From MilesR: Sectional Terrain Squares (710 points)

I've had a never ending search to find / build the "right" sectional terrain and think I may have finally stumbled onto the answer via Sally 4th's innovative Terra-Formers terrain system.  I backed their kickstarter and received enough squares to build a 7x4 table of 1 ft sq sections.  I also custom made 2, 2'x1' sections just to see how they might work.

These will be used for games the require a 6x4 footprint so there are some extras and more will be added to the inventory.  These are also really easy to expand and add one or two squares each weekend.

 The dots on the sides of each sections are magnets that are used to hold the pieces together.  These are fairly strong rare earth magnets and keeping track of the polarity was harder than you think.

 The bridge is a simple laser cut model and is removable - you may see a more elaborate one by the end of this challenge..

On a whim, I made one of the hill sections a crypt entrance - it's one demonstration of how flexible the system is.

 The shore line came out nicely

The road sections were thrown together without a lot of planning - hence the one section off on  it's own.  I used a heat gun to melt the EPS foam to create the depression and then used flexible caulking for the road surface.

The river sections are nice and the resin cured really well.

 Each section is 8 part laster cut frame that you put EPS foam inside.  I reinforced my frames with plywood strips which really strengthen them (they survive a 6 foot drop rest) and allow me to used the 1" thick foam I had on hand.  You really don't need to reinforce the sections if your not going to transport these things back and forth to conventions.  Once the frame is built attache the magnets with super glues and your good to go.

 A shot of the crypt entrance - it was a lot of fun to build.

A river section.  I used styrene plastic for the river base.  The ground texture is a form of tile grout that I mix up that stays flexible (doesn't crack with stress but dries rock hard.  I can stand in a tile and not damage the foam.  Once the grout mix dries, paint light brown and add ground flocking.

Here's a picture of one of the two 1x2ft sections I custom made being glued up in my shop.  I tired to make a couple 1 ft square sections also but didn't get them perfectly square so can't really use them.



Points:

This is a tough one, the "legal" interpretation of the rules implies I should compare cubic inches.  The 6x6x6 terrain cube for 20 points equates to  218 cubic inches and .0926 points per cubic inch 20 divided by 216).  Well need to remember the latter number.

Now lets figure out the volume of each type of section:

Flat / road / river 2 x 12 x 12 = 288 cubic inches
Shore line 1.5 x 12 x 12 = 216 cubic inches
Hill 3 x 12 x12 = 432 cubic inches

Inventory (32, 1 ft sections)
Flat / Road: 14 x 288 = 4,032
River:          7 x 288 = 2, 016
Shore:          4 x 216 = 864
Hills:          7 x 432 = 3,024
Total:          9,936 cubic inches

Now take the sum total of 9,936 cubic inches and multiply it time the .0926 points per cubic inch and the product is 922 points.

That feels a bit high to me so we could dispense with the maths (I actually shuddered while typing that last phrase) and go with a much simpler scoring mechanism of simple and complete sections.

Simple Sections (flats, roads, simple hills) get 20 points each and complex sections (rivers, shores, complex hills w/carve rocks and the crypt) get 25

Simple sections 18 x 20 = 360 points
Complex sections 14 x 25 = 350 points
Total: 710points

I'll leave it to the powers that be to determine the appropriate score.  I really happy with how these turned out and look forward to adding more to the collection.

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Wowzers! That is an absolutely amazing terrain setup Miles. I love the modularity of the system, especially the use of rare earth magnets to keep it all snug and aligned. I'm curious, how long did it take you to build all the sections pictured here? It seems that once you had your process established then things rattled along at a brisk pace. A very cool project and one that you'll reap the benefits from in your upcoming convention travels. Brilliant work. 

The math was starting to reduce my brain to mush (a clever tactic) so I will concur with your Plan B point estimate of 710 points. In any case, an amazing terrain bomb.
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