Building Rivoli Battlefield part 1

Fall In is fast approaching and we are frantically building our battle table for the Battle of Rivoli. It seems like we have been here before, lots to do and not a lot of time to do it. We really need to get in a cycle of building a convention ahead.

Like our other major builds we are documenting along the way. So check back and follow our progress into madness.

Look at all that terrain goodness. You have to dig through a lot of boards to find sheets that are not warped. When the boards are sent to Home Depot they are banded together in big stacks. Those bands warp the boards.

Eight foot boards don't fit in the wife's minivan, so it requires a little parking lot foam surgery. We bring a tape measure, steel ruler and razor knife with us in the car. We hack off 2 feet of board on each one.

We arrange the boards for best fit. Getting a tight seam is important. The boards are labeled in order and line up marks are drawn on the boards. This will be a 6x8 table so we have four 2x6 boards.

After consulting as many maps as we can, we map out all the major terrain features for the battle. Rivers, hills, villages, roads, etc. We use glass beads to transfer those features to the foam boards.

We like the glass beads because it's easy to shift around terrain features as we lay out the table.

Once we have everything laid out, we use a Sharpie pen to draw in the lines and scoop up the beads.

To carve out the rivers we use a Dremel. I have a router attachment that allows to control the depth. Really makes it easy this way. We do this outside and wear dust masks since the Dremel makes a lot of toxic dust.

Once the rivers are carved we sand out the rough bottom and edges.

Here's the Adige River that will cross 2 boards.

Next we have to place hills. Rivoli has some very dramatic terrain. Two valleys with steep cliffs and the river running through them.

We will "step" the foam boards to build up the mountain ridge that comes down on the side of the map.You can also see I painted the river. We will be pouring the river so it's important to seal the foam as it can react with the river material. I painted multiple coats.

More hill cutting.

That's a lot of foam!

Next up carving the slopes on the hills and cliff faces.