Making a felted Battle Board

I've been doing a lot with felt lately and I wanted to try making a felted board. Most of us just play on felt layed out on the table and if we want to get fancy we draw the deployment zones on it. One of the advantages to a felt mat is that it is quite portable and easy to store. However, one of the drawbacks is that it becomes stretched over time and then you're not up to tournament specs. Yeah, unless you're Dave or Kevin it probably isn't a big deal. D & K are great guys, and they run and organize tourneys, so it is important to them. Then there are those of us who get off on cool components. That's the real reason I made a felted board.

First we need to look at the essential supplies needed to make a felted board.

2 sheets of 3/16" foam core in the 20" X 30" size.
A roll of duct tape (what project is complete with out it!)
A 36" X 36" piece of felt (as shown in the foto below, it comes in this size)
A can of spray adhesive.

Please feel free to ignore the Elmers white bi-fold foam board, That is for my next project to show how to make a board that folds on quarto for easier portaging. It is a little more involved and I wanted to see if just making a board that folds in half would work first. In place of the above mentioned item try picturing a can of spray adhesive instead, I always feel like I'm taking a million pictures and then I leave out something pretty basic. Go figure.
Next you want to line the two pieces of foam core up along their long sides so you have a 30" X 40" board and tape them with a few small pieces of duct tape first to secure them in position and then run a long piece along the entire length (another photo I forgot to take).

The nice thing about a 36" square piece of felt from the store is that it is pretty square. The drawback is that it comes folded so you really want to iron the creases out. You absolutely want it as perfect as possible for the ultimate end effect.

Notice that I have put some Saran Wrap at the edges of the table. This is so that when I lay the adhesive coated board over it the overlapping sides don't get glued to the table.

Next I measured for the center of the felt. This is am important mark because this is where you want the fold to go, since the felt comes in exactly 36X36 and the board is 30X36, you have to be right on along the 36" edge.

                       I have layed heavy boards across the new board to press it tightly together.

I have sprayed the adhesive fairly liberally on the side of the felt with the tape! This is crucial because you want the side with the felt to be the inside. If it is on the other side the felt will tear when you close the board. In the picture of the finished board below you can see why you want the felt on the inside.

As I mention above, finding the center is very important. I was careful to measure twice and as you can see below, I had to make a correction. I am weighting it down with an older felt board I made for a different miniatures game that needed a 3 foot by 4 foot board. Try not to get the two boards confused!

When you line this up the eges off to the left and right in this photo will be right on and you just need to trim the top and bottom as shown in the next pictures.

Next I let it dry about half an hour so it could be turned over safely and then I used a rolling pin to smooth it out and make sure there were no bumps or anything.

The next step is to trim the excess felt from the 30" sides. 

Carefull hold the blade at a 45 degree angle and make a cut as shown. Yes, I have freakishly large hands, which comes in handy in my avocation as a masseusse, but makes me really precision challenged for this type of work.

Then all you have to do is let it dry for a while and then draw on the set up area. The outside dimensions of the board may not be exactly 30X36, but it is more important to make sure that the two start areas are 15" apart. If the actual depth of the start up areas is a little less than seven and a half inches you can let the back row guys hang off a sixteenth or so, but you definitely want the the forces at regulation distance! 

 Here is the finished board. Note the forty inch width allows 2" extra on either side. I left it on rather than to trim it because occasionally one can need to swing outside the regular play area to final rush, as talked about on the forum.

 Here is a picutre of the board folded. The actual board folds up perfectly, but for some reason every photo I took came out like this, which makes it look off.

So there you have it. At some time in the future I will take a stab at making a board that folds up into quarter size and if it works maybe I'll bring it to Council this Columbus day. Coming up next I will show my felt backed terrain and hopefully soon I will get up a game with James and I throwing down with all the components I have constructed so you can see them in action!

Ridges-New terrain feature

We knew the cursed Dark Elves were coming across the plains, and we also knew that to face them in the open with nowhere to hide would see us get scorched by their infernal magiks. Their was one hope however, if we could engage them to the West we could take advantage of some gentle slopes and surprise them as they came over the ridge, if not surprise them, at least hold them off till we could get within range with our bows...

For our purposes here a ridge is defined as a line from which all ground drops away at a very gradual rate. To represent this on the battle area use a 3 1/2 foot piece of string. This represents the crest of a gradual ridge. A ridge serves to block LOS but confers no combat advantages. If a ridge passes over a hill then the hills still counts as normal for movement penalties, LOS, and combat mods. A ridge can be as straight or as curvy as you wish, but it is best to keep the curves fairly gradual or it could lead to confusion and arguments.

