Why not just use a piece of thin sheet tin or steel and put the magnets on the tiles then you aren't tied down to a pattern, you could tiles and pieces anywhere, just glue the steel sheet to the foam core for a little thickness. I use this method with Dungeoncraft's UDT and it works really well.
That was actually my first idea. I like the idea of being able to place a tile anywhere on the board. The reason I didn’t was cost and time. Magnets are more expensive than small screws and every tile would require a magnet. When you make multiple tile sets the cost of magnets adds up real quick. I have 100’s of tiles and I think the board has like 36 magnets. I also figured since all my tiles are square shaped it really wouldn’t matter if I could put them anywhere I wanted because they would all site tightly next to each other and take up the whole rectangular board anyway. So I went this route. I can put 10 screws in for every 1 or 2 magnets so it’s much faster. - That said, I recently tried getting some of those magnet sheets, basically paper size that you can print on, but the magnet wasn’t strong enough to hold the tiles. I think that would be the best option. An entire board that is magnetic everywhere and then just add cheap small screws to you tiles.
@@TableCraftOfficial I use the tin lids from my cat food for thinner tiles or pieces where I need greater coverage than a screw provides. Snip snip. I like the mag board idea, but I like portability so I am going to attempt a version with magnets embedded between two thin pieces of felt so it could be folded or rolled up small. might even work to create contours or a stepped board, oooh possibilities, thanks for your videos and inspiration, your grass tiles are so aesthetically pleasing to look at and with the cliffs and waterfalls even better!
So a recommendation to make cutting the holes easier is to go to the hobby store and get a small piece of tubing (copper) the same interior as the magnets. Then use a small file or sandpaper to make a sharp end then push that into the foam board to cut it each time then tweezers to pull the foam core
Another solution is to use felt backing on your tiles and lay them down on a felt table cover. Felt on felt doesn’t slide around. Poor man’s velcro. A plus is you can get felt in a variety of colors at the fabric store and have them cut it to size for your table. So you can have a grey cloth for dungeons, green for forests, etc.
5:51 - couldn't you use a longer straight edge on the corners and draw multiple diagonals at once to speed up the x process? Or wait a minute, since the centre of those is 1.5" shifted from the corners, why not just mark the initial 3" marks offset by 1.5" at have your first grid be the magnet spots?
I wonder if you took a sheet of self adhesive magnet (think fridge magnets but letter paper sized) glued to that felt sheet would be effective, and able to roll up for storage and transport? If the magnetic sheet is strong enough you could even glue a small vinyl grid to the other side.
My previous tiles have all been EVA, so movement is not such an issue. However, I'm planning on building a new style, entirely of foamcore, thus XPS in the thinner form. This method would work really well for that. Nice one! It occurs to me, you needn't find each magnet center individually. You could hold the straightedge diagonally, across the board, and draw diagonals on multiple mag-board squares at a time
Once again, I love your work. Quick question.... would it be possible to do it the other way around? I mean having a metal plate as the bottom board and then place the magnets on the tiles?
I did this too. Glued them to a board even and added trimming to the sides to protect against the sharp edges. I now just have a magnet in the bottom of every tile and use these metal announcement boards from IKEA.
A steel plate was actually my first idea. And I actually have one. I opted for a less expensive and time saving method with the Magboard. I was going to be making (and have made) a lot of different tile sets totaling hundreds of tiles over time. Magnets are more expensive than screws and take longer to install to each individual tile, not to mention they require more material to install like glue. But to each their own! I think a steel plate is a wonderful option, and I even have more ideas for the Magboard to improve it. Didn't think of the lazy susan though, that's a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
I use 1 inch but then remove some of it. I wasn’t being super thoughtful with my first tile set so now I have a somewhat strange thickness. It’s close to 3/4”. A lot of this foam comes somewhat uneven so if you don’t do a custom thickness the next time you purchase new foam it might not match. At least that’s been my experience.
At the time of this video, I wanted the cheaper and easier option with putting screws in the bottom of each tile. I actually use some metal wall panels from IKEA now and went through the painstaking process of removing all the screws and adding magnets in every tile. It helps to be able to afford that many magnets. Which I didn’t want to when I filmed this video.
Cool idea, 1, where do you get this size of magnet? 2. What if you have double-sided tiles like mine? (so much easier for storing) 3. what do you do for angled halls/corners? 4. what about thinner hallways etc.? I know lots of questions, but just wondering as a fellow crafter.
You NEED This for your Modular Tabletop Dungeon Tiles!!! :-) Gosh. Indeed you do. I built my own magboard right after seeing this video, and now I can tier my DM career into two eras; pre-magboard and post-magboard haha. I´m a huge fan of the 3x3 tile system á la Black Magic Craft, and it was SO easy to make my entire hoard of existing tiles compatible with the magboard. Thank you Table & Craft. This really solves the sliding. And one more thing: in the video you might the impression that the magboard is really rigid and fixates the tiles in a spot with laser precision. That´s not the case, I can easily adjust the tiles a mill or two up/down/right/left so that they all fit. It´s amazing.
That’s awesome you made one! It really does make a huge difference. Last week I was able to put the terrain together and keep it in another room during our session. When the encounter came up I just retrieved it and it was ready to go! No time taken to set it up during our session and no need for spoilers by putting it out on the table at the beginning. And yeah, the little bit of movement you have around the magnet is fantastic! Thanks for the comment.
I have enjoyed this but I am going to get a 24inch lazy Susan and place magnets inside instead, that way players can rotate to see everything they need. This is going to be fun!!
