Display Board

[Lore Weaver]

How does one build a display board? What is a display board? How big should it be? Does anyone have an example?

[judchic]

well i know battlefoam makes this as a base http://us.battlefoam.com/products/X%252dBoard-Travel-Display-Board.html but to me its really expensive. size wise it just needs to hold your force and make it look good. too big makes it hard to set on tables (terrain gets in the way) and too small makes it look cluttered. depends how you want it to look when you want to build it.

[Deadlytoaster]

i Would assume that 2'x2' would be plenty. At warmasters in ontario (a big annual tourney there) that was recommended size (also that was the minimum size. I dont know what astronomicon requires (i dont think they actually say) so have at it!

I do have a question for you guys though, how would i go about making an Eldar webway gate? i want to have my eldar emerging out of the gate into a jungle world.

[Aegwymourn]

They recommend 2'x2' for Astronomicon.

I am in the same boat as you Mark. I have no idea where to start and what to do. I know what one is, but no idea how to make one.

@ deadlytoaster there were a number of people who had links to non-GW terrain on BoLS. I'm to lazy to go find it, but you could always ask again. They tend to be relatively helpful there.

[Deadlytoaster]

Sweet, i'll check it out.

As far as construction i think we started with a base of press board and slapped styrofoam on top to make the base and then one more layer of foam to make the hills. We added jungle terrain, bam done, it was an easy board but atleast we got some points for having one.

EDIT: now that i think about it, i think we just used styrofoam, though i would probably recommend a solid base of something.

[dusktiger]

display boards. yes padiwan, i know of these things. hmmmmm.

the easiest and most common examples would be to google Armies On Parade. most of these use a single 2x2 panel from Realms of Battle, with conversion work done to them to match the army on display.  with Forge World's new city panels, and necron panels, and upcoming ork panels, there's starting to emerge a nice spread of pre-made options if you want a single tile to paint up for your army. 

that covers a generic idea and concept of where to start for the display area.  the next thing to consider is do you want this display board to act as a army tray for moving from table to table.  if you do, you need to make a frame with handles to make transport easy.  the best and easiest method, which also gets used alot, is to buy a picture frame that can hold your tray.  style is all up to you, but i have seen ones where someone took a nice thick one and used it as a slight lip around the display to keep models from slipping off:

to varnished wood ones that sat flush with the display to make it look classy


one recent design i saw was for a 4-man team tournament, using the wooden tv trays walmart sells for $40/each that come with a foldup set of legs to place it on.  he spraybombed them all black (they come in a varnished oak look), then did some overspray and drybrushing with greys to match the styrofoam inserts he made to fit into them, which were in turn based and painted to match his army's bases.


also, if you decide to scratchbuild one, another thing to consider is if you want your models to sit there freestanding, or have little recessed areas for their bases to keep them from moving and sliding about so they look better on their display. this doesnt have to be super fancy, as something simple like this will do:


or you can take the time to make the recesses and have something like this:


i'll leave ya with a few finished examples for inspiration:

[Lore Weaver]

You did one for your scorpions, right? How'd that look?

[Deadlytoaster]

The board with the flying Eldar tanks is friggen sick! hmmm looks like i got some planning to do here....

[Roland]

I haz 2 suggestions for youse guys.

1) Darren has some realm of battle extensions. some thing like $110 for 2 tiles. 

2) Go to home depot. Get a sheet or two of the 2'x8'-1/2" insulation foam (its blue). Then borrow my White Dwarf 298 with the detailed instructions to build a modular 4x4 board out of 2x2 square

......

Profit.

If you're feeling extra nice, make 2 so we have enough for 4x8 table and donate it to the den.

[dusktiger]

this was the one i made, using a 16x24" picture frame, inverted, with a 22x28" sheet of foamboard cut to size and used as the base. then i bought styrofoam and a foam cutter to make the hills, and carefully took the time to recess holes for every model, including the vehicles, to sit in. once it was based with the black sand, it had just enough grab to keep everything in place.

i also took the time to paint it all black before adding the sand, and to do that, you need to "clearcoat" the foam with a specific product, sometimes goes by the name "modgepodge". its a PVA glue based product used to seal alot of projects, it can also be used to make custom labels for bottles and jars, and in this case, it seals and coavers the foam before you paint it to prevent wasting brush-on paint that would seep into the airpockets, and also allow you to spraypaint it without having the spray eat the foam like spitter acid.

[Guest]

Wow, those are some sweet boards

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