Twilight Imperium 4 3D

Yes playing TI4 in 3d is as awesome as it looks! While I have seen other 3d boards for TI4 none of them are as cheap to build as this one.

I got the idea from https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2921463/twilight-imperium-3d-three-3-tiered-board-game-map

I also updated one of the TI4 map generators to support 3d maps (but only for 8 players): https://github.com/BrokenRafterFarms/ti4

Parts required to purchase:

• 3 boards of ¼in thick cut at 20inx19in (I used some flooring underlayment I had laying around)
• 8 3/4in diameter dowels cut at 11 ½in (I have a miter saw that I used with a block of wood clamped at 11 ½in to make sure my dowels where the same height)
• at least 24 10-32x1in machine screws (You can use more or less but you should have at least 2 machine screws per dowel holder to make sure it is stable)

Parts to print:

• 20 of the dowel holders from above
• dowel guide (optional but helpful)

Steps to build:

• Print out dowel holders
• Cut boards (You could cut it at a nice 20inx20in but I wanted the boards cut as close to the planets as possible to make it easier to see)
• Cut dowels
• Print out dowel guide (optional but helpful to make sure you drill the holes square)
• Layout tiles on board and figure out where your first column will go (I used the dowel guide to make sure that I made it as square I as I could)
• Put the first dowel holders on the board using a pen to mark the holes.
• Using a small drill bit (like 1/8in) make a pilot hole. Then using a larger one (15/64in) make the hole bigger. Repeat for all holes in each dowel holder.
• Use the dowel guide to help place the rest of the dowel holders.
• Use your first board to help place the holes on the other two boards.
• Use the machine screws to install the dowel holder.
• Convince the other players you are no threat as the Sardakk N'orr and its not a big deal if you get a War Sun and your Capital ship… And then all of a sudden you hit on 1s and can't be stopped…