Ok played 4 games in the last two days - overall lots of fun, and i actually like the grid system for the game. Only a few initial thoughts aty the moment, its still early days so far.

1. map size - have to agree with others a larger grid than 9 x 9 (12 x 12?) would give a bit more manouvering time before the clash of arms - the game is very full on from the first turn, i wonder if a larger map woulallow some more manouvering.

2. cover i know it says 4-6 pieces of cover, but it was only when we started using 6 pieces the infantry squads managed to not get immediatly get cut to pieces. - combat is very deadly in this game, and cover adds a little survivability for the infantry i think id like to play with a bit more cover maybe 8 to 10 pieces.

Played a few games on a larger map and it is great.  I too like the grid system, dont have to worry about all that measuring and arguing.

Panzerfaust101 said:

hows 17X26 strike ya ?????? , we grided off 6 twin bed sheets , so we can make battles THAT BIG , once we have enough terrain to fill it .

we have 1 white for arctic , one tan for desert , 2 grey for urban , and 2 green for forrst and farms etc......

actually , i should clarify a bit , as i said we have grided off 6 twin bed sheets , so we can make 6 battles that big , that equates to a table area of about 6X8 feet .......... EACH .

i love this idea of griding a sheet...think i might hit up the dollor store today.

Sgt. G

do you use double sided tape to hold the sheet in-place?

BigDogg said:

i went to the dollar store and bought some table cloth holder clip thingyies , 4 for $1

BigDogg said:

wait , i just raleized , did you mean durring games , or durring the griding process ?

durring the gridding process , i went to the game store and put 2 table toppers together , each is 4X6 . it formed a surface 6X8 .

lay out the sheet on the table toppers , and iron it to get out most of the wrinkles .

i took 3 yard sticks , and several clamps . i aligned one edge of the sheet and table edge , placed the 3 yard sticks aloing that edge and clamped it down .

using the table cover clips , we then clipped the far edge in place using 8 of the clips .

i and one of my players then took 3 heavy duty card stock squares i had cut to 3&5/8 square and put them along the edge i had clamped down , against the yard sticks : one in the middle , and one about 6 inches from each edge .

i then took a metal straight edge i had that can be connected in pieces between 4 and 16 feet long and connected 2 of the pieces to make it 8 feet long . i placed the straight edge against the 3 card stock squares and used a fine tip sharpie to trace a thin line . checked the like by fliping the straight edge up , if it was darke enough and solid enough , we moved the 3 card stock squares up , and aligned them along the newly traced line . move the metal straight edge up to the edge of the card stock , and trace again , repeat untill its lined off all the way in one direction .

then carefully moved the yard sticks to the side , and clamped them down along one side of the table . then repeated the above process untill the griding was complete .

it is important to use the 3 square method as you go , the entire process . it helps keep the grid lines fairly accurate . granted , its not absolutly perfect , but it wont be notciable when you play if you do this . its also important to have a straigh edge that is atleast as wide/long as the table surfaces . we tried doing this before for some other games , and using shorter straight edges made for some VERY warped lines in some areas , some of the squares looked like diamonds which only looked worse because the squares for that game were only 1.5 inches , so it was obvious .

also we color cordinated our sheets and grid lines . i went to the craft store and bought some individual markers , so our green sheets have a olive drad grid line , our arctic sheet has sort of ice blue grid lines , our tan sheet has brown grid lines , and our grey sheets have black grid lines . this way , they are part of the battle field , but dont detract from the scenic appeal of the game . thats especially important since this is a fan made project , so you are bound to have a few miss happs here and there , so this way they tend to blend in more .

its a bit of a back pain to do , but well worth it .

its a bad photo , you cant see the grid lines in the photo , the camera doesnt pick them up , but you can see thsheet clamped down , and the metal straight edge sitting on the far side .  

the lolth is in the pic for scale purposes . this was the last sheet we did .

i am now busy working on terrain to put on them all .

[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j311/abqamateur/Space%20Ships/temporary%20pics/loth4.jpg[/IMG]