What do you use for a gaming surface?

[turiya64]

I just got a sheet of plywood cut it to 6x4 and nailed some molding to the edges to make a frame / dice fence
watered down some wood glue sloped it on and pored a bag of children's play sand (the cheaper the better) over that let it dry over night. Sprayed to brown then dry brushed it with a lighter brown then very lightly with some bleached bone where i was not going to flock with some cheep woodland seenicks flock of a few shades and put it up on some saw houses. its not the easyest / fastest way but it took my friends and i a weekend to do and has lasted about 10 years so far with little to no damage a few minor chips when people droped there figure cases on it and the glue had not totally soaked the sand but i fixed them a little wile ago with about 15 min and a few brush loads of paint. not a big deal

[MasterCraft]

OK, so I broke down and went the insulation board route. Seeing that my Depot only carries 2"x2'x8', that's what I went with. So we are looking at 3 2'x4' sections that make up my surface.

Another question I have is, can anyone point me to a tutorial on techniques or how-tos for creating the desired terrain for the surface.

I would also love some pis and tips from the BOLS people too.

Thanks

[TGG-Schoolboy]

Built one of these with a buddy of mine. Come out to be about $50-75. The table tops are interchangeable. Have a Zuzzy mat and a Realm of Battle board that we normally switch in and out.

[url]http://www.drunkdwarves.com/?p=200[/url]

[MasterCraft]

Found this guy in my travels through the net. Watch his tutorials on you tube.

[url]http://eq2templar.shutterfly.com/[/url]

[inquisitorsog]

Built one of these with a buddy of mine. Come out to be about $50-75. The table tops are interchangeable. Have a Zuzzy mat and a Realm of Battle board that we normally switch in and out.

[url]http://www.drunkdwarves.com/?p=200[/url]

Looks nice. Not sure you needed to waste the lucre on 4x4s though. Realistically, 2x3s are more than enough, 2x4s if you really want to be rugged. 4x4s also may present issues to some people in terms of having a saw that can cut it in one pass.

I'm about to embark on table build (for general purpose, not just wargaming, so going w MDF on top) and have been thinking about using 1x3 or 1x4 as it's usually easier to find straight pieces and they're still more than strong enough. 2x4s and 4x4s are usually rough lumber and so you often find lots of crowns and warps with them.