Battle Boards? Do you use them?

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

Battle Boards. We want to know how often they are actually used. Thanks,
Ed

[Bill]

Hardly every. Prefer miniatures.

[SteveB6.]

I use battle boards all the time.

[JP1650]

Yes - saves time.

[easyeight]

I use them for close actions, but I may also put obstacles and terrain on the map and use the full minis rules on the battle board.

[soypunk]

Battle Boards are my default mode of play if there's going to be more than a few combatants per side. I have them (and a bunch of tokens) all loaded into Apple's Freeform app which works like a virtual whiteboard and it syncs across my phone/tablet/mac. If it is a small skirmish I might just sketching it out by hand on paper or do it "Theater of the Mind." I rarely go to the full on "tabletop" mostly because of a lack of time.

[davidlhsl]

I use the battle board rules almost all of the time, often using the battle boards and counters. When I don't use the physical board/counters, I will use Excel; because I can jot notes and keep track of NPCs easily, but I still use the battle board rules. Yesterday I was sitting on the floor with the 5150 Quick Play cards and rules watching the laborer I was escorting to Lower Hope get beaten to a pulp.

I do have some wonderful battle mat books by Loke along with a blank wet erase mat, and the table top rules are fantastic for those. I also use table top rules for the military games such as NUTS!, because I like interacting with the terrain. But I don't get those to the table very often, as I spend most of my time in the RPG realm of 5150, Six Gun Sound, ATZ, and Warrior Heroes.

When I received the massive goodies from the NUTS! Kickstarter, I did use Excel to fight a Normandy beach landing. To do this, I marked the beach regions (ocean, beach, wire, bunker) in the various cells, then represented squads with a single A, B, etc. designation. I then used table top rules using activation rolls and PEFs to advance my squad. Once combat ensued, I did screen captures of the NUTS! counters and pasted them into a separate tab in my workbook to handle the fight battle board style. This way, I'm using table top rules for the zoomed-out action, but then handle the actual fighting on battle boards.

If anyone remembers the wonderful THW board games from an earlier Kickstarter, many of those do the same thing by having a map to move on, then handle the combat on a separate battle board. I need to get those back to the table, because those were fantastic.

[karl]

I use tabletop only. Some of the reasons:
A tabletop with terrain and figures looks better
I rarely do campaigns or RPG style gaming to link encounters together, so the games are usually one-offs and battle-boardsare too simplistic for that.
I miss the maneuvring, moving and hiding possible on a tabletop.

And a remark: I get the impression that many of the newer THW games, eg. most reently CR2023 actually treat tabletops as an afterthought, with the bare minimum of rules for movement, in-sight tests, weapon ranges etc. So I often combine newer rukes for shooting and morale with the older rules for movement, terrain etc.

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

CR2023 has specific rules for tabletop play (page 6) including movement (even fast move), ranges, Line of sight and terrain. Actually like previous editions.

[jgregory]

I've tried to like the battle boards, but they don't give me what I'm looking for.

Feb 13, 2024 13:13:03 GMT karl said:

I miss the maneuvring, moving and hiding possible on a tabletop.

This. I get a lot of satisfaction from successful use of tactical movement and terrain, and the battle boards just don't scratch that itch for me.

Feb 12, 2024 20:57:37 GMT easyeight said:

... I may also put obstacles and terrain on the map and use the full minis rules on the battle board.

When I don't have the luxury of having a full sized table set-up, I like to do my patrolling on the map, and when an encounter occurs, I'll set up just that sector on a 50x50cm mat (a bit smaller than 2x2') with terrain and minis, and resolve it with full rules.

Feb 13, 2024 13:13:03 GMT karl said:

I get the impression that many of the newer THW games, eg. most reently CR2023 actually treat tabletops as an afterthought, with the bare minimum of rules for movement, in-sight tests, weapon ranges etc.

CR23 certainly feels like it was conceived with the battle board in mind, and while there are things that I like about it,  a bit of extra work is required to get it to play as well on the tabletop. 

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

The cool thing is finding the time to play and, on the tabletop, PEFs are where it's at.

[mccluskey]

Battle boards are perfect for small scenarios where it doesn't make sense to set up a whole table. (For example, Carousing.) They are also good if you don't have space for a table or just want something quick. I like having that option. However, the games really shine on the tabletop so that is my preferred way to play. Players have to make more decisions and that makes it more engaging than the battle boards. I find it can lead to more interesting situations too.

[elgato1]

I prefer to use tabletop with miniatures and terrain for most games, but like the battle boards for 2 Hour Dungeon Crawl and small fantasy games.

[sztrave]

I use battleboards when there is only a few miniatures a side (I always use figures) and also if it makes sense i.e. fighting in a room so why use anything but a battleboard. Figures a side would be up to 4. I use tabletop otherwise. However, I am now leaning more towards the 3x3 optional tabletop rules. In fact, setting up up one right now but really using 6x6 where standard move is 1 square and fast move requires pass 1 or 2d6 to move 2. Using it for SF games with corridors. Using 3x3/6x6 means I should be able to combine combat with challenges on the same table.

[ravensron]

Introducing a new player to Two-Hour Dungeon Crawl we used them, but mostly don't need them; the referee says what the player-characters see, where the adversaries are and the players say who is attacking/defending v. which adversaries, and dice are rolled appropriately