Warhammer Underworlds Boards - Shyishian Graveyard

The Idea

I love Warhammer Underworlds and have been playing it for a good few years now. However, I have one particular niggling issue with the game: the board is too flat. For the last 35 years, I’ve been playing miniature battle games, and for most of that time, I’ve played across battlefields filled with 3D terrain. For a while now, I’ve had an idea about building a more immersive Underworlds board.

I wanted the board to be modular so I could recreate both versions of the current board setup and future-proof it for upcoming releases. My idea was to use wooden hexes placed within a frame. Each hex would be decorated in such a way that they could be easily interchanged within the board. I also needed a way to create and clearly distinguish Blocked Hexes, Starting Hexes, Stagger Hexes, and the standard empty hexes. But before diving into those details, I needed a theme.

Ever since I started playing Warhammer, I’ve always had an undead force of one kind or another. Currently, I have a Nighthaunt army, and until Embergard was released last year, my main Underworlds warband was Lady Harrow's Mournflight, a quartet of Myrmourn Banshees. So, it made perfect sense to base my board around a graveyard theme, giving my miniatures a suitably haunting home to roam.

The Board

With the idea fully formed, I got to work building the board. I constructed a sturdy wooden frame designed to hold hexes cut to the original, first edition size of Warhammer Underworlds. I specifically chose the larger hex size because it allowed me to add modest terrain elements to the hexes without interfering with model placement. Larger fighters such as Blackpowder or Mollog might still pose the occasional challenge, but for the most part, everything remains playable and clear.

I chose to paint the inside of the frame grey and the outer frame itself black. The grey interior acts as a neutral colour, so when glimpsed through the small gaps between hexes, it doesn’t draw the eye or feel distracting. It blends quietly into the background, allowing the board’s surface to remain the focus. In contrast, the black outer frame gives the entire board a sense of definition and drama. It frames the playing area like a stage or arena, drawing attention to the centre and creating the impression that the action is unfolding beneath a spotlight.

The Frame

I also have plans for the future to create terrain pieces that will enclose the game board area, things like cliffs, rocky outcrops, and maybe even walls. These additions will add further depth and atmosphere, enhancing the immersive experience of the battlefield.

The hexes were already cleanly cut and sanded, so I did not need to do any extra preparation. I based each one using just sand and PVA glue, keeping the texture simple and grounded. A few skulls were scattered across some of the hexes to hint at the grim nature of the setting, without overwhelming the surface.

A handful of hexes received pieces of slate. These would become my edge hexes. The slate adds a sense of elevation and visual interest while remaining flat and practical enough for miniatures to stand on during play.

To mark the starting hexes, I added gravestones. These often had a skull placed beside them to reinforce their significance. The gravestones themselves came from a personal collection built up over decades. I have been collecting Undead armies in one form or another for the past 35 years, long before Nagash appeared on the scene. Over that time, many miniatures came with gravestones included on the sprue. Most of the time, I never used them, and they ended up in my bits box. Now, at last, they had found their place.

Arcane Hazard

Once all the elements were glued in place, I primed the board black. The rocks and gravestones were drybrushed with cold grey tones to give a weathered, time-worn appearance. The earth between them was painted with slightly warmer brown tones to offer subtle contrast while still maintaining the somber graveyard aesthetic.

To add colour to the hexes, I used static grass applied in small clumps, usually positioned to the sides and corners of each hex. This careful placement ensured the centre of each hex remained clear, allowing miniatures to be placed without obstruction. An added bonus of this arrangement was that, once the hexes were tessellated together, the corner clumps from adjacent tiles visually combined to form what appeared to be larger patches of overgrowth, adding to the board’s realism without compromising its functionality.

Gravestone marked starting hexes

I also included small clumps of model railway foliage to represent low bushes. These were sparingly added and, like the grass, kept away from the central areas of the hexes. After the grass was in place, I overbrushed it lightly with Screaming Skull to tone down the colour and blend it more naturally with the cold grey and earthy brown palette of the board.

On a small number of hexes, I placed some broken-up twigs to act as logs, carefully painting them to blend in with the drab, muted tones of the board. To these, I added moss, using my own mix to get the right texture and colour. These additions helped break up the surface further and added subtle points of interest without distracting from gameplay.

How I Paint - Moss

Moss and Logs

To create the blocked hexes, I decided to use my Nightvault Arcane Hazard terrain. This had been painted many years ago, and rather than modelling them directly into the board, I plan to stand them on empty hexes during games. Most likely, I’ll use the flaming braziers, which fit the aesthetic while being visually distinct. I do have plans to create permanently modelled blocked hexes in the future. In fact, I’ve already made a two-hex piece: a sarcophagus.

The Sarcophagus

How I Paint - Stone

My final challenge was figuring out how to indicate stagger hexes. I thought about different ideas for several days but struggled to settle on a concept. In the end, I decided to create patches of earth carved with glowing mystical runes. I chose a purple glow to represent the amethyst magic of Shyish, which fits perfectly with the graveyard theme. To make the runes authentic, I pulled symbols from the Dark Tongue using my old Realms of Chaos book.

Amerthyst magic slows time - Staggering hex 

You might be wondering what I did about the Treasure tokens. Well, some might see this as a bit of a cop-out, but I decided to use the Objective markers from first edition. They are the perfect size. During the game, I simply replace a terrain hex with a plain wooden hex and place the card token on top. This way, the card token can be easily flipped to indicate when it’s been delved. The delve mechanic is what stopped me from making specialized tokens because constantly swapping terrain pieces during play would be a hassle. Plus, it’s important that Treasure tokens are interesting but still flat enough for miniatures to stand on. Unlike edge hexes, which usually see less traffic, Treasure tokens get plenty of action. So, while it might seem like a shortcut, for me it just makes the most practical sense.

The finished board

The Graveyard

For the board layout, I decided to mirror the setup of the Embergard board, including the positioning of the blocked hexes. I selected a mix of standard, slate-edged, and gravestone-marked hexes to reflect the graveyard theme while remaining true to the functional layout of an official board. The blocked hexes were represented by the flaming braziers from my old Nightvault Arcane Hazard terrain. Their eerie glow felt right at home among the gravestones and skeletal remains scattered across the battlefield.

Forces are drawn

The scene I envisioned was more than just a skirmish — it was a haunting. Headman’s Curse were deployed to defend their resting place; a cursed graveyard shrouded in the cold aura of Shyish. These spectral warriors lingered in death; bound to the graves they once guarded. Their torment was disturbed by the arrival of Hexbane and his relentless hunters, righteous and unwavering in their pursuit. Hexbane’s warband, ever vigilant, had tracked the cursed spirits to this forsaken place, determined to end their reign of terror once and for all.

Drive them back.

And that brings my graveyard game board project to a close, for now at least. There are still ideas rattling around in my head for future additions, like rocky outcrops or ruined walls to frame the battlefield even more dramatically. But for the moment, I’m just looking forward to getting some games in and seeing how it all feels in play.

Cursed Earth

If you've enjoyed reading this or have questions, ideas, or even your own terrain projects to share, feel free to drop a comment. I always enjoy hearing from fellow hobbyists. And if you’d like to see more projects like this in the future, consider giving the blog a follow. There’s always something just around the corner.

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