Battlegraph dry erase Boards!

[GuJiaXian]

Hum, I've always used a simple dry-erase mat for roleplaying. I've heard of tact-tiles (or whatever they're called), but I've never used them or any similar product. I own one set of Dungeon Tiles and, while I like the pre-printed ease, I hate trying to keep them lined up in actual play.

So, as a potentially interested customer, why (and I'm honestly curious here) would I want Battlegraph boards rather than a roll-up vinyl grid mat? Sales pitch aside (you've already got my attention), what are the honest reasons?

 

[B4cchus]

Hum, I've always used a simple dry-erase mat for roleplaying. I've heard of tact-tiles (or whatever they're called), but I've never used them or any similar product. I own one set of Dungeon Tiles and, while I like the pre-printed ease, I hate trying to keep them lined up in actual play.

So, as a potentially interested customer, why (and I'm honestly curious here) would I want Battlegraph boards rather than a roll-up vinyl grid mat? Sales pitch aside (you've already got my attention), what are the honest reasons?

I've been thinking about picking up a couple of sets myself but they aren't shure yet what the shipping costs to Europe will be...
Anyway, my main reason to pick these up is that I can carry them around more easily than a rolled up mat.
I also think that the dry erase is easier to clean than my wet erase mats.

I will probably keep using my mats along with these. They are also great for preparing stuff ahead of time with the bonus to reveal only one tile at a time (instead of covering up parts of my mat with blank paper)

finally, I have always wanted tact-tiles.. just for the heck of it

 

[Varianor Abroad]

The basing material looks like melamine.

Have you had any of these in use? How do they hold up to heavy lead minis or bog honkin dice getting "plunked", nay dropped from a height, down on them?

 

[GuJiaXian]

Is the base plastic? The photo of the base looks more like fine corkboard or something to me. If it is melamine, how slippery/slick are the tiles? Do they move around easily at all? (See my comment above about why I dislike Dungeon Tiles.)

 

[DragonBelow]

The basing material looks like melamine.

Have you had any of these in use? How do they hold up to heavy lead minis or bog honkin dice getting "plunked", nay dropped from a height, down on them?

I am not sure how often this happens, most people avoid rolling on top of the battlemat so they don't knock down the minis accidentally.

 

[knifie_sp00nie]

These look like they are made from "shower board". You can get it from home improvement stores pretty cheap. I've been using it as whiteboard material for a while. It works well and is quite durable. The surface is resistant to most incidental contact and usually takes some effort with a sharp tool to damage. I haven't noticed any problems with the edge fraying.

The Battle Graph seems to have solved the problem that kept everyone from making their own tiles from shower board. The stuff is insanely hard to cut or score precisely with tools a homeowner might have. It looks like these have been through a CNC mill with a small cutter.

Did I guess right? Either way, congratulations on the new product.

 

[JDragon]

Hum, I've always used a simple dry-erase mat for roleplaying. I've heard of tact-tiles (or whatever they're called), but I've never used them or any similar product. I own one set of Dungeon Tiles and, while I like the pre-printed ease, I hate trying to keep them lined up in actual play.

So, as a potentially interested customer, why (and I'm honestly curious here) would I want Battlegraph boards rather than a roll-up vinyl grid mat? Sales pitch aside (you've already got my attention), what are the honest reasons?

Well here is what I can tell you as a former vinyl mat user and full fledged Tac-Tile convert for over 6+ years. Which based on the website this product is very similar to.

I used vinyl mats for years playing both 2nd and 3rd ed D&D as well as other RPG's and was very happy with them, till I used my first set of Tac-Tiles. After the first night I used them running RttToEE I never looked back and quickly ordered a second set to put me at 24 tiles of goodness. I actually only used my vinyl mats once since getting my tiles, and that was for a Con game I was running where they allowed me to have another of my maps pre-drawn.

For me their are 2 big reasons I prefer Tac-Tiles over matts...

#1 adjustability - with a vinyl mat the size is static and never changes, how ever your dungeons and your table sizes can change regularly. With the tiles I don't worry about how big my map is going to be or how small of a table we are going to have access to, they will always adjust. I just pull out the # of tiles that I have room to put out and go to work. If we move to another part of the building / dungeon I pull the ones for the area we left and put fresh ones down and keep drawing. This way if the party goes back I just grab the tiles from before and drop them back on the table.

#2 - much cleaner - when we used vinyl mats I would always leave the game with color all over my hands from having accidently put them on some part of the map. With the Tac-Tiles using dry-erase this is drasticly reduced.

At this point the only thing I have that is better than my tac-tiles is my projector set up that projects the map on our table, but that only works when I'm playing at home and have maps ready, so the tac-tiles are always on standby.

Hope this helps.

JD

 

[Nebten]

Sadly, they won't come out until May, so we'll have to wait a couple months before we get proper reviews =v(.

But having Tact-tiles twice in the past, I am happy to see this product out on the market.

 

[GuJiaXian]

Well, I may have to preorder a few sets of these. I see that they're basically 11x11 tiles (plus the "extra" from the puzzle edges)...I'm wondering if two sets is enough. I still wonder about how "slick" the base is as well.

 

[Agamon]

Well, I may have to preorder a few sets of these. I see that they're basically 11x11 tiles (plus the "extra" from the puzzle edges)...I'm wondering if two sets is enough. I still wonder about how "slick" the base is as well.

I had 12 Tact-Tiles and I never used that many. Usually 4-6 at a time, sometimes 8, only once all 12 (and it was unnecessary). Some people use more from what I understand, I never did though.

This is good news. I can buy 15 sets of these for what I sold my Tact-Tiles for a few months ago.