A Tale In The Desert, A War In The Sun

It's been a long weekend filled with mostly fun, childcare and thought. Now that I have tables, it's time for me to seriously think about what kind of game setup I want to have. Certain things are a given but certain things have required some decision on my part.

First, one of my projects over the next few months will be to start acquiring 2x2' birch boards from a home improvement store. I will probably acquire them from Lowe's. The one that rhymes with "Dome Creep-o"...well, I have a few problems with the opinions and political biases of their owner so I vote with my dollar and spend them elsewhere. I don't know if Lowe's owner is any better, but he/they are smart enough to keep his/their mouths shut about it. That and Lowe's definitely has boards in stock because that's where I saw them and got the idea. I'm planning on buying six to start with (I think the birch ones were $6 each) so I can start with a 4x6" area to play on (just like the GW Battleboard set) and then picking up three more each month so I can have larger fields to play on.

Second, I've decided that I want to have a robust set of desert themed terrain. More specifically, I'd like to be able to have a large fortress or small city much like the one pictured above or possible the long walled outskirts of a desert town. Adding the short walls I just made to the ones I have brings me up to twelve and a simple gatehouse. I have a few small buildings but only one good tower to form corner defenses and interior structures. So I need to make a few small buildings and a bunch of towers. I figure five of each would be a good start. Ruins won't be an issue since I have more than a good handful of those.

Third, I need to make some non-city terrain for this. Palm tree groves and oases and wells would be the ticket. Palm trees are relatively easy. I've already found some kid toy sets that have palm trees so I can give the animals away (mine is too young for a while) and keep the trees to make stands of them. A few trees and some green stuff with a bit of water effect will make an oasis. If I find some kind of single brick set, I could make a well, I guess. Heck, I could probably make the bricks out of some kind of cheap modeling clay or something similar. Some more water effects and a frame of some kind and it could look pretty good.

So that's the beginning of the plan. Now let's see what I can get done to step closer to accomplishing it.