Lost Patrol Game Box II

Turning a metal case into a proper box for my copy of Lost Patrol last month was an enjoyable project. I took it along to Axes & Ales and played a few games with some of the Members, and everyone was very complimentary. One of my friends Tom expressed an interest in getting a copy of the game and, without thinking twice, I told him "Leave it to me".

I knew I had a wooden box hidden away in my shed that would be the perfect size to store a copy of Lost Patrol. So, over the Easter Long weekend, I hopped to it (yes, Dad joke, sorry, can't help myself).

First of all, I made the half-hex insert to hold the tiles. I made it so its rim was about 5cm above the bottom of the box and I made it longer than I had intended. This gave me an extra ~10cm clear space once the tiles were inserted, but more about that later.

Learning from my last box, I painted the inside of the box black (to match the velvet), and then prepared cardboard inserts using paper templates. After dry fitting, I then coated the cardboard with the same velvet-like adhesive, which is MUCH easier to do on a flat table before the components are installed.

I used some scrap 0.5cm foamcore board to strengthen the cardboard.
Yet another reason why you should never throw out anything.

The left-hand side of the box I created with metal again. First I made a cardboard pattern. Once that was sized right, I cut it into five pieces, in preparation for the metal. This time I used an Olive Oil tin, stuck it to cardboard, then wrapped it in velvet adhesive before gluing it to the box's sidewalls and floor. It gave me a 10x11x5cm 'well' in which maybe 8 magnetised Genestealers can be stored.

Then came the dice box. In my last box, I simply used some metal mint containers, spray-painted black, which are held to the box's lid using magnets - space was at a premium, so I had to be creative! This time around, with the extra space because of my earlier mistake, I thought I'd try and craft a dedicated  hexagonal dice and counter box.

It took three attempts before I had achieved a product that I was satisfied with, but it was well worth the effort. The 'hex-box' has a snug (not too loose, not too tight) lid that slides over the top of the tube and can hold plenty of bits and pieces - it stands about 8cm tall with the lid on.

Scoring the cardboard on the inside aids the folding. The lid
was slightly wider (as it had to sit over this bit) but much
shorter - getting the difference 'just right' took some time!
Note for future reference Lid at D67 w/- 5% clearance and base D65

That hex-box receive multiple layers of PVA glue with acrylic black paint and finished off with some estapol (varnish stuff) to make it extra ridged and a little glossy. I also used the estapol to do a very light coat on the wooden box's exposed surfaces which gave it a little shine and brought the grain to life.

The final element was the lid. Playing the game, there are a few (very few) rules to remember and I have always been wanting a quick reference guide while playing. So I summarised the gameplay rules, printed them up, then stuck them into the lid. It doesn't look fancy but the typeface is large (14pt) and easy to read, so I feel the compromise is worth it. 

And here's the final product - I hope it brings my mate Tom a lot of joy :-) Tom is a great painter and while my pictures below are displaying my Marines and Genestealers, I understand that Tom is intending to use his Howling Griffins for his gaming.

I'm actually a bit jealous of this box now... maybe I'll have to make another ;-)