A unit that has any open edge adjacent to the ridge can see over it, and likewise can be seen. To avoid any confusion always clarify with your opponent your intentions. Large or colossal units and cavalry that are within 2.5" of the Ridge are treated as though they were adjacent.

In this photo the Dark Elves are all to the left of the ridge and cannot see any of the Hawkskold troops except the Longbowmen who are between the hills and have stated that they are on the ridgeline.

In this diagonally running ridge The Longbowmen are visible as they have stated they are on the ridge line and the two other Hawkshold units that are on the same side of the ridge as the Dark Elves are also visible.



With the Ridge running lengthwise the troops of both armies that are on the same side of the ridge can see each other as normal and the Longbowmen who are straddling the ridge can see as if there were no ridge. One of the Lords of Dusk is adjacent to the Ridge, so it too can see normally.




The effects of a drought have left this lake bed dry except for its marshy center. As some slaves make their way across the crater at the behest of the Lords of Dusk, a unit of Longbowment has appeared to shower them with arrows...until the Lords of Dusk shower them with magical plasma!

If you choose to play using a blind setup where both sides setup before revealing their deployment, a ridge acts as a justification for this "Blindness." In this case, Carthaginian foresight should still be used to reveal the foresighted deployment first, as Hannibal's ability recreates his deft tactical knowledge of his opponent's intentions, not on any actual scouted knowledge.

Foamcore card bases - How to

I had decided that I had enough of cards getting knocked around during regular play and that I really like the "deluxe" feel that I get from high quality gaming components. To that end I decided to mount my terrain set on (3/8" or 1/4") foam core. I liked this so much that I decided to mount my unit bases also. I brought them to TotalCon in Boston last month and they were really a hit.

I made Kevin 200 more for a following tounament. It was while making the 200 bases that I remembered why I originally went from minis games to Battleground. I hate spending all my time on precise exacting work (like painting minis) which I'm not very adept at and which brings me no joy. I held to my word and made the bases for Kevin, but instead of going into the base making business, I decided I post a how-to blog and be done with it.

Here we have the basic tools you will need. From left to right we have a razor cutter with snap off blades, a metal ruler for cutting the foamcore, a sharp pointed tool for marking the edges of the foamcore, an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of green felt with adhesive back. You wil note the half inch grid on the foamcore, if you can find foamcore like this you will have a much easier time cutting out perfectly square bases!




Here I have marked the vertices where I will need to be cutting. You can also by white foamcore with grids which would make the whole cutting process much easier. After I biought everything and brought it home I realized this. :-P



Here is the self-adhesive felt mounted in the corner. To do this with no creases in the felt I peeled off the backing and laid the felt on the table sticky side up and carefull aligned the foamcore over it and pressed it on. It also would be much easier to cut an appropriate sized piece of foam core first and then stick it on the felt. Learn from my mistakes!




This is the reverse side with the felt on the bottom.

 An important "trick" to cutting this foamcore is to make several passes. Don't try to make it in one cut. I usually make 3 to five passes. Change blades often!!! I have one of those blades where you just break off the tip with a pliers and you've got a fresh blade. I change blades after every sheet of nine bases. Blade quality can very and sometimes it gets dull before I finish and I don't hesitate to discard the blade and start fresh. If it hasn't become readily apparent, I can't emphasize enough how important this is!

This picture is to show how I fit the bases onto an 8.5"x11" pices of foamcore for a total of nine bases per sheet.

This foto makes two points. The first is that I am not a very skilled at cutting out perfectly matching bases. The second is that perfect isn't really required, just damn close!

A view of the bases from both sides.



Note the bit of felt at the corner. I find it is easier to trim with scissors than razor.




The next step is to mount the card sleeves.  I use either two sided tape or two sided mounting squares.



Mount the square near the edge as shown.

Add the sleeve and make sure the open end is over the adhesive square as you can the easily open the end and slide the card in.



Wha and/or la!




Demonstrating opening the end for card insertion ease.





One interesting side benefit is that you could potentially play on a near vertical surface. I do have a felt on wood sectional playing map that I could use for this. Of course, you would have to be careful when moving the bases as they could be knocked off rather easily and take a piece with them. Even if you used felt for terrain I think it would be a little too unstable, but I could be wrong.

 Although the terrain mounted on foamcore looks really cool, it doesn't look quite as cool with the cards also mounted on bases and cantilevered off and over the edges. I think I'm going to get some more terrain sets and just mount the felt to the back of the terrain sheets. I'll get two sets and mount opposite sides to felt.

