A potentially useful idea for Battlemat / Mini users!


Miniatures


Howdy, just a public service announcement, care of the freindly neighborhood Black Bard.

My chessex battlemat was starting to loose its "cleanability"; even wet erase markers were starting to not erase, so I began considering possibilities, and I think I've found a winner.

Poster frames. Like for movie posters. Fred Meyer or WalMart has them. About 10-15 dollars gets you a 24 by 36 sheet of durable, clear plastic, that sheds dry erase, wet erase, and with a light flex of muscle, even permanent marker. You can put them right over your current battle mat, or just grab a ruler and some blank paper and make your own grid to sit underneath.

I've found with a minor bit of thought, dugeons can be drawn on it in reverse, the plastic flipped over, and then with the dungeon on the underside, PCs are free to mark spell areas and other such scribbles on the top side with no risk of "accidental dungeon erasure".

In particular, this worked well in a forest encounter, where I drew the larger trees and rocks on the underside, and smaller trees and underbrush on the topside. The party gained a new respect for fireball when it cleared a good area of underbrush and small trees!

So, if any decide to try out this (in my experience very effective) idea, let me know how it goes. And if anyone has their own creative ideas and quirky "battlemat juryrigs" post them too!


My gaming group has been doing this for about two years. I have a sheet of thin plexiglass (about 2' by 3.5') that I place over either my battlemap or whatever handout map I'm using. It works exceptionally well, and it's made explaining travel through Cauldron incredibly easy. (You are HERE, and the shop is THERE.)

One of my players took this one step further and purchased a poster frame. He trimmed down his battlemap edges to fit, and was able to fix the black border over the battlemap-plastic cover combination.

We've found that it works as well as you are suggesting it would; we don't really keep paper around anymore, because we simply have so much 'erasable space' for gaming that we just doodle out the information on the battlemaps themselves.


This doesn't really relate to using dry-erase mats or anything, but it does pertain to minis.

Though I do use the mats when I have to, I find it much more enjoyable to create my own terrain models, literally building the world around the minis. (usually involving a joint grid/terrain model effort)

Though it take alot of time and space, I feel that the players can relate to what's going on alot better and generally get a better understanding of what's going on.

As for the OP, that is a good idea. I'll have to look into it. (I've just been using page protectors this whole time...)

-Kurocyn


I would just like to chime in on how useful this whole idea is. I use the plexiglass as well, and I am eagerly awaiting my chessex grid mat, which we mistakenly sent to my fiancee's parents' house, and should be on its way here soon. The combo of the two would be unstoppable I think. I also use a lot of 3d models, some of which I bought at wal-mart after X-mas during the clearance sales (pine trees, cobbled roads, non-christmasy looking stuff) but most of which I made myself from florist's foam, spanish moss, modeling paint, spray paint, etc. I have a trunk full of pieces as diverse as city gates to snow covered mesas.

The players really appreciate the visual aspect, and I find their attention and participation increases exponentially when I bust out the terrain. I still use wet/dry erase markers to sketch out specific terrain details, and dungeon tiles for the occasional random dungeon, but the combo has made gaming more enjoyable for everyone. Thanks for the extra tips and ideas though, and I can't wait to read more.


Darn, I wish I had access to said post holiday sales. Hadn't thought of using such material. Thank you; I'll have to make plans for next Christmas.

The only other possible "tip" that has anything to do with this is the minis themselves.

Just like making the terrain, making the mini can be just as rewarding for DM and PC alike. I'm hoping to have custom minis for each PC in my next game. (alot better than keeping a seperate sheet of paper listing which colored bead/coin/skittle is which PC, imo)

And if they make the mini themselves, it only adds to the effect.

-Kurocyn


Wow, great tips guys. I'll have to try the plexiglass thing soon.

My wife mistakenly bought me dry erase markers as a stocking stuffer this year. Bless her heart, but we use the wet erase mats right now. This sounds like a great way to get some use from the markers.

Wanted to say that since we started using the D&D minis in our game the fun factor has jumped alot. No 3D terrain for us due to limited storage space, but having a Purple Worm looming over your PC on the battle mat has fired all sorts of wonderful descriptions of the combat that ensues. Minis really do make it better.

