WizKids Pirates RPG custom game board... finished!

[Geraths Design]

Greetings all,

Well, after an afternoon of finish work, the board is finally done. Below I have posted some pictures of the finished product.

Here is an overall view of the board. The whole thing consists of two main parts, the board itself, and the base with angle card holder.

This shot shows the details of the island layout. Note the colors of the water. I did this to give the effect of depth and realism. Although it is not very noticeable in this shot, some of the areas around the islands have a hint of green, giving the illusion of reefs and sea plants.

The base section is encircled by oak angle boards designed to hold ship cards, crew chits, etc... For decoration, the card panels each have a gold compass cross on each end and a single letter indicating direction. The compass letter is painted in a blood red with gold boarder.

Here is a close up view of the West end of the board.

This view shows the "rope" edging. The edging was first painted a medium sand brown and then dry brushed a lighter rope shade for highlighting. It was then coated with a semi-gloss lacquer.

Here is a good shot of the islands themselves. Each one was carefully heat carved from high density foam, painted, textured and finished... complete with tiny palm trees.

The islands are not attached to the board but are carefully marked for placement on the board with corresponding letters and numbers (not visible while the islands are in place).

The "ocean" was painted onto laminate board and then covered with a clear sheet of acrylic to give it the gloss appearance. The compass star and chart markings were done on the underside of the acrylic sheet before it was placed over the ocean.

The entire thing represents about four or five afternoons worth of designing and construction.

Dana

http://www.GerathsDesign.com

[Black Syren]

Wow this is truly impressive! The attention to detail is carefully thought out and rendered. It seems you were very devoted to this project and it's beautiful.

Now my question is will you make them to sell and if so for how much?

[William Brand]

Oh great.

Now I have to kill you and take your stuff.

[Black Syren]

William no killing and no taking. Besides I have first dibbs!

[Killian]

Wow that is impressive, I want one.

[tishsparrow]

thats awesome!!! i so want one too!!!

[Geraths Design]

Now my question is will you make them to sell and if so for how much?

I can certainly custom make any type of table you like, however for most, the table pictured would be far past their budgets for such a thing.

If I had been making this for a client, it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $700 or so.

Dana

http://www.GerathsDesign.com

[Killian]

Actually that's not a bad price for the table, I would pay that. Are the Islands moveable?

[Pirate Petee]

Go to that site that I posted, it shows how to make them exactly like that, I made mine for less than 50 bucks. Plywood, insulation foam, sand wood glue and paint. Thats all you really need.

[Geraths Design]

Actually that's not a bad price for the table, I would pay that. Are the Islands moveable?

If you are asking if the islands are attached to the board the answer is no. However, they are marked to go in specific spots on the board. That is just a feature that I put into this one.

Any boards built at a later date could be customized to fit the clients needs.

Dana

http://www.GerathsDesign.com

[Killian]

Go to that site that I posted, it shows how to make them exactly like that, I made mine for less than 50 bucks. Plywood, insulation foam, sand wood glue and paint. Thats all you really need.

Which link is that, I missed it somewhere.

[Geraths Design]

Go to that site that I posted, it shows how to make them exactly like that, I made mine for less than 50 bucks. Plywood, insulation foam, sand wood glue and paint. Thats all you really need.

The site you posted has some great tips for people that want to make a table for themselves and the end result is a great looking board. However, the board featured on that site is not exactly built to the same standards as the one I just produced. Besides, not everyone is a do-it-yourselfer.

Bear in mind that this one was built by a professional exhibit studio, with expensive woods and materials and represents quite a few hours of labor. The board was designed not only for playing, but as an art and exhibit piece as well.

I understand that most players are not looking for a game board built to these kinds of standards and are just fine playing on painted fiber board. However, there are the odd few out there who go for the higher end game items. These are the same type who buy the fancy limited edition game sets and $500 chess boards, etc...

The reason I built this board was so that my wife, daughter and myself would have a nice table to play the game on. I really was not looking to gather customers; but if someone is truly serious about having such a board built I would certainly entertain the idea and furnish a quote if they asked.

Cheers,

Dana

http://www.GerathsDesign.com

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

A very nice table, indeed.

I have made a series of 2'x2' wargaming boards, all of which have (land) terrain features and can be put together in a number of ways to create a different playing field each time. In addition, I have a number of (moveable) hills and other terrain quite similar to your islands. But these are for dry land gaming...

I had been toying with the idea of making something along these same lines for the PotSM game (i.e., aquatic boards) -- and your posts gave me the inspiration I need (after all, I already have the islands!!).

...Thanks! Now, to the DIY store...

[capt sparrow]

i just went to the site and wanted to know if the game board comes with the cards

[blackjohn]

i just went to the site and wanted to know if the game board comes with the cards

The game board is any available playing space - dining room table, dorm floor, etc. Some, however, enjoy creating their own hand-made wonderfully nautical boards.

Each pack of cards comes with everything you need to play. Though to be honest, you really need about 5 decks to play a decent game.

[Pew]

First off. BEAUTIFUL JOB!!! If I had the coin, I'd love to have one made like that, but I'll prolly just take Petee's plan and do it that way.

But secondly,

I notice that the islands are raised giving the realistic feel:

A ) Does that interfere with the ability to place a fort on "level" territory?

B ) Does that height difference (from using the island cards) interfere with the Forts ability to only shoot cannon one L at a ship? (I guess impling that the islands are raised higher than one L from the sea . . )

[Pirate Petee]

Thats the cool thing about making your own. You can custom build the islands so that there is room for forts. Or hell, you can just make the forts on the island.

[hurricane]

Beautiful work. It's truly a work of art! Having worked on exhibits before, I was very impressed with all the pieces on your web site as well. It's rare to find that kind of attention to detail and accuracy. Great job!!!

-- Hurricane