Modular Kill Team Board
Today I will be writing up an adventure I went on quite early in my hobby journey (April 2020). I had been playing Kill Team (First revision rule set) and Star Breacher (my first introduction to model agnostic games - what an eye opener!) and essentially just using the terrain which came in the kill team starter set along with little soap boxes and other random junk.
Quite quickly I reached a point where I wanted to try and create something more atmospheric. As I was still using the kill team rule set I decided to use the standard kill team board dimensions (30" x 22"). I also decided that as well as adding atmosphere I wanted the board to be modular to maximise playability (I recently started a fantasy board with the intention of making it more dioramic but quickly felt the pull of modularity again).
At some point even before starting the design phase I unconciously landed on a two dimensional design, think space hulk or more recently kill team into dark. Adding verticality to a board is amazing and easily transfers to rules which add engagement however with a bit of imagination the same approach can be taken with two dimensional terrain. There is something about two groups of minitures facing off to secure an outcome in the restricted confines of a sewer, abandoned space station, or any other claustrophobic enviroment you can think of.
I think this draw towards two dimensional terrain comes mainly from early experiences with video games. If I remember correctly it was Time Splitters 2 on the PS2 which would let you create maps to battle your friends. I'm pretty sure I spent many an hour creating, testing and fighting my friends on maps I had designed. I thought this was really cool.
Throughout this build I kind of just made it up as I went along. Being fairly thick skulled I'm pretty sure I took a bizare approach to the process and it is definitely something I want to revisit with the skills and knowledge I have picked up over the last four years.
The Build
Since I had landed on building a two dimensional modular board the design was fairly straight forward. I started out with paper cut to the size I was planning to make each tile and sketeched in the walls.
When deciding on how to arrange the walls so that none of the lengths where any closer than 1" to the edge of the tile. This was to allow most models to pass through even the most restrictive sections.
I had decided to use precut MDF and foam board for the main structure. In hindsight the MDF I bought was way to thick. I think I had read something about warping and wanted to try and offset that.
During the build phase I quickly realised that I would potentially be able to inter stack the tiles for storage. This kind of worked however over time in storage bits have stuck together and this has resulted in cosmetic damage to the board. I can however fit the entire board within a standard card board filing box.
You can also see holes where I planned to add magnets but ultimately I decided it wasn't worth the hassle.
Here you can see the entire board assembled and arranged in one of the many possible configurations.
So now I had the bare bones of the board. Definitely resembling something I may have built in Time Splitters 2 and functional but not atmospheric.
I had decided to use some kind of plastic netting to simulate grating. It works better for basing than terrain however it was an easy way to apply texture to the floor.
And below we have an image of my wife and I testing the board out with some warbands created for use with the Star Breach rule set. I'm pretty sure I lost.
Here we can see the post game clean up. Initially I was really happy with the way the tiles stacked together. I think if I had left them more bare bones or done a better job of finished them I would still be happy with the result.
Next I wanted to add some more details to the terrain. I sourced 3d printed pipes, MDF wall braces and resin components.I was becoming happier with the general feel of the board however I wanted to add some thing extra and so this is where I started to introduce plastic drinking straws (remember those?), cabling, wall filler and little adhesive semi beads.
Next was on to priming. I used pound land spray praints mainly for this board and I took this approach with the board I am working on now however all spray cans are not created equally. Honestly I much prefer working with rustoleum or another branded spray paint as the coverage and spray is much much better. Also they seem to give off a lot less fumes. I swear I was high for most of the weekend when I was priming this up. I also added some hazzard stripes on certain sections of wall using the usual technique.
At this point it was starting to come together. I proceded to add texture using PVA, paint and I think tea leaves, as well as adding AK interactive swamp stuff to the pipes and using some amazing underhive posters by @Carl_R_johnston (check out his IG). I only recently found out these where created by him from someone in the Negative Space 28 Discord group.
With this done I washed the board using inks, flow improver, matt medium and water, painted details, dry brushed appropriately and varnished.All in all it was an enjoyable process and one I learnt alot from. I've had some amazing games on the board with family and friends and I still have it using it mainly now as a photo prop.
