I want to build a specific board for Legion, including all the terrain and the board itself being flocked ( I don't want to use a gaming mat).
Originally I wanted to do a Hoth board, but looking online it seems creating good snow effects is quite difficult.
Would any experienced board makers, point me to a planet that is more beginner friendly?
Anything that can be covered in glue and then sanded, flocked, static grassed etc
Endor, Tatooine, Sullust etc.
You don't need to make specific snow effects for a snow board. Painting a piece of mdf blue and white and having some appropriate terrain can work fine.
Out of interest, as a newcomer to terrain, is there anything specific that steers you away from Terrain mats? I think they look amazing with some other bits placed on top of them.
14 minutes ago, VAYASAN said:Out of interest, as a newcomer to terrain, is there anything specific that steers you away from Terrain mats? I think they look amazing with some other bits placed on top of them.
They do look amazing and my reason is rather silly.
It's just that I prefer to have texture to the gaming surface, like the grass or the snow flock, the smoothness of the gaming mats is what I don't like.
They also sometimes seem to be a bit sheeny? But this is just from what I've seen online and is probably wrong.
1 minute ago, guest450670 said:They do look amazing and my reason is rather silly.
It's just that I prefer to have texture to the gaming surface, like the grass or the snow flock, the smoothness of the gaming mats is what I don't like.
They also sometimes seem to be a bit sheeny? But this is just from what I've seen online and is probably wrong.
Each to their own of course and a well flocked/textured board can be amazing...but I do think that mats probably look a bit sheeny possibly do to the light / flash on photos. (im not a mat salesman btw 
).
So much easier for storage too if you (down the line) want some variation from lets say hoth, to buy and store another mat rather than making and storing new boards.
1 minute ago, VAYASAN said:
So much easier for storage too if you (down the line) want some variation from lets say hoth, to buy and store another mat rather than making and storing new boards.
This is a very good point, I would love to switch between multiple planets, especially if we get campaign play down the line. I may have to do more research. Hehe. Thanks for the help.
3 minutes ago, guest450670 said:This is a very good point, I would love to switch between multiple planets, especially if we get campaign play down the line. I may have to do more research. Hehe. Thanks for the help.
No problem. Dont let me put you off making your own thing though if thats whats right for you, it can be very rewarding.
I have tried all sorted so encountered a lot of problems/benefits of various terrain...one way to approach it might be (if you have the cash) buy 1 mat, see if you like it and go from there. If you do great, its saved you a lot of time and materials and its easy to store. If you dont for whatever reason, you can still embark on a project of making something without having wasted much time.
For me, storage and ease of swapping from Endor/tatooine using mats wins out overall, if I had boards for all those, I have no idea where they would all go.
Good luck.
This is what i made also first time ever for me to make terrain.
I still need to make some mountian/platue stuff
23 minutes ago, WillemTCG said:This is what i made also first time ever for me to make terrain.
I still need to make some mountian/platue stuff
Awesome work, first go or not.
4 hours ago, guest450670 said:They do look amazing and my reason is rather silly.
It's just that I prefer to have texture to the gaming surface, like the grass or the snow flock, the smoothness of the gaming mats is what I don't like.
They also sometimes seem to be a bit sheeny? But this is just from what I've seen online and is probably wrong.
Have you thought about making custom mats on canvas? I've made two and they are the best of both worlds--they roll up into a tube and take a texture very well! Very simple to make with no tools required.
32 minutes ago, Big Easy said:Have you thought about making custom mats on canvas? I've made two and they are the best of both worlds--they roll up into a tube and take a texture very well! Very simple to make with no tools required.
You posted images of them in another thread, right?
1 hour ago, player2801864 said:You posted images of them in another thread, right?
I posted the desert mat so far, but I've also done Lah'mu. The most difficult part was holding the canvas while spreading the caulk (I didn't have visegrips for the first mat). The most specialized tool needed was a $10 caulk gun. The sand mat took a few days to glue down, the Lah'mu mat was done in two days. The cost was $50 for enough supplies to make at least two mats, including the caulk gun which is reusable.
Edited by Big Easy7 hours ago, VAYASAN said:So much easier for storage too if you (down the line) want some variation from lets say hoth, to buy and store another mat rather than making and storing new boards.
I'll second that as well. If space is at a premium, you also have to take into account the amount of terrain/models that will go ON TOP of those boards. That'll start to soak up space too. Dont get me wrong though, i've played on a textured surface before and there is a night/day feeling when you see it/play on it. Just gotta figure out where your priority on the subject is.
13 hours ago, guest450670 said:I want to build a specific board for Legion, including all the terrain and the board itself being flocked ( I don't want to use a gaming mat).
Originally I wanted to do a Hoth board, but looking online it seems creating good snow effects is quite difficult.
Would any experienced board makers, point me to a planet that is more beginner friendly?
There’s some cool Tatooine terrain floating around. Sand is pretty easy—get some sand, some paint, and some caulking and mix them all up. Produces a great texture, and as with the Lah’mu mat mentioned above, you can throw it on canvas and just roll it up. Of course, you could also do a proper board using the same method; just paint it over your mdf/foam. If you go that route, though, it’s a good idea to slap down a a layer of white paint or something as primer.
Mustafar or Sullust also doesn’t seem tooooo hard, but you’ll want some more specialized equipment (namely an airbrush, and maybe a heat gun for melting out rivers the lazy way).
Something like Endor or Alderaan would be my go-to. A bit of dirt, a bit of flocking, a bit of stone and you’re good to go.
Check out the terrain tutor on YouTube that guy is amazing