"Say, that's clever . . ." Topic

Years ago I happened across a table at Little Wars on which a SHAKO game was being played in 6mm. I could not help but notice the puffs of smoke coming from the numerous artillery batteries. One of the game umpires took Q-tips and cut off the cotton end of the swab and presto – instant artillery discharge.

I don't why I thought of that this afternoon, as I've just started an ancient period battle, but what it the most clever or rather clever wargaming application of an everyday household item you've seen?

One member of my club hosted an Old West game and she brought a bunch of little blobs cut out of red construction paper – when a model is killed, you don't remove it from the table, you just lay it over and put a "pool of blood" under it. I have stolen the idea for all of my games since then, and it always gets comments.

I've seen the cotton ball technique used for ship broadsides in "age of sail" type games, too.

Using basing to signify squads. So 1st gets grass all over the right side of the base. 2nd gets all over the left. 3rd gets all over the front. HQ all over the rear. Very subtle but you can instantly tell which squad a figure belongs to when you need to….

when a model is killed, you don't remove it from the table, you just lay it over and put a "pool of blood" under it.

Fun and satisfyingly like when I was little.

Snodipous, what is that "grass" made out of?

brilliant Snodipous.. I haved not seen that before, but have some thin foam that should do the trick..

It reminds me of the plastic army men D-Day landings I would do in my bathtub when I was a wee lad.

I'd put a little water in the tub, then lines far (dry) side with Germans from my Navarone set. I had three landing craft and some boats for the Americans.

Every time someone would "die" I would put a drop of Mom's red food coloring in.

It was a pretty shocking sight by mid-battle, which no doubt explains my mother's reaction when she came to check on me.

For the record, I wouldn't recommend food coloring on the tabletop. At least not unless you have a sand table.

Snodipous, what is that "grass" made out of?

You mean the stuff under the trees? It's textured / embossed felt I got at the craft store. I cut it out along the embossed lines to give it an irregular edge. It's a bit alien looking, which works fine for the Quar.

The use of tile spacers as hit markers, I use them all the time now.

Self adhesive black and red circles to represent bullet holes in clothes and actual wounds respectively, applied to the players in Wild West or skirmish games. Nothing like seeing 'holes' appear on your jacket to make your tabletop character duck for cover. No need for charts; the player himself is his character's chart!

Went down very well with my son's friends when I ran a Wild West game for his birthday party.

Red spots/stripes could also be used to portray stab wounds or cuts in a gladiator game.

That's a brilliant idea, arthur1815. And by colour coding the wound markers you could use it when running more than one figure. However, it does suggest the need for a new gaming room accessory: a full length mirror – which then begs the question: actual arm/leg, or reverse? As to the question of how to deal with amputee gamers… well, I leave that poser to greater minds.

Snodipous, that is really cool. So simple and easy.

A little self-indulgent, but this got a lot of interest when we played it at a con. The magic was refrigerator magnets.