"15mm Napoleonics table size" Topic

I am thinking of building a wargames table and im struggling to finalize the dimensions for the table. Would like to know what some of the members here have and get an idea of what army sizes are used on those tables.

Have only played 28mm games before so i have no space concept with 15mm…..i just feel im going overkill table size wise (6ft x 15ft)
The 6ft depth is what i would like but i think it could be a problem…..

The aim is is to field roughly 30 inf battalions and 7 regiments of cav per side

Depends on your unit sizes, rules and pockets.

Also, how many friends may come for tea, wine, beer, etc.

I have taken part in an 18th Century game of "King of the Battlefield" involving 18 players on a 25ft by 6ft table. There were about 10,000 15mm figures on table.

Huzzah!

(Cav counting as 2 bits)

Depends on the rule set scale. I have a 20 x 8 table, but play many different periods and scales. Also I don't always use the whole table , at the moment one end is over to bee keeping stuff! However it gives me the option to do Wagram in 15mm using Napoleons Battles.

Tally Ho!

I currently have a 6'x11' table and it is not always large enough for some of the larger battles we run (having flanks in a game is great). I have to move a support post in my basement to allow for a 6'x16' which is my goal. No big deal if you do not use all of it for a game. Also 6' wide is not a real issue for most (unless some of your players are vertically challenged).

Typically use a 6x5 (2 conference tables side by side) but can extend to 6x9 easily.

I figure using my Favorite rules (Age of Eagles) that a Corps need 2.5 to 3 feet of table space, basically the same amount that most players need :)

Quartre Bra fits on a 6x4 with no issues and Waterloo does as well.

We mainly play CnC Napoleonics on Hexon or some home grown rules in 15mm. Both fit comfortably on a 4x3 and we've done some pretty big battles (Albuera tonight).

Depends on your rules and ground scale really. I'm too old to be standing up and bending over some huge table.

My 15mm table is 11 feet 6 x 6 feet 7 inch wide, I can reach middle with that.

At least for ACW we use a 12 X 6 table

I've had a 15x6 table for 35 years and it has served me well. I've had lots of 15mm games using 12 ft.. The other 3 ft makes for a nice launching area for figures, casualties,ref's rules etc. It's harder to expand a table than to use a portion of the existing table. My 2 cents…

I would recommend you consider table height along with other dimensions. 6 feet wide and as many feet long as you can afford the space for would be a good size. Depending on your and other players reach, adjust the height. The lower the table, the easier to reach the center (within what you will consider reasonable). Just food for thought. Good luck and have fun gaming!

Battalions and regiments aren't useful unless you tell us frontages, StevenM. Let me toss out a few rules of thumb:
1. don't park your wargamers closer together than 3' per wargamer.
2. A table should be at least 8 maneuver units wide.
3. Artillery fire--at least serious fire--should have a range of no more than half table depth.
4. Unless you're really partial to the 1916 Western front, there should not be enough troops in an army to stretch from one end of the board to the other twice. What you think of as a regular army should deploy to cover between 3/4 and 1 1/2 table width.

So for your 15' wide table, your 30 infantry battalions should be somewhere around 6" each formed in line--between 4" and 9" say. As the battalions are smaller, you can get by with a smaller table. And if artillery fire beyond 36" is severe enough to keep you from maneuvering in column--well, I'd look hard at the rules and ranges, because beyond a 6' depth, it gets hard to fight in the center of the table.

Hope this helps.

If you use Snappy Nappy, a 6×4 table scales at 6×4 miles! I have comfortably gamed Ligny on a table that size.

5' wide (despite all those above having 6') will be better for a lot of gamers – I can reach past the half-way point of a 6' table but I'm a bit taller than 6'. Also, a shorter reach will be easier on your figures all the way around. And never lose sight of space for people – I would err on giving more room to people versus less room for the table. You want your guests to enjoy playing at your place – hopefully. As others above have said, keep the length as long as you can afford space wise, easy to 'curtain' off any length not needed for a game – or divide two different games so you can be ready with one game while playing another.

Like Snappy Nappy, DBN will very comfortably fit on a 6'x 4' table with plenty of room for elbows, dice, etc around the gaming area. Borodino, Auestadt, Waterloo, etc. all fit nicely. Leipzig is the only monster scenario that calls for a larger L-shaped table than that to handle (8.5' x 8' on the long sides; 4.5' & 5' on the short ends).

I suspect that you will find that a 5' wide table is quite adequate for the majority of games that you play, so I'm not sure that visions of gaming Wagram and Leipzig should dictate that every game you play must be on a 6' wide table.. I struggle with a 6' wide table because of torn tendons in my shoulders and must folk don't seem to be entirely comfortable with a table of that width. My solution is to have two tables. Each is 5'x 6', so the vast majority of our gaming can be done on a 5' wide space, but we have the option of reconfiguring the tables to create a 6' wide space. If you have the room, you could have three such tables.

Good luck.

I have a 6'x9' set up but often use 6'x6' for average games.

We regularly play Napoleons Battles with 15mm figures. Table sizes range from 4 x4 to 10 x 6, depending on the battle. Of course, in Naps Battles a battalion is a base of 4 figures grouped with. 2 to 6 others to make a "brigade". Your choice of rules will determine what size is appropriate for you.

You need space. Otherwise the whole thing loses a lot. Start out of artillry range , 1200m, have at leadt a couple of km rear, to manouever and not look ridiculous reaching the end of the world after a cavalry unit has run. Another coupke on flanks…Then between 510000 men density per km of front.
In 28mm nearly impossible unless your units are brigades…

My table is 6' x 14'.
Its the third table I have built over the years. Whenever I move I have to rebuild a table to the size that will fit in the war room and leave room for bubba's to sit/walk around it.

My advice is go as long as you can for the room and as wide as you can and still be able to reach the middle.

I play many different periods/scales.
Its easy to use a portion of the table for a small game.
Its not so easy to play a large game on a table that's too small.

In my table above that is the set up of Gettysburg for my Napoleonic armies. I did day 2 but that picture shows Pickett's Charge. The Confederate (Russian) did fire some rounds from ridge to ridge and only heavy artillery will reach. So it's nice to have a table you can get out of artillery range.

Thanks eveyone for replying and making some great suggestions. I think just getting feedback on your experiences has helped me immensely work out what size to go for. I will be starting in a weeks time and i have opted for AussieAndys suggestion (thanks mate). Making 3 tables, each 6x5ft. Able to be joined with the option of rotating them to get a 5 or 6ft depth depending on the game. That i think would cover all the suggetions everyone made here……again a warm thanx to all here.

Glad to help. I hope that it works well for you.