I knew I was never going to have room for another 6'x10' wargame table, but I was pretty pleased in December when a 4'x6' tabletop dropped into my lap, as it were.
Alas and alack, trying to reach the middle seems to get harder every day, it doesn't have enough grid squares in depth, and the damned thing is always in my way when I'm not playing. Out of curiosity, I started looking to see how many games actually used the whole table in the three and a bit months since I installed it. Out of the 8 scenarios I've played on the bigger table, (some of them several times), exactly none used the whole table. None?!? So, I started to look farther back to see how often the entire surface of the preceding, slightly smaller, bits and pieces tacked together, table had been used. I gave up looking after 2 years. At most, reinforcements moving onto the table travelled all the way from the edge rather than appearing just behind the frontline. Oh!
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| A mock up of the proposed 9x12 grid of 5" squares, ready for testing. |
A search farther back in time showed that there had been a time when the whole table was frequently used, and sometimes crammed with figures. Possibly, being in my early 50's then rather than creeping up on 70, and not yet having become a solo player, might have had an effect on that. ...Sighhhhh.
So, I thought about how to make access to the middle of the back of the table easier, how to reduce the amount of running back and forth during a game, AND how to make the table slightly deeper than it is. Thinking about the 3'x3' Practical Wargaming layouts, a grid of at least 9 x 9 squares seemed like a good idea. For a brief while I contemplated chopping a bit off and adding on a strip at the back but luckily my brain woke up before I did any damage, and suggested laying out my 5" gridded cloth to see if 5" squares would give that extra row of squares and work with all of my gridded armies. Yes they will!
My current grid is 12 x 8 6" squares on a 4' deep x 6' wide surface with some of the squares being very hard to reach. The proposed plan will give me a 12 x 9 grid instead on a table 4' deep x 5' wide. (with a 3" border at the back for scenery as a backdrop)
Now to play some games to try it out.
I find that 6' x 6' is typically the smallest area on which I regularly play even though the table id 12' x 6'. For large battles, the entire table is utilized but rarely so in a remote game setting. What I noticed in the last 28mm Napoleonic battle, is that I had difficulty reaching over the buildings situated near the edge of the table and still maneuver troops in the center.
ReplyDeleteGood luck as your testing continues.
Reaching over things was a problem with a couple of my older, larger tables due to them being a little high and me somewhat less than high. I used to keep a foot stool handy to let me reach the middle!
DeleteBaggy wool sweaters in winter were another danger when reaching over troops to reach the middle......
I rarely ever had anything but a card table or a dining table to play on (none of which were even 4 feet wide). Or a floor (long ago in my youth - ha ha). Then again I never really played with many figures to a unit (and even started cutting back on that number). Of course, I'm also more prone to smaller affairs with only a half dozen or so to a side (maybe a dozen to a score at most). Not that I have played a lot of tabletop minis games. I guess I tend more to play vicariously?
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with any of that. I've played a number of enjoyable card table games, after my heart attack it was a huge relief to find that I could do so since the big table was too much for me, then again later when I had to turn my game room to a multi-purpose room for a year or so.
DeleteI have found the 5" grid is a nice compromise, although I still use 6" often enough. The added depth and breadth of the battlefield, even though it's but one row/column on my card table, makes for a bigger feeling game. Hopefully, it works out for you!
ReplyDeleteOne of the joys of having cloths with different grids is the ability to choose one to fit the game but I like my base table top to have my preferred one painted on for convenience.
DeleteMy permanent set up ( repurposed potting bench) is 37 by 20 inches. This is where I play 99% of my games and solo at that. I can get a grid on it ( drawn on felt cloths as follows- 12 by 5 smaller squares or 9 by 4 bigger squares. The bigger squares are four inches square and the smaller three inches square. The grids are used with 54mm , 40mm and 25/28mm.
ReplyDeleteFor bigger games when friends visit, and occasionally solo, l have the six by three dining room table.
That's the joy of being able to decide what kind of games you want to play and adapt them to what you have to work with.
DeleteIn theory, I have a 12 by 4 table. In practice, it tends to gradually accumulate various items in temporary storage...
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't think I've ever used more than 8' at a time - even on displays, 8' means I can't step back far enough to photograph them. If I'm doing Newhaven, then I can imagine using 12' for buildings, but again most actual scenarios don't use more than 5-6'.
Depth is another matter. Trying to do Featherstone or Grant scenarios that ask for a 5' wide table can be an issue!
The 12 ft Newhaven might be good for making B&W video stories (or series of shots) .... Just hang a foggy coloured curtain in between the table and whatever is in the back ground!
DeleteHopefully the 5 inch squares work out. Will you need to adjust your terrain?
ReplyDeleteSome of it, that's why I'm trying to finally decide after several years of testing grid sizes and shapes. For any size other than the chosen one, I'll have to use the cloth over hills solution.
DeleteHi ROSS- My Games Table is 11ft x 4ft...I have not gamed at all since 2020...so my table now serves as a work bench in my Shed. Years ago I did my gaming on a 6ft x 4ft piece of chipboard set up in my Study...this size worked very well for games like the Sudan in 1/72nd. I guess the size of table depends on the scale of the miniature figures being used and their numbers engaged in battle...I use to play 1960s Vietnam on a 'Card Table' (about 3' x 3') - this was good as the Australian Infantry Sections were in the order of 10 figures and the VC were one or two figures- the figures were 1/72nd. Anyway - hope this all helps you. Regards. KEV.
ReplyDeleteMy old table, before we moved here, was 6' x 10' but I was younger with more stamina! Now I'm looking for comfort as well as a certain look.
DeleteLooks good. I like that mat.
ReplyDeletepainted the terrain and grid on it as a one shot thing for a 1914 game at Huzzah! in 2018 but ever since its seen frequent use in various scales and periods, with or without using the grid which is subdued enough to be easily ignored. (It started life over a decade ago as a much larger painting drop cloth from Home Hardware, painted a splotchy green for use in the first game I ran at Huzzah. Value for money!)
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