Hi all,
I was kind of bored this summer, so I decided that it would be a good idea to make a 3d version of the Axis & Allies, G40 to be exact. But you could really turn it in to any Axis & Allies board that you’d like.
I then started brainstorming and researching ways this could be done. I decided that the easiest way to make a 3d map would be to make the map in a 3d designing software, and then excavate it out of a piece of wood using a cnc router. When that is done and I have the wooden map I will paint it. And then I will have a beautiful map.
So I started designing it. (‘designing’ seems a little too much to say, I basically just drew the map and added layers between land and sea). It took some time, and here is the finished product:
Now the next step is to turn this file into a wooden game board. I do not own a cnc router, nor do I know anyone who owns one. So the only option left is to pay a company to do it for me. And here is where my story becomes a bit confusing, so I apologise in advance for the confusion.
I do not yet own G40, however, I was bored and wanted to do this already. Do note that I said ‘yet’ as I am saving up to buy it. This however, will not go extremely fast, as I am a 15 yr/old kid. I am currently looking for a job (because I want to save up for G40 and also because I think it’d be fun). Then after I have bought G40 I will save up for this.
When I have the board, I intend to realistically paint the terrain do that will take some time as well.
let me know your thoughts and please give me tips if you have them!
@JorisvdHeide are planning on any topographic relief on land?
It sounds expensive.
Since it sounds like getting this map 3-D printed will be a large expense, you may want to take the precaution of first trying out your idea as a low-cost prototype, by which I mean cutting the shapes out of sheets of thin balsa wood and gluing them to a large sheet of foamcore posterboard. This would allow you to test how well the G40 plastic game pieces would work on a 3-D board.
The potential problem you may encounter is that a 3-D board could cause problems with piece placement and piece movement. The large flat “high” land areas like Russia and the large flat “low” sea areas like the Atlantic Ocean would be fine, because you’d have lots of flat maneuvering room, but map sections where high and low areas are bunched together might be another story. The Pacific Ocean would probably be the biggest problem: some of the islands are small, so trying to put a bunch of sculpts on a small elevated island could be tricky, and moving ships around on a board full of elevated obstacles could likewise be harder than moving them on a flat surface. One way to reduce the cost of the cardboard/balsa wood test would be to build just the Pacific area rather than the whole map, but to build it as close to full size as possible, then try out the actual game sculpts once you’ve bought the game.
Very nice idea. Similar to what I did years back with cardboard and an airbrush (which I then built a table around along with a frame to hold a sheet of plexiglass so that it didn’t get in the way of the playing surface).
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@IWillNeverGrowUp I like that can we see more images
@Call77 said in 3d Axis & Allies board:
@IWillNeverGrowUp I like that can we see more images
Wow … 10 years ago I did that!
