Thanks for that perspective–that’s very helpful. I looked at Wyrmwood tables, too. They all look very nice. They have a slightly larger width available (96" x 56")
Great point. I assume this can be ameliorated by having slightly taller chairs?
That’s the one thing I noticed about the Bandpass tables - there aren’t a lot of custom add-ons. For example, card-holder slot, LEDs, etc. But I think that, like you said, all of that pales in comparison to just having the table, and the ability to lock up a game-in-progress inside.
Wyrmwood tables look amazing, but the company appears to be run by morons.
That said, a gaming table is a really nice luxury. I don’t have the space, but a friend of mine has one and it’s very nice when we’re sitting down for a sprawling game.
Boardgame tables are no panacea, though, as you can clearly see from these shocking photos that expose America’s atrophied manufacturing capacity and the inability of its vaunted Furniture Industrial Complex to make a big enough g****mn table.
Ha! You are, of course, exactly correct, but that doesn’t stop me from trying. I know wargame clubs have rooms where they set up huge games on sawhorses topped with multiple giant sheets of plywood, but yes, that is the issue in a nutshell. For example, the top photo is of parts of this series:
I just have maps A, B, C, D and L laid out. If you put this whole thing together, how do you even see what’s on map K without walking on it?
My father-in-law was a big model railroader. He had a such a big setup in his (converted) carport (no more cars ever parked there) that it necessitated access from the inside and the top. Someone built him this amazing scaffolding that let him go up above the layout and mess with things, as well as come up under it through the middle.
Of course, that latter solution wouldn’t work with a boardgame. But the scaffolding might!
When Mission Impossible tech from 1996 is finally widely available and not just restricted to fancy operatives, it will surely transform historical conflict simulation gaming as we know it!
Not in the case of my table. The issue is the exaggeration between the expected arm/chest table height and where the legs are usually under a table and not the distance between my bum and the floor. The height of the gaming well plus its over/under layers create a space not found on a normal, vaultless, single layered table. It’s not terrible, it’s just something that I didn’t think about beforehand. Two bites into a meal and I stop noticing though.
Ah, the mighty, impossible to find or afford Case Blue. I had an ebay search filter sest up for that for years, hoping for an affordable copy to ever appear.
Right?? It’s crazy what some of these games go for. And I promise you that 99% of them get put on the shelf and eventually resold. When I ask people if they have ever played Case Blue and they say yeah sure, I ask, “How???” (Full disclosure: I have never played the full game, but a friend of mine is working to help me solve that problem this summer.)
Anyway, for the obligatory on-topic content, I did some more investigation:
With the Dresden Battleground size table (total size 96” x 64”, inside size 72” x 48”) you can fit BOTH Valor of the Guards AND Red Barricades campaign games for extended play. (Just take off the topper at will, play, replace for cat-proof storage!)
Has anyone tried playing them with a gap somewhere in the middle that you could walk through? Wondering how much of a pain that would be visualizing the connection between the two. Maybe a quadcopter, camera, and photo stitching software to get a complete picture ? 😃
This is very amusing. It makes me think that the ultimate solution is VR gaming tables. Sit around a real life table and sip your wine or beer with your VR googles on and move your chits around the virtual giant gaming table.
We play Catan on the Quest maybe one night a month and it’s great. I can play with my bro-in-law in MN and our friend in NC & feels like we’re at a table together. Makes me long for more modern board game conversions to native Quest apps.
We thought about this back in the day when we were moving from War In Europe to the Europa series and trying to figure out how to play the whole thing. We narrowed it down to either a system of moveable catwalks over the game that you could lay down on and move stuff, or back all the counters and maps with lead sheet and use scuba gear to play in a large swimming pool.
You’re not wrong. My friend has one and he likes the table, but when they sent it things were not quite the same stain or wood grain. Really obvious silly things.
That said, I 100%, absolutely,without hesitation, recommend Rathskeller. OMG! I got my table this year and it the best. I wish I had gone a little bigger but just a fantastic table, excellent craftsmanship and it weighs a ton. Yes it is expensive. Yes, you will have to wait for your turn in the queue. Yes, you will have to enlist your friends to help bring it into your home. Yes you will spend hours gawking at how beautiful it is.
@Shieldwolf, what are the things most important to you about your table—the things you notice about it? If you can, it would help to be as specific as possible: location of cup holders, existence of card slots, the color of the LEDs, etc.
EDIT: And just to clarify, all I’m looking for is features in a game table that I might not know I need, but should have.
It’s the rail around the edge allowing me to move my 2 “rules shelves” wherever I need them. My two cupholders sit in the same rails and are perfect for holding buckets of dice for mini gaming, keeping both things off the main table most of the time when I’m playing.
My table bed has a couple of stepper motors allowing me to raise and lower it. It means I can have stuff like Frosthaven on the gaming bed and still cover the table with boards when I’m not playing and also not have to reach down into a deep well when I’m playing.
It also came with a sheet of perspex that covers the entire gaming bed and sits underneath it when not in use so dealing with paper maps is a thing of the past
I don’t have any LED’s, any USB chargers or anything else fancy in mine, I blew that budget on the motorised bed and have never regretted it.
