Les Bonnes Choses

In case you're parachuting into the story and want to be able to easily jump through the narrative, here are links to the rest of my tale:
Prologue
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Right. So here's the plan: I wanted 3-dimensional tiles with two properties: first, despite being 3-dimensional, they need to be practically indistinguishable when flipped upside down because our favourite Seafarer's scenario reveals tiles as you explore, and if you know what the next tile is ahead of time, that kind of wrecks it all. Second, the tiles need to stick together. A jostled game board was obviously problematic enough for later editions to include the frame that I found didn't serve its role adequately.

The closest existing product I could find on the internet was unfortunately too expensive (this objection turned out to be ironic) and used double-sided tiles, so I elected to make my own.



I figured that if I excavated the landscape out of a thick hexagon, leaving a lip around the outside, I would get my 3D terrain with a wide enough edge for the other game pieces, and be unable to identify an upside down hex. As for how to interlock the tiles, I solved that problem at Christmas, while standing on Jack and Katie's doorway: magnets.

So the plan was to make prototypes for each type of tile out of modeling clay, make molds, cast the tiles out of epoxy resin, and then go completely overboard painting and decorating the damn things. How overboard did I plan on going? Remember that product I mentioned earlier on? The reason I could investigate the product was because I have been known to occasion the stores that carry them. They often look like this:


Photo Credit: Nikolas Morse (nobody I have ever met)

Now, I have never been to one of these events, nor have I ever made a landscaped gaming table. However, I have made dioramas for grade school science and history, model stages in high school drama, and have been to the railroad exhibit at the Chicago Museum of Industry many, many times. I was hoping that the relative mainstream popularity of the game, and a sufficient degree of panache would mitigate the degree to which this project would make me seem like a dork.

Fortunately, I have already been to prom, so really, I had nothing to lose.