Long lost update

Apart from yesterday's Conan excitement, things have been a bit quiet here recently as hitting the initial goal of 500 points in the painting challenge seems to have burned me out a little. I think it was about this time last year that I also lost momentum. Still, we have a painting day arranged on the 21st, so hopefully I can get a kick up the arse. The last thing painted was Tank Girl, Camp Koala and Booga for the Hot sub-challenge. These three were from the Frother's Charity Model thing in 2013. Very nice models, though sadly TG had a mold line running right around her that was hard to get rid of completely.

It was also about this time last year that the urge to build a gaming table of some sort started... sadly apathy and dis-organisation set in and I never did get around to starting it. That too has returned. It must be something about seeing all those painted figures together that sparks it. Hopefully I can overcome apathy this year and actually make some terrain.

The main stumbling block is working out the best way to do the base board. Modular, thick foam is one approach so I can carve in rivers, coast lines etc. This one is appealing, but does lead to storage issues as I don't have a dedicated gaming room like some lucky people. This raises issues with placing buildings on non-flat terrain.

Option 2 is a gaming mat of some sort. The plain green ones, like the old GW mat, don't appeal as they look a bit lifeless. I've seen a few really nice ones made from thick canvas and caulking/sand, but this leads to raised roads and rivers which, for some reason, grate with me slightly. Probably from working in GW years ago with the flat green square with the wandering rivers that never stayed in place.

What do you use and what do you prefer?