UMS "Agram" : Cities Of Death Gaming Table < Articles < Hobby

Cities Of Death Gaming Table

Marko Paunović, 22nd August 2020

Project manager: Marko Paunović

''Special effects'' team:
- Table design and water features (waterpump and fogger) engineered and made by: Marko Paunović (left)
- Electric/electronic components engineered and made by: Davor Bokun (right)
- Landing-pad and vents made by: Tomislav Petrović (far left)

Crew: Andrija ''Walker'' Jurišić (foreman, far right in the picture) , Tomislav Rac, Ivan Kalazić, Goran Magdić, Filip ''The Dumbo'' Dumbović, Ante Majić, Domagoj Pribanić, Igor Iliovski, Ivan Kecerin

Photographs: Marko Paunović, Igor Hamzić and Borna Kržišnik

GW components used: Cities of Death sprues, Necron Destroyer, Predator, Sentinel, Shuttle from The Battle for McCragge, Steel Legion Lieutenant, Imperial Comissar, old Necromunda building parts and several left-over heavy weapons...

THE NEWS OF THE COMPETITION

A while back, in 2006 to be exact, our club recieved the news of a competition to build a gaming table for Warhammer 40.000 from our retailer Land of Magic (which was its name at that time, it's called Carta Magica these days), so we immediately started working on ideas to put on the table. First, we had a ''brainstorming'' meeting where we all suggested various ideas for items that should go onto the table. After the list of all possible ideas was made, we decided which ones to use.

These were the following: - flowing water through a canal, - a force field (made by laser pointers going through fog/mist made by a fogger), - various street lights (both blinking and normal), - a spinning radar, - a landing pad (with running lights), - some vents to be put in an industrial part of the city, - also to make this part of the city appear more industrial we decided to put in the railroad tracks

Next step was to make blueprints of the table in such a manner that no special effect interferes with another. It is of vital importance when dealing with projects of such a magnitude to delegate and divide the work apropriately. Good organisation is crucial as well as setting strict deadlines, and abiding by them.

TABLE FRAME

Because of all the extra features on our table we had to make at least one part of the table higher to store all the SF mumbo-jumbo inside (like the power source, electronic circuits, water pump and fogger along with two separate water tanks). To build this higher part of the frame we used 40 x 95 mm wooden planks for sturdiness and durability. The cover was made from 5 mm thick plywood that was screwed to the planks so it could be removed (if necessary). We also made a drawer where we put all the electronic circuits and switches for all of the special effects. We also left room for a canal through which the water will flow.

WATER FEATURES

We decided to have two separate water features. One is a sewage canal coming from the factory. It consists of a water pump, hidden within the factory, a verical pipe that pumps the water into the canal. The water is dyed into green for even more repugnant effect. The other water feature is a fogger, a machine that converts water into fog and can be found in most stores dealing with lamps or garden decorations. The machine itself comes from a lamp that is made up of a bowl (that needs to be filled with water) inside which it is placed. We put the fogger underneath the city so the fog will appear to be rising from the sewers.

NOTE: When dealing with real water you must be carefull to insulate everything. Put lots of clear varnish over the terrain where the water will run. If there is even the smallest hole, water will find its way through.

IMPORTANT: It is really dangerous to put high voltage in or even near running water for obvious reasons so make sure that trained professionals do that part of the job. When you use lesser voltages (like 5V or 12V) such precautions are not necessary because of water's relatively low conductivity. This effect can be further reduced if you use distilled water whose conductivity is even lower than regular water's.

Water pump and canal

Fogger – Water tank and effect

ELECTRONICS

We decided to use the AT power unit from an old PC. The output voltages from the device were everything we needed, 220V AC, 24V DC, 12V DC and 5V DC. We used 220V AC to power the waterpump, 24V DC to power the fogger, 12V DC for different vents and electronic circuits with flashing and running LEDs and 5V DC for normal LEDs and servos. When we decided to use all those special effects we didn't realise how time consumig the process would be. More than half of the time spent on this project was spent on either research or engineering of these effects. So bear that in mind. However, internet helped a lot because almost all the circuits used on this project can be easily found there. Although the process was made up of a lot of trial-and-errors to make one circuit work we never wavered and it finally payed off.

IMPORTANT: Always have the device plugged out before you start working on electrical and electronic components!

