Having recently started a Rangers of Shadow Deep solo campaign, I thought I needed a dedicated 2.5′ x 2.5′ easy to build wargaming board for it.
Let me show you how to do it.
What you’ll need
- 3mm MDF board of the size you’re going for. I wouldn’t recommend going beyond a 3×3 board using 3mm MDF. I only paid 2.5 € for my 2.5′ x 2.5′ board.
- PVA glue
- Cheap acrylic craft paints (Brown, Black, Green). Don’t use your expensive miniature paints.
- Fine sand (I gathered at a beach: free)
- Any other aggregate you might think looks cool. I used coffee grounds and leftover sawdust flock. (all free)
- Fine turf. 2 tones for a more realistic look. I also added static grass to my board.
- Sprayer bottle for watered down PVA glue. (free)
- Cheap wide brush
Let’s build this!
Start by mixing PVA glues, paints, sand and other aggregates of your taste with water. Don’t make it too thick or too runny. You want to be able to apply it with a wide brush.
Now wet the board with watered down PVA glue from the sprayer bottle. This ensures an easier application of your basing concoction you just mixed.
When still wet, sprinkle sand, aggregates and turf on your board. Try to avoid regular patterns. Then seal everything with watered down PVA glue from the sprayer bottle.
Immediately after, when the glue is still wet, add your static grass, if you like.
Then leave the board on a flat surface and give it plenty of time to dry. 24 hours should be the minimum.
The dreaded warping
Of course, heavy warping was to be expected. To counteract it, I had to treat the back side of the board.
You could just add PVA glue or possibly even just wet the back side?
But, to increase the mileage on my easy to build and cheap wargaming board, I decided to make it double sided!
I wanted to have a snowy battlefield for solo games of Frostgrave, if ever I feel like playing it solo. First I painted it white, using gesso.
Then, I sprayed lots of PVA glue on the paint and sprinkled some fake snow on it. I got it for a very low price at our favorite cheapo store during the holiday season. Finally, I coated the whole surface again in watered down PVA glue.
After 24 hours of drying time, the warping was gone!
I applied a liberal amount of high gloss varnish from the spray can on the snow side to lock everything in place. Before that, I brushed off all the loose bits, which was a lot. I used matt varnish on the grass side.
Edit 18.12.2025: All the snow flock came off by itself! So, please don’t follow my snow side tutorial. It’s not working at all. I’ll need to come up with another technique.
Et voilà: your home-made battle field is ready for game night!
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