Everything That's Happened

I've more models to show including the Prussian Army of Frederick the Great as well as a few more Frostgrave minis. These will be on here soon along with the below village tiles when completed.

In the meanwhile I haven't played many wargames but myself and JT have a got a new boardgame couple in HanDan. Been playing a few goodies which we haven't been able to just between us such as Battlestar Galactica - bit of a brain spin for JT. Game of Thrones as gone down well and the mechanics are good - only issue is that by trying to stay true to the books/series - its made an uneven game.

Finally last night we had a quick run through of Lobositz - removing a few models and shrinking the battlefield. AE played Austrians and DB assisted me running the Prussians. It was like hitting my head against a brick wall - sunken roads are really powerful and Alex just kept subbing units in whenever I caused a minor breakthrough. The historical set up shouldn't be so bad as I'd shrunk the battlefield significantly which allowed the Austrians to gather tight and be a very difficult force to break.

One query I have for anyone who's done V&B for Seven Years War - is most cavalry supposed to be Linear or massed - they seemed really weak last night - other than the Austrian Horse Grenadiers who destroyed everything in front of them.

To come, more pictures, hopefully a game of Rommel next week and some more board game adventures!

Terrain Tiles (Part 3)

Continuing working on the terrain tile project, and today I have an update. I found a pack of 8 sheets of 2'x6' hardboard (which works out as 24 2' squares) for £52 to good starting point!

I have also designed the basic designs for 24 tiles as a combination of plain, streams, hills etc

Stream/River Tiles

I didn't want to make any waterways too wide so that they can be used for multiple scales. A such these are 1" wide.

Hills

These are for significant hills, obviously smaller hills can be added across any of the other tiles.

Coast tiles

Can be used as a three like this and have a wide front or use 2 and go deeper (on a 6 tile table).

Trench Tiles

These won't be as extensive as my previous trench tiles as they need to drop down to the same level.

All the tiles!

At the same time i've been rethinking how to make the tiles. Rather than base then polystyrene, I'm thinking of using a base sheet, topped by 1" blocks at corners (stepped back by the depth if the sheets) and another sheet on top (as well as strips round edge to fill gaps).  

Just add the top

For areas with depressions (streams, trenches), I would do the same but the top would be made of two board strips at either side and the gap would be made of polystyrene.

Stream design

Probably a delay on this going ahead as DW is getting married tomorrow! WOOT!!!

On another note I have got some mdf laser cut buildings for Frostgrave - so pics soon and I will hopefully get some more games in.

Terrain Tiles Part 2 (Trenches)

So the initial discussion about terrain tiles was with regards to trenches (as I'd previously made a few blocks). This then evolved into how you'd be able to make modular terrain with these blocks and normal terrain blocks without making those blocks excessively thick for what they need to be.

As such I have come up with a couple of options I think could work:

OPTION A "DOWN, UP, UP"

So this design is fine if the first tile is a standard tile then further trenches behind (or 2 regular tiles then this trench tile). But in larger table setups might not fit in as well.

Normal Trench Tile

So this is what a "normal" trench tile looks like - obviously this varies for "2nd line" tiles as well as corners - I can also include mortar pits or bunkers.

In this first concept, the side facing the enemy would be at standard tile depth of 1" and the other side would be at 2" (trench depth). This means there is only one area that needs real care with regards to matching edges and that is int he slope up to the trenches.

Option A

As long as the start of the slope starts at the same point (at the edges) this shouldn't be an issue. The rear area behind the trenches being extra thick makes it easier with regards to adding extra features.

OPTION B "DOWN, UP, DOWN"

This option is better in terms of material price per tile as well as flexibility in larger games (if say there is "normal" terrain to a rear area.

Option B Overview

Again using the "standard" trench tile set-up you can see the slopes leading up to all of the trenches. This gives more of a feeling that when constructed, the materials removed were used to build up the walls (more realistic?).

Option B

So what do you think? I've seen and completed designs which are all at the increased depth but a lot of this is about how it interacts with the other bases in a modular setup so I'm split.

Terrain Tiles

So having discussed a super secret project with my friend DW, we have discussed the potential to make a large quantity of terrain tiles (once its announced I will be letting you all know exactly what is going on!). With a back and forth about what he wants etc I have come up with following pros and cons etc.

Table Setup: 6' x 4' with modular terrain (standard table size)

2 feet square vs 1 feet square:

• 1' is obviously more flexible in terms of arranging your terrain in different layouts. 
• 2' gives you more flexibility as to where your terrain leaves the table. You always want it to be the same place on each tile so they match up and gives you the flexibility of deployment. In a 1' tile you should probably put the leave points in the middle especially if cutting down as the strength of the tile will be compromised. Whilst on a 2' tile you could put it at 6", 8" or 12" (the middle) away from the edge). Having said that you would still need to leave at midpoints to achieve maximum flexibility.
• Cost; 1 2' tile is a lot cheaper than 4 1' tiles.
• Edges; when building if you have a full woodshop you can make edge guards out of wood - obviously this is cheaper when making 2' tiles as less edges. I don't have the capacity to do this so I just put the polystyrene up to the edge and papier mache. The only problem is that this creates some shrinkage away from the bases and therefore slight gaps when putting tiles together. This is an increased problem when you have more, smaller tiles.
• Storage; may be easier to store 1' tiles, there again 2' tiles have less edges so less chance of damage. This really depends on what your storage is like.
• Weight;  obviously the 2' tile is heavier (and bulkier) so more difficult to move around the space. However this means they should be less susceptible to movement on table.

Looking at all this I'd advise 2 feet squares. I would also only put terrain to cross board edges when there is a physical depression (trench tiles, rivers, gorges etc).

The only other feature that would cross board edges would be large hills - either with set crossing points or as a terrace (cliff) - I think this could lead to some really fun designs with waterfalls.

Significant hills should probably be terraced (With smoother edges) - this makes it a lot easier to join edges across boards as well as reducing issues with figures falling over and for rules which use heights is a lot more quantifiable.

Other terrain we can build to sit on top of this could be other linear features such as roads, fences etc or area templates (woods).

With regards to depth of the tile it would be the depth of the wood base and then about 1" of polystyrene.