Suitcase Bloodbowl Pitch - Part 1
People ask all the time how I built the bloodbowl pitch I travel with, so I have decided that I will dig up the old photos during the build process (as many that survived) and give a basic rundown for others. This is the pitch that caused me to seriously think about quitting IT and eventually did quit after severe burnout (but that is a completely different topic). I am splitting this up into several parts in case some people are more interested in one section than another.
Reasoning and Purpose
Everything starts with a reason and no build should be done without purpose! I lived in a smaller house at the time and with two young kids space was tight. I wanted a pitch, but at the time GW hadn't made anything for bloodbowl in a long long time so availability of things was limited and/or expensive for what you got. I also needed to store teams/tokens/dice and etc in a small footprint tucked away in a closet away from little hands, that I could also quickly grab and go to a league game or tournament.
Requirements:
- Store 2-3 teams, Dice & Tokens
- Self contained all in one carry
- Must be able to fit on a standard table and play end to end (not sideways)
- Price
Now you probably saw the last one and said to yourself "what?", I spent only time and a few dollars as I used a lot of things I salvaged from other places. At the time I was not thinking about starting a business and was just doing my own thing as I have always done. Making a new one with non salvaged materials can be pricey and time is a huge factor as it's A LOT of labor.
Material Selection:
The materials I used were the following:
- Old Knotty Pine TV Cabinet, this cabinet had a long story that ended with a flood and a ceiling falling on it. It was turned into scrap and I saved it until used in this project. Wood used was only 5/8" thick
- Soft Maple left over from a butcher block and cabinet trim from a kitchen remodel.
- Left over 1/4" sanded ply from doing trim in a house remodel
- Popsicle sticks, because I had young kids and we made lots of juice popsicles
- Grass flock sheet from Michaels
- Homemade grass flock.
- Cheap craft paint.
Hardware Selection:
Hardware was limited but I did use the following:
- Screws, left over from various projects. I don't normally use screws or nails for woodworking but there was a specific reason for this and will be mentioned later.
- Piano hinge cut into two sections, this was left over from doing an access panel.
- Two Toggle Latches, these were left over from another project that I've long since forgotten
- Two Low Profile Vinyl Handles purchased from Rockler
- Metal Hooks purchased from Michaels
- Paper Clips, don't we all have these laying around?
Measurements:
Now the pitch was designed for LRB6/CRP2, GW had long since abandoned the game and the 32mm up sizing with the latest release wasn't even a consideration for many years to come. Even to this day most of my models are 25-30mm.
Box Final Measurements:
- Closed 31 1/2"" wide by 14 3/4" tall by 6" thick
- Opened 31 1/2" wide by 29 1/2" tall by 3" thick
- Storage Area for each side is 2 1/4"X27"X12"
Pitch:
- Squares were done on a sliding scale as I wanted to accommodate big guys in the middle and I knew that big guys rarely ever make it deep into the pitch. So the middle is 32mm squares sliding down to 25mm in the endzones. This might seem odd, but remember Blood Bowl 2016 wasn't even a glint in GW's eyes when I made this so was based on my Tournament experience at the time.
To Continue read Part 2