Now, if they would just create minis for all the monsters in the MM I'd be a happy camper... :-)

Just my two coppers,
-Roth


I've found that the best and, coincidentally, the cheapest, option is to laminate one of the battlemats available with the DMG or DDM sets. Use any markers you like, then wipe clean without any water. I'll never waste money on a Chessex mat again.


Keoki wrote:
I've found that the best and, coincidentally, the cheapest, option is to laminate one of the battlemats available with the DMG or DDM sets. Use any markers you like, then wipe clean without any water. I'll never waste money on a Chessex mat again.

I thought about that, but I could not find anyone with a laminator that big. Any leads in that regard?

I still like the big pads of 1" graph paper that they sell at Office Depot. You basically get 50 sheets for $15. Which (being the math genius I am) I think works out to about 30 cents per sheet.

One of my new players didn't know that we were using an essentially disposable battlemat and started to freak out when I simply "scrolled" the map and started drawing right on the paper. It was so cute.

I also like pre-drawing locations onto the paper and using the plexi only for spell effects and damage/debris etc. I used that in my last session with great effect, owing partly to suggestions garnered here. Thanks and keep 'em coming!

Paizo Employee Director of Game Development

I am sure I have posted this before when it came up then, but I'll repeat myself anyway.

Something we discovered a while back was the big 4'x8' sheets of "shower board", or whatever it's called, is dry erase. Those can be had at places like Lowe's and Home Depot for around $15. We just glued and screwed that to a piece of plywood then drew a 1" grid over the whole surface with permanant marker.

The marker wears out a bit after a while of being drawn over with dry erase and requires some touch-up. We considered covering it with plexiglass, but it was going to be pretty expensive, so the next incarnation of the table will be thin striping tape like the pin-striping on cars and such.

I had a plan to cut the board into fours, hinge it and felt the bottom so it could be easily transported, but never invested the time or money into it.

I'm still waiting to justify the ceiling-mounted projector hooked up to my laptop...then, it'd be ON!

The Exchange

Daigle wrote:

I am sure I have posted this before when it came up then, but I'll repeat myself anyway.

Something we discovered a while back was the big 4'x8' sheets of "shower board", or whatever it's called, is dry erase. Those can be had at places like Lowe's and Home Depot for around $15. We just glued and screwed that to a piece of plywood then drew a 1" grid over the whole surface with permanant marker.

The marker wears out a bit after a while of being drawn over with dry erase and requires some touch-up. We considered covering it with plexiglass, but it was going to be pretty expensive, so the next incarnation of the table will be thin striping tape like the pin-striping on cars and such.

I had a plan to cut the board into fours, hinge it and felt the bottom so it could be easily transported, but never invested the time or money into it.

I'm still waiting to justify the ceiling-mounted projector hooked up to my laptop...then, it'd be ON!

Or you could use a utility knife to lightly score the surface, just be sure to be very gentle with the pressure, too deep could result in chipping the board and deep grooves which make it difficult to draw on.

FH


One of my players actually shelled out the $100 or so for the "Mondo Mat" that is about 6 1/2 feet long by 4 feet. With the card tables lined up in a long row, we have found it to be a geat "tablecloth" that doubles as the battle map for the really big battles. The players get excited when I tell them to "Clear the board", meaning "move the PC character sheets, we need the Big battle map for this next fight".

It was alot of money to shell out, but it has been worth every penny as far as I'm concerned. Not having to worry about running out of room on the map is a great luxury.

Anyone else use really big battle mats of some sort? If so, what kind? And where did you get it?

Info is power...

-Roth

Liberty's Edge

Daigle wrote:

Something we discovered a while back was the big 4'x8' sheets of "shower board", or whatever it's called, is dry erase. Those can be had at places like Lowe's and Home Depot for around $15. We just glued and screwed that to a piece of plywood then drew a 1" grid over the whole surface with permanant marker.

For those that may not know: I believe you're referring to "Hardibacker" boards.

