Table design - wetlands

Mr Pokey · #1 13-03-2009, 07:06 PM

so im fairly new to the game, totally addicted at this point. :p I have a spare room in the back of my house i am going to convert into a game room, and have started building my first 40k table.

I actually have 2 table themes in mind, a wetlands theme, which i think will be the 'home field' for my orks, and an urban ruins theme that will be the home field for my space marines.

I figured I would start with the wetlands, because its easyer, and will get some practice in for me. I'm building the table to be 4' x 8'. and the environments will be modular, so im using 2' x 2' pieces of wood as my table tiles. I made an orthographic drawing in photoshop, I put all my tiles on there own layer so I could move them around in 2D and get a good feel for how flexible the design would be. After looking at these, Ive decided that the stone 'ruins' will be removable, and I'll just place flat stonework on that terrain instead. that way I can build up modular ruins in any shape I like later.

anyway, heres the test box of terrain I did for the look and materials of the big table, and the orthographic drawings I did for it.

Imperial Dragon · #2 14-03-2009, 08:45 AM

Dude that's sweet, i like it how you can change the battle field around.

What will you be making the swamps etc out of?

gwmaniac · #3 15-03-2009, 09:29 PM

Wow, that looks great! I like the computer drawings, I wish I could have the patience for that, what program is it?

Oh, and I noticed you live in SoCal, perhaps we can meet up at a GW store?

Mr Pokey · #4 19-03-2009, 10:32 PM

Thanks guys.

Unfortunatly I havent had a chance to make too much progress on this table yet. Work has been busy and its been raining on days I had free to work on it outside....

The program I used is just Adobe Photoshop. I make a 'group folder' for each panel. then make 1 layer for line, and one layer for color in each group. Then when you want to see what your table will look like re-aranged, just move the group folders. you'll also have to change the order they are in so they overlap each other properly. I'll post a little tutorial on it. its quite easy to do.

the one set-back with doing a 3D layout like this is that you cant rotate the tiles, only re-arrange them. but its still better than nothing.

GW maniac: yea, If i ever get a chance to actually get out and play ill let you know. Times are soooo busy nowadays!

Kitsunex · #5 19-03-2009, 10:59 PM

wow that is awesome! Almost makes me want to bust out Autocad to do something similar.

maybe after i get some more terrain building experience under my belt.

what are making the panels out of exactly? thick foam? what were you thinking of using as a mechanism to lock the panels in place?

Mr Pokey · #6 19-03-2009, 11:03 PM

heres a quick and dirty step-by-step for the process of laying out modular tiles in photoshop.

*Edit: Kitsunex - Ive already bought and sanded 2x2 pieces of wood that are going to be the base of the tiles, and im using cardboard to build up terrain, then covering the whole top with plaster. With the weight they are right now, im not realy worried about locking them in place. they are heavy enough to just sit. I'm more worried about where to store them. Haha!

Kitsunex · #7 19-03-2009, 11:28 PM

ahh. hmm i have access to a router and stuff... you have me inspired. it would be easier to store 2x2 tiles than a 4x8 sheet in the cramped space i have now.

Wraithian · #8 20-03-2009, 12:33 AM

On a semi-related note, if there are others out there that'd like to do something similar to what Mr. Pokey has done with his fantastic Photoshop-Fu, there is a free program out there called, "GIMP (do a google search for, "GIMP photo software,"). It's a great program, without the Adobe price tag.

What you have done so far is very clean, and I really like the digital models you've produced. Great idea, and very useful in large projects. +rep for sure.