POLL: What Kind of Surface Do You Game On?

[jet]

I've recently been looking at my green game mat and been pondering making some simple boards, maybe 2x4 boards that could be thrown in the back seat of the car for geek night. I love my game mat (which I've been using for 10 years), but I find that it looks too empty unless it's packed with terrain bits. It seems to me that a sanded board with patches of flock and grass would create enough visual interest on its own and not too many pieces of terrain would have to be added.

I'm just wondering how other people play their games. Perhaps there are reasons not to use boards that I haven't even thought of.

[snitcythedog]

Mine is a sand covered 4X4 board that has been painted and flocked.  It hides in a storage room.  To placate my wife, it has a felt underside so it will not scuff the table,
Snitchy sends.

[Sinewgrab]

I could answer 3 of the above questions yes, so a poll is hard to do. It all depends on the game.  I use a green or a brown mat for any fantasy and less unusual scifi, a brown suedecloth for Mars, a sculpted board for Fallout, and a sculpted board with set features for dungeon adventures.

[zizi666]

true, there's even an option that's not not mentioned : paper.
My 3D space Hulk tiles are paper models glued onto foamcore. Dito for my modern town.

[Argonor]

true, there's even an option that's not not mentioned : paper.
My 3D space Hulk tiles are paper models glued onto foamcore. Dito for my modern town.

That's true.

But I use yet another option, too: A plain board with sand glued to the surface (and sealed with thinned glue), then painted/drybrushed. Hardly qualifies as a 'sculpted' table, but still with terrain pieces scattered.

EDIT: Unless it's the meaning of the 'sculpted' board with no features incorporated..?

[infelix]

It depends on the game for me as well. We use both commercial gaming boards, home made ones and for some games just a piece of fabric in the appropriate color down at the club.

[Henrix]

A homemade structured (and slightly flocked) mat. (Didn't vote.)

[number9]

For versatility in the home I don't think you can beat various textures and colors of cloth laid over foam hills. I get a very nice contour, minimize terrain basing (because things like trees, rocks, fencing, and such are all fixed to the table by pins, helping to hold the fabric in place).

The best reason to go that route is that I can play games across deserts, lush green fields, urban wastelands, alien planetscapes, deep space, and open ocean just by changing out the game fabric. If I went with sculpted tables to accommodate all those locations, there wouldn't be room to maneuver around the gaming space for playing.

If I'm going to have a particular fabric in place for awhile for a very specific game, one can sprinkle various colors of flock and other loose scatter material around the surface to give it more visual variety. Or I could just goof around with an airbrush to shade and highlight it.

Also the wear and tear on knuckles when playing on a glued-sand table cannot be overstated. The soft embrace of green microsuede is kind to old dry hands scooping up dice and knocked over models alike. 

[syrinx0]

Our tables are based with a medium brown textured paint.  We add freestanding terrain as needed for the individual game. 

[Dan]

I've been using a set of brown king-sized bedsheets with lighter tones brushed on over thick cardboard hills for cowboy, Vietnam and pulp games. For other theaters I use green table cloths sprayed with other shades of green.
I recently bought some GW mats but am now wondering why?
I'd love to do terrain boards but lack space and time.

[FramFramson]

a bland roll of Woodland Scenics grass mat here. Glued down to two 3 x 4 MDF boards, which can be combined to make a 4 x 6 table.

I've been meaning to do some painting and maybe even a little texture variation to make it look more like an expanse of actual grass, rather than the astroturf it is now. So many things to do.

[DeafNala]

My partner in crime, Captain John, made a hexagon table approximately 6' across that is set up to accommodate Geo-Hex terrain tiles. We made the surface a water effect so that areas not covered by the tiles would look like streams, ponds, or whatever. The Geo-Hexes are being augmented/replaced by custom tiles. Here's what it basically looks like:

[Argonor]

And now you definitely have to do a tutorial on that water! 

[Shikari Sahib]

I used felt cloth, a type bought from USA some years ago.
i have of three different colors, sand, green and white.
On tath felt I added sculpted foam representing hills, rivers and so on.
Pretty easy and clear.
Piero

[DeafNala]

And now you definitely have to do a tutorial on that water!  

Well...I'll give it a try. The effect was rather a series of serendipitous accidents, but I'll try to piece them together & come up with a step by step. When I get it in a more or less understandable form I post a link to the thread here.