"Table size, what's too big?" Topic

What size table do you like. Setting aside space considerations.

I am fortunate enough to have a large basement all to myself. Right now I have a 5x8 foot table. I could go larger.

I am considering moving to 6*10, that would allow me to build 2x2 terrain boards.

Do you think reaching across a 6 foot table is too much?

Xin

6' is about the limit of sensible.

I have played games on an 8' by 8' table and it was a struggle to reach the middle, 6' by 10' as long as it is easy enough to get round the sides would be fine IMO

I think 6ft. is about the limit of an easy reach without knocking figures and terrain over. Really, 5 x 8 is about the perfect size, only other option would be a Ping Pong table, which would be 5 x 9.

I agree 6' is about as wide as you can get and still reach the middle and even then it can be difficult. I had a 6X9 at one time but ended up cutting it down to a 5X8 which is a nice size.

6' is fine as long as you don't make it too high to lean over to reach to the middle.

You may want to consider adding side rails (1"x4"s) to the sides rising above the edges, like a sand table, to protect anything near the edge when people do lean over to reach to the middle.

I'll also cast a vote for 6' as a maximum. Also, don't forget to allow for enough room between walls and the table. 18" would be a bare minimum.

Too big…

I'm a war gamer.. what is too big, it's like what is too many figures.

But

Having a more than six foot wide table leaves you with the risk you might not be able to reach parts of the table, especially if you have high terrain.

However having floating boards that can be placed next to the table to allow retreats and flank and rear attacks creates a good compromise.

I had the luxury of playing on a 28x6 the other week at a wargames event in Scarborough… it was packed with slow moving 28mm figures locked in ancients combat… Roman civil war.

With the two thousand figures a side, it meant we had plenty of space for cavalry and light troops as allies to play on the side…

It also depends on the type of game. If you are playing a game that has a set number of turns, you don't want to spend the majority of the game moving your units in to contact only to have a couple of turns left to play.

I would say that 6*4, 5*8, 6*8, would be about the largest size I would go.

We used to play 1/35 armor outside in a sandbank…
-Kle.

For Funny Little Wars around 20 feet by 40 feet is a good size…

I've a 9 x 5 table and I find it comfortable to reach the middle – the extra foot over a 4 foot table gives you deployment space.

Mike

I've got a 16x5 table (I primarily game 28mm wwii, colonials and acw) and find it's the perfect size :)

I'll submit a formula… max width of table = 75 feet/Dg where Dg = diameter of gamer :)

6' max. 5' is a more comfortable reach.

A maximum width of 5ft. Anything wider, I can't reach to the middle!

Back to the OP, the size of table I actually like these days is one I can sit down at to play. 3x4 or smaller is perfect.

If you don't mind standing up and leaning over a big table, then use a bigger one. Actually hearing the crack as my back went as I did that a few years ago rather put me off.

For a games room some sort of modular system is ideal. Side tables in particular are invaluable, both to put stuff on and also to use as part of the game.

6 foot is max for me – have done longer tables, but you need to be able to reach the middle

Do what some fellows have done if you've got the space. 5 foot wide table down the middle and then along each side of the room a two foot table.

Troops deploy on the two foot sections and then move into the 5 foot section in the middle. Gamers sit/stand in the open space between. There is no movement penalty to cross the gap.

I think a 5x8 or 5x12 (if your room is big enough) with floating sections that can be moved about to accomodate flank moves or non-typical terrain layouts or someone being pushed off the edge of the world is the best solution.

Six foot width is max for me too. I can just barely reach over half of the table width on a six foot table.

In my 40 years of gaming experience i have found 5' wide would be the biggest you would want to go. I'm 6'3" tall with long arms and 6' wide tables are a real pain to play on. LoS is almost imposable to workout,minis buildings and trees close to the edge get knock over and off the table, you end up running all around the table to move troops and check LoS, its just one problem after the other. I know the terrain boards will work out to 1.6666 feet but that is a small price to pay for a easier table to play on.