Yes, Lowes and Home Depot carry them. They are water resistant boards that typically are installed under flooring in upstairs utility/bathrooms to prevent water from destroying the sub-flooring since the upstairs is typically just plywood

Robert


Rothandalantearic wrote:

One of my players actually shelled out the $100 or so for the "Mondo Mat" that is about 6 1/2 feet long by 4 feet. With the card tables lined up in a long row, we have found it to be a geat "tablecloth" that doubles as the battle map for the really big battles. The players get excited when I tell them to "Clear the board", meaning "move the PC character sheets, we need the Big battle map for this next fight".

It was alot of money to shell out, but it has been worth every penny as far as I'm concerned. Not having to worry about running out of room on the map is a great luxury.

Anyone else use really big battle mats of some sort? If so, what kind? And where did you get it?

Info is power...

-Roth

Yay! I just received my Chessex Mega-mat from this site(two sided so GURPS stands a chance in our gaming group again) and got a 3x4 piece of plexiglass from Home Depot to cover it! It covers most of the surface of the players' gaming table and I joyously anticipate many "clear the board" moments.

My fiancee also bought me two of the Steel Sqwire flip-mats, which are nicely done and also reversible. One features a cityscape on one side and blank cobblestones on the other. The other features a dungeon on one side and flagstone on the other. They will be excellent for settings on the fly. I love having a SO who understands my avocation, even if she doesn't participate.

As previously stated, I use many different means (big pads of 1" graph paper, minis maps, terrain etc.)to provide in-game maps, but I like the scope of the megamat. Casters can stay at up to medium range from the fracas and not have to be off the board with cumbersome notation.

I haven't had much time recently to model more terrain, but I did rediscover (read: cleaned out my closet) some of my "ruins pieces" recently and have been using them to great effect. I plan on doing some more city pieces, but they are time consuming (I "sculpt" the brick from florists foam with an X-acto knife and then spray paint and model paint detail) and with the new job, time is at a premium. Eventually I would like to have a whole matching set large enough for a detailed cityscape.

In a kind of unrelated/related note, I have been using dry-erase for initiative and combat which really helps as I am going blind and can't read my own pencil handwriting, and we got a 3x4 dry erase board to track party treasure which works really well. No more "who has that un ID'ed ring?"... I am considering making my own smaller initiative/combat dry-erase board and using tape and stick-on letters to create forms to track status/spells/effects etc. I am not an organizational genius, so every bit of help I can give myself is useful to no end.


Note for ZeroCharisma,

Funny you should mention dry erase initiative boards...

We have several D&D groups in our area and one of the others created a board specificallly for initiative. The materials consist of a piece of dry erase board married to steel backing with numbers running down the side of the board to show the initiative count. Small rectangular pieces of dry erase are then glued to magnetic strips. These are used to write each PC and monster on individually. The magnetic strips can easily be moved around the board to show the changing initiatives of the PC's and monsters as their ready actions and delay actions take affect.

I let one of the more organized players take control of the board during the game sessions and the players faithfully feed him their initial numbers to start off the combat. To find out who's next is a snap by looking at this board, propped up near the battle mat. With a little extra space on the magnetic strips to spare the players sometimes post thier current Hit Points in addition to thier names, to show the cleric who is in trouble with just a glance. It's a snap at the end of the day to simply wipe the board clean and drop it on a shelf for next week.

The boards were put together very professionally, and we paid the other group $20 for one. It has paid back that investment many times over in my mind because it frees me up from having to track initiative for the group. They are happy to do it for me now.

Hope this gives you some new ideas!
-Roth

The Exchange

ZeroCharisma wrote:
I haven't had much time recently to model more terrain, but I did rediscover (read: cleaned out my closet) some of my "ruins pieces" recently and have been using them to great effect. I plan on doing some more city pieces, but they are time consuming (I "sculpt" the brick from florists foam with an X-acto knife and then...

I do a lot of terrain building stuff also and I use Hirst Arts molds to pour pieces for use in miniature terrain. I usually use a dental plaster to pour my pieces because it is 3-5 times harder than plaster of paris (I use Merlin's Magic or Excaliber, preferable Merlin's Magic). I actually sculted a bunch of pieces to make walls that look like rough-hewn stone, made some molds of the pieces and currently use them to create huge modular dungeon pieces (I sent a bunch of pics to Lilith so she could see what they look like because I needed an opinion). I am guessing that you know about Hirst Arts and Castlemolds but if not I wanted to give you a lil' info and a link to a great product and community.

