I'm so hyped that I had to start preparing for the release right away.

My plan for today was to build a simple Jedha themed gaming mat. Took me just a couple of hours and less than 20€. I hope this might inspire those who didn't play any other tabletops before Legion to get some proper terrain for their games. Playing with scenic terrain adds a lot to your games and makes them truly immersive. It would be a shame if people let this opportunity slip because they feel building terrain is too tricky.

I wrote a pretty basic tutorial here: http://finiatures.blogspot.de/2017/08/one-day-build-jedha-gaming-mat.html

All you need is just a couple of basic materials...

... and you'll end up with a simple, yet convincing gaming mat to kick off the Star Wars vibes.

Looks really good, nice work!

superb work!

does it fold/roll nicely?

guess it may not be dry yet but do let us know

11 minutes ago, Manchu said:

superb work!

does it fold/roll nicely?

guess it may not be dry yet but do let us know

Very curious about this as well. I don't understand very well how the acrilic sealant works... Won't cracks appear if rolled?

+1 for the "Will it roll question"

"In theory" it should roll, although you need to support it by rolling it up on some kind of tube. The acrylic sealant stays flexible and bonds well with the cloth but there's a lot of sand in my mix which makes it quite heavy. Therefore I wouldn't really recommend folding it. I'm pretty sure the folds would be visible permanently and the mat might start to crack there after a while.

I'll let it dry overnight and keep you updated.

Okay, here's news. First field test was successful. I left it on the back porch for a whole day. The dog and the kid walked over it constantly and I even folded and bent it on purpose several times. So far I can't see any real tear. A proper gaming table would probably be wrecked right now...

For storage I use rubber foam pipe isolation. It's cheap and supports the mat nicely when stored so we won't get any visible folds on the battlefield.

I wonder if that paint would stick to a busted up 12" Obi-Wan Kenobi figure.....

Never mind....the scale would be WAY wrong for this, still might work for smaller statues, though.

So it rolls up. But does it produce a lot of sand during transport so you constantly are cleaning it off? I really like this idea but I want to be clean.

Do you have an idea of the amount and ratios you used of the material?

2 hours ago, Undeadguy said:

So it rolls up. But does it produce a lot of sand during transport so you constantly are cleaning it off? I really like this idea but I want to be clean.

No mess at all. The sand, the paint and the acrylic sealant have a tight bond... It's like a rubber surface. If something comes off, it's usually one of the bigger "rocks" that were in my sand mix.

If you are going for a non desert world and use flocks, they might be worse though. But this is a problem with every gaming table.

Any chance you'd be willing to post a more detailed list of materials needed for this mat? Like, maybe the type of list that someone who has never done any kind of miniature war gaming before could take to the store and use as a guide?

47 minutes ago, Guest Natdrix said:

Any chance you'd be willing to post a more detailed list of materials needed for this mat? Like, maybe the type of list that someone who has never done any kind of miniature war gaming before could take to the store and use as a guide?

- Any piece of cloth in the right size. (6'x3' plus a litte extra, if you want to cut it into the right size afterwards.)

- A mix of sand, earth, coffee powder, gravel... Whatever you want your surface to look like. Coffee powder works great by the way and it's much lighter than sand. I used bird sand here, less than a kilo.

- Acrylic colours of your choice (Go for darker clolours than you actually need. The acrylic sealant is white and will lighten up the colours anyway. If you have them at hand, you can also use ground pigments instead of paint.

- 4-5 tubes of acrylic sealant

That's it. If you want your mat to be green, buy the flocks you want and just throw them on the mat in random patterns while the acrylic sealant is still wet. I wrote a short tutorial when I first tested this method in 2011: http://finiatures.blogspot.de/2011/09/making-terrain-mat.html

Every gaming table needs terrain and I started with the most basic and universally usable piece of terrain out there: rocks.

To give them some kind of Star Wars feel, I used Ralph McQuarrie's concept art for Dantooine as inspiration (also known from EU Alderaan lore and Lothal in Star Wars Rebels).

Hope you like them. You'll find the full tutorial here: https://finiatures.blogspot.de/2017/08/first-star-wars-terrain-mcquarrie-style.html

This looks awesome. I was going for a canyon type map. Anyone who plays EA's Star Wars Battle front check out the Goazan Badlands Cargo Map.

