Curses!

I've been dithering back and forth about how to approach my display board for Armies on Parade 2023. Initially, I planned to use one of my Sector Imperialis Realm of Battle plates as the base (1). They're 2'x2' and a lovely platform for displaying my armies - especially since I base them all with urban/factory bases. Well. At least I do now. Then I worried a 2'x2' board would be too big. I sometimes use them at tournaments as a display base - carrying tray and I have to admit, they're a bit unwieldy.

So then I said to myself, "Your Imperial Majesty, why not print a base?". Not a bad idea! Which makes a certain amount of sense since it was my idea. Well, I have all these walkway designs from my Stellar Artisans purchase and they look great so I started kinda planning out how to move forward with this idea. I started printing some corners to get started:

So just now, I did what I probably should've done. I googled "how big my Armies on Parade board should be". And of course there's a FAQ! And the answer is either 22"x30" or (of course) 2'x2'. So now I"m left with a conundrum. Which route should I take?

I could do either. They'd both look great. But then I remembered the envy I had when I was at my last tournament and there was a guy with a rolling card to move around to his table. I want that! I NEED that. So I started perusing rolling carts with a flat top and stumbled upon this one from Michaels: Essex Rolling Cart (2). It's pricey but It'd totally support a 22"x30" board on top and all my gaming stuff in the various drawers. If I planned it right I could put the display base into it when it's not being used. How cool is that? No need to answer. It's pretty cool. For a certain value of cool.

Alrighty. Now I know what I'm going to do! Base: 22"x30" which is 55.88cm x 76.2cm. Since I haven't mapped out how big the tiles are let's just go with 56cmx76cm. Good enough, me thinks. It's slightly bigger than the rolling card dimensions but it'll do. Overhang isn't a big deal unless there's some kidlet careening around.

(1) These bad boys are out of print now. Which is sad. I'd like to grab another box and use them as display board and then leave my gaming boards "pristine". My gods they're expensive to buy on ebay! At least $800 CAD and then import, shipping and yikes!

(2) And here's a picture of the rolling cart: