D&D 4E 4e requires a battlemat, and I'm okay with it

[Stalker0]

Alright before the flames hit. I ran a playtest with the pregens and ran 9 encounters, so I at least have some experience with the system. While I recognize many are saying 4e can run fine without minis and a battlemat, I just don't see it. To me, there's so much tactical movement and forced movement and marking, etc, that you need a map to keep track of it all.

As a dm I don't use minis except for big combats traditionally. If I move to 4e I will likely use the map for each fight. And you know what....

I'm okay with that!!

Why?

Because so far, I'm getting a lot more than I'm losing. In exchange for having to take 5 minutes to set up a board, I'm getting combats that last 30%-50% longer in rounds with no increase in time spent. For the price of tactical movements I'm getting monsters that are very fun to run and very easy to set up encounters. For the price of having to watch my players count squares, I get to see them try all sorts of dramatic actions that are fast and fun to watch.

In short, I am paying a price with 4e, but that price is well spent if I continue to have the kind of experience I had during my playtest. So kudus to you WOTC. I'll buy your minis gladly if you keep giving me the kind of enjoyment 4e has so far offered me.

 

[I'm A Banana]

It is, I believe, exceptionally inaccurate to say that 4e requires a battlemat.

In fact, there is a thread on the subject here.

I mean, if you want to, good for you, but while 4e might love you for it, it won't hate you if you don't want to.

 

[Saishu_Heiki]

Welcome to the club. We have t-shirts

 

[TerraDave]

Having used a battlemat since the early 1990's, I am also OK with it.

 

[sunrisekid]

Since looking at the 4E rules I'm very interested in trying out a game using minis and a battlemap. If the combat rules are not as complicated as 3E I would be happy getting into minis and whatnot. My players have expressed interest in this as well.

Can anybody recommend a brand of battlemat that is nice to work with? My only experience was with some kind of wet-erase mat that was of poor quality: lots of streaking, not so good at erasing. Suggestions for battlemat brand or online store would be appreciated!

 

[WyzardWhately]

Considering the amount of effort or handwaving required to run the game without a map and minis, I'd also probably just use the damn battlemat. I prefer it, and the game is designed to run on it. So, sure, you CAN run it without the mat, but I'd rather not bother. It's sort of like saying you can run it without dice. Sure, they used paper chits back in the old days, but I'm just not feeling it.

 

[noffham]

Since looking at the 4E rules I'm very interested in trying out a game using minis and a battlemap. If the combat rules are not as complicated as 3E I would be happy getting into minis and whatnot. My players have expressed interest in this as well.

Can anybody recommend a brand of battlemat that is nice to work with? My only experience was with some kind of wet-erase mat that was of poor quality: lots of streaking, not so good at erasing. Suggestions for battlemat brand or online store would be appreciated!

The best bang for the buck has to be the flip-mats that Paizo sells. They can take just about any markers and in addition to the plain mats they have various specialized versions (wilderness, a sailing-ship, mountain pass, town square, an inn, etc.).

For more detailed set-ups, try any of Fat Dragon games tiles or 3-d card model sets. Print all you need, they look great and Tom of Fat Dragon is incredibly responsive to customer service and suggestions! www.fatdragongames.com

 

[WyzardWhately]

The best bang for the buck has to be the flip-mats that Paizo sells. They can take just about any markers and in addition to the plain mats they have various specialized versions (wilderness, a sailing-ship, mountain pass, town square, an inn, etc.).

For more detailed set-ups, try any of Fat Dragon games tiles or 3-d card model sets. Print all you need!

I'm a pretty big fan of the giant Chessex one, myself. Squares on one side, hexes on the other, you can write on it with some kinds of markers and then wipe them off. Good times.

 

[WhatGravitas]

The best bang for the buck has to be the flip-mats that Paizo sells. They can take just about any markers and in addition to the plain mats they have various specialized versions (wilderness, a sailing-ship, mountain pass, town square, an inn, etc.).

Seconded. These things incredibly useful: They can be folded to book-size, they're large enough for your average encounters, have useful backsides, and it's almost impossible to stain them. I need a second one soon.

For the topic: Agreement. I started (3E!) with freeform combat, because I didn't had a map back then. Then we used graph paper and paper chits for combat. Then I paused with playing D&D for a while... and now I'm playing with Flipmat and self-painted miniatures.

And as a miniatures lover (I even repaint DDMs, now), I can say: I'm really happy with battlemaps - I can show off my minis! Plus it makes my minis hobby a bit more productive than just painting them for painting's sake

Cheers, LT.

 

[enigma5915]

Battlemats and minis...have always been there.

I started using minis about 1985 and have been using them ever since. I started using battlemats about 1992. And Chessex is my brand of choice for battlemats with wet erase markers. They have a small, large and OMG sized mats. The OMG is 4' x 8' and yes, I love and have used it many times. And once I found out about dwarven forge dungeons...had to use those too. I grew up playing this game sitting on the floor using my imagination, with no minis and it was fun. Minis have only made the game better.

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