One of this year’s gaming plans is to play games in a small space, one even smaller than the permanent set up ( former potting bench) l have used for years. The first part this morning was to remove the “in progress “ bits n bobs off a tray that had been a wedding present. Here it is cleaned and ready-
It is a tad battered and bruised and has seen better times but it is solid and fit for purpose. The ruler is for scale. The playing area is about 11 inches by 18 inches taking account of the round corners. The former potting bench offers a playing area of 37 inches by 20 inches by comparison.
The ideal is to see how the tray can be utilised for small scenarios across scales and periods. I set up the picture below in seconds-
It is only an example to show the direction that might be taken. Having cleared the tray l can now look at it and begin to imagine how it might be used. I am happy to go upwards a little in terms of height to accommodate buildings , hills or trees but no more than say four or five inches. The games will be portable, playable on knee, table top or other places. Anyway that’s where we are at now. As ever your suggestions and advice are most welcome…
Trays intéressant! A truly portable wargame.
ReplyDeleteOne suggestion is that it could be used as a side dish to a game on the main table. Suppose you have a battle (Waterloo) on the main table, and want to zoom in on the capture of a farm (Hougoumont/La Haye Sainte).
Also the tray is vaguely arena shaped so gladiators/jousts/melées could be games.
Chris/Nundanket
Side dishes and jousting, great ideas, thanks for them.
DeleteAlan Tradgardland
Using a portable tray with a retaining lip, you could press this into service as a small sand table. May have to plug the handle holes first.
ReplyDeleteInteresting but messy. I can’t bear the thought of upending it onto rug, floor , chair or bed I’m afraid.
DeleteAlan Tradgardland
Great idea
ReplyDeleteThanks. We will see where we go…
DeleteAlan Tradgardland
These small trays work well in my experience,
ReplyDeleteI have two identical wooden box lids that fit 54 heroscape hexes each and so you can play with just one one, link two together side to side, have a river or ravine or railway or road run between them etc . They are easy to pick up, move around etc to try out small actions and skirmishes
- pictured here alongside the 192 hex old noticeboard version https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/01/192-hexes-of-joy-a-larger-hex-game-board/
I recall that now you mention it. I will pop over for a wee reminder.
DeleteAlan Tradgardland
This is such a great project! Although I I usually play on a 3' x 3' card table, I am entranced by the idea of even smaller space games. I hope you'll show us a game on the tray very soon! Following on Chris/Nundanket's suggestion, I could see it being useful in an RPG-like situation, where actions take place in the Theater of the Mind but combat occurs on the table in small space. If you play some kind of dungeon crawl (a literal dungeon but could be hedges or bocage, for example) you might need only a fraction of your tray for an encounter.
ReplyDeleteRPG , dungeon crawl, sounds most interesting as an idea. I will see where we go with this…
DeleteAlan Tradgardland
I like, I like! Am about to try the Minceheim rules on an 8.5x11" sheet printed with Paperboys base-color - dunno what tray I could use but that will come later.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post but currently l am unable to post comments on your blog. I really like the 2d figures and simple scenery. Looks like it worked a treat!
DeleteAlan Tradgardland
This will be interesting to watch develop Alan. One obvious suggestion is micro sized combatants....if you use 6mm rather than larger scales, for example, slightly larger actions might still be attempted. Small scale 1:1 skirmishes should also work, of course. Should be fun watching what you come up with, and if it works well, a few of us may be inspired to copy. I did play one solo Pulp skirmish last year, using an old Cluedo board, and was happy with the results!
ReplyDeleteI have run "micro-40K" using Epic minis packed in Altoids tins - it works, surprisingly.
DeleteThe old cluedo board game is a great fun idea. I am interested to see how different scales work out…
DeleteAlan Tradgardland
I am really interested to hear more of micro 40k in terms of miniatures and rules.
DeleteAlan Tradgardland
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