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when i play at GW shops i noticed most of my tyranids and guards pretty much
crams and takes up the whole deployment zone, not to mention
takes forever to move the units around from the crowded position.

anyone think the standard table could be abit bigger?
always feels so crammed :x

It can be a problem when playing with horde armies. The problem comes when trying to assault across a 6' table. The other problem is floor space in a store or home. Not many people have room for a 4'x6' much less more. And stores are often charged by the square foot for floorspace. That makes bigger tables more expensive. The biggest solution to the problem is keeping in mind the size of the table when you are building your army. Put in more transports or higher cost choices when building your army or suffer the consequences of packed troops (ie blast templates, etc.) The benefits of horde armies (more troops to take objectives, more stuff for limited shooting to kill) need to be weighed against the space they take up on the table. The fifth addition running rule really helps to sort out the problem if used on turn one!

Thalor

Sounds like you need some dawn of war.

I don't normally play horde style armies. I rarely if ever run out of room on the table. Often, since I play very elite small armies, I think tables are too large.

How many points are you playing?

Your first issue is that you are playing horde armies. the second might be the SIZE of the game. The more points over 1500 you go with those, the more potential issues you're going to come up with.

Eric

4x6 table size is for standard games. We don't have problems with it at all. As you get past 2k, things can start to get tight. For anything over 3k we generally go to apocalypse rules, and use 8x4, 6x8, 6x12, and larger tables as the points go up.

The 4'x6' table is fine for games up to 2500 pts per side.

GW uses 4 x 4 tables in some of there stores. That could be the issue.


I find that I would love a longer table when I play IG

My local GW has x1 4x6 table and 3 4x4 tables (one is for intro games only) the 4x4 are for small games and anything over 1000[ts goes on the 4x6.

In my club, we get to use the Boardroom table (9'x6') and we use it for apoc games (we use the boardroom and adjacent room in a local sports club).

Otherwise, I've used 6x4 for up to 3000 point games with no issues (but I dont DO horde armies).

I think that the change to 4x6 standard table size was the one really bad thing about 5th edition. I'm so used to playing on a 4x8 table that a 4x6 feels cramped, even at lower point levels. You don't have as much space to maneuver and I feel that it takes a lot out of the game.

It seems that the last few codexes (orks especially) have made units cheaper, obviously increasing the number of models on the board. I find some lists (all infantry guard, orks, nids, etc) do have the problem of getting crowded, but trying to get a larger table size would cause even greater changes/issues with the game.

As mentioned above, you need to keep table size in mind when putting your list together, and address it somehow (infiltrators, transports, more expensive/elite units, whatever).

I would love it if the standard table was 9x6, give you plenty of room to setup and maneuver.

However, 40k is a game that is ideal for MEQ armies where model count is low and mobility is high.

I love the feel that you have playing sub 1k games on 4x6, plenty of breathing room.

Well in 40k this is not much a problem to me but Fantasy on small tables isnt that funny.
My default home table for Fantasy is 75"x75" roughly. For 40k it´s ok still but never go less than 1250pts on it.
But those default BGB/BRB table sizes are for faster games. Not everyone want to spend a half day on playing. So I think it´s pretty ok.


edit: lol, converting error FTW ....

I know in Oz, 6x4 has been "standard" for the past 15-20 years, easily. I can't recall a tournament or club here that didn't use 6x4 for any length of time.
It's really only seems with the rise of the hordes, that it has had any issues of "too small".

The game has got faster, though (Running for all, not just those with fleet), so more distance gets covered in a shorter time.

Our GW store has two 4x6 tables and one 4x4 table, the latter mostly for exhibition and demonstration.
Two tables for 10+ players at Saturday morning is a joke.
I rarely play there. Most players are too unexperienced for a good fight.

Grimaldi wrote:It seems that the last few codexes (orks especially) have made units cheaper, obviously increasing the number of models on the board...

This. Honestly a 1000 pt force is a healthy-sized army any more.

4X6 is fine for anything up to 1750 points per side. I think that over that - elite armies lose manuver room, horde armies are all jammed up.

What is not fun at all is the 4 players, each with 2000 points, on a 4X6 table I do not understand that at all, yet that is the play style here.

Rolling for the missions and deployment ( or just picking SPEARHEAD and the seize ground mission) really changes up the game pace and tactics, at least for me, and at 1500 points is especially challenging for an elite army - you have to tone it down and take more expensive scoring units, less uber small and powerful squads. Horde armies can still do well, and guard players actually start to manuver a little and can do so successfully.