TERRAIN FEATURES

Skyscraper

The skscraper itself is 70cm high. The base and the walls of the skyscraper were built from balsa wood while the windows were made form PVC see-through sheets cut into shape. When the inside of the tower was painted the side walls (PVC) were glued. Once everything was dry we cut holes in the windows and painted the rubble after which we added PVC bits as the broken glass. On the roof of the tower a small greenhouse was made to give a bit of life in the grim world of the City od Death...

Factory

The practical purpose for factory was to house the water tank and the pump. The building itself was built around the tank with one part of the roof built in such a way so it can easily be lifted for the water to be poured inside. Note the special engine that came from an old model car in scale 1:16. After the building itself was finished, some vents (which actually rotate and the LEDs beside them light up gradually and then dim also gradually) were placed on top and around it, just to give it a more industrial feel. There is one basin filled with resin as well as a significant ''chemical'' spillage in the place where the pipelines go underground which is also made from resin.

Warehouse and the railroad

To continue with the industrial feel of that part of the table we put some HO railroad tracks coming out of the factory and running all across the table. On the other side of the railroad tracks there is a loading terminal connected to a warehouse. The loads can be lifted from the carts onto the plateau with a crane which is also moveable. There is also a couple of LEDs which serve as street lights and one LED in the foreman's cabin inside the warehouse. The roof of the cabin can be lifted so you can play inside.

Houses with the McCragge shuttle

Moving along the table, we now come to the raised part of the table. On one side there are a couple of ruined houses and a statue. Houses were made from balsa wood and decorated by some bits from the Cities of Death sprues. The great thing about those bits is that they can be easily interchanged and also added to other materials used to build structures like balsa wood. Among the houses we placed the shot down shuttle from the Battle for McCragge box set. We made sure that the flight path goes through at least one building where it hits and deflects from the path to the left. Underneath those houses the before mentioned water tank with the fogger is concealed. We left holes under the shuttle for the fog to pass so it appears as if the shuttle just crashed.

Turrets

The design of the turrets was taken from Forge World. They are octagonal, two-storey concrete buildings with three firing slots per storey built exclusively from balsa wood. One of them also houses a servo motor which operates the searchlight on top of the turret. In it there are also three laser diodes which point across the street to the other turret creating a force field. Of course, untill you put your model in front of the laser beam you can not see it. And that is where the fogger comes into play! We built a small canal underneath the street where the fogger makes the fog. The fog is then lifted by a small concealed vent into the air right into the path of the laser beams, making them visible!

Statues and posters

To add a bit of personal touch and to make the city seem more ''Imperial'' we added some statues, namely one of a Steel Legion Lieutenant and one of a Comissar. Those really lift the entire table. What we also added to the buildings is some posters. But that was not enough for us. We asked ourselves what else do you find in a city? The answer was so obvious that we didn't see it for quite a while... Road signs! So we drew them on a PC, printed and glued them in logical places (on a walkway above the road).

Sentinel and the Predator

What kind of a battle torn city this would be if it didn't have any casualties? Therefore we sacrifised one Imperial Sentinel (slightly converted) and a Predator. The Predator was placed partly inside a building which collapsed around it. Extra care was taken in painting the interior of the Predator, and the back hatch is left moveable so you can actually hide your models inside!

Landing pad

Our landing pad also draws its idea from Forge World's one with the octagonal design. It was hand-made from scratch. Each of the six legs has 51 separate parts! It has 8 yellow LEDs and 4 times 7 red LEDs that have their own circuit which makes them apear as if running to the middle of the pad.

Cities of Death buildings

And finally we come to the Cities of Death buildings. We made three large buildings. One is a part of the factory exclusively made up of parts on the Manufactorium sprue. The other is a large complex that once served as a courthouse but is now a pile of rubble where the army moved in and made its HQ with a specially built landing pad and radar. This remnants of the courthouse were made of Sanctum Imperialis sprues. The third building was built from the Basilica Administratum sprues.

The great thing about Cities of Death sprues is its multiplicity. You can build as many different buildings as you like (or can afford). The painting is easy, even the beginners can paint it masterfully, just by using drybrush techniques in several shades. But the buildings really come alive if you add just a couple of details in another colour. Of course the parts are so intricate that you can easily spend a couple of hours painting and perfecting just one part of the building. It all depends on how much time and effort you are willing to put in.

EXTRA DETAILS

Wooden Boxes

These are easily made from 2 mm thin balsa wood sheets. Just cut the sides of the boxes (ours were 2x5cm, 2x3cm and 2,5x3cm), glue them together, draw lines into the balse to represent the planks and glue thin strips of card as metal reinforcements. You may even add small dressmaker's pins as rivets.

