"DH, Skirmish Campaigns and the Table" Topic

Bought the DH rules and associated books at Fall-In and plan to get some Skirmish Campaign books later. My main concern is the table I am about to build. I was planning on tiles or terrain boards but think I will be limited with the scenarios I use. So am leaning towards using a game mat type system since I think it will be more flixible for a lot of skirmish set ups…thoughts? Thanks.

Larry

Here's what we've done with some success: My brother and I have a conference table large enough to support a 4'x10' gaming area. We place 2" thick "blue-board" insulation boards over this to make the actual playing area. The boards are painted and flocked to give the appropriate appearance.

For flexibility we have 6 2'x2' foot boards that are just vanilla, flat boards. Then we have some 2x2 boards that have special features carved in – ravines, ponds, things like that.

We also have some 1x1' squares that have riverbeds carved into them.

We have a set of hills made of the same material and similarly flocked that can be set directly on top of these pieces.

Our trees have pins on the bottom and can be stuck right into the playing boards or hills.

We use home-made flexible roads (caulk on canvas, painted).

We also have some boards painted up to look like concrete or dirt which can be used to put buildings or industrial features on.

This approach allows us to have a flexible, generic table when we need it AND to build scenario specific terrain that can be integrated into the more generic pieces.

It's worked great for our group.

(I really need to get a copy of DH – I've heard great things about it and my group doesn't ALWAYS play our company's games!)

If you're building a dedicated game table, why not a sand table? That way, you don't have to carve new terrain when you want to change it. Just wet it down a little and rescupt, then spray with cheap spray paint for greens, browns, blues, etc. I built a small one (2-1/2' x 4') out of scrap wood – big enough for most things that I like to do (ancients, and 1/285th and 15mm WWII skirmish). The tricky part is getting the right sand. Use river sand from a nursery – play sand is too fine and dusty, while construction sand is too coarse and gravelly. My game group plays at a friends house and he has an 8' x 8' table in his attic. Trees stick in the sand, or can be place on top of it with the little bases – and again, you won't ruin your terrain by sticking a tree in it.

Sundance wrote:

If you're building a dedicated game table, why not a sand table?

Cats maybe? :)

I was interested in a sand table myself a while back, but was advised that they're heavy, messy and prone to smelling funny if not well maintained.

Larry, I have come back around to using a felt sheet somewhat larger than my playing surface, and putting foam under it for hills, gulleys, etc. That gives a good basic playing surface, and I use other mobile scenery bits (buildings, trees, etc.) for variety. I really like the flexibility and ease of transport and storage. You might experiment with other cloth if you don't like the felt. Some guys have had good luck painting, flocking and using latex caulk on felt. That'll be my next, experiment. Not such a commitment if it goes south on me!

I have seen some very nice foam tabletops, but they require a lot of storage space I simply don't have.

- Bob

Buy polystyrene sheets and have the store cut them into 2ft x 2ft squares. Paint them, flock them, and store them in stacks. Here's a link to my blog. A table with the squares is the five down. You can make them out. And it's a Disposable Heroes game.
link

A couple friends and I play DH primarily and we use different colored mats for desert (North Africa), fields (Europe) and jungle (Vietnam). I like the ease of storage and flexibility of changing fields of battle. We also have flocked hills, sandy hills and appropriate houses and trees (or palms). It works for us, our tables are different sizes 4 x 6, 5 x 5 and 4 x 8, depending on whose house it is and the scenario. It depends on the storage and investment you'd like to put into your table.

If you're building a dedicated game table, why not a sand table?

My opinion: if you value your miniatures and take pride in what you make and paint, don't use a sand table.

The dust gets into tank tracks and onto figure and building stands and generally dusts over beautiful paint work.
--
Tim

I play in the same gaming group as Sundance, and have been playing on that
sand table for nearly 6 years. I think I can allay most of your fears of sand.

Dust – the sand is not dusty because it is slightly moist, and is covered with a
fine coat of spray paint. When the table is resculpted, perhaps every 6-12
weeks, it is also remoistened (not soaked!) and repainted. By the way, the
painting is only heavy enough to color the sand, not give it a smooth coat.

Messy – only if you're inclined to dig in it with your fingers, or carelessly toss
a heavy tape measure across the sand.

Smelly – the sand on that table has been in continuous use for more than 20
years. It hasn't smelled yet!

Damage to painted figures – none to date, because we pick them up and set
them down rather than slide them to their new location. See also Dust, above.

Cats – He has two of them. He keeps the door to the game room closed.

Heavy – yes, it's heavy. "About" 10 lbs. per square foot, for each inch of
depth. That 8x8 table we play on probably holds more than 1000 lbs. of sand.
But you could lay down pieces of blue board where the hills are to go, and
sculpt the sand over them, saving a great deal of weight.

Two things to remember if building a sand table: it will need to be built
sturdily enough; and the interior surfaces of the table (bottom and sides)
will need to be caulked (just in case you over-moisten the sand) and painted.

The beauty of the sand table is the flexibility it allows you. The table is
literally never the same twice, even if you try! None of that problem of "I
know from last game that I can go hull-down and be safe in this creek bed"
because the creek bed is different this time around. Some scenic elements
can be sculpted directly into the sand, such as roads, trenches, hedgerows,
retaining walls, and bridge abutments. And a shell crater can be a dynamic
feature…

This is my (good) experience with a sand table. Your mileage may vary.

Perry

About a week ago, I asked about ideas for 'rubberizing' felt using acrylic latex caulk. War Artizan posted a link to a thread with a wonderful summary of a method he's used to 'perma-flock' cloth. He uses an interesting technique of a flat rubber play mat, covered with his flocked cloth. Batting is inserted under the mat, and the cloth pinned to avoid shifting, so you get that 'infinite variability' Perry described in a fold-up format.

Definitely worth a look:

TMP link

It meets all my criteria for portability and low/no mess. I think I'm going this route!

- Bob

Thanks for all the ideas guys. Not sure I want to do the sand table, maybe a hold over from making 20+ at Ft. Knox many years ago. Bob, I read that thread too and I think thats the way I will more than likely go too. Have some ideas I want to try out. I like the idea of makeing a really big mat with the ability to just shift it useing different parts of the terrain. And the ability to take it down and store it if I want to use the table underneath for something else and also make another cloth/mat for desert etc..