Battleground: Warmachine

 A variant for a Warmachine-like feel for Battleground
Warmachine is owned by Privateer Press http://privateerpress.com/warmachine

                          

WARMACHINE is set in the Iron Kingdoms, an environment that combines the best of traditional fantasy with steam-power and gunpowder. Across the realm, ancient rivalries among nations are exploding into all-out conflict, setting the stage for WARMACHINE and other Iron Kingdom products.
In WARMACHINE, players take on the role of an elite soldier-sorcerer known as a warcaster. While a warcaster is a formidable force on the battlefield, their true strength is in their ability to magically control and coordinate the actions of their mighty warjacks—steam-powered combat automatons that represent the pinnacle of military might in the Iron Kingdoms.
Each warjack is a fifteen foot tall ironclad behemoth, a coal-fired engine of destruction with a primitive magical brain. On its own a warjack is capable of only the most rudimentary actions, but when controlled by a warcaster its efficiency and deadliness increase dramatically.
WARMACHINE focuses on battles between warcasters and the titanic forces that they control. A game is fought with a warjack's thundering cannons, ripping iron-claws, and crushing hammer blows, as well as devastating spells wrought by the warcaster himself. When the dust settles, one side is victorious and the other is nothing but smoking scrap metal!

---

In the BG:WM variant all Large and larger units are considered Warjacks (jacks). Any other unit may be considered a Warcaster by writing W on the card and paying the extra points (see below). All Warcasters are considered an elite type and have the elite limitation of 1 per 1000 points.

Warjacks - All Warjacks have these traits:
Gain a ranged attack of 14" equal to their engaged attack,  if they don't already have a ranged attack.
Stupid
Always considered to have the Close standing order unless direct controlled.
May be Augmented
Are immune to Pschological effects
Suffer a -1 to MC and # of attack dice if in the Yellow
Suffer a -2 to MC and # of attack dice if in the Red

Augment: It costs one command action to place an Augment on a warjack. This is signified by placing a die with a one on it on the card. Additional command actions may be spent to raise the augmentation to as high as six, just turn the die to show the current augmentation level. Augmentation is stored permanently on the jack's card until used. During the appropriate phase a player may spend up to one point of the jack's current augmentation on each ability to raise it by one:
Add a die to the attack dice, add one to the weapon skill, strength, defense skill, or toughness.
also, one point may be spent to add +1 MC to the jack.  No Command card effects or Warcaster bonuses stack with augmented stats.

Throw - If a jack is engaged with another jack, compare the wounds caused by each and if one of the Jack's caused more damage it may choose to throw the other jack. Measure from the mid point adjacent to the throwing jack and place that midpoint S times the number of wounds caused in excess of the wounds it suffered, in any orientation desired, away from its starting position. If it lands on top of another unit count the number of center points on top of the other card, that is the number of Strength 6 hits the unit suffers, roll for damage. No cards or augmentation may be played during throw damage resolution.  If multiple jacks are attacking one jack, each jack compares against the defender. Only if one jack has caused more wounds than any other jack may it throw another jack.
Example:Two jacks are attacking one jack. the defending jack does one point of damage and each of the attacking jacks does two points of damage. No one jack caused more wounds than any other jack, therefore no jack is thrown.

Warcasters - Warcasters are identified by writing a "W" on the front of any non-Large or larger unit and paying 150% of the regular cost. In all other respects the unit retains all of its other abilities. For 175% of its regular cost a unit may be made a Warcaster with Black Powder Weaponry. During the Movement and Command phase unengaged warcaster may direct control any warjack that is within 5". During the combat phase a warcaster may "direct" one warjack within 5" and grant it (+0)/+1/+1 and +1/+0 (just write a big +1), this blessing lasts for the entire combat phase.

Black Powder Weaponry - Any unit may be given black powder weapons which have a range of 7" and the same stats as the unit if engaged, for 125% of the regular cost. A unit with a Close standing order will not fire its black powder weapons.

Conclusion:
Try a 1000 or 1500 point game with just warjacks and warcasters first, then add a few units and go with 2000+ points. As always with these variants, I can't guarantee that the points will still make for a balanced game, but it should at least be fun.

This variant is not a Warmachine simulation, there are too many flavorful things about that system to be adequately addressed here, but it should give you the feel and essence of Warmachine, with out all the expense and painting.

Recusant's Chosen (Hawkshold subfaction)

The Recusant is a charismatic figure. He defies all Royal authority as he preaches his doctrine of purification. He is carried about on a large pedestal, chained to an icon, beaten and bleeding. His faith inspires the simple peasants and confounds foes.

