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Back in the day, whilst still a young lad at my parents' house, I had an 8'x4' board that was at a height for standing or sitting on bar stools.

My friend had one a bit lower that you could get away with sitting around on regular chairs, and we also used it for our RPG table.

Now I wonder which of these is best, or if something even lower, suitable for surrounding with sofas is better?

Opinions?

I am interested in your reasons too.

Same as a dining room table.

Folks are all different shapes n sizes. Get a few tall chairs to go with and make it comfortable for those.

Yes, remember you have to get down to a model's point of view, so anything lower than dining room table is going to give you backache (if you're my age anyway).

I'm 6'6" so breakfast bar works well for me.
It is a little formal for board games/space hulk etc but with all of the standing up to move models/check lines of sight involved in warhammer/40k it isn't quite so far to travel.

I'm okay with sitting down, but that's fine for warmachine because there's less
TLOS going on.

If it is a dedicated table I would recommend something worktop height so there is no bending down when you are standing.

Lots of wargamers do stand and walk around the table, and you can have bar stools for sitting on.

The same as a normal table, or perhaps slightly higher.

I went 48', but that's because I'm a lazy 6"4' git with back problems.

For a 4' wide table, I would go with dining table height.

But I think if you go wider than 4' you really can't go much higher.
A friend has a 5' wide table that is about 4' tall.
It can be difficult to maneuver stuff in the middle of the table without dragging on the front edge.
The bar stools are comfortable for the BSing part of gaming, but when we are doing anything, most everyone stands up.

I'm curious as to why so many dining room table height votes. I'm 5'6" and I like tables that come up to the bottom of my ribs or mid chest. I can easily lean forward to rest my arms on the table and never have to bend down for anything. I get a model's height view of the table by stepping back a few steps. It's a bit more difficult to reach across the table so I have to walk around it more, but that's not such a big issue.

Isn't the having to bend down constantly, and always having your head tilted downward annoying at all?

I went with 48 inches as I like a tabletop higher than the average table.

I use a few 4'x2' boards on my dinning room table. I find the height is ideal for me.

If you have a board on the floor you risk having minatures stepped on or the dog knocking them over.

Coffee table is too low to play standing as you will get back ache and too high to play whilst sitting on the floor.

Breakfast bar size isn't too bad until you start using larger boards, at that point you may struggle to reach the centre of the board without knocking into scenery.

My best advice for anyone who uses sheets of ply or MDF on top of the dinning room table is to put down a couple of towels first. This will not only protect the tables surface but will stop the board fron sliding about.

I enjoy the taller tables personally. The group I play with has about a Breakfast bar height one, but then again we are all tall guys. It really all depends on what is the most comfortable for yourself or the main people who play on it.

If you play standing up and moving around the table a lot (as most of us do) then you want a table at a good height so that you are not having to stoop over it. I'd suggest just about chest high.

Few gamers have ever had the experience of playing on anything higher than a standard table, and so they build tables of the height they are familiar with, perpetuating this idea of low gaming tables.