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14 years ago
Tonight I experimented with a modular trench system made from 5mm foamcore for my Warhammer 40,000 games.
I had gone to Forge World looking for ideas, and noticed their intersections and their straight sections had a common size at the join. This seems obvious to me now when thinking about modular systems, but it hadn't occurred to me at the time since I wasn't only considering the corridor, but also the slope leading up to the trench. But it occurred to me that I could make the join at the slope a common size, angle, and shape as well.
What I came up with was a series of 6 inch by 6 inch square tiles. Trenches run through the middle of them, 2 inches wide so as to make plenty of room for Terminators, Meganobz, and Tyranid Warriors, and other 40mm base models. Course they have to go single file, but that's neither here nor there.
I jotted down some notes on the design and construction that I'm going to type up here.
6" x 6" square tiles
Corridor width 2"
Slope hypotenuse 2"
Trench wall height 3/4"
Mark the corridor or room pattern on the tile in pencil for easier assembly. Work in blocks of 2".
Remember that foamcore has thickness and as such, you may need to shorten or lengthen certain parts by the width of the foamcore.
Need far more straight, dead-end, or room tiles than intersections.
For inner corners, simply divide a 2" square in half diagonally. Dunno why it works but it does so reasonably well.
For outer corners ass 2" to the ground end of the slope and connect the outer dot to the inner dot. Likely similar to inner corners but uncertain and untested.
Use slope support struts, right angle triangles roughly 3/4" by 1 13/16" by 2". They make placing the slopes much easier. Cut the supports with scissors, the typical Stanley knife is too dangerous for things this small.
Use carpenter's glue to assemble the pieces.
For larger rooms like mortar pits or large gun emplacements, use multiples of 6" for the length and width of the floor tiles. Always make room for a 2" corridor leading up to the join.
Join the trench walls with the floor tile on the slope side of the corridor or room boundary marked on the tile. Doing otherwise will constrict your corridor or room by a significant amount - 40mm models would not fit easily in a corridor, for example.
I had gone to Forge World looking for ideas, and noticed their intersections and their straight sections had a common size at the join. This seems obvious to me now when thinking about modular systems, but it hadn't occurred to me at the time since I wasn't only considering the corridor, but also the slope leading up to the trench. But it occurred to me that I could make the join at the slope a common size, angle, and shape as well.
What I came up with was a series of 6 inch by 6 inch square tiles. Trenches run through the middle of them, 2 inches wide so as to make plenty of room for Terminators, Meganobz, and Tyranid Warriors, and other 40mm base models. Course they have to go single file, but that's neither here nor there.
I jotted down some notes on the design and construction that I'm going to type up here.
6" x 6" square tiles
Corridor width 2"
Slope hypotenuse 2"
Trench wall height 3/4"
Mark the corridor or room pattern on the tile in pencil for easier assembly. Work in blocks of 2".
Remember that foamcore has thickness and as such, you may need to shorten or lengthen certain parts by the width of the foamcore.
Need far more straight, dead-end, or room tiles than intersections.
For inner corners, simply divide a 2" square in half diagonally. Dunno why it works but it does so reasonably well.
For outer corners ass 2" to the ground end of the slope and connect the outer dot to the inner dot. Likely similar to inner corners but uncertain and untested.
Use slope support struts, right angle triangles roughly 3/4" by 1 13/16" by 2". They make placing the slopes much easier. Cut the supports with scissors, the typical Stanley knife is too dangerous for things this small.
Use carpenter's glue to assemble the pieces.
For larger rooms like mortar pits or large gun emplacements, use multiples of 6" for the length and width of the floor tiles. Always make room for a 2" corridor leading up to the join.
Join the trench walls with the floor tile on the slope side of the corridor or room boundary marked on the tile. Doing otherwise will constrict your corridor or room by a significant amount - 40mm models would not fit easily in a corridor, for example.
But I'm going to choose to believe it was meant in the same sense as, "Oh thank god! You're alive!" or, "Oh good, you're alive."
this wasnt my avatar when i posted that so id hope you wouldn't expect the former