Gauging interest on handmade/made to order modular gaming boards

[Stranger83]

This is something I’ve been toying with for a while and now think I should take the plunge and do it but I was wanting to gauge the interest level before I spend a lot on money setting it up.

In my spare time I’ve made a lot of modular gaming boards, I find this great fun to do and it obviously helps to have a nice board to play on. After making 3-4 different boards for myself my local gaming club liked them so much I was asked to make a full set for them too, after that club members and their friends commissioned me to make a few boards too.

I’ve really enjoyed it and am considering doing it full time and was wondering if others are interested in buying premade hand made high quality modular gaming boards.

I don’t have photos at the moment, and obviously I’m not asking anyone to sign up to definitely buy one – but would people be prepared to buy these or would you rather make your own? These will be hand made so will be more individual than the resin boards made by other companies – but may not be quite as “sturdy” – though they are fine to play games on as long as you don’t plan on hitting it with a hammer.

I would probably need to charge around £50/60 (about $80-95) for a 2x2 foot “module” to make it viable but for that you could ask for it to look any way you like – and you’d also get a few pieces on moveable terrain in the style of the board too (probably around 3-4) – do people think this would be too much? I would however be able to keep a database of everything I have made so people could buy each "Module" separately.

Any feedback people might have would be very much appreciated.

 

[Xenocidal Maniac]

You know, I think it would be a great idea. I completely understand about you needing to charge what you need to charge in order to make it worth your time. On the other hand, however, I don't think there would be a very large market for tables that cost nearly $500. I am sure the value would be there - it's just that not so many people have that kind of disposable income for gaming tables, especially with so many expensive aspects of this hobby competing for that income (models, paints, etc etc etc).

I personally couldn't see myself buying one right now, but perhaps in the future as my income grows.

I'm really not trying to nay-say - just saying that there are some inherent challenges here. Perhaps not insurmountable with some creativity, however. You can always set a website up, market it a bit, and see how it goes.

It would be great if we had some photos so we could get an idea of what we were talking about.

 

[Stranger83]

Thanks for the feedback, after what I've heard so far from a few other places I have decided to go ahead and setup a website and see what happens. I'm currently in the progress of making 5/6 demo boards to show people what they can have - My previous boards were good but I think I can do better.

I've also invested in some improved tools that should hopefully speed up the time it takes me to make them, which should in turn reduce the cost - which a few people have said is a little bit of a barrier.

Hopefully I'll be in a position to start shortly after the new year so watch this space

 

[RuneBrush]

Good luck. Your biggest challenge will be producing something that rivals GW's battle boards - both on a quality and cost front