Happy building,
FH


Rothandalantearic wrote:

Note for ZeroCharisma,

Funny you should mention dry erase initiative boards...

We have several D&D groups in our area and one of the others created a board specificallly for initiative. The materials consist of a piece of dry erase board married to steel backing with numbers running down the side of the board to show the initiative count. Small rectangular pieces of dry erase are then glued to magnetic strips. These are used to write each PC and monster on individually. The magnetic strips can easily be moved around the board to show the changing initiatives of the PC's and monsters as their ready actions and delay actions take affect.

I let one of the more organized players take control of the board during the game sessions and the players faithfully feed him their initial numbers to start off the combat. To find out who's next is a snap by looking at this board, propped up near the battle mat. With a little extra space on the magnetic strips to spare the players sometimes post thier current Hit Points in addition to thier names, to show the cleric who is in trouble with just a glance. It's a snap at the end of the day to simply wipe the board clean and drop it on a shelf for next week.

The boards were put together very professionally, and we paid the other group $20 for one. It has paid back that investment many times over in my mind because it frees me up from having to track initiative for the group. They are happy to do it for me now.

Hope this gives you some new ideas!
-Roth

That's awesome... That is pretty much what I was thinking exactly. I even have a player who would really be into tracking stuff like that. I want to do it for tonight's session. Man, I am getting geeked out. I have my new mat, new plexi and all sorts of good ideas now if I can get to Office Depot for stuff, I will be all set. I would love to be freed from tracking initiative.

And I know about the Hirst stuff and it looks really cool, Fake Healer, but I have never used it. I would love to try it, but it seems like it takes time to get good, and with my new work schedule, it would seem time is at a premium. I really want to make more realistic looking stuff, but I don't know if this old dog has time to learn new tricks.

Liberty's Edge

Regarding cleanability, I heard that the Arm & Hammer Magic Eraser might be able to clean battlemats. I don't know if it's true or not, but it would be worth a try.


Kitty Somerville wrote:
Regarding cleanability, I heard that the Arm & Hammer Magic Eraser might be able to clean battlemats. I don't know if it's true or not, but it would be worth a try.

I have had remarkeable success, with of all things, patio furniture cleaner. Hopefully there will be no long term wear and tear. Now to keep my plexiglass from getting dings and chips in the side. Any suggestions? I fear a 3x4 poster frame would be too expensive, although I am sorely tempted to spend the cash on one.


Maybe a simple caulk or just covering the edges with duct tape/electrical tape, ZeroCharisma.


Lilith wrote:
Maybe a simple caulk or just covering the edges with duct tape/electrical tape, ZeroCharisma.

That would be a great idea if I could get someone from my group (maybe one of the contractors/carpenters) with a more steady hand to apply it, so it looked nice and even.

Unfortunately in addition to my severe charisma impairment, I also have an 8 dex, and thanks to my 4 wisdom, I keep forgetting to buy it off on level-ups. Sounds economical and doable, though. Thanks!

The Exchange

Depending on the thickness of the plexiglass, there is a plastic strip that is used for tileboard products to give it a nice smooth edge usually it is a "U" channel in white or tan and is used to give the cutout edges of windows and such a clean finish. Usually about $2 a strip (8'). Run a very thin bead of caulk into the channel and apply it to the edge of the plexi. That will hold it in place. You can cut the stuff with a utility knife or a good pair of scissors if needed. You can minimize the amount of exposed cuts by notching the corners that would overlap the plexi and leaving the reveal edge uncut. If this is beyond comprehension or skill level for you, then I would suggest filing or sanding the corners because vinyl is very sharp when cut. A vinyl cut is akin to a paper cut only much badderest.
And next time on Fakey's DIY shop....how to make tabletop terrain caves out of insulation board used to sheath houses.

FH


I use a blackboard (it's green, ok?) marked into one inch squares. Chalk costs a lot less than markers and you can make your own blackboard (green) using matte green paint on a sheet of smooth OSB board.

Marking it was a boring tasks but when we started playing we decided the time was worth it.

A dark background looks a hell of a lot cooler than a white one.

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