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Board Build (Part 1)

On the weekend I decided to make a start on making the actual board everything will go on to.

After long deliberation I decided to go with a 4ft x 4ft (120cm~ x 120xm~) board, basically because of size. I plan to build two 1ft x 2ft extensions in the future so I have a 5ft x 4ft board to give me a few more game options.

I went to the local hardware store and bought some 12mm thick MDF boards and cut them into four 2ft x 2ft squares.

Before doing this I researched a little and for anyone looking to build their board for the first time I highly recommend boards over 10mm in thickness. As you will see later you can texture them however you want with no fear of warping.

First, and probably unnecessary step was to paint the edges of the boards black. Not only does this make them look nice but I find it hides the gaps in the middle of the board better than natural wood colour (it at least makes the gaps look more purposeful). A lot of tutorials said I should paint them with house paint or use spakfilla on the edges before painting as the edges (particularly the cut ones) are very rough and soap up a lot of paint. I had some black spray paint left and sandwiched the boards together (to stop a lot of paint from getting on the faces of the boards) and sprayed them that way. If you can afford to use a little spray paint this was so fast and easy.

Next step was to water down some PVA, I probably used about a 300ml bottle with around 2 parts PVA to one part water (but you could probably go a bit thinner).

I used the watered down PVA with an old brush to cover the boards. I found it easier to elevate the boards slightly (on some old paint cans/mugs/whatever you have) so PVA drips down stick the board down.

I then sprinkled some small pieces of cork. I followed it up with a heavier sprinkling of Woodland Scenics ballast, concentrating more heavily in some areas. Finally I covered the whole board in dried sand.

Below you can see three of the boards covered heavily in the sand, the fourth one (in progress) with the PVA half applied.


I then decided, to spare my sanity (and not my hip pocket) to use spray paint to cover the boards. I used Army Painter leather brown. Oh and I also taped the sides off with masking tape to my black edges wouldn't be ruined.


As you can see the board at the bottom left is very patchy. Annoyingly I ran out of spray paint at that point and no more was in stock at the local store 😞 so that stalled my progress a bit.

The other three boards are covered to a level that I wanted, but as you can see they are a bit mottled. I was going to continue to spray them to get an even layer of brown but I actually liked the modulated effect it gave and confirmed my decision to use spray paints instead of hand painting.

You may also see a white gap between the bottom two boards, that is masking tape as I still need to finish spraying the unfinished board once I get more spray paint.

That's where I left it for the weekend, next up with this build is:
  • finishing painting the unfinished board
  • dry brushing (a couple levels)
  • patchy flocking
  • PVA sealing spray.
I cannot believe how long I told myself I couldn't do something like this and it turned out a lot more easy and enjoyable than I thought.



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