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So I read Breotan's thread about looking for an affordable gaming table and it got my gears turning. My dad is a woodworker and I help him with most of his projects.

What price would you be willing to pay for a fairly standard yet sturdy gaming table? My idea is a 6'x4' inside area with a 1/2" raised lip around the edges to keep tiles and mats in place, and either offer it with folding metal legs or permanent 4"x4" table legs.

I know plenty of people like to make their own, but I see plenty of people asking about premade options.

We could likely design one to be simple to assemble and include the hardware needed, as well as look into making the table fold down into 4x3. It would still weigh a good few lbs. in order to keep it rigid and sturdy, but portability seems like something I'd want, especially if a permanent gaming space is not available.

I could see us also offering overlay inserts to allow the table to be used as a dining room table, with varnished tops in a variety of woods and finishes.

Looking at GeekChic's offerings, their low end tables run well over $1400 and that is for small tables. I get that theirs are more geared towards heirloom quality pieces, but not all of us want or need(or can afford) those.

I'm thinking something similar to this, but not as fancy and with a much lower outside lip.

I would probably recommend bumping the lip height up to 3/4". For simplicity of stock issues, that would make a dual purpose table easier to create (putting leaves or panels on top to make it a flush dining surface).

If you want to sell it, 100-200$ should be ok. Material cost is actually very low, but you gotta factor working hours in.

We made ours (actually, my wife did most of it...) for about 40-50$.

I highly recommend a high lip. It makes the entire table look even better as it gives the battlefield more depth.

/e: 100-200$ without the actual tiles of course, just the table itself.

 Sigvatr wrote:
If you want to sell it, 100-200$ should be ok. Material cost is actually very low, but you gotta factor working hours in.

We made ours (actually, my wife did most of it...) for about 40-50$.

You would be hard pressed to purchase materials for less than $100. A sheet of something even like MDF retails at around $40 - and that doesn't include any other materials used for construction or finishing. Using a cheaper solid stock (white pine or poplar) for the apron and edging details will add another $40 or so. Toss in $5 for screws and adhesives. You haven't even gotten to legs (can get solid wood for $15 each while folding metal go for around $25 a pair for cheap ones). Figure $20 for a finish that isn't starved. $130 starting for materials. If you are looking at less than $30 an hour for your labor - your utilities and tool costs will kill you. Takes money to run that table saw and those blades don't stay sharp on their own. In a hurry, you might be able to do the job in 4 hours - but a better guess would be 6 hours total for a very simple table...with very Spartan finishing. $250 would be about the lowest starting point for something like this - and it won't be much to look at.

About the cheapest I have done a game table for was $100 and that didn't include any labor, hardware or finish materials. Two sheets of plywood and some edge banding. I used hardware I had in the shop and some left over stain to finish it...he brought over beer and sculpted two figures in exchange for my labor (so realistically it was closer to a $900 table). Expectations of a $100 option (or even $200) are rather unrealistic. Even the blow molded plastic tables from Walmart cost $40 or 50 each and you need two of those.

I didn't factor in screws, tools etc. and I'll re-check. I am pretty sure, though, that it was around 50...

...ehm...€...not $...so basically, around 70$.

I'm not terribly concerned with what it costs others to make their tables. Plenty of people don't have the time/skill/motivation/desire to build their own, and those people are generally willing to pay more for convenience.

Talking this over with my dad, I'm leaning towards a $250 retail price possibly, but shipping is the big clincher here, as it would be bulky and heavy even folded up.

 Aerethan wrote:
I'm not terribly concerned with what it costs others to make their tables. Plenty of people don't have the time/skill/motivation/desire to build their own, and those people are generally willing to pay more for convenience.

Talking this over with my dad, I'm leaning towards a $250 retail price possibly, but shipping is the big clincher here, as it would be bulky and heavy even folded up.