I just built a 6x10 table in my basement. Six feet seems to be the width limit in order for me and my 5'4 frame to reach across the table to the center. A friend of mine built a wider table and it is impossible to reach the middle of the table. If you have the room, a 6x10 is good. It also helps that at most conventions I run games at, the standard size table is 6x10.

Phil

I forgot to mention that my table is modular. It consists of 4 3x5 tables bolted together. I use bookcases as legs.

Phil

If you cannot reach the middle of the table from one of the long sides, the table is too wide. I would think that 6' is about the limit.

Wen you can't reach the middle the table is too big

I have a 6 x 12 foot table. No issues with reaching the middle or knocking terrain over. I am 5'9"

I agree with 45thdiv. I'm 6'2" and used to frequent a gaming clb that almost exclusively played on 8x6 or 12x6 tables(on 2 occasion we played on 24x6. all made up of 4x6 tables pushed together) i never had any troubles reaching to just past the middle of the table. that said i would not go more then 6 feet.

My table is 5x15. I find that 5 foot across is very comfortable to play on without any great stretching effort.
You also have to keep in mind, not only your reach, but the reach of the people who will be gaming with you. Will they feel comfortable with the reach? My table consists of six three and a half foot by five foot metal folding tables but put together, they amount to 5x15. Because of the 5 foot width, there is no leaning on the tables and they are still as good as when I purchased them 10 years ago. We can either stand up and play or pull up a chair and sit and play if you should get tired of standing. I find that the 6 foot wide only amounts to extra time moving the figures into combat anyway. Five foot seems to save some time to the game. Anyway, that's the way we do it. Others have good reasons for doing it the way they like it also, as stated in the above comments.

IMHO, 5' width is about my limit. I'm not a tall guy and you have to figure that just reaching is not really enough. You also have to reach with both hands to measure, move, arrange, etc. Just like weapons have "range" and "effective range" we've got "reach" and "effective reach."

My table is seven feet wide and sixteen feet long, with a side table one meter between tables and the side table is thirty inches deep and twelve feet long. The side table is used for river crossings of major rivers or "off board" airfields or artillery.

My table is in the garage and can be left up all the time. I used small step stools to help people reach the center and bar stools for those who want to sit near the table. The table is forty inches off the floor, counter top height to avoid back pain from bending over all day.

I have mats on the floor for feet comfort and wire mesh on the ceiling to hang the aircraft from so they fly over the table. Randy from Fidelis Models and Count Natokina built it for me 20 years ago. Solid as a rock, I can walk on it without any movement. Vehicle storage underneath.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

My table is 5.5' x 14'
I find that its perfect. Shorter guys sometimes have issues.

The height of the table really affects your ability to reach across it. … Also, some bellys occasionally get in the way.

So lower=wider and taller=thinner table tops.

I am 5'10", my table is 5' wide, but it is also higher than usual, it is 40" tall. This works well for me because of a service related back injury, bending over a "normal" height (30") table is painful. I can still reach the center without issue. Another benefit I like about a higher table height is that your visual point is closer to the table level giving a less board game look to it and line of sight becomes more appearant.

5' wide really isn't wide enough I don't think. I prefer a 6' wide table with whatever limit of length you need to play a game.

You can play on 5' or smaller tables you just have to be creative about how you do it.

That being said there are quite a few games that could be played on 4' wide tables even. Most ancient Greek on Greek clashes could be played on one no problem.

I play on a table that is 6 feet across and 16 feet long…..works for me.
My friend has a table that is about 8 feet long and about 5 1/2 foot across….that's nice too.

I use 5x3 feet as the biggest that will allow the players to remain seated and get troops onto the other player's half. I also allow some space on the table edge in order to keep clutter off the gaming area and stop those trees being at the board edge. It is probably true to say that bigger figures probably need bigger tables on a sort of pro-rata basis. Do more modern games need more space per figure due to modern tactics?
A typical PP game such as "Longships" uses 260 figures, both sides combined. Thus 150cm by 90cm =13500 cm divided by 260 figures= 52square cm per figures. I have played 4th Edition WRG ancients with armies of about 240 both combined. On a 180 x 120cm= 90 cm square per 25mm figure. Times this by .36 (to make 15mm ground area) =32.4 per figure. Would be an interesting set of figures to see how much space rules need per figure?
martin

I use a ping pong table. 9 x 5 foldable and sturdy if you add a couple of supports underneath the middle.

