Gaming table advice

[AstroCat]

Hi all ... working out building a dedicated gaming table in our house. Thinking 4x8 29" tall, I've checked all over the web and was looking for some advice.
I want it to be versatile, and comfortable.

Ideas:

1. 4x8 29" tall
2. Use a Dry erase white board as the top (with grid or without? )
3. I want to be able to use it with: Tact-tiles, and paper and cardboard tiles (such as the WOTC tiles or the .pdf printed out kinds)
4. Would be cool if you could put some kind of portable cover over the printed tiles, so you could draw over them too, if needed. Is that asking too much? I think they make wet erase ones, right?

I checked the Ultimate Gaming table but I'm leaning more towards dry erase than wet erase plus, lifting a 4x8 sheet of plexiglass to place things under is not that convenient.

But, with a dry erase top you can get the ability to write on the surface, if it has a grid that can be cool too, but you are locked in to 1" grid on the table surface.

Any ideas? This is a "fun" problem, but still a puzzle to figure out. I don't want to have the whole thing built only to figure out I did something wrong a week later.

Thanks!

 

[JDragon]

Well I agree with your thought on the dry erase vs wet. Dry is much cleaner.

Unless you plan on using the table for games other than D&D that have to have a grid size other than 1" I would do the grid.

I would look at adding space for book storage off the table top, but not going as far as the Ultimate Gaming table did.

Just afew quick thoughts for you.

JD

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Can someone dig up a link to the "Best Gaming Setup Evar!" thread for this man? I cannot search.

 

[SiderisAnon]

Gaming Tables

I have been looking to change the gaming setup for my group, mostly because the two tables we use have slowly become slightly different heights over the past few years. I found some interesting items shopping around.

Home Depot carries boards with a dry erase surface already on them. I believe the largest size was 2' by 4', but you could lay our four to get the 8' by 4'. These boards are about a quarter inch thinck, so they'd have to be attached to or set on another surface. (At the local Home Depot, they're over by the shelving.)

You can also buy whiteboard paint at some hobby shops. I've seen it in use for a training room at a company -- one whole wall painted with the stuff. It's great!

If you want wet erase, check your local hobby, craft, or cloth store for clear sheets of plastic you buy by the yard. I found some at a place called Hobby Lobby over with the sewing supplies that is as thick as a typical clear battle mat. They had it in several thicknesses. It comes a yard wide and as long as you want. (I don't actually know what sewing people do with it.)

I've been thinking of putting the clear plastic into a frame that would hold it tight so I could lay it over a laid out set of dungeon tiles and the write on the tiles as necessary. (Maybe a 4' x 4' section?) The problem is whether it's too unwieldy. Putting it on hinges on the table would be interesting, but then anyone on that side of the table has it opening up into their face.

Of course, the big thing with my gaming group is that the base tables have to fold up, so we can put them away. We don't have the space to leave them out all the time.

--SiderisAnon

 

[Lanefan]

Build a normal table, then put the whiteboard up on 6" blocks on said table, so you end up with two layers...one for the map, minis, etc., and another for papers, drinks, pens, etc. You'll need 5 blocks; one for each corner, and one for the middle...

Lanefan

 

[Len]

Evar.

Can someone dig up a link to the "Best Gaming Setup Evar!" thread for this man?

Here: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=122099

 

[Roadkill101]

