Terrain Showcase: The Danger Room, Part 1

Back in 2023, Atomic Mass Games had commissioned me to build a terrain board for the Marvel: Crisis Protocol miniatures game. The board is a combination of the X-Men Danger Room, transitioning into a holographic cityscape of ruined buildings and smashed Sentinels.

 

 

You may have already seen this board at Essen Spiel and other shows, and it featured prominently in Atomic Mass Games' "The Future Is Not Mutant" video a few months back:

 

 

In this series of posts, I'll give you a look at the whole table and show you how I built everything.

 

 

Framing the Board and Hex Tiles

 
The board was three feet square with about two feet of city and one foot of Danger Room flooring. An additional 6-inch backdrop of the Danger Room's entrance and control room could butt up against it. I also decided to make the main board separate along the transition between the Danger Room and city so other "holographic" environments could connect to it.
 

After framing out the board with 1" x 2" wood strips and insulation foam, I began planning the city layout with strips of foam core board for the sidewalks and the footprints of the buildings to ensure that everything could fit in a variety of configurations. 

 

 

For the hex-tiles of the Danger Room's floor, I used laser-cut MDF tiles that I purchased online. You can see the small drawing at the bottom, where I've planned out the spacing. The two sections of the board were built with a gap in the middle so the halves could slot together seamlessly.

 

 

After transferring the layout onto the board, I cut some 1/4-inch MDF for the sidewalks, and used hardboard for the surface under the hex tiles. (This basic assembly was probably the most challenging build I've ever worked on, because I needed to ensure that the parts slotted together seamlessly so there wouldn't be any visible break in the hex tile pattern.)

 

 

The hardboard on the city section was recessed to sit flush with the surface:

 

 

And the hardboard with the zig-zag edge was attached to the top of the smaller segment of the Danger Room floor. When the boards were pushed together, the zig-zag layer overlapped the other board.

 

 

Then I began meticulously measuring and gluing the hex tiles in place, trimming them where they overlapped at the sides.

 

 

On the city board, I attached a layer of hardboard with a matching zig-zag pattern. The final row of tiles on the small portion overlapped the hardboard...

 

 

...and when the two sections were pushed together, they connected with the row of hex tiles on the city board.

 

 

A seamless join! That initial row of hexes was the starting point so I could extend and transition them into the environment as I constructed the rest of the city board.

 

Building the Roads and Sidewalks

If you've read my posts about the Ultron City Board, you may be familiar with my process for making ruined city streets. For the sidewalks, I used 1/4-inch MDF board, and the street was made from a large roll of 3/16-inch thick cork board. This left a sidewalk curb of about 1/8-inch, which a miniature's base could straddle without tipping over.

 

 

On the MDF sidewalks, I drew out the curb and pavers. Where the street and sidewalk would be broken up, I used a scroll saw to cut apart the sidewalk. I learned from the Ultron City build that it can be a bit of a guessing game trying to remember how the crumbled sidewalks fit back together. As before, I numbered every component to ensure I could get them back together properly.

 

 

After rounding the sidewalk corners at the intersection and sanding a few spots for parking lot entrances, I drew out the cracks in the street and sidewalks.

 

 

I cut sections of the roadway cork to fit between the sidewalks and cut it apart to match the crack pattern. In the foam of the board, I gouged out some divots so the pieces of cork street would sit unevenly.

 

 

The streets were then assembled on the board and fixed in place with construction adhesive. As with the height of the curbs, I didn't get too extreme with the angles of the cracked roadway so miniatures could still stand on them comfortably.

 

 

The sidewalk pavers were cut up a bit more (and numbered) and set back in place with construction adhesive. One of the reasons I love working with MDF is that it can be carved with a sharp blade to distress the edges or add surface cracks by making a series of V-cuts.

 

 

Here's one section of cracked road and sidewalk, reassembled:

 

 

Once I had the sidewalk tiles and streets in place, it was time to work on the hex tile transition.

 

 

On one side of the board, I cut a piece of the cork and matched the shape and thickness of the tiles. The surface of the cork was smoothed over with wood filler putty, coated with super glue, and sanded smooth to create a transition where the tiles were turning into the roadway.

 

 

The road in the center was more challenging because the hardboard surface underneath and the insulation foam that the street rested on didn't line up. I cut a piece of foam core board and angled it to create a slight ramp. This allowed the piece of transition cork to slope slightly downward to line up with the rest of the cork in the street. The fact that the roadway was cracked helped hide the imperfections.

 

 

On the left side of the board, since the hex tiles lined up with the sidewalk, I trimmed the tiles to connect to the sidewalk and cut some grooves in the MDF to match the shape of the tiles. The seams were filled and sanded.

 

 

The rest of the sidewalk surface was finished off by drawing out different sized pavers and making V-cuts between them to create the look of decorative concrete pavers. 

 

 

The manhole covers were cut from some of the larger Sentinel bases, and the storm drains were built out of styrene plastic and resin cast. Each of these components fit into recesses that I had cut out of the cork and MDF. They were left unglued so I could paint them separately.

 

 

Here's a look at the whole board:

 

 

The final touch for the street and sidewalks was to add some fine and coarse ballast in the recesses and cracks.

 

 

Coming up, I'll tackle the painting and construction of the Danger Room itself!

 

 

'Til next time!