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playing surfaces

 
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what surface
1 table boards
53%
 53%  [ 7 ]
2 geohex mat
46%
 46%  [ 6 ]
Total Votes : 13

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markgeorgetwo
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 372
Location: london england

PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:39 am    Post subject: playing surfaces Reply with quote

I was wondering what do my fellow players like to play on. i like to sometimes to play on the map boards supplied in the games. but how
many boards does it to cover a 6ft by4ft table or larger but when i talk
to people they like to play on 2" hex geohex mats. what i have or the
hexon tiles we have started to use. but the one i rember was geo hex starscape mats this is what we are using at the minute in the campaign
game the hex size is 1-5" so this is what my mate likes.

So any feed back would be helpful also i saw on scoutdads site about
the web rings so i ask what are they made of. also are map boards
availble seperate. also i have played on a normal table and the floor
so what is other players choice.
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Mxslade
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 07 Oct 2006
Posts: 44
Location: Secret

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What only two choices?

The hexless rules included in the game allow for endless play areas.

Playing on a floor 12' x 16' , like in the old days at one of my friend's house or in a gym or stage like we used to play at conventions.

Of course you haven't played until you have used the 1/3788 scale rules; firing photons from Allentown and hitting a ship in Reading (32 mi so you would roll on the 13-25 part of the photon chart), driving around with a mini for a hood ornament. I mean hell it's much easier to play today what with cellphones, text-messaging, and GPS's, than it was back in the day using CB's and compasses. [THIS IS HOW A FED COMMANDER EVENT SHOULD BE HELD IF AMARILLO CON EVER BECOMES A REALITY, TEXAS IS BIG ENOUGH FOR THIS]. Twisted Evil
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jmt
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 08 Oct 2006
Posts: 394
Location: Plano, TX

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When playing with miniatures, I use the 2" hex star maps from Hotz Artworks (http://www.hotzartworks.com). Their 4' x 6' map uses a hex grain that matches the SFB half sheet map (i.e. the hex rows go from 4' side to 4' side) so that two of the maps side by side make a fair approximation of the full SFB ABCDEF map.

Now, for certain scenarios, I use the FC mapboads. And when I do, I put down a router pad no-slip surface. This is something I got at the hardware store for use when holding small pieces of wood for the hand sander or router. It works wonders for the FC maps as it keeps them from slipping and slide apart (for those keeping track of the FedCom slang, it stops "space quakes").
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Scoutdad
Commodore


Joined: 09 Oct 2006
Posts: 4754
Location: Middle Tennessee

PostPosted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 11:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Since we almost always use miniatures, we tend to use our 8-foot x 6-foot felt starmaps with 2-inch hexes. Two of them gives planty of room for even big battles.
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terryoc
Captain


Joined: 07 Oct 2006
Posts: 1386

PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I usually use the hexmaps. However, I've experimented a bit with the tabletop (non-hex) movement system for miniatures, and IMO it's better than using hexmaps when you're playing with miniatures. It adds options (and therefore, strategy) to the movement phase. A scale of 1 hex = 1" gives you plenty of room on a typical 6'x4' miniatures game table.
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Scoutdad
Commodore


Joined: 09 Oct 2006
Posts: 4754
Location: Middle Tennessee

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Terry: If we flip our felt starmaps over, they are hexless on the reverse side. We've tried to do the hexless movement systemand the old timers (read as SFB'ers) like the differences in tactics... the problem is trying to recruit newcomers.

Most of the, emmmm... let's call them "Gamer's" that hang out at our FLGS only want to play 'clix and Star Wars starship battles. It's hard enough getting them to count hexes to determine range... I don't even want to bring in a tape measure adn a 20 page rule book. Shocked They would flip out and run for cover. We might could get the 40K'ers to play hexless FC - but only if we told them the minis and rules came from a British Company and then doubled the price... Cool [Hey Vanessa, do I detect a new market segment and strategy that the Steve's might need to be made aware of... ? Twisted Evil ]

Anyway, until the CCG / CMG market peaks adn disappears - we are just happy to hold a niche in the market, even if it isn't hexless.
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lokirising
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 27 Oct 2006
Posts: 52
Location: Oregon

PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 3:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used to work for Geo Hex
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Mike
Fleet Captain


Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 1675
Location: South Carolina

PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 1:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I made a template for 2" hexes on legal size paper (8.5"x14"), printed several sheets on a laser printer, and painstakingly glue-sticked them together into two 2'x6' strips. Then I laminated both long strips and trimmed the plastic. From all that, our group now has a 4'x6' map with 2" hexes. I made the background black and the hexgrid lines a dark gray. Also put three different sizes of white dots in all the hexes randomly to give the "stars background" feel.

Problems with the above: it has a seam down the middle (lengthwise) that sometimes opens ("There's a rip in the fabric of space-time!") and it is very shiny with the lamination.

I recently did another map with a template of 1.6" hexes on standard letter paper. Each section was 6 hexes x 6 hexes. Again, the black background, dark gray hexgrid lines, and white stars. This time, though, I did not laminate any of it. The gluestick method sealed all the seams and it worked beautifully. A bigger plus on this one was that it is 30 hexes "tall" and 42 hexes "wide." I think that is the official size of the ABCDEF map.

