Browsing for ideas, I came across a poker table. At first, this seemed to be the answer. It would give the layout some flair in it's unique shape and it would give each player (max 8) a side to play on. This layout would have worked great for player space and would have allowed each player to reach a good portion of the board, namely the middle, where I intended to locate all the Mythos (game progress) related items. The area the players couldn't reach would have been able to be reached by the player opposite from them. Since I rarely ever play the game alone, this would have been feasible. Chopping the octagon layout in half, thus created 2 separate pieces, and folding one over the other in a briefcase like fashion, would have created only one open side (the bisected one), which would have been able to be capped for travel. It seemed perfect.
But then, months later, I realized the flaw. There was no way to add on any further expansions in an octagon layout as every side would be used by players. Being able add new boards and expansions was one of the major objectives listed for this project. It needed to be designed flexibly enough to accommodate add-ons. I currently had two small board expansions and one more is slated to come out sometime in the next year or two. I also have three more small box expansions which simply are more cards without an extra board, but these would be added by “special” locations simply used for storage somewhere in the base game board.
So back to the drawing board I went. I ended up keeping with the original design of the game board which is simply a rectangle. Each new expansion is another rectangle added onto one end of the base game board. With this approach I could add as many new boards as I pleased in line type fashion. Not as cool a design as the octagon, but it would allow me more versatility and more options for sectioning off areas.
A - OW Areas, dropped down a level to be sunk into the base and would also continue into section F (A in F not shown). 4” wide, entire length of board long and about 1-2” deep.B - Arkham Sections, together add up to about the same size as the base game board 27”x36”
C – Mythos Section, 8” w x 31” h and as deep as the sides need to come up, probably 3-4” maybe more.
D – Rolling Alleys, would be divided in half by a wall in the middle (not shown in D) to give each player seat their own alley. 4” at narrowest after walls are added, by about 15-17” long each
E – Drink holders, 3.5” circle blocked in about 3” deep to hold drinks firmly.
F – Expansion Board, would be divided horizontally like the base game to continue the OW area for the expansion OW's (A in F not shown), 12”w maybe more
G – Expansion Rolling Alleys, smaller than base game ones but still workable, would end up about 10-12” long.
H – Luxury Seats, Player Area Shelves – About 16” Wide and 13” Deep (I know the base only seats 4 right now but couldnt find a way to fit more in here, more can be added with each expansion, see I)
I – Expansion Seats, Player Area Shelves – About 10”wide and 13” Deep
This image shows that the shelves are actually 16" deep and leave about 3" inside the base for stability. They may be put on some kind of runner like a drawer to facilitate sliding in and out and provide a stopper so they can't get pulled out all the way.
This shows how the shelves will be in storage position, slid into the base. A locking mechinism will be added to the outside to keep the shelves from sliding open during travel.
This image shows just the base board without the expansion area and how it could be split in half to create a manageable size for travel and protection. The right side would be flipped over upside down onto the left side. Obviously, the shelves will be closed when this happens. The Rolling Allys would provide enough height and stability to create a closed box. only the left and right sides would remain open in this travel arrangement and those could be covered with a separate piece.
This image shows just the base board. The overall size here without shelves is 44" long x 42" high. Splitting it in half results in two 22" wide x 42" long sections that when put together would be about 6-8" thick. Very close to the original idea of a guitar case size and will still fit in the back seat of any car.
This layout is not nearly finished in design and I figure that I will make some changes prior to starting that portion of work either from suggestions, ideas, or when I actually start working it. The important thing I learned here was the maximum size of each section I could make for travel and the amount of space I would be able to work with on the Arkham section. Since the Arkham section ended up very close to the size of the original game board, I will have to work buildings and locations fairly close to the size they are on the board.
There is a lot of wasted space on the original board so I think I can fudge some buildings a bit bigger than the location areas. My estimate is that buildings should be about 2" to about 6-8" for the largest buildings, such as the church. This puts me in the N-scale size at 1:160 ratio and allows me to use some N scale model items for scenery and details.
The next step would seem to be to start building and planning each location. Once I have those done it will be a lot easier to plan a layout by placing the actual buildings down and figuring out where to run streets and details, which in the end will determine the actual overall size I need.
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