True enough - though I think perspective helps people a bit. When I sculpt a figure - it costs me about $3 in materials. However, anyone who expected to pay $6 for a custom sculpted figure is delusional. Much the same here (even more so in many ways). While you might be able to build your own for a hundred dollars or so - having someone else do that for you...well, there time should be worth something, plus wear and tear on machinery, utility costs...plus if you make any real money, taxes and fun things like OSHA, EPA and other compliance issues.

For shipping - try to get with a local furniture store that ships nationwide. Most of them have contracts with LTL carriers that beat the heck out of any rates you will get going your own. I know I have had on the occasion piggy backed a few things that way and curbside freight was around $75 while contracting it myself would have ran around $200 to the terminal (with no lift gate delivery service).

Looking at things on paper though - another option would be to use knock down fasteners and ship them as flat packs:

http://woodworker.com/c-Fasteners/knock-down-KD/

You can put together a pretty simple IKEA style package that would break down to fit into something that UPS will ship without having to pay a crap ton to them. It would simplify things on your end - plus the nature of those fittings makes jigs and templates more efficient allowing for possible cost savings on labor (materials would go up a bit though). The savings on shipping may well make up the difference for that too.

Geek chic. Google it.

doktor_g wrote:Geek chic. Google it.

Or you could read the thread

Aerethan wrote:Looking at GeekChic's offerings, their low end tables run well over $1400 and that is for small tables. I get that theirs are more geared towards heirloom quality pieces, but not all of us want or need(or can afford) those.

OT: I'm at about $180-$190 + shipping, the biggest problem you would have is how will you keep shipping costs down, you can only fold and weigh-reduce the table so much, so short of delivering it in person yourself (not realistic outside your own state), or arranging pick up (not realisitic for everyone outside your state). You'd just have to get a price settled with a courier or something and flat out tell people that a could few kilos of table is expensive to ship and they can take it or leave it.

That said, if I had the space, I'd be interested.

$250 seems fair for a pretty nice, solid wood table that folds up/etc.

But yeah - It'd have to be fairly local because another $50+ dollars on shipping kinda kills it. At that point it becomes a "screw it, I'll build my own" sort of project.

Maybe test the waters with a cheaper, lighter 4x4 table first?

Different sizes is a good idea; many people won't need or have the space for a 6x4, but might want a 4x4 (Warmachine/Infinity?) or 3x3 (X-Wing, Malifaux) sized proper table with a lip.

screw thows to the bottom of a 4x6 board. Bam. now you got a storable 4x6 gameing table.

prety awsome for just under $60 for the legs and board. Probly even cheaper for thows down in the states were everything is cheaper then in canada.

Materials are going to cost you a good $100-$200 for cheap wood - ie. pine, mdf and/or particleboard. If you want decent wood then it will cost more. Shipping something so large will cost a lot - no avoiding it.

So those of you who want a table for less than $200 best buy a pre-made fold up table.

By the time you factor in the labor and shipping you will be lucky to get something under $500.

$200-300 is the golden zone for me. People voting for anything under $200 are out of touch with reality. I have no doubt that if you made a sturdy, attractive table, customized for wargaming people would buy it.

Recently, I purchased a couple folding tables for a 6x4 surface for around $160-180, and they are simply plastic and metal legs--nothing as attractive as finished wood.

Why not keep the big lip and just make a nice table top to go over it to eat on and then you can leave the board right there. You would need to take the dining table top off still and put it somewhere is all.

I posted some pics of my table in that other thread. It's similar to that one but it's more sturdy. A 400lbs fat man can stand on it and it has a shelf on the bottom. The lip is just barley over the height of the thinnest part of the realm board. I will go take some pics of the actual table and edit this post. It has support beams going across the top surface and a thin sheet of wood just to keep the realm boards from falling through as I slide them around.

Cost of the table was basically maybe $50 on wood, and the realm of battle plus the 2 extra board tiles, and $50 on flock materials with loads left over. You could go buy a sheet of insulation for a fraction of the cost.

