Tactical Command
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Easy street
http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=21030		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  WestSide [ Wed Jul 13, 2011 4:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Easy street
Here's a concept I'd thought I'd share for making inexpensive modular streets. They are pretty easy to make and easy to store. I'm sure it's been done before, but what hasn't.

It's made from common flooring tiles you can get at any home improvement store. If you look you can probably find some on sale. For the 'base' I used a heavy linoleum tile, for what will become the 'city blocks' I used a textured self adhesive tile. It's important that be self adhesive and textured.

The thin self adhesive tile convienently has cleavage planes kinda like glass or styrene, so all you have to do is score a line on it and it will break along the line. Makes cutting out square and rectangle shapes pretty easy and quick.

Attachments:
assembled.jpg
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self adhesive tile.jpg
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heavy linoleum tile.jpg
heavy linoleum tile.jpg [ 209.85 KiB | Viewed 2100 times ]
Author:  WestSide [ Wed Jul 13, 2011 4:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy street
You can cut out all sorts of various shapes, peal the backing off and affix them to the linoleum tile. When I did this I tried to criss cross the tiles against their 'grain' so the finished tile would be resistant to bending and cracking. I made all sorts of them, I wanted them all to interconect and I wanted the streets to be big enough for a titan. I also wanted the streets to be large so I could use these streets perhaps with other scales. My goal was inexpensive terrain that I could store, that wouldn't leave a 'sandy' mess around my home.

After I got everything assembled I sprayed all the tiles with black spray paint. Then I put a dab of codex grey and fortress grey on an index card and took them into a paint store and had the guy mix me up a small can of grey paint. I dry brushed this on the now black painted tiles. Then I clear coated them.

Before affixing the self adhesive tiles to the linoleum I punched holes on all for corners for rare earth magnets. The magnets will be used to help hold buildings and ruins in place. This was not entirely necessary in retrospec as blue tac would probably work just as well.

For me, this street terrain was easy to make, inexpensive, functional game wise, and easy to store when not in use.

Attachments:
assorted-modular.jpg
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completed tile.jpg
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paints.jpg
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Author:  epic [ Wed Jul 13, 2011 4:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy street
Very cool idea westside, The fact that if you got thre right colour tiles would even save you painting them, very neat, If my mdf boards dont work out im going to try your idea ;)

Regards epic
Author:  Dwarf Supreme [ Thu Jul 14, 2011 4:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy street
Very clever. I just might steal your idea.
Author:  Dave [ Thu Jul 14, 2011 2:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy street
I was planning on doing something similar for a urban gray mat I have using 1/8" thick vinyl tiles. You can cover a 4x6' board pretty thoroughly with 18 tiles worth of city blocks. Hopefully those'll be just as easy to cut as the squares create a great affect.
Author:  WestSide [ Thu Jul 14, 2011 4:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy street
beelzemetz wrote:
from which materiel are the tiles made?
pvc?


Thanks for the compliments.

The base tile is linoleum and the self adhesive tile is vinyl.

Covering the whole gaming area with these, placing objectives at 'dead ends', filling the 'blocks' with ruins and buildings, and making the road tile patterns to allow for switchbacks etc., really make for a great game where classic urban tactics can come into play. It really changes the feel and character of the game.

Also this wasn't too bad cost wise, I think the whole project cost around 60 USD, not bad considering I made around 21 12"x12" tiles.
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