In order for a group of gamers to play a game, they need a place to actually play. Once you’ve decided to start setting up games; at your home, there comes the next hurdle; getting some of the basics out of the way.
First and foremost is the battlefield, without a place for your armies to fight, it doesn’t matter how many troops you have at your command, they won’t be able to do anything. This can be a bit daunting for some; especially, those of us who are not handy with power tools. But fear not! There are simple solutions to these issues.
Before we put the cart in front of the horse, let’s take a look, at the first, and probably the most daunting aspect of a gamer’s cave: the table itself.
The Table
There are a lot of tutorials out there for building your perfect gaming table; however, for now we are focusing on doing this cheap, easy, and storable.
I remember a long time ago, I was hosting my first group of garage gaming, in a small house my wife and I were renting. The thing was basically a small, two bedroom apartment, and the living room portion was barely big enough to qualify as anything, other than a hallway. Yet, I hosted a group of four every Wednesday night, for the better part of a year, and we had battles regularly. Space was a premium, and it wasn’t always the most convenient, but we found a way to fit two tables, into that tight space and play our games; some of my fondest memories of gaming come from that time.
The key was that the tables we used, had to be collapsible, they couldn’t just sit in our small living room from week to week. As a solution, we had two sheets, of 4 foot by 6 foot plywood, that we would set on card tables. While not the sturdiest in the world, the sheets of plywood were stable enough to play games on, and after the games were through, it was pretty easy to shift the sheets of plywood into one of our spare rooms, out of the way, and then place the card tables also in the same area. There was still enough room for the spare room to function, as an extra bedroom, and the plywood was rather cheap to boot. I think we managed to have two tables for under $70 in the end. My friend even had the brilliant idea to cut one of the boards in half and put small hinges on it, so that the plywood could be folded in half, and wouldn’t shift all over the card table when we used it.
These days, I have upgraded somewhat. We no longer live in that cramped, little house, and I have more space. All things told, between my garage and my basement, I’ve counted out enough area to do at least 6 tables, so we could have a mini tournament, at my house, with a fairly decent turnout! I still only have the one table, most games I play are at the local shop, to help increase exposure, but I have slightly upgraded my table.
Now, instead of a somewhat flimsy card table, under my sheet of plywood, I had a handy friend make some steel sawhorses for me. The table is remarkably steady, now, and it has become a permanent part of my house, while still easily folding up, and placed off to the side.
This is all accomplished rather easily. If you spend $30, on a decent folding table, which you can find at any department store (WalMart is great for this), and then pop over to your local hardware store, that also carries lumber. Here in the states we have the Home Depot, or Lowe’s, which are the easiest places to do this at, and most of the time you can buy a sheet of plywood cut to your specifications quickly and easily; the hard part might be transporting it back to your place. You can check and see if they will deliver for a fee. If you are trying to do this on the cheap, the best bet is to borrow someone’s truck and drive it back yourself. Once you get it home, place the sheet of plywood, on top of the folding table and viola! You have a cheap and easy battlefield for your armies!
Table Mats
Once you have a table, then it becomes a matter of supplying terrain for it. This can be done in a dizzying variety of ways, the most obvious is making it yourself from scratch, but that can be a bit daunting to some.
First, you’ll want to invest in is some kind of mat, or covering for your table. While you can flock or paint your table, I find that this creates a bit of mess when storing and moving it around. Beyond that, it’s just plain inconvenient to do if space is already a premium, as it requires you to have the table out, so you can work on it. Also, it’s easier to change a mat; rather than completely strip your table down and repaint/flock it.
Cigar Box Battle Mats have a large supply of patterns, that are cheap(ish), and easy to fold up and store, without getting wrinkles in them. Their mats feel like fleece blankets, and look great once they’ve been placed on the table. Deep Cut Studios also have a series of mats, made out of the same material as mousepads, and are also fairly cost effective. I would invest in a good gaming mat, possibly two, in case you want to change things up. Your average mat can run anywhere from $70 to $140 depending on style and materials.
Terrain
Next, no battlefield is complete, without obstacles, buildings, and natural bits of terrain, to liven up your battles. Online you can find a host of cheap kits and bits of terrain, that you can put together yourself. For me, I’ve dabbled with a variety of terrain pieces, ranging from cheap and easy, up to expensive and highly detailed.
For buildings, on the cheap side there is a company called Plast Craft Games, which produces a great line of terrain, that is made from a type of plastic cardstock, which can be quite durable if cared for appropriately. Most small buildings from them range around the $10 price point, and there is a decent amount of variety, I have several of their pieces, and they don’t look bad once they’ve been painted up, but they won’t catch any eyes, either.
On the next tier, there is a whole host of mdf laser cut buildings, that look rather good, and aren’t too expensive either. As a bonus, they are pretty sturdy, and I’ve had several pieces that have lasted me through the years. I purchased mine from Terrains4Games online, and they have always been extraordinarily courteous and punctual, with their transactions, look for them on Facebook, or on their website, at terrains4games.com, and see what they have to offer!
Lastly, there is the top of the stack, which is Tabletop World. These guys produce some of the coolest terrain out there, but you will be paying for it, to the tune of several hundred dollars for a single table, but man is the stuff cool. I recommend checking them out, if nothing more than to drool over the cool terrain they produce. I have purchased a small windmill from them, and it is an excellent piece.
You also need trees and hills to complete your ensemble. Trees can be purchased from several places, depending on your budget and time. For me, I usually purchase my trees cheap and easy from Amazon, there are lots of plastic model trees, that you can purchase to fill the role that you need. I add a bit of green stuff, and spruce them up a bit, but just gluing them to a base, and placing that on a sheet of cardstock can work in a pinch.
I cannot recommend the site scenicexpress.com enough for those who are looking to really work on their terrain and scenery game. Their trees are amazing, and their hobby supplies are staggering in their variety; train modelling is a great resource for all things terrain based.
For hills, there are two varieties, that I have found, in my process. The first is pre-purchased terrain, from places like Gale Force 9, which can be a good investment, if your shorter on time, than you are on cash. The other variety involves styrofoam, that you can buy at your local department store, and depending on which type you get, you can either break it apart in sheets, and glue those sheets together to form a hill, which looks like this:
Or, you can buy sturdier foam, and sand it into a shape that looks a bit more traditional in its appearance like so:
Either way, creates a great visual point, and works wonders for your tabletop.
All in all, I have built up several tables worth of terrain, and all things considered, I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than about $100-$150 on any given table. I could do it for less than that, if I really tried hard to be frugal, so now that you know what is possible, go forth and build!