My dad helped me cut everything out. He has all the tools. This table would be a beast to ship. I'd recommend you get a friend or family member that knows how to build to help you out if anyone is lacking in that area as I do. Plans for it are to either hang a black curtain over the second shelf or just paint the table black. The table can be fully disassembled as well if needed so plan accordingly. It was built outside and put together in the room. But we assembled it before we moved it in to see if it worked or not, then tore it down for the move.

So depending on which wood go with will impact the price a decent amount, but even premium maple runs about $80 per board whereas decent maple runs half that per sheet. So the $250 price tag as of now is what I'm thinking, then offering higher wood grades and types and just increase the cost by the amount the wood costs(effectively making the profit the same, instead of upcharging premium woods more).

One hurdle I'm seeing as far as selling it as a kit is that the legs can't get any smaller and the box they come in is about 3'x3'. So having a roughly 4x3 box to ship in isn't much of a stretch. The furniture dealer shipping is an excellent idea, and I'll follow up with a few stores out here.

Also due to labor, I've decided for now to stick strictly with the folding table as permanent legs are a whole other beast which would dramatically increase the cost.


I'm excited to get started on prototyping hopefully this next week.

If you were to go the knock down route - you would probably want to have the end user supply the sheet good top, and you provide the frame and legs.

It isn't difficult to go to Home Depot or Lowes in the US and have them cut a sheet of birch ply to 4x6 for you. The savings on shipping would likely be about the same as the cost of the sheet of plywood (or even a little more - a 4x3 box is over regular UPS ground size IIRC, and UPS freight is stupid expensive).

Done that way - all they would need to do is assemble the frame and attach the plywood panel they provide with screws below. Since that would just be the play surface, the fit and finish of it isn't nearly as critical as the other parts of the table which are more visible.

That is a great idea, as it saves having to ship a 6x4 or 4x4 sheet, and means if you can connect it strongly enough in the middle the longest pieces you'll need will be 4'. It's still a big box though but it's no longer colossal.

You could even tout it as being more customisable - you give the customer the ability to swap the top sheets for different pre-made terrain ones if they feel that way inclined.

Length alone isn't a huge factor in shipping costs. For example, IIRC, with UPS if you add together the two longest dimensions and multiply by 2...if that number is over 165 it has to ship freight. Under that size - provided that you are not extremely heavy, you are looking at regular ground rates ($50-75 would be my guess without actually getting into final weights and measures).

In order to meet that dimension - you can have a box that is 74 long and something like 8 inches wide. That should be enough room to pack up stock like rails and moldings along with a bit of space for packing material. You would want it to be a very tight fit in order to ensure nothing is sliding around getting damaged in shipment anyway as well.

Granted - proper packing of heavy items isn't a trivial cost, and I would expect probably $30 or 40 worth of foam, bubble wrap, bags, cardboard and plastic (with a bit of that to cover your time actually bundling it up).

For simplicities sake - and to stay out to the realm of freight, you can also do Box 1 of 2 and Box 2 of 2. With one having all your long members and 2 having shorter cross pieces, hardware and table legs or whatever.

I built mine for about $120, including tools. It's basically just a board with legs attached though. You have more going on by the sounds of it.

The table folding down would be a very compelling feature. I'd consider paying probably up to $200 for a somewhat nicer table than mine. The biggest problem I see in this is that it's pretty trivial to make a basic table, even with next to no woodworking skills, so if you're looking for an entry model, you gotta keep it cheap.

One thing to keep in mind as well is that solid boards are more expensive than plywood (last I checked a 3-4 years back at least.) With a decent table saw you can rip plywood sheets to board size and bevel the edges so the less pleasant ends are hidden. Alternately, use a nice metal end cap around the corners, which not only adds strength but covers those less pretty bits. That way you get a nice outside surface from decorative/cabinet plywood but spare the expense of solid bits of wood.