Terrain Boards

I discovered that a number of fellow wargamers were using EVA foam boards as the base for their wargame terrain boards. These foam boards are normaly used for exercise mats and are 60cm x 60cm square x 10mm thick. They are flexible and join together with interlocking teeth, making them ideal as the base for a modular terrain system.


I've experimented over 30 years with various terrain systems, but this one has got to be the best. Here's why it works for me:
1. It's ideally sized to fit a 60mm hex grid.
2. It's light and quite sturdy (I didn't want to back it with MDF, I wanted to use its inherent lightness and the interlocking teeth).
3. It's easy to cut and form (a trim router is the perfect tool).
4. It's cheap (a few dollars a sheet at Bunnings).

Step 1 - The first step was to draw up a template which could be used for setting out the hex grid for each foam sheet. The hex size was 60mm between flats, so that gave a sheet width of 10 hexes and a sheet height of 11 hexes. To ensure that sheets could be joined together matching the hex grid, the hexes are slightly elongated. The template is a sheet of thick card with holes punched at the hex vertices.



Step 2 - A test board was 'scarificed' to work out the best way of marking the hexes and applying the flocking material. In the end, a 1mm routed hex outline proved to be, not only subtle, but visually nice.
I used PVA for applying static grass, but it tends to dry hard and slightly warps the boards. This can easily be overcome by bending the boards to break the hardened PVA, and the interlocking teeth flatten the sheets anyway. The better solution was to use Matte Medium Gel, which has great adherence for the grass, doesn't shrink and dries flexible.



Step 3 - Using the template, the hex vertices were marked on the foam board and the hex sides penned in by hand. Roads were painted on, connecting at the board mid-points. 13 boards were made to allow different combinations of roads and rivers on a typical 3 sheet by 2 game board.



Step 4 - The Trim Router proved to be the perfect tool for working with EVA foam. Rivers were routed out of the EVA foam at a 5mm depth with the banks routed at a 45 degree bevel. The banks were then manually sanded to give a more natural look. EVA foam sands very nicely, and routs even nicer. I then painted the river banks brown.



Step 4 continued - The rivers were connected at the third points of each board.



Step 4 continued - Here is a more complex board with roads and a river.



Step 5 - With a routing depth set to 1mm, I just manually traced the hex outlines, leaving out the roads.



Step 6 - Each board was then flocked with static grass using Liquitex Matte Medium Gel as the adhesive. The hex grid is more obvious under strong light as the 1mm indent shows up as a shadow. At lower light levels, and when viewed from an oblique angle it is barely noticeable.



Step 7 - The final step in creating the rivers was to paint the river base blue, then fill the river to about 2mm with Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish. This dries clear and flexible.



Step 8 - Finished boards!
13 boards have now been done.