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Hello all,

I made a warhammer 40k table last year for my personal use. I am now considering making more of these tables to sell. I made a quick survey to gather some more info on what people would want in a gaming table. Thank you for your options and time.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TP23RYV

Just completed. Hope the feedback is useful. For.me.the lighting you show.is a bit much, but the extra end and side spaces look very useful.

Agreed - being able to put books and dice down away from the table so you can see the whole thing and not knock over any models is a real plus for me.

Lights can be good, in moderation, but just slapping lights on with no thematic reason is a tad overkill. For example, having a lava themed board and lights coming from under the lava flows is good - having bright blue lights on a desert themed board lacks a theme. Small fog machines are cool, but again, needs to be thematic.

USB ports are a nice quality of life thing, but I'd imagine that most places you'd have a table would also have a USB port close at hand. However, it's a nice touch, that some people might like.

I'm not a massive fan of gaming tables really because of the cost: what I use now is a fold out table with a mat for playing on and my desk/coffee table for placing models/dice/etc. on.

If I ever did have the surplus money/space for a gaming room and I wanted to get a specially made table, the one you've built here is pretty good; looks solid, lots of space and some nice deep spaces on the sides (deep is especially good to prevent models getting knocked off). My suggestion is the same as those above: the lights are too much.

On the light front, maybe 2 or 4 anglepoise lamps at the corners like stadium floodlights?

I would be interested in the cost of a 4'x4' table for infinity.

Your survey is broken, you ask for features but can only select a single feature for each question.

Aside from that, if you're thinking about getting into this business remember that shipping costs for something that large and heavy are going to be very high. It's going to be difficult for you to compete with DIY options when you have to add that cost to the material and labor costs and still make enough of a profit for this to be worth your time.

The lights are cool as they are, I've played on a similar setup and found it to be enjoyable. I would need to know the thing can be stored easily before I would consider buying one.

Buddy of mine had the space and we started with a real simple idea.. a full 8x4 sheet of plywood, sliced lengthwise down the middle with some low-profile hinges in it so the surface folded up, simply dropped on top of his kitchen table for game space..

It was nice, because it gave me space for my Laptop so I could access my books and such.

Nice work on that table. You could eat your dinner off that. Come on, you have. You HAVE.

Don't overlook under table storage. Gaming tables that have storage solutions are invaluable.

Thank you so much for the participation so far everyone. I have gained lots of valuable information. Sorry about the messed up question on the survey there was not any option or at least I couldn't find it for select all that apply answers. I look forward to reading more options and suggestions.

My gaming table requirements are:

1. Play area must be large enough to fit a FAT mat. I’ve seen 4x6’s that aren’t really 4x6.

2. Rails on the sides to keep dice from flying off.

3. Detachable side car for holding armies. Ideally it should be movable between the short and long aides in order to be out of the way for different deployment options.

4. Must feel solid. Mainly so that when the table is bumped all the minis don’t fall over.

5. Under table storage.

6. The ability to put a top over it for those games that don’t finish and you’ll come back to at a later date. This goes along with the rails.

Very handsome tables Chimp.

Consider selling the building plans for a few bucks?

I can't imagine what a shipping cost would be, or the assembly time thereafter. Seems like if someone were to spend a few hundred bucks on a nice they would build their own.

Took the survey.

Cheers,

CB

I've also taken the survey.

Just to let you know - you have selected the "Radio Button" question type for your survey questions.

Radio Button questions only allow one answer.

If you change the question type to "Checkbox" users will be able to select multiple answers.

I agree with pretty much all of the above although if the lights weren't coloured and just helped to see the table (rather than being coloured or atmospheric) I'd be happy with that.

I do think storage would be good though - especially for scenery.

I provided some answers, but as mentioned above - could not click on several which applied. I do think you have two completely different groups of people who are answering.

1) Established adults with a permanent residence, gaming room, etc. Plan on being in the house for 5-10+ years and don't mind real furniture.

2) Younger, mobile adults who are living in apartments, move frequently, and have no interest in large heavy "permanent" furniture at this time.

I fit more into the latter, so while I answered the survey, I'm not interested in buying a fancy full-on gaming table. The kind of gaming table you're describing is a 'want', and not a 'need'. In practice it doesn't do anything more than my folding tables at the moment, but it's nicer, and thus more of a luxury item. I do think gaming stores might be interested in something like that. Things to just toss out there:

-Not a fan of lips on tables, the deeper the worse. Makes line-of-sight difficult, prevents the table from being joined up with others to expand the playing are, makes writing on sheets for RPGs annoying as feth, etc. I think it's something people "think" they want, but in practice, provides very little. I understand the desire for a convertible table for some people though. If you do put a lip on, a very small 1/2" or less is fine, if you just want to keep dice from rolling off the edge, etc.

-I agree wholeheartedly with "staging space" for any manner of tabletop wargame. How you do it and where you put it matters little to me.

-The LEDs, fog machines, etc. are just gimmicks and not something I'd be interested in. I don't want to plug my table into an outlet. That's wasted money and is something which would prevent me from buying the table if they were included.

-If you're charging big money for a table, it better be professionally built, and not some Target-bought 'Made in Vietnam' chintzy stuff. I'd want proof of your ability as a genuine woodsmith before investing money.

-Under-table storage would be a big plus. Particularly for tabletop wargaming and wargaming stores - having a place ot put all that terrain would be paramount.

-As mentioned above, the playing surface would have to be 6'x4' or larger - 100% guaranteed. Someone's going to be pissed if they buy the table and their $100 gaming mat doesn't fit in the table as advertised.