"What Lives on Your Side Table?" Topic

A photo from a Napoleonic 'Valour & Fortitude' game got me wondering how other gamers organize their "command post" away from the battlefield.

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On my side table you'll find things like:

Dice and dice trays
Casualty figures and removed units
Event cards
Scenario notes
Quick-reference sheets
Tokens and markers
Rulebooks
Tea/coffee (at a safe distance from the troops!)
NB NO towels or wine fridges.

Some gamers like everything neatly compartmentalized. Others seem to operate from a glorious sea of paper, dice and miniatures.

How much table space do your games require beyond the actual battlefield?

Do you use a dedicated side table, TV trays, storage boxes, tackle organizers, card stands, tablet computers, or some other system?

And what single accessory has made managing your games easier?

All these things--pretty much--depend on the rules played and where we're playing them. Most commonly rules & scenario, measuring devices, status markers, randomizers and casualties.

As for where, for years my regular opponent had an eye problem which made it difficult to shift focal distance, so it was very common to play the game on a card table to spare him headaches and use his 5x9 ping-pong table as the "side table." At home often I'll play on a 4x6 and use the (four seat) dining table, or set up a 2x4 folding table.

Off my 8x4 gaming table, I have a 2x4 floating side table on wheels with height adjustment. The side table is either used for more gaming space or to hold all the things you mentioned.

In addition, I have a 2x2 floating side table (wheels only – fits under gaming table when not in use) for dice, tape measure, and sometimes rules or reference sheets.

Looks pretty familiar! Side table holds extra minis not on the table -- reinforcements and casualties; markers; rules and QRS sheets for players, dice and so on. And no drinks on the game table!

My side tables are the tops of bookcases to try and minimize
the assorted "stuff" and impedimenta of gaming like QRS, dice death caos and "dead" figures. It doesn't work.

Don't have a side table. Everything is on my 8 x 5 table.

My side table looks like yours, Ochoin.

We use side tables for reinforcements that did not start the game on the game table.

Grelber

It does make me wonder whether our hobby has become more table-hungry over time. A lot of older rules seemed to require little beyond figures, terrain, tape measure and dice.

Are modern miniature games becoming more dependent on "stuff", or am I just looking back at the past through rose-coloured spectacles?

I think games are more table hungry as we try to make them mdo more. If your rules (guilty) can have a unit go low on ammo, then you need some way to show that (marker of some kind). And, of course, you need a QRS so you can see what effects movement, fire, etc.

And if we didn't have too much already…

Reinforcements seem to be a common use for side tables.

Does anyone actually use hidden side-table areas for fog-of-war? Ambush forces, concealed movement, off-table reserves, that sort of thing?

Some of my most enjoyable games have involved troops sitting on a side table waiting for the right moment to appear. But as my opponents can see what off-table forces are waiting, this blunts the effect somewhat.

Depends on the size and format but for a typical f2f game I have a small sidetable with all the usual gubbins, game markers, rules, reinforcements, casualties etc. For a big game I have on for each side.

I try keep clutter off the table and strictly no food or drinks on the table.

Remote games néed a bit more organising as I have to manage the cameras and keep all the required bits in easy reach while making sure the players can see what is going on.

"On the side table" is not the same thing as "out of their boxes" ochoin. And the boxes need not be correctly labeled--or even contain troops.

RP, I have no idea what you mean by "out of their boxes". What boxes are these?

One thing not mentioned so far is that every item on the side table is one more thing to clear away after the battle.

In real life, peasants were often dragooned into disposing of the dead after a battle.

Sadly, after a wargame there is no equivalent labour force available to deal with casualties, markers, QRS sheets, dice, event cards, notes and assorted gaming debris.

One of my least favourite parts of any game is looking at the side table afterwards and realising that every single item on it now has to be put away by me…

Pretty much like that

1. All figures live in boxes for transport to the game room--or for away games. You game only in your own residence, and store troops only in the game room?
2. I would not be the first wargamer to place an empty or mislabelled box marked "FRENCH IMPERIAL GUARD" on the side table leaving the Allied player in anticipation of their arrival.
3. Only fair to have the locals bury the bodies once they're done looting the dead and wounded.
4. Actually, I tend to enjoy "recovery phase"--sorting things out and putting them back in order, repairing any damaged troops and terrain and setting aside the worst-looking unit for a little touch-up painting. It provides a feeling of accomplishment--not altogether justified, but such is life.

RP – I understand.

My set-up:
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Apart from Show games – we nearly always game here. My figures live in large, plastic containers.

A small, collapsible table, covered, would suit me for hidden reserves.

Nicely done, Ochoin! I'll be moving again--much against my inclination--before the year is out, and I'll have to remember your set-up. Hmmph. I would have regarded your "containers" as a species of "box" but the transparent sides poses difficulties in deception. And of course with the troops always in the room, placing them on a side table woud be unnecessary.

Picture me arriving at my friend's with a card table and a stout canvas bag containing ground cloth, troops, terrain rulers, dice and what have you.

Thank you, RP. Not as good as a "Games Room' but it's OK.

The transparency of the containers is obviously a problem but it's more that they're large and contain lots of troops. I bring them out & organise them into units for ease of use.

My figures are mostly stored in Sterilte 3 drawer containers.
I usually set up a heavier duty card table (32"x32" I think it is) and stack the figures and most of the stuff the OP lists on it for all players to use.

My side table (when I get one) is usually just for staging things that are not actively in the game – unused miniatures, reinforcements, casualties, markers, extra bits and detritus not currently in use but maybe needed.

The dice and cheat sheets and measuring devices wind up all over the game table, whether I want them to or not.

I have a minor preference for two 4'x2' side tables (one per side), because I can make a very thematic staging areas by using a historic 5'x3' flag of each force as a table cloth. I haven't done that in a while, but I do have a lot of 3'x5' flags, just in case…

At the FLGS or conventions, I often don't get a side table. I recently bought myself a little 36"x16" folding camping table to try and solve this problem. It's just a little bit too much work to set up, and I wish it were about 3"-4" wider, but it's small enough to fit be useful at a venue where they couldn't spare spare space for a whole extra table, and super compact when it's folded up (about 12"x16"x4"). It stacks nicely with all the boxes of miniatures and markers and stuff, so it's easy to pack, and it's been pretty useful so far. I let the return period expire, so I guess I like it enough to keep it.

Used an 8x4 game table with a rack of four TV trays for side use.