Lamp conversions

It is easy to convert the Cities of Death lamp posts with LEDs so that they actualy give light. Just remove the bottom part of the lamp, drill a hole through the lamp for the wires and attach the LEDs.

You must watch out not to connect the + and the – wires because you will short circuit the LED.

Metal plates, hatches and mesh

Metal plates can be easily made by using card cut into squares and glued onto the base repetively one beside another. When finished, just add dressmaker's pins as rivets. Hatches are also done with card. Just cut the hatch frame and both sides of the doors and glue together. You can also add pins as rivets. Mesh is done with plastic anti-mosquito nets found in most stores. It is easy to cut, form and glue and yet it gives excellent results.

Trussed metal constructions

Trussed constructions are a bit fidly to make but once finished they will be worth while. They are made from two strips of wood, one 2x2mm and the other 5x5mm while the length is up to you. You use the thicker ones for the frame and you put the smaller ones in between at a 45 degree angle to the frame. The finished product not only looks great but is also very sturdy and can withstand suprisingly big loads.

CONCLUSSION

To sum it all, this table contains over 15l of water, over 100m of cables and wires, weighs around 75kg (without the water), has 2,5m of walkways, over 10m of handmade trussed structures, a dozen various electronic circuits, 63 LEDs, 3 laser diodes, 6 working vents, 2 servo motors, a waterpump, a fogger, one factory, one skyscraper, one warehouse, a railroad terminal, 3 small buildings, 2 large buildings, 2 statues, 3 wrecks (tenk, sentinel and a shuttle), 2 turrets...

As you can see it is much more than the mere sum of its parts because over 1000 working hours after the initial sketches, the final product was before us.

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Agram Group Build #7 – Amon Hen, pt.5

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Agram Group Build #7 – Amon Hen, pt.4

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Marko Paunović, 8th October 2026

Agram Group Build #7 – Amon Hen, pt.3

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	Agram Group Build is back. For this seventh installment, the team decided to create a gaming board/diorama for Amon Hen. To that end, we fulfilled a childhood dream and acquired the original Forge World Amon Hen terrain (released around 2000) along with the accompanying set of miniatures. This series of articles will document the entire project—from crafting the terrain to assembling and painting the miniatures.

	  

	Last time, we created and attached large volumes to the base and roughed out the terrain contours. To prevent the Styrofoam from warping while the PVA glue dried, we had secured it to the wooden base with masking tape. Therefore, the first task was to remove the excess masking tape.

	  

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	That concludes the construction phase for now. Before applying the texture, the DAS modeling clay needs to dry thoroughly. Next up is the texturing process, along with some touch-ups to the relief where the stone structures were placed.

	  
"
    ["content_hrv"]=>
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	Agram Group Build se vraća. U svojoj sedmoj instalaciji, ekipa je odlučila izraditi igraću tablu / dioramu za Amon Hen. Za tu potrebu, ispunili smo si dječačke sne i nabavili originalni Forge World teren Amon Hena (izašao negdje cca 2000.) sa setom pripadajućih figura. Ova serija članaka pratit će izradu cijelog projekta – kako izrade terena, tako i sastavljanja i bojanja figura.

	  

	Prošli put smo napravili i dodali velike volumene na bazu te napravili grube obrise terena. Kako se ne bi stiropor svinuo tijekom sušenja PVA ljepila, učvrstili smo ga krep trakom za drvenu bazu. Stoga, prvi posao bio je maknuti višak krep trake.

	  

	Zatim smo koristeći PVA ljepilo i DAS glinamol izradili postepene prijelaze i iskonstruirali kosine na „stepenicama“ dobivenim od stiropora.

	  

	Potom smo dodali kamene strukture koristeći koru od drveta. Istovremeno smo iskoristili i teksture u kori i utisnuli na pojedinim mjestima u DAS glinamol kako bismo dobili dodatnu teksturu kamenih stijena.

	  

	  

	Time je lagano završila gradnja za ovaj put. Prije nanošenja teksture, treba ostaviti DAS glinamol da se dobro osuši. Sljedeći put na redu je tekstura uz mjestimično popravljanje reljefa na mjestima gdje smo postavili kamene strukture.

	  
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Krunoslav Belinić, 1nd October 2026

Agram Group Build #7 – Amon Hen, pt.2

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    ["title_eng"]=>
    string(39) "Agram Group Build #7 – Amon Hen, pt.2"
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	Agram Group Build is back. For this seventh installment, the team decided to create a gaming board/diorama for Amon Hen. To that end, we fulfilled a childhood dream and acquired the original Forge World Amon Hen terrain (released around 2000) along with the accompanying set of miniatures. This series of articles will document the entire project—from crafting the terrain to assembling and painting the miniatures.

