DnD, 40k: DIY Dice Tower Step-by-Step

Geek Chic has some awesome handcrafted gaming goodies - none of which I can afford. And even if I could, I don't have a regular gaming group to justify the expense. Still, after seeing the fancy wooden dice towers they have for sale (one even making a cameo in the 2010 PAX Celebrity game) and having had my fill of rolling terribly in my games of Warhammer 40,000, I decided to make one for myself.

After sketching out my plans and recording measurements on a sheet of graph paper (which I neglected to scan for this post), I gathered my materials:

• 1 sheet of foamcore posterboard (only about 1/2 got used)
• 1 sheet of posterboard (less than 1/4 was needed)
• A fresh X-acto blade in my hobby knife
• Elmer's white glue
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Scissors

Step 1: I began by cutting the walls (two 3.5" wide and two 4" wide)of the tower and the base (4" wide) to which it would be glued. The picture for this step was actually taken after I had performed . . .

Step 2: One side of each tower wall was notched - that is, I cut away everything but a single layer of the posterboard covering. This was intended to allow the pieces to glue together in a way that forms a stronger bond than simply butting the corners up against each other.

Step 3: At this point, I selected the two short (3.5") sides of the tower and began measuring and marking where the various obstacles the dice would encounter would be. It was important to leave at least a 1" gap between each of the obstacles so any (average- or smaller-sized) dice would not get caught in the tower.

Step 4: Using some posterboard - or, in my case, part of a cereal box - I cut out patterns for the struts that would be supporting the ledges. This saved a LOT of time having to measure each of the pieces that needed to be cut out.

Step 5: I started by gluing the small corner pieces to one of the short sides of the tower. I also decided to glue the adjoining wall that shared the piece. I grabbed a couple of tissue boxes to hold the walls in places as they dried.

Step 6: Gluing continued until all the small pieces were in place. The third wall was glued in place, but not the final wall - as I would need to reach inside the tower to glue the posterboard shelves and struts.

Step 7: At this point I glued in the first posterboard shelf. Once it had dried, I added the struts. This was annoying because the posterboard wanted to pull away and had to be held in place until the glue dried. 

Step 8: Most of the ledges ran with the long wall of the tower. However, I wanted to include at least on ledge that sat perpendicular to the rest. It was quite a pain to hold the struts in place for this ledge. At this point, any poor measurements or sloppy cuts I made really started to come back to haunt me.

Step 9a: Finally having glued all the ledges and struts in place, I added the final wall of the tower. A 1" gap was included at the bottom.

Step 9b: Looking down into the tower from above, you can really see how working fast and tired leads to some shoddy results. Remember the golden rule of the craftsman: Measure twice, cut once.

Step 10: The tower is glued to the base.

Step 11: 1" walls are added to the base to catch the dice when the come tumbling out. At this point, the tower is perfectly functional, if a bit spare on detail.

Step 12: Some detail to spice things up a bit. When making cuts like this, the importance of a fresh blade cannot be overstated. I got a little too excited with how it was looking and took a picture before adding the final crenellation.

I have plans to add some more details and texture to the tower before painting to look like stone. I'll be happy to share pics of the final product if/when it happens.

Looking back over this project, the ledges were a huge pain. If I were to do this again, I would try to find a more efficient way to build them.  I was struck with an idea for making an even easier dice tower and hope to post about that in the near future. The cost will definitely be higher, but the frustration, time to build, and resultant mess will (I hope) be much lower.

If you have any question or comments, feel free to make them!

40K: Crates, a Step-by-Step Tutorial

They're simple to make, they work in either a fantasy or (depending on how you paint them up) a sci-fi setting, they can serve as either an objective or simple cover - they're crates!

I've been meaning to get this post up for a while now, but other things kept popping up. I lost my motivation to work on the blank pdf form, however, and decided to use that creative 'downtime' to finish something for once.

Materials used

• 1" wooden blocks from Michaels
• 1/4" wide wooden coffee stirrers (I got mine from Kroger's) - approx. 3 per crate
  
• white glue (Elmer's)

Tools needed

• X-acto knife
• Razor Saw (I have a Zona Razor Saw w/Mitre Box, very handy!)
• ruler
• old toothbrush (the most underrated tool in a hobbyist's arsenal)
  

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 1: Marking the block with 1/8" lines. Why 1/8"? Well, a 2 x 4 is actually only 3.5" wide - approximately the width of my hand (not counting the thumb). On an average Space Marine - which is what I base all my terrain measurements on - the width of the hand is 1/8". Thus, the width of a 2 x 4 on the 40k scale is 1/8". Additionally, be sure that the lines run continuously around the block, then put perpendicular lines on the top and bottom - rather than having the lines on each face run in its own direction.

Step 2: Use the saw to cut a groove on each of the lines. Trying to get the groove started can be tricky (watch your fingers!), but don't worry if it's not perfect or one of your cuts jumps off the line. Slight imperfections actually make it look more realistic, in my opinion. The toothbrush is perfect for cleaning the sawdust out of the grooves.

Step 3: Measure and mark the coffee stirrer. You won't need the rounded ends for this.

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 4: Cut the stirrer. I found that, instead of trying to cut (across the grain) all the way through the stirrer, it worked better if I scored it deeply (about 1/2 through) then bend and broke the pieces off. The exception to this being the long cut along the grain to split the stirrer into two long 1/8" pieces. This is the step I was most likely to screw up on.

Step 5: If you cut like me, one of the two long pieces will be wider than the other. Take the wider piece and measure out and then score and break off four 1" long pieces.

Step 6: Glue these 1" pieces to the corners of the block. Be sure to place it so that half the with of the segment overhangs (1/16" or the approximate width of the coffee stirrer).

Step 6b

Step 7

Step 8

Step 6b: This is an 'in process' shot to show my approach to getting the right amount of overhang: set the block up on two other coffee stirrers for the proper depth, then use a couple other blocks to keep the pieces being glued in place.

Step 7: Measure, score and break off four more 1" pieces from the remaining long piece. Glue them to the opposite corners, filling in the overhang.

Steps 8 and 9: Measure, score and cut the horizontal pieces to fit between the vertical ones. For some reason, I kept cutting these short the first time I did this.

Step 9

Step 10

Step 11

Step 10: Measure, score and cut two 1" pieces for both the top and bottom of the crate. Glue them into place.

Step 11: The remainder of the procedure should be pretty obvious by now.

You might save time by not cutting grooves into the bottom of the crate. Personally, I put all the grooves in - that way, if one side is uglier than the others, I can simply keep that one faced down. You may also want a couple different symbols or insignia on each side, so that having the crate turned a certain way can serve different purposes for different situations.

I've not painted my crates yet, but I have plans for an up arrow and an Imperial aquilla. I'd love to see what anybody reading this comes up with!