Grid Board Marking

Started by hammurabi70, 09 May 2020, 03:52:16 PM

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hammurabi70

A question for the old hands, or anyone wanting to contribute!

For marking out a standard grid of either hexes or squares do you think it better to mark out the centre of the hex or square, the corner points or draw out the whole of the shape?
Is it better to use a subtle colour or have a bold contrast?

Norm

I prefer the whole shape represented ...... but I have been playing boardgames for over 40 years and so that hex shape thing is easily assimilated by my eye, I sort of see it, but don't see it i.e. it's not intrusive - I know a lot of people find a full shape to be jarring.

If making your own mat, just doing corners or the vertex makes errors in the work less noticeable than a full outline does.

For games which use range for weapons,  think a bolder print is better, so that you can just visually count out the range easily.

fred.

For squares, corners work well.

Some of the pre-printed mats come with very fine Ines, and these are very unobtrusive - but as Norm says for games were you need to count multiple squares it can be a bit hard. If you are just moving or firing 1 or 2 squares is fine.
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mmcv

I'd go for corners as less intrusive. Centre points might be a bit confusing. When I've been marking out grids I tend to use bits of scatter for the corners, for instance small rocks or clumps (glue on a baking sheet then add some flock, clump, etc and peel off when dried). If you can match it in with the terrain it'll look more subtle and less out of place.

If you're just marking it with a pen I'd go with subtle over bold, you'll still be able to see it and intuit where the grid squares are without it looking too out of place. As Fred mentioned, some preprint ones use faint lines which works okay with a lot of visual texture on the mat to blend them in somewhat.

Can I ask what game system you're planning it for? As that'll probably dictate some of these, whether it's just a rough movement grid or a more precise grid is required.

fred.

Using more natural markers is good, but I found it really increased the setup time. And found that marking out a cloth was preferable. But if you do this it can be done pretty lightly. I used a medium sharpie and it was far too heavy in retrospect.
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pierre the shy

Good Morning

My 0.02c worth  :)

Paul and I play quite a lot of For King and Parliament over here in NZ which of course uses grids.

We do not use a marked basecloth but instead just use a single small pebble to mark the corner of each square, or sometimes just a "megasquare" of 4 adjoining squares.

We find that method gives the mimimal visual impact while still allowing units to move and shoot at the correct distances.

The terrain is also sized to fit into the grid pattern where possible:



Works well for us anyway :)
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
we are not now that strength which in old days
moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are.

Steve J

I just dot the corners (for squares), making them noticeable enough when at games length, which works for me. Further away and they tend to disappear, so it's a not in your face grid.

Ithoriel

Quote from: pierre the shy on 09 May 2020, 08:38:53 PM
<snip>

We do not use a marked basecloth but instead just use a single small pebble to mark the corner of each square, or sometimes just a "megasquare" of 4 adjoining squares.

We find that method gives the minimal visual impact while still allowing units to move and shoot at the correct distances.

<snip>

Two of my group are compulsive tidiers, I'm pretty sure the pebbles would form a small cairn in a corner of the table before the end of turn 2!
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

paulr

 ;D

That's one of the reasons we use a distinctive marker

If we are limited for space it also allows for different size grids and even non-square grids (e.g. 10cm x 8cm to get the right number of 'squares')

We also use the same base clothes for non-grid games so we avoid having dots when we don't need them
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O Dinas Powys

Quote from: hammurabi70 on 09 May 2020, 03:52:16 PM
A question for the old hands, or anyone wanting to contribute!

For marking out a standard grid of either hexes or squares do you think it better to mark out the centre of the hex or square, the corner points or draw out the whole of the shape?
Is it better to use a subtle colour or have a bold contrast?

On a geometric note: if you're marking points, centre or corner makes no difference APPART from with regard to any terrain underneath.  The distance between centre of any two adjacent shapes will be the same as two corresponding corners IYSWIM  :-B

So, for example, if you are playing with larger grid game - say 3x4 - you could use 12 centrally sited 'dots' rather than 20 corner markers.

With smaller grids, placing a unit on a dot rather than nestling it between 4 or 6 would be easier, but might make counting ranges harder as dots could be hidden under other units  :-\

Cheers!

Meirion
(I know, even though it's fantasy  :o  ;)  )

FierceKitty

Those pebbles would be nagging at me all game, I fear.
I don't drink coffee to wake up. I wake up to drink coffee.

Raider4

Quote from: Ithoriel on 10 May 2020, 01:09:40 AM
Two of my group are compulsive tidiers, I'm pretty sure the pebbles would form a small cairn in a corner of the table before the end of turn 2!

Genuine LOL! Cheers, made my day.

howayman

The number of times i've picked up and thrown marker dice. . . .
The pebbles i would surely move.

hammurabi70

Many thanks for all the contributions.  I see that there is a very wide split of views!  I have played on all the variations mentioned and I think that it all comes down to circumstances.

[1] I have found three-dimensional markers too abrasive to the eye.  Irrespective of cairn building my experience is that however skilfully prepared they jar on my eye.  Many thanks for the suggestion as for anyone reading this in the future it is definitely an idea worth considering as you can do a grid quickly and cost-free in moments.
[2] I really like the idea of Centre markers as it minimises the intrusion but I fear they would regularly have troops put on top of them causing confusion and uncertainty.
[3] Full lines seem very heavy on the table but I have played on mats with fine dark lines that seem to both merge into the terrain and be visible when required; tricky to do.  With my uniform background terrain and my limited skills that would be difficult to achieve.
[4] Corner markers seem the best bet and I like the idea of using dots for that.  It would seem you have to reverse normal printing rules and use similar colouring rather contrast colouring.  However, I worry that it would give a polka-dot effect across the terrain!

No easy solution. Thanks to all for giving your time on this. The quest goes on!

FierceKitty

What about a small animal as a corner marker? Ducks, rabbits, badgers, usw.
I don't drink coffee to wake up. I wake up to drink coffee.