower table. First, I'm much taller than they are so it's more universal :), second it really feels cool to be looking *down* at the battlefield like you're directing the battle from your cruiser in orbit, and three, with tall buildings and terrain it will be very difficult to reach over and through if the table starts off too high.

So, the short legs are the standard and the tall legs will probably be used if I take the city terrain off and use it as a regular battlefield table.

Legs were attached with perpendicular bolts - used so they can be detached. Still VERY sturdy - no wobble here whatsoever!

Now the basic construction is complete.

I didn't want a wood-topped table to play on. Models slide on it, sanding or splinters are a pain, and it doesn't look very "40k-ish" to me. So I covered it in burlap to give it a generic basing that can be used for regular games or easily covered by my yet-to-be-built city terrain. Carpet tacks and spray adhesive keep it solidly in place.

Finished for now, I'm going to add some small molding at the 1' marker on each end. This will clearly delineate the "setup" area as well as bracket in and hold in place the city squares.

Up Next/Future Plans

So far here are my plans for the city:

-Basic modularity coming from 1'x1' tiles of hardboard with various ruins on them.

-Some 6"x1' tiles for variety (thanks Dav0r - great idea!)

-Some buildings on separate tiles that can combine into one giant building (thanks again Dav0r)

-Option for part of the city to be elevated. One section or sections include the elevation change (stairs, hill, wall, whatever) and the remaining elevated portion is regular 1x1 city tiles on stilts (more or less)

-Some larger tiles (2x2?) with self-elevation and larger buildings. I'm thinking of the Cities of Death book.

Next will be planning the city tiles, creating the bases, and potentially terrain construction.

C&C welcome!

[d Karma b]

This is something I'm taking notes on, for sure. I want a table like this for my gaming, and I've been eyeing some pieces in the local hardware/lumber shops.

In regards to your swapable bolts and legs, what size bolts did you use/how big a hole did you have to drill? The idea is simple genius. Also, how much has this set you back so far?

Cant wait to see you start putting up some terrain on it, will definitely be following this.

[Millicant]

Hey karma! Glad you'll be following, I'll try to make it worth it.

 

The bolts are just 1/4" hex head bolts, 5.5" long. I drilled a 1/4" hole straight through, mostly because that's the biggest drill bit I have. Means the bolts have to be pounded into place a bit but they fit. The washers on each end keep the bolts from digging into the wood.

 

So far I've spent about $85. You could do it a bit cheaper by using a lesser plywood or only making one set of legs. I'd say you could do it for $60 if you tried and maybe did a little less reinforcement (mine is a bit overkill). Consider tools as well. I used a power drill, hand saw, and a circular saw for the legs, but I had those already.

 

The burlap and spray adhesive take up almost $20 of that cost, so if you go another route keep that in mind.

[Millicant]

Planning

I have acquired a bit of Cities of Death terrain:

1x Imperial Sector

1x Manufactorum

3x Shrine of the Acquila

So I needed to plan out my tiles to know what to build. I made some shapes in Powerpoint to help me out. I started with a few known quantities of things I wanted to make:

Roads

Giant Cathedral

Several 1'x1' buildings

One 2'x2' building

I added a few other shapes until I had enough that I could shuffle around and make a new design each time. A few notes on the shapes:

The roads I have planned are only 6" wide. I'm aiming for a claustrophobic and unforgiving city. Land raiders will fit, but just barely.

The orange wedge signifies a ramped road. The right 2' of the board will be raised about 4" to give another dimension to the city.

There are a few more pieces not pictured that I will likely build to allow for more configurations.

The Cathedral

This is going to be the centerpiece of my board at a whopping 24" across and 36" deep. I'm drawing inspiration heavily from the Imperial Cathedral on GW's website, but obviously do not have the resources to build on the same scale as that!

So far all I have built is the beginnings of the facade, to include the statue, staircase, and towers.

The staircase is constructed out of patterned styrene sheets (Evergreen/Plastruct brands from my local hobby shop), styrene strip for the front, and is supported by old sprues for the stairs themselves, while the flat portion is held up by plywood and a layer of hardboard/MDF.

I didn't want to waste 4 whole wall sections for the inside of the towers that faced the stairs, so I used more patterned styrene sheet and some other CoD bits. The towers themselves use two shrine faces on the front (obviously) and I tore the third shrine in two to use as ruined section of wall on the outside of the towers. That thick ABS is very tough to tear, it took a lot of clipping with my sprue cutters then tearing with pliers to achieve effective tips/destruction.

Up Next/Future Plans

I will be continuing construction of the cathedral, starting with the rest of the facade. There will be a walkway over the two doors that continues into the towers. The remaining walls of the cathedral will be the regular tall shrine walls (I have 12 total!) mixed with regular basilica windows and walls. I plan on building some simple pews out of styrene sheet, and will make most of them wrecked.

More importantly, I need to finish the bases themselves! I have the MDF/Hardboard but no way to cut it! The circular saw will do it, but it protests and the operator isn't good at making straight lines. Unfortunately the lines have to be perfect for the pieces to all line up. I'm searching for a local table saw to use, and considering buying one as well (I'm starting to make furniture for the house - not buying a several hundred dollar saw for 40k....).

Comments and Constructive Criticisms are always welcome! Thanks for looking!

[Zhoolda]

Holy Emperor thats big! Can't wait to se more :)

[DibbZi]

Me Likey!