	  

	After cutting the board in the previous article, it was time to create the terrain. We decided to achieve the necessary height—or volume—by using Styrofoam. The choice of material was dictated by the availability of Styrofoam; had we possessed that amount of extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam, we certainly would have chosen it due to its ease of shaping. We arranged the Styrofoam sheets to cover the entire surface of the board, gluing them down with PVA glue and reinforcing the joints with masking tape. Next, we placed the assembled Amon Hen model in position and traced its outlines.

	  

	  

	  

	The next step was cutting out the rough shape of the terrain and arranging tall vegetation across the diorama to establish the outlines of the final look.

	  

	  

	  

	  

	After marking the placement of the trees, we decided to glue the Styrofoam terrain piece onto the board. We used PVA glue for this as well, and to ensure firm contact, we secured the edges with masking tape so the Styrofoam wouldn't warp while drying. Finally, we constructed a ramp for the temple entrance.

	  

	  

	  

	In the meantime, Kruno was working on the preparatory work on the figures.

	  

	KRUNO: "The deal was to clean the figures of excess metal and dirt. I haven't dealt with metal miniatures too much, so it was an interesting challenge for me. It's not much different from cleaning rubber or plastic miniatures. Of course, a new scalpel blade is needed and pliers come in handy. Although it is not obligatory, I also performed the ancient miniaturist rite of consecration of a new blade and sacrificed a few drops of blood to the Gods of miniaturism and state games. It seems that they were satisfied with the victim, because there were no problems. Excesses are neatly and nicely positioned for quick removal and if any trace remains it fits into the texture or folds of the model. There were very few heads, and even those that were seen were easily leveled with a knife."

	  

	  
"
    ["content_hrv"]=>
    string(6921) "
	Agram Group Build se vraća. U svojoj sedmoj instalaciji, ekipa je odlučila izraditi igraću tablu / dioramu za Amon Hen. Za tu potrebu, ispunili smo si dječačke sne i nabavili originalni Forge World teren Amon Hena (izašao negdje cca 2000.) sa setom pripadajućih figura. Ova serija članaka pratit će izradu cijelog projekta – kako izrade terena, tako i sastavljanja i bojanja figura.

	  

	Nakon rezanja table u prošlom članku, došao je red na izradu terena. Visinu, odnosno volumen, smo odlučili dobiti korištenjem stiropora. Odabir materijala je uvjetovala dostupnost stiropora. Da smo imali tu količinu stirodura, sigurno bismo ga odabrali zbog jednostavnosti obrade. Stiroporne daske smo posložili tako da pokriju cijelu površinu table. Zalijepili smo ih koristeći PVA ljepilo, a spojeve dodatno učvrstili koristeći krep traku. Potom smo stavili složenu maketu Amon Hena i ucrtali obrise

	  

	  

	  

	Sljedeći korak bilo je izrezivanje grubog oblika terena i slaganje visoke vegetacije po diorami – tako da dobijemo obrise konačnog izgleda.

	  

	  

	  

	  

	Nakon označavanje gdje ide koje drvo, odlučili smo zalijepiti stiroporni teren na dasku. To smo također odradili pomoću PVA ljepila – a za dodatan pritisak, rubove smo pritisnuli koristeći krep traku tako da se stiropor ne deformira tijekom sušenja. Na kraju smo izradili i kosinu za prilaz u hram.

	  

	  

	  

	Za to vrijeme, Kruno se bavio pripremnim radovima na figurama.

	  

	KRUNO: "Dogovor je bio da očistim figure od viška metala i srha. Nisam se previše bavio metalnim minijaturama, pa mi je to bio zanimljiv izazov. Nije puno drugačije od čišćenja rezinskih ili plastičnih minijatura. Naravno, potrebna je nova oštrica na skalpelu i kliješta dobro dođu. Iako nije obavazeno obavio sam i drevni minijaturistički obred posvećivanja nove oštice i pritom žrtvovao par kapi krvi Bogovima minijaturizma i stateških igara. Izgleda da su bili zadovoljni žrtvom, jer nije bilo problema. Viškovi su uredno i lijepo pozicionirani za brzo uklanjanje i ako i ostane koji trag uklapa se u teksturu ili nabore modela. Srhova je bilo vrlo malo, a i oni koji su se vidjeli lako su se poravnali nožićem."

	  

	  

	 
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