High ridges with canyon walls and several fallen AT-AT's as terrain/cover. (using paper craft printed on labels and put on foam core.

I have to say your work is quite impressive and I may rethink my map after seeing this. Do you use a lighter in helping you mold/smooth out your edges on your foam?

@JohnnyTrash

Great tut!

I know you were working with what materials you had on hand but I think I'd make the bases of these rocks as wide as possible like in your reference pic.

I know I'm being childish, but I giggled a little when I gave your group of rocks (in the center of the pic) another look. The spire on the left of that grouping with the bulgy rock it's sitting on reminded me of anatomy.

I really like what you've done here, pretty simple and intuitive and the end product looks great!

On 8/28/2017 at 5:35 AM, JohnnyTrash said:

Every gaming table needs terrain and I started with the most basic and universally usable piece of terrain out there: rocks.

To give them some kind of Star Wars feel, I used Ralph McQuarrie's concept art for Dantooine as inspiration (also known from EU Alderaan lore and Lothal in Star Wars Rebels).

Hope you like them. You'll find the full tutorial here: https://finiatures.blogspot.de/2017/08/first-star-wars-terrain-mcquarrie-style.html

Think you'll ever do Lothal style buildings?

Wouod you ever make a ridge to run through the map with a plateau or would that be too ambitious for a gaming table? I'm thinking of doing something like this where half of the table would be a raised ridge with a path or two leading down into a canyon. I'm a complete newb at all this. Lol

On 1.9.2017 at 9:57 PM, Force Majeure said:

I know you were working with what materials you had on hand but I think I'd make the bases of these rocks as wide as possible like in your reference pic.

I know I'm being childish, but I giggled a little when I gave your group of rocks (in the center of the pic) another look. The spire on the left of that grouping with the bulgy rock it's sitting on reminded me of anatomy.

You're totally right. My wife said the same when she first saw them and the sandstone/skin colour paintjob didn't really help...

On 28.8.2017 at 8:45 PM, C3POFETT said:

Do you use a lighter in helping you mold/smooth out your edges on your foam?

Not on these pieces. I didn't want it to be completely smooth

On 2.9.2017 at 0:16 AM, Patteous said:

Think you'll ever do Lothal style buildings?

Wouod you ever make a ridge to run through the map with a plateau or would that be too ambitious for a gaming table? I'm thinking of doing something like this where half of the table would be a raised ridge with a path or two leading down into a canyon. I'm a complete newb at all this. Lol

I started some buildings but they are more like "generic Star Wars buildings". Architecture is borrowed from Tatooine, paintjob is closer to Jedha. First one is already finished. I'll try to take some pictures later.

A plateau is neither too ambitious nor too uncommon for a gaming table. Nevertheless there's some things to have in mind:

I go for modular terrain pieces because they are easier to store and basically allow you to create a different scenario every time you set up your table. If I wanted to make a ridge I probably would try to make it modular as well, otherwise it might happen after a while that every game you play on this table will be a battle for the chokepoints (the paths) and the rest of the forces might clash in the central killing ground (the canyon/corridor).

Also have in mind that we don't know the rules for jumping/climbing/elevated positions yet. You might want to wait with building your canyon until we know more about how movement works in this game...^^

It's time to step up the terrain-building game. Next in line: Buildings

Since there are already lots of people complaining about the prospect of having to build terrain, I just wanted to give you an idea how to build simple terrain pieces without having to buy tons of equipment and studying architecture...

May I present: A simple Jedha-building made from a cardboard box.

I know its already been said in the Discord Channel, but that little robot is such a nice touch

Those are stunning. Great work.

Stupendous!!

The details are what really bring it to life:

- the flared bottom of the arch

- the Star Wars style door (is that modeled off of something or your own take?)

- the door mechanism.

- the pipes and chimney

- the broken plaster

- the red stripes that run across the top of the building

- and the buttresses of course.

Thanks for showing us how simple it really can be if you just break it down to basics!

Now I want to see you tackle an antenna array, radar dish or relay station. ...if you want to

Love the propaganda posters!

Where did you get the little pit droid?