Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So I am wondering what size gaming table most of you play on. It seems to me GW tends to develop their games on 8 by 4 foot tables, and I think thats a little unrealistic to expect everyone to have that space available. While I have seen large tables at brick and mortars, they always get divided up into smaller sections when a lot of people show up. So this means these large armies people invest in tend to get all squished together.

I have a 4 by 4 foot gaming board I used for all my games regardless if its 40k, Epic, Man O War, Necromunda, or Trinity Battleground. I'm ok with that size as I don't play with Wraith Knights or multiple Land Raiders and never will, so I dont need a bigger space. I tend to play skirmish level battles. But for those that do, do you feel like you do have enough room to play games of maneuver or is everything just being piled on and moved forward in mass?

I have a 8x4 table that breaks into two sections and in games over 2500pts of 40k I usually use the whole thing.

My table is modular, so it can be any size that we want, up to 8x8.

The majority of our games are played on 6x4 tables though.

I have a sectional 6x4 table that breaks into three 4x2 sections. That can be set up as a 4x4 if desired. I also have something I call my "skirmish box" that is a custom built large wooden box that folds out into a 3x4 gaming space.

Still, those are fiddly to store. Less fiddly than a 6x4 board, but still fiddly.

Ideally, I would play on an 8x5 table because it would afford plenty of extra space to put models, dice, books, and the type of general detritus that comes along with wargaming, even if you were using it as two side by side 4x4 tables. But that would be a big table. If I ever get a dedicated gaming space that is large enough, I plan to build a table like that, but it would need to be a space big enough to not miss the area taken up by such a large table.

When it comes to 40K, I just don't play it anymore. Simple as that. These days, a 6x4 table feels cramped with all of the crap you need to play a 2000 point game. I hate flyers in particular when it comes to ease of play. I ran 3 Valk chassis when I played, and they were always a hassle to A) find the space to field and B) avoid knocking over. One answer, of course, is smaller point games, but the rules require a certain point size to not be even more silly than they already are.

It's not the size of the table, it's what you do with it.


(Has table jealousy)

I have one of these.
It has two 4x4 inner sections which are perfect for Warmachine or other small skirmish games. Came with internal hard plastic sheet in each half so you can put a map or print out under it (for scenarios or RPGs). Probably larger than I really need- the 4x4 one would probably have done but it's still nice. By dumb luck they happen to be made in my city so I just went and picked it up.

We have an 8 x 4 and a 6 x 4.
The smaller is usually used as a work-table, while we play on the bigger.

1000-1250 points are played on 4 x 4
1500-1750 on 6 x 4.
2000+ on 8 x 4.

I converted over my Ping-Pong table so it folds up nice.
9' X 5' total space or just fold down the one half for 4.5' x 5'.

I agree that it is not how big it is but how well you use it...

A friend of mine has a 12' x 8' and we really are considering some Impossible Mission type gear to reach the middle of the table.

 Kojiro wrote:
I have one of these.
It has two 4x4 inner sections which are perfect for Warmachine or other small skirmish games. Came with internal hard plastic sheet in each half so you can put a map or print out under it (for scenarios or RPGs). Probably larger than I really need- the 4x4 one would probably have done but it's still nice. By dumb luck they happen to be made in my city so I just went and picked it up.

Color me jealous.

I have a full 4x8 in my basement. Got it when a previous FLGS was going out of business.

4x6 should be all you need these days, but the extra room on the sides is nice to have.

6x4. Fit it for my RoBB.

Some of those I game with consider a 4x6 to be a "standard" size gaming table, and lots of modern rules are made to be played on a 4x6 (FoW, 40K, Bolt Action, Black Powder, etc).

However, another group I game with prefers big historical battles using 1000+ figs per side. I am lucky enough to have a full finished basement to work with so I built 4 4ftx6ft tables. They can be arranged as a single table either 6x16, a single table 4x24 or as four separate 4x6 tables if we want to have multiple games.

If you go to my blog there's a post from last year that shows my table under construction.

http://www.goingaming.blogspot.com/2013/05/rising-from-ashes.html

4x6.

Even when I was at a Battle Bunker, most of the games seemed to take place on 4x6 boards (they just didn't use the two extra panels).

 Kyrolon wrote:
Some of those I game with consider a 4x6 to be a "standard" size gaming table, and lots of modern rules are made to be played on a 4x6 (FoW, 40K, Bolt Action, Black Powder, etc).

However, another group I game with prefers big historical battles using 1000+ figs per side. I am lucky enough to have a full finished basement to work with so I built 4 4ftx6ft tables. They can be arranged as a single table either 6x16, a single table 4x24 or as four separate 4x6 tables if we want to have multiple games.

