What size tables are you playing on?

[Millertime]

Hello all - new to the game and forums here.

I picked up the game and some minis a few weeks ago as a local game group here plays it regularly. They play 35 pt crews on 3'x3' boards. I see that the rules suggest "at least" a 3x3 board but the store's boards are actually 4x4 so they mark off 6" a side to give a 3x3.

I played my first game today and the board felt a bit small. It seems odd to me to mark off part of a board to reduce the size unless there is some imbalance caused by anything larger than 3x3. I've only played the one game so I was interested in opinions of those with more experience - is 3x3 what is balanced for the rules or is larger better?

[(TV)]

3' would be a bit small for 35ss. The rulebook says kind of has 3' as a grey zone but I feel it's best for 4'. 3' not the end of the world, though.

Regards,

TV

[TheOneWhoFell]

At my LGS, the tables are designed for Warhammer, so they are 4'x6'. We play 3'x3' for everything form 25-50 Soulstone games. If you have enough terrain on the table, it should still make it difficult to get to the other crew. We have two 4'x4' modular tables we use, but they seem to take forever for engagements to start.

It all depends on what you're looking for. 3'x3' makes the game go much faster. You're in combat faster as well. A 4'x4' table is going to seem longer due to the fact that you're moving for two turns with little interaction.

[Mentat_Canis]

4x4 would just be to hard for some crews out there and some strategies. Raspy and Ramos would not make it anywhere and it would make ratballs less usefull because of area to run around in.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

3'x3' is essential for a regular scrap, I wouldn't look at a larger board until 50ss and or brawl. Many of strategies or schemes require you to make it to otherwise of board it middle of the board and back. Given average movement is 4" for mist models that would take 6 full turns to pull those schemes and strategies off. Crews with act mob like Ramos and Raspy wouldn't be able to complete at all if board was bigger.

[Omenbringer]

I have used (and also recommend) 3' X 3' tables for all sizes of encounters (scraps and Brawls, up to 50 SS) for all the reasons listed above.

An easy way to adapt large tables at game stores is to purchase four 18" X 18" floor tiles. You can texture them easily (though most have a pretty convincing natural desert color already), are durable as hell, and are usually pretty cheap (I recommend the $0.98 per square foot ones from Daltile available at Home Depot, a box of 8 is $17.40 and provides enough for two tables).

Edited May 2, 2011 by Omenbringer

[CrouchingMoose]

When I started designing my table, I used 2" thick pink foam that I cut into 16 1'x1' squares so that I could texture them all similarly but could morph both the size and shape of my board to be what i wanted...(really looking forawrd to someone agreeing to play a game on the 1'x16' layout lol

[FearLord]

A larger board doesn't mean that it would take longer to engage, because the rules indicate you should adjust the size of deployment zones which means there will still be an equal distance between them.

That said, we've only been playing a month, but all of our games have been on 3'x3' boards (are resident terrain expert made boards specially for it!) and this has seemed the perfect size for these games (all 25 / 35 ss games). I've felt like we have the room to move around, without miles of board that feels like its not doing anything...

[emissary]

We play on 3x3 boards as well. We just take the red 18" sticks you get with GW games and make a square with 2 sticks on each sticks. We keep the 3x3 boards because if the scenarios, schemes, model move lengths and turn limits are balanced for that board it makes sense to keep it at that level.

[Soundwave]

We usually go with 3'x3', although you more or less need the entire 4'x6' table to spread out all the strategies, counters, stat cards and goddessknowswhat...

[Millertime]

Thanks for all the replies! It sounds like most agree the game balance is based on that board size.

Also I really like the idea of floor tiles

[K.blas]

4x4 with an added 6 inches to deployment, and loaded with forests, buildings, barricades, and rivers. Mucho terrain makes this game sooo much better IMHO.

[Murphy'sLawyer]

4x4 with an added 6 inches to deployment, and loaded with forests, buildings, barricades, and rivers. Mucho terrain makes this game sooo much better IMHO.

Now the board may look great but Ruth an extra 6" deployment you are starting with the same distance between you and your opponent as a standard 3x3 table, using standard deployments of course.

So aside from having an extra 6" to retreat into, and the extra flanking distances, what makes it better?

Keeping your opponent from gaining certain schemes that are terrain related may be more difficult, but much of the extra space seems like it is going to be used for placing your cards and books anyways.

[Korrova]

Our store's tables are primarily 40K boards, so are 4'x6'. An industrious customer providers number of 4'x4' pieces of cloth. On one side of these he covered a 3'x3' strain the center and spray painted the outer border. These can easily be folded and stored for the 40K and Fantasy players, while the 4'x4' side is good for the Warmachine population, and the Malifaux players make use of the 3'x3' sides.