"Gaming with marked out tables" Topic

We had a good old chat about how we mark out our tables.

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These are the results.
Lined cloths = 47%
Spots or other markings= 34%
Mobile markers= 18%

Of course this only relates to tables which are marked out.

Here are some pictures of an ancients game in progress with dots used for marking the zones.
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I am posting this so that players might be encouraged to play marked out table games. I have gotten a lot of enjoyment from publishing such games since 1998.
Marked out games are becoming more common with players I think since those early days?

martin

'marked out' tables ? Explain please. Does it mean playing on a map or drawn terrain ?

Sorry I should clarify.

By "marked out" I mean tables with markings on them to share it into "areas".

The areas might be rectangles, squares, notional zones ( e.g third of the table width, hexagons, strips or circles. Some tesselate and some don't.

Most typically it might be a table divided into squares.
These squares might be marked by a full grid of lines, points at corners or using temporary game markers.

Hope that helps.

martin

OK, the terms you used make more sense now I know what you mean, just couldn't get there from the original post.

I use single identical trees to mark out the intersections of a 9 section grid on the table without lines. This allows for the use of the Adjutant Introuvable AI solo system.

I have used hexon terrain for 15 years. I don't even notice them when l look across the board.

Joe

Got it. Pretty hard to spot until you are looking. How do you and the other players (especially newbies) find your system?

WRT hexes I like that. I have an old cloth (40+ years?) with 2" iron on hexes (RAFM). Using it I find by the time I add even a single building (I game in 6mm) there is little to no room for bases of troops on the same hex. So I have some 3" hexes as well as a game board blown up to 3". I will give that size a go.

I like defined terrain as an old opponent was a rules lawyer supreme so having defined board was a welcome relief. I played a game at Hot Lead years ago which the referee had large irregular rectangles marked on. As the approached the centre of the game area the size of the rectangles shrunk to about 1/4 or less of the ends. This both slowed you down as you got near the centre (they also regulated movement) as well as firing ranges.

I find that games that use hexes or squares are much more fun. It makes measuring super easy and you get right into the game. That's one reason I love To the Strongest.

Informative and relevant. Thanks for a great conversation so far.

martin

Here is mine:

Wolfhag

Our club has several game mats marked in squares. Generally we only mark the corners in a complementary color – green or brown. We also have a hex mat I made by marking just the centers. Takes a tad of getting used to but once you "get it" the hexes are obvious.

Squares and hexes certainly speed up measuring, but can create other problems. Flanks and bends in a line, for example, can get very problematic.

I still prefer my tape measures.

Always good to see pictures Steve.
Thank you.

I agree mark that there are plusses and minuses.

martin

I thought marked out meant that poor Mark was banned from the club, poor guy.

Mark gets away with it this time.
Any more double sixes will certainly need a review of the situation though.

martin

I use a range of options for grids. Lines, dots or Crosses drawn onto cloth, the mighty Hexon, and sometimes bits of scatter terrain placed to mark corners. The latter can look really good, but takes a while to set out on a big table.

Stephen,

I just convert whatever rules I am using to hexes. For example, in SAGA short is 4 inches, medium is 6 and long is eight. So I count each hex as 2 inches.

Hope that helps.

Joe

The inch to hex conversion is a good idea Joe.

martin