Use the Hawkshold faction deck. Any build must include a Heavy Infantry unit with a tapezoid drawn on it to represent the Recusant. This unit gains the Fearsome keyword.

The faction has the same courage ability as Hawkshold and the Recusant has the following spells:

Withering Regard: (curse) Range: Battlefield. For 1 command action an enemy unit suffers -1/-1. This effect lasts until the unit is eliminated or Withering Regard is placed on another unit. Only one Withering Regard may be in effect at any one time.

Fanaticism of Faith: (Blessing) Range: Battlefield. For 1 command action mark the bravery box on a Peasant Mob, it gains +1/+1/+1  -1/-1 and ignores all effects from being in the red or yellow, and is immune to all psychological effects. Cards may not be played on peasants with marked check boxes.

The Great Goblin (new subfaction)

Recently there is a new threat from the Outlands. Rumors are heard everywhere of a goblin scourge that is sweeping the wastes and is about to cross into the civilized world. A fearsome (just the adjective, not the keyword) horde that follows an inimical leader called The Great Goblin.

This subfaction is built using the Orc deck. One unit with "Orc" in its name is required and this represents the Great Goblin and his henchmen. The rest of the units in the army must have "Goblin" in their name.

Faction Ability: Taste the Lash - as Orc Faction, except only units which begin their movement within 3.5" of the Great Goblin may be lashed. For one command action all goblin units within Range may be considered lashed. The player may lash some, move the Great Goblin and lash others. Any goblin unit within 3.5" of the Great Goblin adds +2 to its Courage. The Great Goblin may be lashed.

Poison Arrows - During any missile attack, if goblin bowmen cause at least one damage, they cause one additional damage. The Goblin Bomb-Chucker does not have poison arrows.

Crazed Goblin Bombchucker (Standard not Elite) - All Great Goblin Bombchuckers are "upgraded" to roll 3D6 for the number of attack dice rolled, if any two of those dice are equal then the Bombchucker takes two damage and additionally reverts back to 2D6 and follows the normal rules after that.

BG:Siege trial card game

Lazyj and I are developing the BG:Siege game for YMG and development has been put on hiatus while RL consumes Lazyj.:-(
As you might guess, long protracted sieges are very boring, its when the breach occurrs that things get very interesting very quickly. One of our ideas for the long boring part was to simulate it with a card game, the results of which would determine the characteristics of the actual breach or failure of the attackers to create a breach. This card game, which we call "Breach!" is a very experimental part of the BG:Siege system, but as its own game it is fun to play and can be played with a standard 52 card deck.

The game is won by having the most cards in your victory pile.

The game is played as a series of tricks which consist of a lunge and parry. Each player plays a card face up, the first card played is called the lunge and the parry is the second card played.
To begin each player is dealt a hand of seven cards. Each hand is played until empty and then the players are dealt a new hand of seven cards. After three hands the game is over and the players tally their points to determine the winner. In the actual BG:Siege game, the attacker takes the first lunge, if playing Breach! by itself, cut the deck and low card goes first. Thereafter, the winner of the previous hand goes first.

After the lunge and parry, the cards are compared and the lowest card wins.  Aces are low, except all Kings beat an Ace. This keeps in context the flavor of Battleground where low dice are good.
Example: A Jack beats a Queen, which beats a King, and a King beats an Ace. Ace beats everything but a King (and ties another Ace, of course).

If the cards are equal they are placed in the discard pile.

When a trick is won, the the suit of the winning card determines the outcome:

Weapons (Clubs): Both cards are placed in the winners victory pile.
Siege Equipment (Spades) Both cards are placed in the winners victory pile.
Subterfuge (Diamonds) Both cards are placed in the winners victory pile and the winner takes a card from the loser's victory pile (winners choice of card).
Supply (Hearts) Both cards are placed in the winners victory pile and the loser discards a card from his hand (to the discard pile!). This may result in one player going out first. When that happens the other player places the rest of his hand in his victory pile.

That's it!

At first when we played, we thought that you would just play your best card and go from there. After a couple of hands we discovered there was some strategy. After about ten hands we decided the game was very addicting!

For the siege game we are working on having the contents of the victory pile give you certain conditions that flavor the set up of the siege and decide the kind of breach and the opponents readiness etc. That is why the winner of a subterfuge trick gets to pick which card goes in his victory pile, in a non BG:Siege game of Breach! it doesn't really matter which card you choose. BG:Siege may be some time away yet, but until then I want everybody to have a chance to hone their Breach! skills.

Oh, and if anybody has some mad graphics skills and wants to do up a Siege deck that would be awesome sauce!