The first step in establishing a table is to determine what the ground will look like and where the future elements will need to be placed.
Warning: I am not a competitive player and only care about two things when gaming, having fun and creating a great story. Every thing I say comes from these two priorities.
But even before we get into this foundational work, I want to talk about the table itself. I know you must have watched many a Youtube video where the tables presented to you were nigh perfect, in both beauty and functionality. Also, accompanying most games introduction chapters is a suggested table size. This results in a hobbyist complex, much in the way pe0ple on the Internet always look richer, happier and more glamorous (or do they/?). What I want to say to you, is that whatever table you ahve to game is fine. I know this sounds weird coming from a guy who is about to share his path to building a gaming table for Barons War, but hear me out. Maybe you recall playing with toy soldiers as a child, on the floor of your room, or the attic, or in the yard (I date myself but a s a kid, I did not have a PC, or the Internet so wargames on the floor with toy soldiers were awesome – well, they still are except now my back and legs protest after too long a stint laying on the floor…). So, it is important to keep in mind that when you decide to play a game, and as long as you have a surface somehow matching what the game table size requirements are, you are fine. I am not suggesting playing Kings of War on a 2×2 table (unless you go 6mm), but frankly, the difference between 6×4 and 6×3 has always seemed minimal to me, So my first two recommendations in designing your game table are
1 – Pick a game that somewhat match the playing surface you have, or determine if you can reduce the miniatures scale to match your table. The second solution means buying more miniatures at a different scale so it may be counter productive.
2 – Accept that your gaming space may not be perfect size and that is ok.
So, now that we have set expectations, I will present my current table. I am very fortunate to have a game room where i can leave my miniatures and games without any risk but that of cats disturbing the peace. My room is overcrowded, cramped, narrow and poorly lit but my toys and I dwell in this room and I am aware and much appreciative of the blessing 🙂
The Table and the Matt
My gaming table is a Tabletopper first gen sitting on top of a 150 year old dining room table. The table topper is very sturdy and comes with rail accessories, which i never use due to the aforementioned narrow attribute of the room. The matt I use is the greenish one that came with the topper. I have several other ones but for this project, it will do as it is decent looking, unobtrusive and will not interfere with our content.
We have the ground, at least the flat part of it and we can start to populate it. A wargame without any terrain on the table is likely to be quite boring, save if you play Tron light cycles, which frankly is very niche. But before we throw terrain on the table, let me suggest you do the following: mark every foot on the edge of the table. I chose stickers but feel free to adopt your own method. Be thoughtful about your approach though. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR DEFACING THE FAMILY DINING TABLE OR ANY PRICY TABULAR SURFACE.
Why do put silly stickers to mark every foot around our gaming table? Well, that allows us to define a square grid that will receive our terrain. That gives us two important perks:
1 – We can ensure that no 1 foot by 1 foot area if devoid of terrain (especially important in skirmish games)
2 – If you draw a sketch of your table layout, that facilitates your recreating it for real on said table with your terrain.
I chose this matt as it is an unobtrusive canvas that will allow much modularity moving forward. Of course, many more beautiful matts exist but they tend to direct the narrative of your table and I feel that, for this project, they would be a more advanced topic best left to future chapters.
