Terrain for The Men Who Would Be Kings

We took the kids to the swimming pool this afternoon so, while they were splashing about, I took the time to read through the whole book of rules for The Men Who Would be Kings. It soon became apparent that the desert terrain board that I planned to use for the 15mm version of my project is way too small, at 32'' square, even for the Skirmish Kings reduced sized game or using centimetres rather than inches, so I have had to do a re-think. It would be a shame not to use the rest of the 15mm desert terrain pieces that I've built for the Sandbox Skirmish project, but for TMWWBK's I'll need to make a full sized 6'' x 4'' set of terrain tiles or find a matching terrain cloth to use instead. This has thrown a proverbial spanner in the works to say the least.

In 28mm, however, I have always planned to use my existing Back of Beyond and Wild West desert terrain, which is based on a khaki coloured cloth that I acquired a few years ago and to which I have added various terrain pieces. You can see the effect that I've produced in the photo of a Back of Beyond game above. This is a full 6' x 4' set up and, while the terrain isn't suitable for 15mm, a lot of it is fine for the Sudan in 28mm, being not far off the colour of the landscape itself. I have hills, trees, scatter and buildings, so it's a much better prospect compared to the 15mm equivalent, even if I need some theatre specific extra bits. 

I'm now debating if it's a good idea to go for 15mm, given the terrain issue, although it is my first choice and I do like my bespoke terrain board a lot. Why isn't anything simple? At this rate, some Zulus are even looking more straightforward!