40K: My Other Game Table

My current 40K task of batch-painting 3 mobs of Slugga Boyz is going very slow, but I wanted to show a little love to the 40K readers. Here is the first game table (mentioned in the last post) I attempted to build:

The table is 6' x 4' and was 44" tall at the time these pictures were taken. I felt that was a little too tall and cut the legs down to 36". This allows the table to be high enough that you don't spend half the game hunched over, but not so high that you can't sit down and see what's going on.

It was made from 3/4" plywood and framed with 2" x 3"'s. It's incredibly sturdy, but rather heavy. The legs attach to the table via countersunk carriage bolts, as does the 2" x 4" on the end that can be taken off if an extension or even a second table needed to be joined to the first. That is also the end that I stand it on when not in use (ie: all the time :-( ).

The surface is Woodland Scenics ReadyGrass Vinyl Mat. The table legs are simply inverted deck posts, notched with a reciprocating saw (again, thanks to my Dad) and given a hole for the carriage bolts.

It has only seen action once, for a 40K tournament held by my LGS at a gaming convention. I think there were two games played on it? I couldn't attend . . .

Some lessons learned from this project:

• Trim is freakin' expensive! (Hence the lack of it on my current project).
• Avoid putting the surface down on a windy day - in fact, just avoid the whole month of March.
• Spray adhesive may save time and money, but it does a lousy job of holding the surface to the plywood. A great many staples were put around the sides and covered with trim.
  
• Tables designed to be broken down and moved about are never as sturdy as more permanent fixtures will be.
• The trim really needs to be sanded well before applying a polyurethane stain to it.
• Use mineral spirits to clean your stain brush immediately after using it, else you may as well just throw it away. The polyurethane will essentially glue the bristles together.