Underneath the felt I put a .75x32x48" piece of styrofoam from a hardware store. The foam is used for insulation. I suggest getting the smooth blue or pink variety that doesn't break easily into beads the way the bumpy white variety does. The foam provides several features: you can pin down "rises" (I use 6mm tall Foamie material from kids' crafts section) or hill contours (two Foamies stacked together), you can readily cut into the foam to made wadis (gullys) with a sharp knife and a putty knife (put something under the foam so you don't gouge the table) and foam is inexpensive. One 4x8' piece of foam cut be cut into three battlegrounds. These can be recycled by "filling in" the wadis by covering them over with duct tape!
Each 32x48" battleground or 81.3x121.92 cms is equivalent to a big 6.77x10.16' table for 20mm scaled miniatures using ruler units of inches. Plenty big for most scenarios.
Since my tan felt was so large, I doubled it over and that kept the blue foam underneath from showing through. If you have only one layer of felt, the foam color shows through too much. In retrospect, I think it would be better to paint a tannish color onto the foam and use just one layer next time. One layer of felt will conform to rises and wadis more readily. Next time I redo the board, I will try this.
To keep the felt tucked neatly and keep wargamer elbows off the battleboard, I made a wooden frame from scrap wood about .75x1.5". Just like an open picture frame, I found wood with rounded edges and cut the inner dimensions of the mitred wood about 32.625x48.625" to allow for the felt thickness.
I attached an L-shaped bracket to one end so that a foamcore posterboard could be installed for the game charts. Then all the game supplies are stuck on that end of the frame (that piece of wood being wider.
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