Skirmish Board: Fantasy Village - Construction

In hopeful anticipation of some folk picking up a skirmish board set or two I thought I'd best put up a "how to..." guide for the pack.
The pack comes with the board in six pieces ready to go, but there is some minor, simple construction required for the terrain features, as they come as a printed sheet of 250gsm A4 card. the construction is quick and simple, but I've been confused in the past by various companies assumptions that "it's so simple it's obvious" so I'm not wanting to pass on any similar frustrations. And on the subject of frustrations, please have a read of these instructions before firing into your build. This'll make sure you don't end up with folds going the wrongs, etc.

To get constructing you'll need the items in the picture above.

• One scenery sheet
• a sharp hobby knife (a pair of scissors could be used but the knife will give better results)
• a steel ruler (or other hard straight edge to keep those cuts wiggle free)
• card glue (I'm using pva\white glue)
• a black marker (optional but will give nicer results on the folds)

The two building styles are constructed in exactly the same way, so I will run through one of them here.

Cut out the pieces need for one building as above. The different building parts on a single sheet do not mix and match but are all grouped together on the sheet. Remember to be careful and cut away from you fingers, thumbs, vital organs, etc. We don't want to end up as a DIY injury statsistic!

Using the back (non sharp) edge of the knife score along the tabs of the building and the lines where the building corners will be. Also score along the tabs on the small triangular wall apex pieces.

Similarly for the roof section score round the edges where the tile texture meets the wood texture and also across the middle line for the roof apex. Along this apex line actually cut the wood texture part (as in the picture above and below) as this helps give a neater fold.

Now go round all your components and make the folds along the scores you've made. All folds at this stage are away from the printed surface.

This next stage is optional, but recommended. Take your black marker and go round all the exposed edges of the model, including the folds. This not only hides the ugly white edges, but the black line also helps with the 3D effect of the model once on the table. You could black edge the model after assembly, but I find that there are always edges theat you can't reach ro that won't colour due to glue coverage.

Now take you roof piece and glue thetimber tabs underneath the tiled surface.

Take your building piece and connect the walls together by gluing the tab to the inside of the loose wall.

Before fixing the wall apex, give it a score down the centre of the reverse (unprinted) side. This will let it fold inwards when the roof is folded flat (should you wish to do that). See the picture lower down for an example.

Glue the wall apex pieces under the roof, tabs facing inwards, leaving a small space from the edge of the roof showing the wood plank edges.

Do not glue.

On the main building structure, fold the bottom tabs inwards and place in the floor square. This helps keep the building square. It may need a little trim to fit on nicely. It doesn't have to be a tight fit to be effective. Too tight in fact can distort the walls! If you are going to be folding the building flat, DO NOT GLUE.

Do not glue

Not fit the roof segment on. It usually fits better with the roof walls over the top of the main building wall, as in the picture. Again, if you plan to fold the building flat DO NOT GLUE.

And here you have the completed building.

To fold flat, remove the roof section and floor piece. On the building choose to opposite corners to fold flat an gently fold down. I usually choose the corners that do not incorporate the glued join to avoid stressing the join. For the roof, gently push the wall segments inwards (the scores you made earlier will help) and fold the roof segments together along the roof apex as above.

For the walls, cut out the wall sections, score along the middle line, fold and then use your marker pen to colour the edges.

Hopefully this is enough to guide you through the construction. If you have any queries (or I have left something out) please use the profile link at the side to get in touch.