INSIDE THE TOMB

The next stage was to cut the kitchen tile down into two pieces. The first needed to be 10" x 6" and the second had to be 8" x 4". We used a hot wire cutter to do this (take care with these – they get very hot).

After gluing the smaller piece onto the centre of the larger one, we waited for it to dry before gluing it into place in the centre of the board and covering it with PVA woodwork glue to harden the polystyrene.

Taking the paved road sections, we cut square shaped chunks out of them. Then we glued a piece of road at the bottom of each side of the platform so that they led towards each exit. Next, we glued a second piece between each exit and the first road pieces. This would make the road look old and unrepaired.

Next, we took the business card holders and sawed them in half widthways – this removed the height and squared them off. These would form the smaller tombs. We repeated the process with one of the large holders, using the base of the second as the tomb lid.

Using polystyrene cement, we glued together all the ruined wall sections that came with the game. Once they had set, we sprayed them and the cake decoration pillars with Chaos Black undercoat and allowed them to dry. We put the pieces in place to get a rough estimate of what the finished piece would look like, then started to paint these parts.

The ruined building sections were given successive drybrushes of Codex Grey, then Fortress Grey followed by a final drybrush highlight of Ghostly Grey. The wood was painted with Scorched Brown, then Bestial Brown followed by Vomit Brown.

Scenery-making guru Dave Andrews gave us the idea of using historical ornamental images for the flooring of the ruined mini-chambers. We photocopied an image from a book and blew it up to the size that we required. We then cut out four images to a shape that was 5" x 4", and placed them in each quarter.

Once we had finished this, we drybrushed the cake pillars using the same technique and colours that we had used for the ruined building sections earlier. We then glued all the painted scenery pieces into place. The board was beginning to take shape, but there was still a long way to go!

Next, we mixed PVA woodwork glue and sand to a thick consistency. Using large brushes, we covered all of the board except for the raised platform and road sections. Then we added some remaining bits of polystyrene to the PVA woodwork glue and sand mixture to form larger pieces of rubble. This was then left overnight to dry.

Whilst this dried, we painted the tombs with a basecoat of Codex Grey mixed in with Vomit Brown. The top of Balin's tomb was painted with a base coat of Shadow Grey, then highlighted with Space Wolves Grey. Once this had dried, we used Shadow Grey to draw a set of lines to create a marble effect. Using a smaller brush, we applied Space Wolves Grey on top of the first lines, which in turn were painted with Skull White and then completed with Tentacle Pink.

Returning the next day we started to apply the black paint that would cover the dried sand. With a little help from a hairdryer, the board had dried after about three hours.

Using a large brush we drybrushed on the emulsion paint, adding a little white emulsion to the mix for a drybrush highlight and repeating the process until we had achieved the desired effect. Finally, we gave the large chunks of rock a wash with thinned down Brown Ink.

There you have it! A board that is pretty easy to make and looks good. All the stuff can be bought from a local DIY store and any good hobby shop. The business card holders for the tombs and the patterned stencil for the edges were purchased from a craft shop. In the end, we finished the battleboard in just two days – one day early!

In the gloom of Balin's tomb, the Fellowship are attacked by a horde of Moria Goblins.

Previous: Introduction

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