The Portable Wargame - You need way less markers for a grid than you think

[chamberlain]

So I've been thoroughly enjoying both books by Bob Cordery,  The Portable Wargame and Developing the Portable Wargame.  And I've noticed that when it comes to grids, people tend to be very thorough in their markings:






I guess it makes it really clear where all the squares are.  Some people mark only corners.  I was thinking though, why not mark only the outside corners of every group of four squares?  You can also do 9.  And then I decided to use terrain elements for the dots so a drop cloth doesn't have to be just for gridded games.



So that's a 6x4 table with a rock pile every 1 foot.  If you're doing a 6 inch grid, then the unit needs to be in one of the four corners of each larger grid.  If you're doing a 4 inch grid, then you can also be half way between them and right in the centre as well as in the 4 corners (for a total of 9).  The terrain would probably need to be rearranged/changed as the above assumes a 6 inch grid and has terrain pieces that mostly fill or outline those sizes.  Though the terrain matching up with your grid doesn't really change when you're only market the outside corners of a square of squares.  It's something you'll have to deal with either way.

The red dots are where you can put little pebbles or rocks or whatever:



And for the 3x3 marking:



If you were contemplating checking out gridded wargaming, you actually only need 9 little rocks or other tiny scatter terrain pieces to mark off an 8x8 grid on your existing surface.

[NickNascati]

Yeah, I can easily see using dots fir each corner.  I went with a full grid though.

[chamberlain]

I tend to use table cloths for drop cloths (faux suede mostly) so they aren't double sided.  If I mark out a grid it's pretty much just on there, so I think terrain dots will let me get the most out of my drop cloths for different climates in terms of both gridded and non gridded games.

[MartinR]

For games with quite a large grid (Square Bashing, Lost Battles) I often just mark the terrain corners with bits of terrain, which can look quite nice but obviously takes a bit more setup.

I also have a load of cloths and carpet tiles gridded up in various denominations, so we'll as piles of Hexon.

[black hat miniatures]

I actually like the look of a fully marked out grid...

Mike

[chamberlain]

Is the grid as subtle looking in person or does it stand out more?

I guess the grid can be part of the charm.  Sort of like bright colours on a tree frog saying "I'm not your normal frog!"

[SteveBurt]

The Deepcut studios steppe mat (which I think is what is in that picture) has a very nice, subtle grid.
For my Rommel game in the desert I just put pale buff dots at the corner of each square; you can see the dots easily, but they are hardly noticeable

[Arundel]

Some good ideas here. I'm actually another who quite likes the look of the grid, it just shouts "toy soldiers" to me*, but to each his own!

*And I love the comparison to the tree frog above! 

[black hat miniatures]

Is the grid as subtle looking in person or does it stand out more?

I guess the grid can be part of the charm.  Sort of like bright colours on a tree frog saying "I'm not your normal frog!"

It is fairly subtle but defined enough to give a look I like...

Mike

[chamberlain]

It definitely looks good in the pictures.  I think you hit a good balance point.  Even if you didn't go full tree frog.