This will be a slight divergence from technologies vs. anti-technology type projects. I have been an avid player of games for a long time. Perhaps not everyone is aware, but there has been an renaissance of boardgames while the American boardgame market has been fairly dominated by “old favorites” like Monopoly, Stratego, Risk, and others. Not making a judgement here, I do love me some Stratego.

The world of “gaming” is a wide one. The strongest of my callings in terms of hobbies is non-video games (ok, so this CAN qualify as a technophobe post). As a kid we would play Parcheesi as a family. My father never seemed to get the perils of creating roadblocks in that game! When the power went out and candles were lit, we could still play. There was something simple and grounding in that. This is not a boardgaming article, but I simply cannot avoid asking you, the reader, to give some Eurogames (as they are called because of the style of game originating in Germany) a shot. Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Pandemic, Ticket to Ride. All are simply fun, challenging, and addicting.

This 4-part series is about a style of game called the “Wargame”. I am not going to dig into the history, but the famous H.G. Wells would play these little games with his sons calling them “Little Wars”. From those humble and imaginative beginnings sprung the miniatures wargame. I have many, but I want to call attention to the one I have invested time into recently. It is a modern-combat (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, anyone?) game of squad level combat titled Ambush Alley.

I will cover the following in this series:

1. Building the Board
2. Making Terrain
3. Painting The Insurgents
4. Painting the Marines

My grandfathers were hobbyists and builders. One a model railroad builder, the other making RC planes and small buildings. I truly wish I could have grown up faster, or had them live longer and seen who I am today. We would have had much in common (unsurprisingly, because they consciously or unconsciously set me on this path). We could have built things together. They could have been aware of the impact they had on me, a little boy amazed at their detailed and beautiful craft.

Let’s Start Simple – Building the Board

Battlegrounds can’t happen without the ground, of course, so let’s whip this up.  This ain’t brain surgery, but lays the foundation..

This game is interesting in that it is played on a nice small 2×2 foot board, rather than the more typical 4×8 foot boards. The game is played with 15mm miniatures. As a thumbnail, movement is done by tape measure, combat resolved by dice, etc.

Materials:

1. 2×4 Thin MDF Board (Lowe’s, HD)
2. Railroad Grass Roll (Hobby Store)
3. Glue (come on, buddy!)

2x2 Thin MDF Sheet

Go to your local Lowe’s or Home Depot, and get a 2×4 sheet of MDF.  Ask them to cut it right down the middle, or do it yourself.

Get this, and cut it in half for a spare board

This is the thin stuff. We don't need the half-inch table stuff.

This is the model railroading grass surface sheet that comes in big rolls.

Grass sheet cut and fit to board.

As I said, this is super simple.  Don’t fall asleep on me, now we can start the good stuff.