Things you have tried and adopted or not

[martin goddard]

Quite often (?) in gaming fellow players introduce you to new equipment.

Have you tried them and adopted or rejected them??
What others  have you seen.

1. Digital dice.
2. Laser pointers.
3. RUBs
4. Printed  battle cloths.
5. Movement sabots.
6.Mini D6 to record unit status.
7. Rulers marked out in the movement units for a particular set of rules. Includes custom metal rods etc.
8. Computer rules or applications.
9. Push or pull sticks for manoevre.
10. Post it notes.



martin

[Martin Smith]

1. Digital dice. - no
2. Laser pointers.- no
3. RUBs..................yes, very (ie really) useful.
4. Printed  battle cloths. .....yes
5. Movement sabots.............yes, converting DBx to 'other'.
6.Mini D6 to record unit status.....yes, for Portable Wargame.
7. Rulers marked out in the movement units for a particular set of rules. Includes custom metal rods etc.......yes, all sorts.
8. Computer rules or applications. Nope
9. Push or pull sticks for manoeuvre....no
10. Post it notes.......rarely.

[Colonel Kilgore]

3, 4, 5, 7, 10 - yes. But none of the others.

I have also used custom markers / status tokens by Warbases that I find work well on the tabletop.

Simon

[Moggy]

All of the above minus no 1.

Have also played with spinners instead of dice..... really rubbish.


Derek

[Leman (Andy)]

3, 4, 5, 6, 7 all tried and kept and now regarded as invaluable. I did try 8 about 35 years ago and was massively disappointed in the result. It was like visiting Hampton Court maze. Never bothered with it again. Something I came up with for myself, about 8 years ago, was the 2/3 ruler, using approx 17mm as the equivalent of an inch. this has enabled me to play some quite big games on a relatively small table. I did this after investing in the Grant/Asquith scenario book, only to discover that they were geared to a 7x5 table. Not too common in a normal suburban house. Consequently the 2/3 ruler and the 8" squared mat. Works a treat with other rules as well, such as They died for Glory. Since then Baccus has released it's Pony Wars range with a free to download 2/3 ruler, which is mostly what I use these days.

[Panzer21]

1. Digital dice.
I assume dice rolling apps and similar? Nah. Cannot beat physical dice. It's a conspiracy from people who are crap at rolling the desired number or who cannot manage to throw them on the table.

2. Laser pointers.
No. Far too dangerous. It's in the realm of inverted periscopes. Is it THAT important to establish line of sight? It's to cope with people who think they can hide around corners to make them invulnerable but still shoot at you.....

3. RUBs
No. I'm a convert to box files though. Come in different colours and can be found quite cheaply. Allow for steel or magnetic paper (cheapest is photo paper for creating fridge magnets) with magnetic base on figures. RUBs are for people with 28mm pike armies IMHO.

4. Printed  battle cloths.
Yes. One of the best things to emerge recently. Especially where a hex or square grid is needed.

5. Movement sabots.
Seem to be for those who like individually based figures. If you have different base sizes you can fix without sabots unless playing against someone with completely different bases.

6.Mini D6 to record unit status.
Yes where you have an attritional hit system. Can pop out of holders or get knocked over (one for the cheats to exploit?)

7. Rulers marked out in the movement units for a particular set of rules. Includes custom metal rods etc.
Has its uses. Don't understand those screw together metal rods though, looks naff. For anal competition gamers.

8. Computer rules or applications.
God no.

9. Push or pull sticks for manoevre.
A friend of mine in the Tyneside club has been putting on very big games. Barbarossa (all of it) one year and Bautzen this year. Table is large cloth painted as stylised map. They use home made croupier sticks....

10. Post it notes.
No, looks awful. Use a token or paper label if you must.

Neil

[Colonel Kilgore]

Neil,

If I may be allowed to take gentle issue with point #3 (IMHO, RUBs are even better than sliced bread, although admittedly you can't eat them...) - you can get inserts of various types (the better ones for me sit fully inside the box) that allow you to "double-stack" (small A4 RUBs) or even "quadruple stack" (the "double height" A4s) within a single box, and are thus well suited for 15mm armies without pikes.

Simon

[Panzer21]

Neil,

If I may be allowed to take gentle issue with point #3 (IMHO, RUBs are even better than sliced bread, although admittedly you can't eat them...) - you can get inserts of various types (the better ones for me sit fully inside the box) that allow you to "double-stack" (small A4 RUBs) or even "quadruple stack" (the "double height" A4s) within a single box, and are thus well suited for 15mm armies without pikes.

Simon

Simon,
Each to their own.
Doesn't it just make for a bigger heavier box?
More risk of dropping or injuring yourself IMHO.....
I find A4 box files the optimum shape and size for storage on shelves....
Neil

[Smoking gun]

One type Martin hasn't listed are movement, turning, wheeling templates e.g. Hammerin' Iron hexagons from the earlier versions, quadrants or semicircles marked with movement units to aid wheeling units and for Gaslands type vehicular combat games templates for particular movement actions. Some have worked better than others.

Best wishes,
Martin Buck

[Leslie BT]

1. Digital dice.       Never.
2. Laser pointers.  Yes.
3. RUB's                Yes, lots.
4. Printed  battle cloths.  Yes but not many.
5. Movement sabots.      Yes.
6.Mini D6 to record unit status.    Yes.
7. Rulers marked out in the movement units for a particular set of rules. Includes custom metal rods etc.  Yes, and templates for wheeling etc.
8. Computer rules or applications.   Only excel spreadsheets to calculate army points.
9. Push or pull sticks for manoevre.  Linked with 7 above.
10. Post it notes.   Yes and post it flags.
11. Round dice.    Never.

[Leman (Andy)]

Definitely with Simon on the RUB issue. Would not be without mine. Also tremendous for combatting muscle wastage on the arms at my age.

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

Many, many moons ago, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth there was an article in Military Modelling I think for 'Al's Trendy Troop transporter'?
It was converting an old LP case using plastic channel and hardboard into a multi-level RUB. The opening side straps were cut to make a full drop front and it had a stout carrying handle. Since then I have converted mine into a 'Handy Heffalump Hefter' to carry my many 25mm fantasy armoured elephants.

Neil

[Nick]

Really useful boxes - absolutely. Wouldn't be without them anymore.
Printed battle cloths - yes, converted to them a couple of years ago. They are certainly the way forward.

Nick

[steve_holmes_11]

1. Digital dice.    Yes. A very long time ago, but I preferred the tactile feel of real dice.

2. Laser pointers.     Never, I've tended to avoid rules that are fussy enough to require one.

3. RUBs.             Yes. 4l boxes for my mounted 15mms. 64l boxes for carp breeding.

4. Printed  battle cloths.        Not since the days of Subbuteo.

5. Movement sabots.         No. I don't play any rules that require them.

6.Mini D6 to record unit status.     Yes. I find these useful for one stand per unit games with hitpoint reduction.

7. Rulers marked out in the movement units for a particular set of rules. Includes custom metal rods etc.
         I'm experimenting with metal rods where rules specify a "movement unit" often related to base width.
         I find them useful for multiples up to six, beyond that a numbered ruler (even if division is required) is faster than feeling out the number pf units.
         Maybe the answer is to make my own numbered stick.

8. Computer rules or applications.     Tried once, a dreadful distraction from events on the tabletop. I'll play video games or tabletop games, but not a hybrid.

9. Push or pull sticks for manoevre.     No. I have a two metre wingspan, and have never needed a stick.

10. Post it notes.      Regularly: bookmarks, hidden objective details, unit labels, status pointers ... there are so many uses for a label that can be non-destructively removed.