Designing my wargame table

Table at the start of a wargame

The wargames table is 6x6 foot and has space for nine 2x2 foot scenic squares. It must be capable of creating any battlefield on the campaign maps.

Scenic boards side A

I have made 21 scenic squares from 2” thick hardboard. Each board is numbered 1 to 21 on the side. The boards are painted green, then roads and rivers painted on them. Seven of those boards have hills, which are made from pollyfilla. Because of the hills these seven boards can only be used on one side.

Scenic boards side B

The remaining 14 are have scenery on both sides. This means that there are 36 different combinations. It may seem confusing that those 15 boards are only numbered once, but it is immediately obvious which side should be used when compared with the campaign map.

The five hill boards, numbered 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 21.
They consist of 3 oblong hills, 2 ridges and 2 passes.

There are seven river sections, numbered 9,10,11,12,13,14 and 15.

There are 3 straight sections with roads, 2 straight sections and 2 bends

There are nine blank sections, numbered 7,8,13,14,15.17.18,19 and 20
These are used for buildings and towns

There are four straight road sections, numbered 10.11.12.16 and 20

There are four T junctions, numbered 8,9,18 and 19

There are two curved road sections, numbered 16 and 17

There is one cross roads, numbered 7

This is the only board used on every single wargame
It is always used with the city, which has four town sections.

Comments on scenic boards
All of these scenic boards were made before we set up a single wargame, so the different types required were guess work. The exception if 21, when I found that I needed more than two oblong hill sections.

Given that it was all guess work, I was really pleased to find that they work remarkably well. I have never had a campaign map which I could not recreate using these scenic boards.

Some have been used more than others. I hardly ever use the two curved road boards, numbered 16 and 17. But the reverse sides, straight road on 16 and blank on 17, are both used all of the time.

The sections most in demand are the blanks. I often have to adjust the first draft of the campaign map when I find I do not have sufficient blanks.

Next time I will cover the scenery required to make up each scenic block.