WIP - The Arena Part 3

Having decided to use foamboard for my arena floor I plunged into the daunting challenge of covering it with hexes. The first step was to duplicate the oval shape of the arena so I could cut it out of the foamboard. To do this I undid the the screws holding the arena walls within the frame and got my self a large piece of thin cardboard that fitting the space near perfectly. I replaced the arena walls and screwed them in place over the thin cardboard, thus giving me a perfect template to trace around. When I was done tracing, out came the screws again and I lifted out the cardboard and simply cut around the penciled in shape, to give me a perfect oval template. Pinning it to my foamboard I transferred the shape onto it and begin the task of cutting around it.

I must admit I do not like cutting foamboard - especially curves and unfortunately an oval is ALL curve. I tend to cut the top layer of cardboard first and very accurately, then proceed in small section to cut through the foam and bottom layer of cardboard. It is very important to keep your blade straight. Eventually the task was done and I did a decent job if I do say so myself (pats self on back). I tested the foamboard base in the arena and it fit like a glove - Hurray!

Having already marked a dead center spot on the foamboard I grabbed some dress making pins (from my dress of course) and proceeded to pin down my hex sheets (see Part 2). (Click images to enlarge)

The cut out oval with hex sheets in place.

Then with a deep breath I plunged into scribing the hexes onto the foamboard. Under the lights at first I thought I was not pushing hard enough, but when the foamboard was at an angle they stood out very clearly. This was pretty laborious and took a good 4 or so hours spread over two days. I was VERY relieved when it was finally completed.

As an after thought I came up with the idea to include some removable hexes in the arena floor to include such things as pillars, pits, trapdoors etc. I always like to make my terrain pieces as flexible as possible., so having the ability to swap out some key pieces is very important to me. I cut out a roughly 2" square around 4  evenly spaced hexes.

The 2" holes. You may be able to make out the scribed hexes.

The next step is designing and making the arena's doorways and entrances.