Mordheim Board - Docks Pt I

I have been really happy with how the ruined temple of Myrmidia is coming together.  I think it has a distinct style for the stonework and I also really like how well it combines with plastic/resin kits and the fact I can use super glue (which is not so easy with foam).  All of that has inspired me to create a new 3 foot by 3 foot Mordheim docks board in the same style.  I wanted to share my plan, my process and some progress photos.  I expect that there will be many more updates to come as this will take a while!!

Plan:

The objective with the table is to have a single 3x3 foot table with:

- multiple levels to eliminate firing lanes

- a large resin pour dock with jetties and moored ships

- a terminating road and small square

- a consistent style that will tie into my temple board and some of my other projects

Materials:

- The board itself is a 3 foot by 3 foot framed canvas.  I read somewhere that these can be used for gaming tables and I'm keen to try it out.  Its light weight, perfect size and hopefully reasonably durable.

- The structural levels are XPS foam.  Light weight and easy to work with.  Not so durable, but the cork paving and tiling should address that.

- Cork tiles are the key ingredient.  I'm using a mix of floor tile (6mm thick), crafting tiles (~2mm thick) and rolls of adhesive cork which are very thin.  The floor tiles are used for the flagstones and staircases, while the others are used for paved roads and walls, with the occasional piece of cardboard thrown in for variety.

- Balsa and coffee stir sticks will be used to create the various jetties and structures.  

- I bought a large 3d printed ship off etsy which will be the centerpiece along with some smaller rowboats.  The intent is to have all of these set in a large resin pour.  I am also keen to try and create the skeleton of a ruined ship using balsa.

Progress so far:

The flagstones are 3 different sizes: 3cm x 3cm, 3cm x 1.5cm and 1.5cm x 1.5cm.  I've measured these on my cork tiles ready for cutting.

The style I've landed on uses tiles with a beveled edge which are laid tightly together.  Any gaps are filled with a sand/grout mix at the end.  This differs from the use of filler to grout large gaps between tiles.  To achieve the look, I take each tile and individually sand down each edge.  I've been keeping all the sanded cork for other terrain/basing uses.

Next is to lay the flagstones.  I try and do this in a random pattern with roughly a 1:1:1 ratio of the different tile sizes.  I use wood glue as my adhesive.  You can also see some of the cork stairs I've built to enable movement to the raised level.

The paved roadways use 1cm x 2cm tiles of cork and card to get variation in height and texture.  I've edged this with coping made from the thicker cork tiles (made from the narrow offcuts in the first photo).

I had some 3d printed balustrades from an old project which seemed perfect for these stairs.  I've cut thin cork strips for the top and bottom and then snapped some off to add some wear and tear.