If you go to my blog there's a post from last year that shows my table under construction.

http://www.goingaming.blogspot.com/2013/05/rising-from-ashes.html

Oh wow, that's your table?! I remember googling huge tables months ago and that page came up, it's something that never left my mind when I imagined how I want my ideal setup to be when I eventually get my own place. So awesome . . . argh! I can just see my friends and I playing games, hobbying out on another part of the table, with food and drinks and tunes or a movie playing. It's gonna happen.

I have five four by six tables, that are currently being set up for an apocalypse game with our Great Gargant.

7 x 5 at home in the studio and an 20 x 6 at the clubhouse.

 Kyrolon wrote:
If you go to my blog there's a post from last year that shows my table under construction.

http://www.goingaming.blogspot.com/2013/05/rising-from-ashes.html

Holy crap that is an impressive set up.

9' X5' ping pong table. It is just right for reaching the center without a problem but gives a huge boost in playable surface area.

24 square feet in a normal table vs. 45 square feet in a ping pong table. And they fold out of the way. You can also play ping pong once in while.

I have 6 2x2 battle-board type boards, that balance on my 5x3 table. So, 6x4, with care.
That's in the 12x12 dining room, with 2 foot taken up by furniture, so is very cosy.

My table is 2 metres by 2 metres, and can be disassembled into four 1 meter by 1 meter parts. I love big battlefields with much room to maneuvre!

I can just fit it in my back-living room, with even room to walk around it. I have to balance it on my table and two chairs though, and it is remarkably stable.

I've played 40K on 8x4 and bigger tables and it's so much better since there's more strategy involved (and you're easily out of range). It's a totally different game at 12x6.

At home I'm stuck with a 3x4 and in my games club we go up to about 6x4 or 8x4 in 2x4 increments.

I had planned on constructing a 6x4 board at home but I'm generally shifting down to 15mm so a 4x4 is plenty.

We tend to play on a 6x4 table here for 40K. 4x4 for Star Wars XWing.

Though we did have a 5000 points per side non-apocalypse 40k game recently that we dedicated a 6x12 table to and it was pretty tight for space.

I play on one of these four now, though not the Lava board so often, anymore. Bolt Action doesn't lend itself well to Lava Terrain for some reason. They are all 6'x4'.

Got a buddy that houses all of the stuff we use (terrain, buildings, the actual tables) but in total we've got two boards; a 6x6 (was the first one we made) and a recently completed 4x6 that was made after we wanted to experience different battlefield parameters.

Going to try for a third here soon, I'd like to make two 4x4's that connect (for those giant fights).

6x4 GW top with a 4x4 base underneath. If I lock up the cat and the wife is out for a long time I can loot the kitchen table and go 4x12 I think.

5.5' x 6' Table + a 4' x 8' with a 4' x 6' section with deployment zones painted on it.

A very small 2' by 3' desk.
Not a lot of room for terrain (in fact, most of the terrain is just one building), but still stops me from accidentally stepping on my miniatures.

For the looooongest time, as in 19+ years, I played on the same 5'x3'-ish table. It had slightly rounded corners so it was closer to 4.8'x2.8' at the ends. The table was my family kitchen table and I moved it to two other houses.

And then FINALLY, as in just in the past two months, I made a 6'x4' overlay from particle board. Well actually two 4'x3' boards that can stick together with wooden dowels. I put this over my same kitchen table, but it's nice to have consistent sizing now.

My eventual plan is to make thinner 4'x3' overlays for the overlay (it's like Inception for table layering!) of different terrain colors and textures, such as desert sand and black space with stars. Right now the base particle board is green and jungle-y and untextured (so that it isn't rough to store).



Well worth the time and money investment. I wish I had done this yeaaars ago. This project is still new enough that I haven't even played a game on the full 6'x4' table yet, and have just been using the 4'x3' sub-sections. Gonna get in the first "full size" game tomorrow though, woot woot.

 Chaos Legionnaire wrote:
My table is modular, so it can be any size that we want, up to 8x8.

The majority of our games are played on 6x4 tables though.

This, like a bunch of you I have a modular table It's 4-4'x2' sections. I usually play on 6'x4' table for 40k although when we play kill team or smaller stuff we play on 4'x4'. For big zombicide games though it's usually the 8'x4' table though. I've also got enough terrain to fill the 6'x4' with like 40% density although it's not all quite painted yet.

I used to have an 8x4 board, but when I moved out of home that became a 6x4 board (which wasn't all that useful). It's not a 4x4 board, which has more practical purpose for things like Necromunda.

I have 4 trestle tables that are each 6x2.5, so putting them together gives me a nice 6x5 table, which is enough to have a game on and have a bit of space on either edge to put dice, cards, models in reserve and so on.