I thought about that. But I didn’t want to buy a tool to make holes when I could do it with tools I already owned. I now have some borer tools I use to cut holes in XPS foam that might work if I make a second bird in the future.
I love this idea and am definitely going to try this out. Instead of a small screw for the corner pieces maybe another magnet would make the attraction stronger. And perhaps adding stacked magnets thru the center of each tile just up to the top surface paper would allow them to stack on each other easily? Of course magnets are not as cheap as screws lol.
I actually had an idea to insert a magnet near the top of each tile through the bottom plus a screw at the bottom, but I tested it and it didn’t pan out well enough. However, I did come up with a solution for stacking tiles while still having them magnetized and secure. But that’s my next video! 😉 It will be live on Friday.
Did you ever try putting Velcro on the bottoms of your tiles and sticking them to the felt that way? I haven’t tried it, but that’s something I’ve been considering. A drill bit might also work well for making the magnet holes?
I have considered Velcro. But tearing them off of you want to make a change could be tricky. The one attempt I made was with a drill bit and it did not go well. I think a hot wire knife might work but mine isn’t the most accurate as it is only one temperature.
I mentioned in the video that is something I want to address for V2.0. I have made one attempt but didn’t like the process. Once I figure it out I will post another video.
Considering building a magboard myself, and I really like this idea of putting the magnets in the board itself to reduce the overall cost in the long run. Two question do keep me busy: 1. Would adding more magnets (like every inch) benefit modularity? Specifically asking for "non-square" tiles (cornerpieces, hallways, ...) 2. Michael (Nat1Videos) and I have been pondering about adding a metal layer to the tiles themselves (1 mm steel sheets) to magnetize the top layers. This enabels you/us to magnetize scatter terrain and put it on top of the tiles in a pretty rigid way. Have you considered this for your own system, and if yes, what did you think of?
You could definitely add more magnets to the board if you wanted. I was careful to match the magnets with the 3x3 inch tile. If you have smaller tiles than it would make sense to add more. I did consider doing them ever 1 1/2 inch for corner pieces etc, but a lot of my corner pieces are larger to account for the magnets every 3 inches. Not all of them though. As far as using steel sheets, I did think of it. But sourcing and cutting them is more labor intensive in my opinion. You hit it on the head when you said “reduce the cost in the long run”. That was one of the contributing factors to making the mag board. Screws are significantly cheaper than magnets and I imaging steel sheeting. But also reducing build time. Adding magnets to each tile takes longer than inserting a screw. It requires more material as well, ie glue. I considered the mag board being a steel sheet itself and adding magnets to each tile, but again, cost and time. The last thing I’d like to mention is improving upon the mag board. I am going to make a second one eventually for larger encounter maps. Using magnets to attach them. Also, either adding another sheet of foam core or thin plywood on the bottom to make them more rigid and durable.
@@TableCraftOfficial Great response! Thank you. If you're looking into more durability, I'd go for foamcore to protect your table surface. Foamcore could also lead into double sided play surfaces, as in a sandwich of 2 sheets of foamcore with plywood in the middle. The plywood would hold the magnets then.
@@TableCraftOfficial I must've missed it, or I'm overlooking it, but how do you handle scatter terrain like doors and pillars. Do you put them on top of your tiles? I was pondering about making 3x1 door-tiles, but those would mess up the magnet pattern.
Now that you've been using this system for a while, is there anything you would have done differently? I'm toying with the idea of making a magboard myself, or something similar with a steel sheet. I sometimes have to travel with my stuff though, so I'm trying to keep portability in mind too.
Yes there is something I will be adding to it. I like to build the encounter in a separate room that I’m playing in to prevent any spoilers. When it’s time battle I bring it out like a big reveal. But when I make bigger encounters the foam core board feels a flimsy so I have to be sure I hold it a certain way to prevent and folding. So I’m goin got add a thin wood board under it for a more sturdy overall Magboard. I think the metal sheet idea could be attached to a piece of wood as well. The only reason I didn’t do this is because magnets are more expensive than small screws and take more time to add to your tiles. I knew I would be making a lot more terrain tiles than any filler tiles (I have a video on those). So yeah, I think you have some options here.
@@TableCraftOfficial Awesome, thanks! A bit of wood underneath is a good idea. I'm thinking I might make multiple smaller boards (like 12"x24" and make 2 or 3 of them) so I dont have to take out a large board when I only need a small space, and so that it'll be easier to store, or travel with.
Hey I just „falling“ over this video, realy well done, thanks. I don’t know if this flimsy 5mm Board is still a topic for you? But before you glue a woodsheet under it i might check the 10mm version of Kappa. For your magnetinstallation on the board it‘s maybe faster to draw the First line in 1/2 length of your tiles (for vertical and horizental) then the line cross on the center of each tile and you have found fast your mag. Spot. For the corner tile (or in fact all tile forms) you can easy build an template (Foamboard) with a 90° rim, measure the center point on this template drill a hole there and voila you‘ll have it without measure and drawing on each tile. All „good“ ideas only possible because you did the First try, thanks for that.
Man, this is THE solution to this problem. I Totally need to make this - my players bump everything! Do you have any of those thin laminated grid mats and if so do the magnets still hold the terrain though one of those? If so it would really be the ideal substrate.
I do have a set of them but since I made the Magboard I haven’t used them. I bet you could attach the one of them to something and then put magnets underneath. I say give it a try!
