How to make Desert Terrain Board

Today I want to present you first auxiliary tutorial. Swamski (from DakkaDakka) will show you how to make nice Desert Terrian Board. I hope it isn't his last article on my blog.








Okay so i decided i needed a proper playing field for my Warhammer games and i thought i would take you all on a journey of how i did it.

It was really quite easy and only basic tools knowledge (and safety) is needed.

All up the cost was about $100 AUD



 Step 1 - The main ingredients

I headed to Bunnings (mass workshop/tools/everything shop in Aus) and purchased 2x 1800x600mm MDF boards (thickness was about 19mm)

This size works out for the standard 6x4 tables when both MDF are next to each other

I bought 2 for these reasons
1) Easier to fit it in my car if wanting to transport
2) Can have 3 different combinations by turning and flipping

I also purchased 4x 1800 x 40mm planks of wood to brace the board. I did this because people worry about warping, whilst i didnt care, i felt reinforcing the boards made sense for wear and tear

After fixing the supports using screws, this is what i had (x2)

Step 2 - Shaping the board


I then went and purchased some wood glue and PVA glue.
After this, i scavaged my parents house for some pine bark pieces and nabbed some polystyrene from work.

I pencilled onto the board the rough shapes i wanted for my mountains and proceeded to cut the polystyrene with a box cutter (safety warning ). I then stuck on the main ROUGH shape with the wood glue and weighed as much as i could down with random stuff

Step 3 - Filling in those mountains

I bought some plaster filler (see pic) and pasted the gunk into the holes.

Note: This probably was the most tedious part, if i can make a recommendation it would be to not have such big polystyrene gaps. But this just meant a couple of coats were needed


Step 4 - Smooth it out!

This is the only step i didnt have a pic for, but its pretty easy.

Grab an electric sander (you can do it manual with a block...but good luck ). Run it over a few times to smooth out any rough plaster edges.

Note: I sanded, then replastered a few gaps, then resanded again.



Step 5 - Getting your Texture (Beach) on!

Okay this is what makes any good board look that bit extra...the texturing. I used sand from a beach around where i live, however you people not as fortunate can go buy some.

I filled a container with 50% PVA and 50% water and then worked on about 1/5 of the board at a time.
Using a brush, spread the mix, then add the sand. Give it a generous amount and pat it down a little bit.

Leave to dry for overnight and then stand the boards up and let the sand fall off.

Grab a brush and brush off any other sand that isnt stuck.

I then fixed the holes i missed and repeated the process the next day.


Step 6 - Paint time


Okay, i then got some black spraypaint and proceeded to basically undercoat everything. You dont need to make the hole thing jet black, just a nice messy overcoat on the already stuck sand.

The PVA you spread on before will protect the polystyrene from melting.

I then used the following 3 colours (not sure of the names...dark brown, lighter brown, whiteish brown - you get the idea ;)

Below is a pic of 1 half done with a few test drybrushes...also note that i sprayed the mountains on the right 1st, then went over the whole board with a light coat of spray black

Step 7 - Admire your hard work

Step 8 - Grab beer

Step 9 - Future


I have some moonscape on order and plan to make additional deserty terrain which i will prob add to this tutorial.

My missus also came up with the awesome idea of painting tire tracks on the board which i will most likely do as well. Adding to this depending on how much i want to improve it, add static terrain features (dead marines, helmets etc)

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and if you have any questions please dont hesitate to ask

       Swamski