You can also put all the plastic trays that you are using underneath. Great for guys who can't have a permanent table. A series of plastic folding tables also work well but they seem to low.

I have two 6x6 tables that I usually have set up as a single 12x6 and also a 5x9 table tennis table. I am not tall and find that six feet of width is OK. If I have to lean further than three feet I go around the other side.

My current table is 4'x8'. That's big enough for me just now. But I have thought I might wish to add 4' of length to it for 4'x12'.

I think 6' is the max you can go.
To CorSecs point the more rotund gamer may have issues reaching the middle without "overhang" smushing my terrain or figures.

I find anything more than 5' uncomfortable to reach across. It's likely that some combat will be in the centre of your table and if you are at the limit of your reach it's hard to be careful with figures and to move them precisely.

6 x 12 Feet is the minimum for me – if you're going to do it, do it properly!

Having run tournaments, for both historical and GAmes Workshop, I would say anything over 5 foot is very tricky, you end playing in your opponents side or learning over like a snooker player, however I do normally play on a 6 foot deep table. I have played on 7 foot deep!,

I did used to have my boards on 2 and half foot squares fighting over a 10 x 5 it seemed very good.

I used to hang out with the UBC Wargamers who had a good number of very sturdy tables around 6X6 feet each, if memory serves. The cool thing was that you could shove the tables together so that you could have a really big "table" that was sturdy enough to (gingerly) walk on if you needed to reach the middle of the playing surface!

29 by 6

Looking at Nasville's game, it looks like the perfect type of game for a 6ft wide playing surface: flat, with large model ships instead of battalion after battalion of close-order troops on rolling or hilly terrain. Plus, the extra depth really is needed for this type of game. I'm more in Martin R's camp these days. Give me a table no more than 4'x6' for a 2-6 player game in 15mm, or even 3'x5' for 10mm.

Sparker, I'm not surprised that you prefer gaming in the "Grand Manner", but aren't you rather taller than average?

Surely it depends on the size of the figures you're likely to be using. If you play with nothing larger than 15mm, a six by four should be more than adequate. If you play divisional and larger games with 28mm, then you need to upscale the table accordingly, but six feet seems to have been, for as long as I can recall, the consensus maximum figure for table width.

Sparker, I'm not surprised that you prefer gaming in the "Grand Manner", but aren't you rather taller than average?

Gosh – how did you know that? Is there some other aspect of modern IT that has passed me by that you can know tell the height of a forum member?

But actually I have had plenty of vertically challenged mates around to play on a 6 foot wide table with no issues…

8' x 5' is great for 10mm.

I'm 6'0 and find a 6' wide table a little too wide.

Sorry Sparker, I'm not IT savvy, it's just that I remember seeing a picture of you and your mates at the Donald Featherstone memorial game night. If I remember rightly, you were the tallest member of your group.

As for 6' tables, that one's a stretch (I'm 5'10"), but I prefer shallower tables myself. Of course, I don't have the opportunity to play large games like the Black Powder affairs your group arranges. They do look like fun!

Cheers

The table at our club is 12x6. My games run on a 6x4, like most other people's. We can run three games at once usually, but we have played Command Decision games on it with the full 12x6, reaching over the table is obviously impossible, but you can always move around the table to finish the move. Never had a problem, but I would think 6 is realistically the max you would want width wise. Length would be based on whatever you play.

Have a friend with a 7' x 13' table and that extra width is a gigantic pain. As a courtesy to all potential gamers, I think limiting tables to 5' wide is a very good idea, length can be as long as you have room for. Although a 6' table for a larger ship game isn't too bad. But I'd stick with 5' width. If I had the space, I'd go wider but use a rolling table about one or two feet wide that pulls away from the core center table once all troops are off the rolling tables. Alas, I don't have that much room so I've got a 5' x 12' (with up to 16' option). Thinking to reduce that to 4' width for better aisles space since that is tight. I game in 15 mm so a 4' width isn't all that bad – and gets to the action sooner!