Where and on What do you Play?

[BlackMoria]

We play on a 8 x 4 sheet of plywood on carpentry frames. The plywood has a 8 x 4 whiteboard on it with permanent scribed 1" squares, making it in essence, a 8 x 4 ft battlemat for eraseable markers. Since it is tucked away in the corner of the finished basement, everything can be left on it between sessions, so no setup or tear down time each session.

 

[Arnwyn]

The plywood has a 8 x 4 whiteboard on it with permanent scribed 1" squares, making it in essence, a 8 x 4 ft battlemat for eraseable markers.

How did you inscribe the squares so that the squares are easily seen, but aren't overly noticeable when drawn upon?

One of my friends/players made us a 6 x 3 whiteboard to go on top of our table, but couldn't find a way to mark to board easily. He instead used dark blue painting tape cut fairly thin to create the squares - the problem is, even with thicker markers we have a somewhat difficult time seeing anything drawn on the board (like walls) since the tape creating the squares is still a bit too thick...

 

[BlackMoria]

I scored the whiteboard with a awl point (a razor knife might work but might be too thin a score line). Then I traced the score lines with black grease pencil and then buffed the board. It removes the grease pencil at surface level but leaves it in the score mark.

It takes some work to do the scoring and filling but the end result for me is fine black lines which everyone can see (our lighting is good).

Periodically, some portions of the lines may fade with use but the touch up with the grease pencil restores it like new.

I know someone who also uses a whiteboard and he marked it with fine point permanent black marker. Similar results but more touch up is required as even permanent marker is not that permanent when the board is constantly being wiped down.

Lighting is key though. With fine black lines, you can't have crappy lighting to see them