All,

I need some recommendations on buying foamcore. I have the VW set and it recommends 21x28 boards. I can not find any, even on the web. I can get 20x30 elmers boards at AC Moore for 2.19 a board.

Will the ground tiles work on the 20x30 boards?

Anyone have alternative suggestions?


Keith

I found 20x30 is the standard for foamcore. At one point I found a case of larger foamcore, something like 24x36, I think (I'll check from home), and bought it. With a little modification (to either the tiles, or the boards) you can make them fit on the 20x30s without much problem.

I've started using posterboard to build masterboards, though. Easier to use and port around, and they don't break.

Honestly how much modding is required to use the 20x30 boards?

How is the poster board working for you? Do it stand up to the wear and tear of game play?

How about storing it? do you roll it up? Do you glue it to another piece of posterboard to make it a little more rigid? Seems kind of flimsy to me.


Keith

Note - this is all assuming that you are talking about fixing the tiles down permanantly on a board. I do this (now) with most terrain types and with custom maps (although because of Mayhem's module nature I am creating individual tiles to put together).

The only trick with modding the boards is that you have to cut the tiles to fit (no biggie), or cutting the board to fit the tiles. Either way is no real big deal. I just haven't found the extra strength of foamcore necessary for what are essentially battlemats. I prefer to save the foamcore for other things.

For battlemaps, I typically glue the cardstock tiles to the posterboard, which makes it rigid enough to carry, but not so much that it might break. I also typically make 2 of each type of terrain as well, Most of my battlemaps end up dual sided, with one terrain on one side, and another terrain on the other side. I've had a few for over a year now, with no real issue of wear and tear.

Posterboard typically comes in 22x28, which makes it a little easier to use with 7" square tiles (you only have to cut an inch strip off the bottom of the boards), and I end up with a 6 tile x 4 tile area when two are put together.

For storing it, I have all my battlemaps on a shelf; they hang over just a little, but they're fine.

Have you tried contact adhesive on your boards Robby? Very little problem with the tiles falling off and you have to wait for it to dry before you can use it. Course with contact adhesive, you better be sure you get it right when you place it, because you'll most likely either destroy the tile or the base board trying to remove it/reposition it.

Skunk

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I can't say as that I have used it. Where do you get it?

But I haven't really had any problems with tiles coming off. I think of all the battlemaps I have (around 20 or so, many doublesided) I only had one tile start peeling off - and that was because I was running out of the spray glue when I was spraying it and didn't realize it at the time.

I'm pretty sure you can get a spray type of contact cement, but most kinds that I've seen are applied with an applicator brush. Check out hardware stores in your area because it's usually used with counter tops for kitchens and such.

Oh and make sure you do it in a ventilated area, the stuff usually has really powerful fumes! I think you can find it in the paint section, the spray version that is. Not sure where the other version is, but you might also be able to find it at a craft store like Michaels.

Skunk

Check out my fantasy campaign, Wizard Quest, a world using Wizards of the Coast’s 3.5 DnD system by visiting .

Check out the NEW IMPROVED flash teaser for my sci-fi campaign, , coming Jan 2007. I’ll be using D20 Future for the rules.

Check out what games I’m working on and their status by visiting .

Tampa Bay Game Players Forum is now available, .

My friend Tom in New Hampshire (the person who introduced me to World Works, after I introduced him to World Works...) has lately started putting his permanent Masterboards on 1/4" masonite, then laminating them. This way he can draw on them with dry erase or transparency markers.

For me that seems a bit too expensive (the laminate that is, the masonite is not all that pricey, and I have used it for some Masterboards in my Mordheim group), but he feels that it is worth it. Mind you, at one point he was running 4 games a week, so for him it likely is worth the extra bit (Nuts I tell you, the man is nuts!). He runs one game a week for his kids, which I think is really nefty. (If I recall, he spends about $25 a pop on the big sheets of clear laminate, which is a pretty heavy stock into the bargain.)

The Auld Grump

For battlemaps, spray adhesive, most definitely. I try to use this whenever possible (I've used others - this has been the best so far):
http://www.3m.com/us/mfg_industrial/adh ... er77.jhtml

permant bond or contact bond? The reason I ask is my wife found a spray glue that I can do either with. What is the recommended method?


Keith

I've used clear contact paper before myself and then used grease pencils to write on it, but only for graph/hex paper for game mapping. Also, water color markers worked ok for it as well.

Just make sure you take your time while attaching the contact paper to whatever you're sticking it on. Nothing worst than having it kink up in the wrong place and getting a wrinkle!

The hardboard 2x2s sounds like an idea for a masterboard. I'm still thinking about how I'm going to do my magnetic board! I think I've worked out the details, gonna cost me around $100 for materials, then a bit more time for the assembly.

Plus, it's not going to be portable, beyond carrying it from room to room as I'm going to make it one piece that will go over top of a conference table I have. I'm going to try and get to work on it this weekend and will make sure to take pictures of it as I build it.

But I can see how using the 2x2s for a base and adding magnetic tape in strips might work also. I'll have to explore that idea as that would be portable!

Skunk

Check out my fantasy campaign, Wizard Quest, a world using Wizards of the Coast’s 3.5 DnD system by visiting .

Check out the NEW IMPROVED flash teaser for my sci-fi campaign, , coming Jan 2007. I’ll be using D20 Future for the rules.

Check out what games I’m working on and their status by visiting .

Tampa Bay Game Players Forum is now available, .

With the contact paper sheets, wouldn't you have problems with the ink gathering in the fine cracks between sheets?

I like the linking boards that CWU has. Very portable. Very cool.

Also, some folks have been using felt or fabric to create a texture ground area.