TABLE TOP STUFF

This page will include play aids, scenery ideas, etc. I invite readers to submit ideas for inclusion.

KEEPING TRACK OF TROOPS IN BUILDINGS

One of my pet peeves in any game is figures standing on building roofs or set on next to a building to indication of their occupation of said building, I feel that it detracts from the appearance of the game.

Others have used “plan sheets with an outline of the building on it in which one places the figures that are in that building, still others use a simple sheet of paper marked off in large squares, each representing on of the buildings and figures placed in them. I have tried both and have found that the figures can ‘inadvertently’ slip from one building to another, causing all kinds of problems.

I have begun to use a plastic fishing lore storage box available in the sports sections of many stores, the ones with the moveable dividers. One box is required for each side. I make copies of the map with the buildings and bunkers marked with a letter or number (in the example photo – the bunkers are lettered.). I then set up the box with the proper number of ‘slots’, one for each building and label them as the map is labeled. The troops occupying each building are then placed in their proper ‘slot’. See Photo 2. I suppose that one could do this for every terrain piece occupied by hidden troops, this would probably be too cumbersome. Most often, troops can occupy the woods, and fields, etc. they are located in once detected by the other side – but building occupation brings the problem described above.

CROSS FIRE Artillery Aid

A major problem in game play, especially at conventions, is the need to keep track of AMMO expenditure against the AMMO load allowed by the scenario. When there are several players and many more guns this becomes problematical at best. I tried several methods - a number of "0" s, one for each round on the scenario sheet to be marked off as rounds are used; the mark off is often forgotten in the heat of battle. Another was shell shaped wooden pegs or chips or another marker that the player passes to his opponent or to the umpire for each round fired - these often get mixed up between the various guns the player has at his disposal or his opponent mixes them with his. All this means that someone gets to fire more often than he should have or looses shots. Seeing ads for babysitters on the Post Office bulletin board gave me the idea of using such a post for AMMO expenditure.

I provided a sample  AMMO form below. Simply cut between each shell (as it is done for phone numbers on those bulletin board announcements) so that it can be easily torn off and handed to you opponent or umpire for each shot. The scenario designer provides one for each gun and gun type to the player as part of the game set up. He also tears off enough rounds to correspond with the number allowed by the scenario.

Smoke rounds is be indicated by a large  "SMOKE" superimposed on the shell photo. If 1/3 of the rounds are allowed for smoke, so letter 4 shells counting from the left. as you reduce the number of FMs allowed for the scenario, reduce the shells with smoke by 1/3. E.g if the scenario calls for only 9 FMs, tear off 1 smoke round from the left and 3 regular rounds from the right, keaving 9 rounds, 3 (or 1/3) of which are  smoke. When determining the number of smoke rounds to remove, round up.