I am making a custom chess set for a school project, so naturally, I decided to make the chess board into a big piece of terrain. I used shrine ruins as my inspiration for the board. My first step was to plan out all of the dimensions, draw it out on foam board, and cut it out.
I chose 1"x1" tiles for the chess board squares with a 1/4" gap between each square. This fits 28mm scale miniatures, which I am using for the chess pieces. I am using 1/2" thick foam for the board base. | Here all of the main pieces cut out and set in the planned location. I ended up making a couple of modifications on the scale on the four corner pillars and the blue foam they sit on. |
Close-up of the weathered stairs and rubble. | Next, I added sand to any areas that looked like they would accumulate dirt over time from the wind. To adhere the sand to the foam, I used an old paintbrush to paint on a watered-down tacky glue mixture. Then I sprinkled the grit onto the glue and tapped the board upside-down until any excess sand had fallen off. |
A close-up of the altar with the sand glued down. To engrave the runes, I applied a lot of pressure with the pen to create an indentation into the foam. This way, the runes will be easy to see after I have applied paint later on. | I added a little bit of caulk to a couple of areas (white) that needed fillers. Now the board is ready to be base-coated with black paint. |