The only minor problem that this size map has is that the minis are so much longer than the hexes. With just a few ships it works okay, but I could see difficulties with lots of ships.
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djdood
Commodore


Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 3412
Location: Seattle, WA

PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 4:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting. I've been considering making a range-ruler in a similar way. It would be 1.25" hexes out to the limit ranges of the various weapons, cut out of clear plastic sheet.

Just one more way to cut down on counting and keep from scaring my friends and potential opponents away.
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Scoutdad
Commodore


Joined: 09 Oct 2006
Posts: 4754
Location: Middle Tennessee

PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 4:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

djdood wrote:
Interesting. I've been considering making a range-ruler in a similar way. It would be 1.25" hexes out to the limit ranges of the various weapons, cut out of clear plastic sheet.

We used to run a 3x scale Car Wars campaign, using Hot Wheel cars and did something similar. Rather than try to bring higher level mathmatics into determining the ranges based on dividing the actual range by the up-scaled factor... we made custom range rulers. We made them out of several materials and used different methods.
    1) Method #1 was a length of masons twine with knots at the 3x range intervals. Measure from firing unit to target, count the knots, and that's the range. Simple but unattractive
    2) Method #2 was several sections of printed cardstock - laminated and pinned together with brads that allowed the pieces to rotate 360-degrees. This was simple, slightly more appealing than the string, and folded up to a 12-inch long total length, but the game box was only 11 1/2-inches.
    3) Method #3 was pieces of clear acetate with the range makrs scribed into the plastic and then inked. Visually, this was the most appealing method - but since 3xScale car Wars sometimes has ranges of 5-feet - we broke a lot of long rulers.
    4) Method #4 was finally the way we went with. It was the simplest to make, simplest to use, simplest to store, and the cheapest and can easily be converted to hexless FC. We took one of the 6-foot folding ruler from Home Depot, spray painted both sides, and then went back and useda marker to remark the divisions we needed and then labeled the ranges. Quick, simple, and cheap.


In fact, now that think about it - I'm stopping at Home Depot on the way home from work tonight and will have 4 new range rulers in my FC box this weekend. Cool
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Robert Knoke
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 13 Jul 2007
Posts: 49
Location: Aurora, CO

PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
What only two choices?

The hexless rules included in the game allow for endless play areas.

Playing on a floor 12' x 16' , like in the old days at one of my friend's house or in a gym or stage like we used to play at conventions.

Of course you haven't played until you have used the 1/3788 scale rules; firing photons from Allentown and hitting a ship in Reading (32 mi so you would roll on the 13-25 part of the photon chart), driving around with a mini for a hood ornament. I mean hell it's much easier to play today what with cellphones, text-messaging, and GPS's, than it was back in the day using CB's and compasses. [THIS IS HOW A FED COMMANDER EVENT SHOULD BE HELD IF AMARILLO CON EVER BECOMES A REALITY, TEXAS IS BIG ENOUGH FOR THIS].



Why wait until Amarillo con? Could'nt we do this by PBeM? I'm sure there are a few die hards out there, who would be crazy enough to try.

Imagine being in Minneapolis, and blowing something up in Annapolis Twisted Evil

Could be a way to find other players in your area.

Course, I could just be talking out of my neck like most days...

This would give those folks who travel alot a big advantage...

Maybe we can even get frequent flier miles out of this Twisted Evil
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John Schneder II
Lieutenant SG


Joined: 28 Jan 2007
Posts: 102
Location: Cincinnati, OH

PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 1:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We play on the SFB map sections I made. They are basically 1/2" plywood with ceiling tiles glued to the top (think dropped ceiling). Most are 2'x4', but we have a couple in 2'x2' and 1'x4' for battles that wander away. I painted the tops black, and also marked the edges every two inches for the 2" scale. The ceiling tile material allows us to have small accessories (plasmas, drones, shuttles, etc.) mounted on pushpins and stuck into the tile. The bottom of each map panel had a 5 gallon bucket lid screwed on, and we set them on buckets to get them off the floor. We use the hexless rules Twisted Evil You can see them in action at my friend's site http://web.mac.com/zapski/

--John
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malleman
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 12 Jan 2008
Posts: 307
Location: Lafayette, LA

PostPosted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 5:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just purchased two plain space maps with hexes from Monday Knight Productions (3X3 & 6X4) for dirt cheap.

Using fabric paint and Wal-Mart spray paint, I painted nebulas, dust clouds and stars. It took me two days of paitning stars (10hrs total) to finish both both maps. Right now I know you are probably saying huh?, but trust me the maps came out really nice for the amount of money I spent and the fun I had.

Got to play my first game with the 3X3 map tonight. ***Note the new playing surface did not make a difference in my game, I still lost ***. Very Happy

Planning to play again next week with the 6X4 map. Federation and Orion Pirates vs Romulans and Klingons (couple of ships for each player using fleet scale).

As soon as I get a chance, I will try to take pics of the maps.
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