Custom Counters - Making them or Having them Made

[The_Universe]

I'm busily working on some one-shots that I'll be running at Gen Con this year, and eventually some subsequent cons, and I'm trying to come up with a way to make customized counters with specific character portraits for the games. I want something sturdier than just an inch-square piece of cardstock, but I am not sure what else would be/could be available.

Does anyone have any experience making something like this, and/or having it made? How did you do it? Any relevant experience is greatly appreciated!

 

[Erywin]

Get a 1/8th or 1/4 inch sheet of wood. Cut out 1"x1" squares and clue the cardstock onto them. Would definately make them sturdier

 

[JustKim]

I use foamcore. I buy them in sheets about 20" by 30" for $5, and I believe you can get them half that size for $3. They cut easily with an Xacto knife. You can find them in art and office supply stores, usually along the wall in cubbies or shelves.

 

[bento]

I use comic backing boards, the thick acid-free kind. Just print the counters with my ink-jet printer, apply spray adhesive, stick the sheet to the backing board, and cut out when they dry.

Neither flimsy that they bend, nor too thick that they're hard to transport.

 

[The_Universe]

I use foamcore. I buy them in sheets about 20" by 30" for $5, and I believe you can get them half that size for $3. They cut easily with an Xacto knife. You can find them in art and office supply stores, usually along the wall in cubbies or shelves.

I think I'm going to go this route for my custom counters; however, I have not yet determined a reliable way to size them appropiately - is there any way besides trial and error to get the counters to print in approximately 1" circles or squares?

 

[Rothe]

I think I'm going to go this route for my custom counters; however, I have not yet determined a reliable way to size them appropiately - is there any way besides trial and error to get the counters to print in approximately 1" circles or squares?

Try going to the Avery label website. They have dozens of templates for their labels that you can use in MSWord, for example. You can search around or if you see a product in the store that works just jot down the product number and seach for that. Heck, you can even use the labels which is a lot easier than spray adhesive with no danger of bubbling.

 

[The_Universe]

Try going to the Avery label website. They have dozens of templates for their labels that you can use in MSWord, for example. You can search around or if you see a product in the store that works just jot down the product number and seach for that. Heck, you can even use the labels which is a lot easier than spray adhesive with no danger of bubbling.

Great advice! OL1025 seems to work pretty well!

 

[Kristian Serrano]

MS Word has a grid feature. Just set the grid to 1 inch and size accordingly. If you need small creatures, set the grid to .5 inches instead. Then set Word to snap to grid. I use this method when I print tokens from my copy of Counter Collection Gold Digital 2.0.

 

[Kris]

An idea I had a while back was to use plastic 1" game counters (call them tiddlywinks of you like )

Over here in the UK I could get a bag of 40 for £1 - though they are a little less than 1" ...22mm to be precise (on the site I'm looking at they also have 38mm ones too - which would be good for large monsters)

Then all you need do is print the monster/character images out and stick them to the counters.

I also came across some decal/transfer paper that works like water-slide transfers that you could possibly use rather than sticky paper (or normal paper and glue). However that's a little more expensive, and after you have printed the images on the special paper you also have to spray them with a sealer (so that the ink doesn't run when you immerse them in water).

I've used them for making custom insignia on miniatures (like a shoulder-pad or shield design) and it actually works quite well.

 

[francisca]

Print them out, get one of the 1" hole punches, punch 'em out, then glue to 1" fender washers, like these: http://www.amazon.com/FENDER-WASHER-Box-Qty-100/dp/B0006486TC

If you want to get fancy, you can then glue felt to the bottom.