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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2011938" data-attributes="member: 1129">Tact-Tiles is a mapping utility for role-playing games where miniatures are in use and some sense of scale is useful. These are dry-erase whiteboards with two sets of grids, a standard five-foot grid and a darker line with ten-inch lines marked out. The expanded kit includes 12 Tact-Tiles, a dry-erase marker, and a carrying carton. Also included are spacers of thin white foam. These are useful for keeping the tiles from being damage or from rubbing against one another and erasing your work. The carrying carton contains a separate pouch for the marker and I’ve already filled it with a variety of other dry-erase markers. The tiles are square with puzzle edges that can only be linked in one direction. This prevents you from creating a map with one image in mind and then assembling it incorrectly latter on. It also provides a great degree of stability. In the games I’ve played with the Tact-Tiles, I’ve yet to see one get accidentally dislodged. Those who’ve read my reviews know that I enjoy my miniatures and my props to use them. In this field, we have a few options. One of my oldest and least expensive favorites is my Crystal Caste double-sided vinyl map. One side of squares, the other hexes. It’s gotten a lot of use and it’s not that difficult to set up and with some wet towels, cleans up fairly easily. One thing that it can’t do is be modular. I can’t just pull out part of the map. Another thing is despite being easy to clean up, wet erase markers are often harder to find, come in fewer sizes and are more expensive. But still, having hexes on one side and squares on the other is a nice thing. It’s also fairly easy to store too if you buy one of those cylinder mailing containers from the post office. Another favorite of mine are the sets from Dwarven Forge. These are scale-sized models that are perfect for dungeons but have a few problems of their own. See, while they’re modular, they’re not capable of handling the great outdoors and unlike these tiles, take up a lot of space and piece per piece, probably cost something like five to ten times as much, depending on the Dwarven Forge set you’re purchasing. For me, it also takes up a lot of time in setting up the fields and then more time in putting them away. If you have a lot of sets like I do, you realize that many of the pieces are uniquely carved, giving them a great look, but making them impossible to just put in any old slot. Not saying that I couldn’t use the Tact-Tiles for some woods outside a dungeon that is composed of Dwarven Forge goods, but in and of themselves, they do one thing and they do it well, interiors. In game play, I’ve noticed a few things, which Thomas Belcher, the owner of BC Products, has already answered. The first of which, is that when the tiles are brand new, they have a ‘wax’ on them that causes dry-erase markers to bead on them briefly. It’s recommended to let the ink dry. Good advice and it works. I found that less than two minutes was needed in most cases. In terms of miniature use, I find that it’s still best to not treat the slick surface as a toy. You don’t want to say, flick the miniatures across the surface. First, this might scratch the surface of the tiles. Next, it might flip the miniature over as the tiles, while fairly smooth even when two tiles meet, does have an edge, which can cause the miniature to flip over. It’s something I saw for myself and since I’m the guy painting the miniatures, it quickly because the rule that it always was, of picking the miniatures up and showing me how your character is moving. You won’t have this problem with counters though. Much like with a vinyl matt, counters work perfectly on a smooth surface. I’ve always found it difficult to use counters with Dwarven Forge products but they fit perfectly here. For those on the go, the nice thing about the tiles is that unlike a standard vinyl map is that the titles don’t have to be spaced equally. This allows you to put the focus on where the action is heaviest on the map. Some dungeons have a lot going on in say the center or off the side where a labyrinth is. By this, I mean you can arrange the tiles to look like say a snake or a pear as opposed to just a square or a rectangle. To handle this ahead of time, you can number the tiles and then write out your tile plan and assemble them at the game. Now as I love maps and mapping tools, one thing I decided to do was bust out the Dungeon Stamps and see for myself, how they work on the Tact-Tiles. I went with the old Gothic Door set. First thing, let the stamp dry for a few seconds before applying it or it will bead up so much that all detail is lost. I stamped out about six doors with the one application of ink and only the last two really retained the shape enough while the others look like ink blobs. Giving it a moment or two, I busted out a tissue and tried to wipe it off. My advice? Don’t do it. Smeared all up and down the tile. I then broke out the Expo2 White Board Cleaner. That loses it up real nice but push it to one side of the board unless it’s a really absorbent towel, as it will continue to smear. The short version is that it can be cleaned off with no staining, but requires more work than just using standard dry erase markers. Now I have to wonder if the makers of Dungeon Stamps will offer alternative dry-erase ink for those who have Tact-Tiles. And speaking of dry-erase, when cleaning up, these things do so quickly. As others have noted, it can be a bit of a problem because if you’re like me and cursed with the clumsy gamer friends who lean on your map, you’ll quickly find that your forest and open road become merged into one quick blur of ink. I’ve had minimum damage to maps when transporting, but that’s only when I put the foam spacers between the tiles. I understand that the rubbing between the tiles is what erases the marks so the foam prevents that to a limited degree. For those who need variety in their utility and don’t want to bother with the wet towel clean up at the end of the game, Tact-Tiles are the way to go.</blockquote>

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