When I bought my house, the previous owner left behind two 4'x8' sheets of white tile board. I acquired a fairly large table (used) for free along the way. I placed a sheet of said tile board on the table and using a red "Sharpie" laid out a 1/2" grid with a 1" border. Dry erase worked on the tile board, but bled into the grid and discoloured it, cleaning the board further faded and thickened the lines of the grid. And the board was a little too big for the table by overhaning 4" on the long sides and 8" on the short.
I started to make my own "mini's" by cutting up and then painting various sized wooden dowels to work with my scale.
In retrospect, It would have been better to plot out and mark only the vertices of the intersecting lines for the grid. And then lay a piece of plexiglass overtop the board to use the "erasable" markers on.
Unfortunately, the gaming table has been seldom used as it is in the library cum junk collection room. Most of my gaming doesn't occur at home so it's not a big problem. And I currently use flip mats since their easily portable and small. Eventually I'll get the room cleaned up and with a second board can implement my idea of using the plexiglass overlay. And trim the board down to the tables size.
I recommend using using a small scale grid to allow freedom scaling up or down by combing squares as desired. My personal preference is one square is one meter, thus a 10x10 (in feet) area is represented by 9 squares. 10 feet and 3 meters are almost the exact same size, with the metric area/length being slightly smaller by only a few inches. I prefer to use meter over yards when trying to convert a graphed dungeon to table top because the yards measurement is significantly smaller to convert to 10 feet (I prefer the older 10' per square scale, not the 5' per square).
To follow Lanefan's advice, I'd build the table with a higher than normal top and run a shelf under the edges for storage/drink capacity. This will avoid having to support a thinner white board surface in the middle, eliminateing potential warpage down the line. Better yet, instead of the shelf, make it like a coffe table with a full shelf under the bottom, but the top will still need to be higher than normal, and the lower shelf higher than that of a coffe table for seating purposes. And place the white board atop that.
Some further advice about the 4x8 size, its a pain in the posterior portions to reach the middle of the surface depending on ones position at the table (and height if standing is necessary, especially when using the double surfaces).

 

[KB9JMQ]

I built a 4x8 x 29" dry erase whiteboard table last year. It is great.
I then made a 40"x40"x8 platform to set in the middle of it.
The Tactiles go on the platform in the middle of the table for our minis.
Books, drinks, etc can go on the table. Everyone writes on the table all the time.
Everyone loves it. Had enough erase board left over to make an 8x10 sheet for tracking init.

I still want to add a couple of pull out drawers to the bottom of the main table to hold markers, pencils, erasers, etc.

I did not grid it so my 3 young boys can draw on it whenever I let them with no probliems.
Also if you want to use it for other games a grid can be distracting.

 

[AstroCat]

I built a 4x8 x 29" dry erase whiteboard table last year. It is great.
I then made a 40"x40"x8 platform to set in the middle of it.
The Tactiles go on the platform in the middle of the table for our minis.
Books, drinks, etc can go on the table. Everyone writes on the table all the time.
Everyone loves it. Had enough erase board left over to make an 8x10 sheet for tracking init.

I still want to add a couple of pull out drawers to the bottom of the main table to hold markers, pencils, erasers, etc.

I did not grid it so my 3 young boys can draw on it whenever I let them with no probliems.
Also if you want to use it for other games a grid can be distracting.

Yeah, I think I'm going to try doing this:

1. 4x8 29" tall
2. Dry erase surface with no grid (Going to use Tact-tiles, since scrolling is better than not, which kind of defeats the gridded table idea, plus grids are super expensive built in)
3. 3 pull out shelves on each side and maybe on ends if I can get to fit.

Surface:
http://www.white-boards-and-more.com/Best-Rite-2H2X-BS1030.html (Porcelain version)
or
http://www.white-boards-and-more.com/Best-Rite-218S-BS1340.html

Shelves:
http://www.kitchenshelves.com/basic_shelf.htm
to cover the shelves:
http://www.white-boards-and-more.com/Best-Rite-214X-BS1035.html
or with something that is wet-erase, not sure. I could see for sure bad marker mix ups if they are not both the same!

My question: how sturdy and durable is your whiteboard surface?
Does it scratch or get messed up easliy, is it spill proof?
Do you think I need the Porcelain surface?

Thanks for the help!!

 

[Shadowslayer]

Build a normal table, then put the whiteboard up on 6" blocks on said table, so you end up with two layers...one for the map, minis, etc., and another for papers, drinks, pens, etc. You'll need 5 blocks; one for each corner, and one for the middle...

Lanefan

I'll second that. I actually did this at one time when I was still at home, and it worked great. (mine didn't have whiteboard though...just a 2x3 piece of particle board with old couch legs screwed onto it) Everyone could just shove the stuff they weren't using under the "map table"

Great space saver.