Table Sizes

[Correus]

Played a WWII game today - Eastern Front - we, the Germans, won, barely.... It was in 15mm.

The discussion, after the game, was typical banter about minis and rules and I was asked what I've been working on of late. When I told them the host asked "those are all in 28mm - right?".

Then the topic turned to not being able to play wargames, with 28mm figures, any period, on a typical size gaming table such as a ping-pong table.

This got me to wondering.... What is the typical table size you use with 28mm figures and how many units per side?

Once I have some of my minis painted and based I'd like to host a game; I guess I need to make sure I have a decent size table. I was hoping to use a 10'x6' table.

[RoughRider]

4x6 but I think my favourite is 6x8. It's a little hard to reach the minis in the middle of the table but it "looks" better, IMO.

[Big Al]

4x6 but I think my favourite is 6x8. It's a little hard to reach the minis in the middle of the table but it "looks" better, IMO.

I agree with this for BP and HC. For 28mm WW2, it depends on the size of the game and the rules I use. We've played a game of Point Blank on a 4x4 and it was plenty big enough.

[Eumerin]

I think it depends a lot on the game that you're playing. My local store uses 4x6 as the standard table size, and a lot of WFB, 40K, and WarmaHordes gets played there.

[Big Al]

I think it depends a lot on the game that you're playing. My local store uses 4x6 as the standard table size, and a lot of WFB, 40K, and WarmaHordes gets played there.

To be fair, those games are hardly on the scale of BP and HC games. Not when you're looking at a minimum of 9 units. For an average game of HC or BP think of Warmaster with 28mm figures!

[grant]

For me it's a question of reach. At a diminutive 5'5", a 4x6 or 4x8 is all I can manage.

[Eumerin]

I think it depends a lot on the game that you're playing. My local store uses 4x6 as the standard table size, and a lot of WFB, 40K, and WarmaHordes gets played there.

To be fair, those games are hardly on the scale of BP and HC games. Not when you're looking at a minimum of 9 units. For an average game of HC or BP think of Warmaster with 28mm figures!

In the case of Warmahordes, you're correct. I've even seen that game played in a 4x4 space. But some 40K games that I've observed featured Guard or Ork armies that basically didn't have any free space left in the deployment zone.

[Correus]

For me it's a question of reach. At a diminutive 5'5", a 4x6 or 4x8 is all I can manage.

I'm just under 5'6" and don't really have a problem with a 6' wide table. Once a unit hits the mid point I just go to the other side.

I've played large, 25mm fig, games on large tables and small tables and haven't had a problem and I know one of the guys from last Sunday has as well, so I'm not really sure what the issue is.

I think games for the WWI and WWII periods might work better in 15mm though, that I will concede to them.

[Invisible officer]

There is no real problem with a 6" table's center for most adults. But you have to be very careful with trees and units at the borders if you use a large table. Simply because you can be sure some player will flatten them. I remember some games with damaged items done by players. Fortunately not my items.

As the others stated, it depends on your game . A Stalingrad style city fight game is possible on a mini table, you might even use a 1/50 ground scale with 28mm miniatures. But a modern tank war battle in the open desert.......

[Colonel White]

I don't think there are any right or wrong sizes when it comes to gaming tables. It all boils down to what type of game being played.

I will use my own table size for example here which is an 8x4.

In 28mm I could play a platoon sized skirmish type game wiht some support choices.

In 20mm this would increase to company size with more support choices.

IN 15mm battalion sized games could be played.

In a nut shell the size of the scale used will dictate as to what size of game is to be played more than the board size. Smaller the scale, larger the battle.