"Designing a game table layout" Topic

This is the hardest part of playing Bolt Action, setting up a good table for a game. Too often I have won or lost easily because the arrangement of the terrain made the winning simple. What are some good guidelines to avoid an unbalanced table?

Tactics

Real world maps or Aerial photos (Google Earth). Limit LoS to roughly half maximum range (being a skirmish game it should be close to the objective, not the approach) with buildings, walls and trees.

What are some good guidelines to avoid an unbalanced table?

make each half of the table a mirror image of the other.

Ditto MajorB. I've used that many times. You can then add one unique feature to each side to break it up.

I agree with zoneofcontrol. Remember we are recreating something realistic so aerial photos can help too as suggested by Saber6. No battlefield should be balanced as war is never balanced. Set a table up and play 2 games alternating sides then both players were faced with the same conditions and each should have got a feel of it in totality. I divide the table into 1ft x 1ft sections and make sure there there is some kind of terrain in each a field a building rough ground and yes some open as it is also terrain. I try to keep the open ones separated by something else and it seems to work well.

Less is better in many cases.
Arrange cover such that units spend a single turn in the open. With -2 down in v2 you could stretch this a bit.
Provide gaps in linear obstacles generously.
Leave room for the physical space of your hand to reach in and move figures without disrupting terrain.
Stick to single or 2 story buildings only. No more than a few on a table.
It's best to avoid large linear obstacles that divide the table in 2. (Rivers)
WSIWYG when it comes to blocking LOS. If it's not modeled densely it can be seen through.

I'm terrible at BA, ignore these ideas.

The Rapid Fire scenario books have some great table layouts. The OOB is set up for companies and battalions but could easily be converted to platoons. Have a look at those.

One layout for 20 mm.

Sorry for my glib post above.

As mentioned by others using various terrain to break up both movement and lines of fire is wise. Most WWII weapons can fire the length of a skirmish-sized table. Things like a lazy curve or "S" in a road keeps players from plopping a AT Gun at one end and controlling the entire length. Mix in patches of light and heavy woods, this slows movement and again breaks up fire lanes. Hedges, bocage, walls and fences help compartmentalize rural fields. In an urban setting, more houses and backyards with a mix of high and low walls can help.

On another thread there is an unrelated discussion about scenarios. My reply there was to look at the Skirmish Campaigns series of scenario books. They have stuff for various time periods and geographic areas during WWII.
skirmishcampaigns.com

On their site they have a free downloads page with printable scenarios. This is a great way to see their stuff and try them out. At the very least, look at the maps to get some ideas.
link

I don't like the idea of tables breaking up line of sight such that AT guns or tanks cannot shoot the length. There should be at least a few shots but not clear all the way all the time. The reason is because BA and many other games have a points based system where you might be paying for range and those buys become inefficient such that people migrate away from inefficient buys. Various tanks and AT guns start to disappear.

BA and 28mm its not so much of a problem but when you drop down in scale and play something like FoW it matters.

I play in lots, and lots, and losts of terrain.