I have been playing around with different configurations for a custom table and wanted to note some things I’ve landed on that I really like. A main one thing is having the map mounted so that it can slide around as needed on top of a bigger playing area. My table is 65” x 95” in total with a 5.5” arm rest around the outside and the middle is a recessed neoprene surface. I have the OOB Global map mounted on 1/2” rigid foam with a 1/2” aluminum frame around it. This allows the map to slide up close to whoever’s turn it is, but then be in the middle so both players can roll dice In front of them without disturbing the map and in easy view of the other player. (Plus we like lots of room to roll the bones). This ability to adjust the surface along with a standing height, makes it comfortable for long uses because you can move around more and don’t feel as tied down.
Things I’ve learned and changed from original design - I originally used too big of a frame for the map and mounted it on too high of a foam block (you can see these pictures at the bottom) - it made it hard to see the other player’s dice and the big frame took up too much real estate. My global map is mounted on much thinner foam (the framing is bad, you can see if you look closely) but I also used much thinner aluminum angle for the frame. This gives just enough grip when needing to move the map around (I use furniture slides on the bottom, which glide very nicely on the neoprene) but doesn’t make the whole thing too bulky. Having it an inch or so off the surface keeps the dice off, but isn’t so heigh that you can’t see the other player’s dice rolls. When playing other versions (such as Zombies) the board is much smaller, but it can easily swap in and out on the same table since it can move around where ever it is needed or be pushed aside.
I originally made it normal table height, but found long reaches while sitting were harder and it just felt cramped. Standing height with a bar stool is a great way to have the best of both worlds.
The 5.5” rim around the table itself gives you a nice arm rest that doesn’t interfere with the gaming surface. I’m playing with how to best add some cushion to this part - open to suggestions. Sometimes I just lay a piece of leftover neoprene on it.
Dice bounce nice on the neoprene and stay off the floor. It also feels nice and has enough give to allow things to slide but be picked up easily. Wouldn’t definitely go with neoprene again as a surface covering.
I made the drawers open to the inside of the table so you can stay hunched over the action while accessing and stowing stuff away. 50/50 on whether I would keep this if I were to do it again. If I were doing it again, I might try to build customer drawers form scratch using actual drawer glides, but that was beyond my ability when I first did this, so I just used clear plexiglass boxes with aluminum pulls mounted on them. It’s nice having them clear, and I was happy with how the pulls came out, but without glides they can be a little fussy sliding in and out of their slots.
I originally designed the table so that I could put a cover surface back on top when not in use, but find I don’t really ever do that, so if I were to do it again, I might not mess with that part (I never even finished staining those as you can see in the pictures).
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Sired's Map project - Updated- 4/16 - files available see first post
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@jasonondesign Out Of Box
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How do I buy the mapfile?
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@SGT-Pitbull Jaysun Gray siredblood is his email at yahoo-dot-com
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@jasonondesign thanks ;)
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Where is the link to buy the latest map ( the one with the railway)
i only got this…https://shop.x-raypad.com/custom-axis-allies-g40-play-mat/ -
@Imperious-Leader I was looking for the file only. Your link seems to be the printed board?
Still waiting for reply on email. Hope ill reach himKind regards
Jonas Espersen
Assistant Manager
Axis & Allies Club Danmark -
I bought it! And its the best god damn 20 USD I ever spend in my life! THANKS @siredblood
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The PSD file with layers would be nice. If I have to pay extra its ok. Is it possible?
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@SGT-Pitbull I begged him to let me pay him more for the PSD files but he resisted. I guess someone stole it and posted a high-res version online. I talked to the company and got them to take down the high res version, but I still wasn’t able to get the layered PSD files. I ended up having to do a lot of hacking on my own to get the countries split up, but I was able to tweak the map for easy tournament rules setup. Everything is color coded and shows what units set up there, etc. it would have saved me literally at least a dozen hours if I could have just grabbed the layers. Pro Tip: If you download the PDF of the official Axis and Allies rules you can open them in Illustrator (or Affinity Designer which is what I use) and select the unit pictures and circular disks for flags and such and just copy-paste them as vectors! Screen Shot 2020-01-17 at 8.18.27 AM.png
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Thats nice makes it easy for set up! and i like the colored areas to indicate ownership
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Someone asked for more closeups. The tricky things I found were regions that have troops from multiple regions. Also the cruisers and destroyers are hard to tell apart from the picture, as well as the tactical bombers. I’ve put letters next to the boats and a letter T on the tactical bombers. I haven’t done another print test with the latest though so I might need to be more explicit with the bombers.
Other Notes:- I put started money location on the scoreboard on the top.
- I put “little” flags on countries which start out occupied in the global game. For example, Hong Kong is owned by GB, but occupied at the start of the global tournament rules.
- I put important information on the sides of the map such as victory conditions.
- After doing a tournament and seeing how other people play I also bought a bunch of colored dice and painted them so that only the numbers that “win” have pips, and then matched the board to the colors. it makes it SUPER easy to grab a handful of green and red dice, roll them, and see how many hits were scored.
- My son designed and 3D printed some air and water bases and industrial complexes. The first take were way too big, but this set came outs well scaled
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@Imperious-Leader As a note, I’m 90% sure that those people at x-RayPad.com don’t have the rights to sell that map, and you have to buy it from Sired. He’s just a guy so he can’t fight them for having stolen it, but I’m pretty sure they don’t have a deal with him to use his artwork, and he put a LOT of work into it.
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I did buy it, im just intrigued by your ideas on improvement.
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@Imperious-Leader cool. I just wanted to make sure anyone who saw this thread knew that link was to a stolen copy of someone’s work.
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@jasonondesign is Sired still selling it? I’ve reached out to him a couple of times but haven’t heard back. It’s an impressive map, but only willing to get it with permission.
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I also tried to reach out ( well i paid anyway) Be patient. I like the version with the setup printed to make it easier…
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@buddytoliver Yeah but he’s got a busy day-job, so sometimes it takes him a few days or even a week to get back in touch.
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Can anyone give me a rough idea of how much this would cost to print?
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For me 3’ x 6’ on vinyl 75.00. 3mm styrene 95.00
Probably more by you. -
@trent15 I just printed them on banners for like $45 each. I went through a few iterations with the color coding and the initial placement layouts and such. It’s not as nice, but it’s cheep and super awesome to play on.
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