A thing a week 2021, week 13 (dungeon tiles!)

Now for something completely different.  My hobbying, the painting and building parts of it anyway, begin with making dungeon tiles circa 2016.  I knew I wanted to play with minis so I bought a bunch and I knew that I wanted a tactical game.  Problem:  aside from my handy vinyl hex maps with hexes that were too small, I didn't really have much terrain.  I certainly didn't have any building stand-ins so I either printed out hex maps on my black and white laser printer (since deceased) or drew on my vinyl maps with wet-erase markers.  That is, until I discovered dungeon tiles (cue dramatic music).  

I probably got the idea from either Wyloch or Black Magic Craft but somewhere in the heady days of 2016 I printed out some crappy maps on my black and white laser printer (now deceased) and pasted them upon multi-level cardboard disasters that roughly matched the shapes.  This would become more refined over the years culminating with these from April of 2019.  These are 4" x 4" x 0.25" chunks of XPS foam hit with a Green Stuff World texture roller (pavement).  With Wyloch's interlocking chipboard mechanism, they fit together acceptably though not reliably.  Once together, they're nice, but they're kind of a pain to work with.  

Well, these are the latest incarnation, iteration five or six or something--I dunno, I lost track.  They're the same 4" x 4" but half an inch thick and I milled them when burning through some of my stock last year.  They were always intended as double sided but by design they also match the height of the last iteration even if they won't lock with them.  I noodled a lot on the attachment mechanism.  I knew I wanted to use magnets but didn't want to have to deal with terrible polarity issues.  First up:  tacks.  They didn't work because of their curved tops.  So then I thought nails and walked away with a $10 box of ferrous roofing nails.  If there's one hint I can give any aspiring tabletop crafter, it's that you can save a lot of money by using stuff you can get at the hardware store.  Pro-tip:  if you're looking to use magnets, bring one with you when buying materials to test against whatever you hope it'll stick to.  

There are basically three nails on each of two sides and three 3x2 mm magnets on each of the other two sides.  They stick closer together which is nice and they're textured on both sides.  One side is Green Stuff World flagstone and the other side is textured with a ball point pen and wire brush as wooden planking.  They're primed with black craft paint + Mod Podge sealer and painted first with crappy craft paints and then with crappy washes I made several years ago adulterated with far more expensive inks and mediums to make them work correctly.  Turns out, you can learn a lot in a few years.  

I am super looking forward to using these sixteen magnetic, double-sided dungeon tiles in person whenever it is we can do that kind of thing again.  These will count as the first of my five "buildings" this year.  

2021 finished "building" counter: 1/5