Global Gaming Table Threads and Pictures

@gen-manstein very Awesome!!

Hello everyone! I made a thread where people can put in plugs, adds, etc. for A&A games you guys have developed, are developing, think need attention, or are just cool. I’ll get the ball rolling by plugging my own.

We’ve all slapped a bunch of American and Soviet control markers on the board and called it the Cold War. Some of us have even developed alternative setups for existing a&a games so that it fits the Cold War. However, no one, to my knowledge, has developed a completely new game of A&A specifically for the Cold War, until now. The game @GEN-MANSTEIN, @MonsieurMurdoch, and I are developing does just that. We have four different powers to choose from, event cards to make stay fresh no matter how many times you play it, national advantages and other optional and additional rules to spice the game up for even the most veteran players, a tech tree to put most MMO’s to shame, polar regions for people to pointlessly obsess over, and best of all, plenty of nuclear weapons. Were even working with Historical Boardgaming! However, we are always looking for more playtesters and help in general. If your interested please DM me!

Also check out the Chinese Civil War thread. It’s got a ton of great stuff! See @MonsieurMurdoch for more information.

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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Wow, those must have taken you a long time to do. So much color variations, you have there, for the Italians. Super job on these. :-)

I have made alterations, mostly to territory values along with adding a few new territories, to the Global 40 game to more accurately (as I believe) reflect the relative values of the given territories of the game map. Here is a list of my changes and/or additions;
United States (value 47)…… East US 20, Central US 12, West US 10, Alaska 2, Hawaii 1 & Philippines 2
Canada (value 11) …  NB & NS 1, Quebec 3, Ontario 3, A-S-M 2, British Columbia 2 & NWT (new territory north of A-S-M) 0.
ANZAC (value 6) … New Zealand 2, Queensland 1, New South Wales 2 & Victoria 1 (S. Aus, W. Aus & NT all now 0).
United Kingdom Europe (value 19) … Scotland 3, United Kingdom 6, Nigeria 1, Belgian Congo 1, Union of South Africa 2, Rhodesia 1, Tanganyika 1, Kenya 1, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 1, Egypt 2 & Gold Coast, SW Africa & Trans-Jordan now 0.
France (value 19) … France 6, Normandy 2, South France 2, Algeria 1, Tunisia 1, Fr W Africa 1, Fr Cen Africa 1, Fr Equa Africa 1, Madagascar 1, Syria 1 & Fr Indo-china 2 (Morocco now 0).
Japan (value 26) … Japan 8, Okinawa 1, Iwo Jima 1, Korea 3, Formosa 1, Manchuria 3, Jehol 1, Shantung 2, Kiangsu 3, Kiangsi 1, Kwangsi 1 & Siam 1.
Germany (value 30) … Norway 1, Denmark 2, Hol-Bel 3, West Germany 9, G South Ger 3, Germany 5, Poland 3, Slo-Hun 2 & Romania 2.
United Kingdom (Pacific) (value 19) … West India 3, South India 1 (new)* , India 6, Burma 1, Malaya 3, Borneo 2 & Kwangtung(HK) 3 & Shan State now 0.
Italy (value 10) … North Italy 5, South Italy 3, Libya 1 & Ethiopia 1 (Albania now 0).
Dutch East Indies (value 7) … Java 4, Sumatra 2, Celebes 1 , Dutch New Guinea & Moluccas - a new territory, both 0.
Soviet Union (value 37) … Russia 6, Ukraine 3, West Ukraine 3, Novgorod 3, Baltic States 2, East Poland 2, Belarus 2, Rostov 2, Volgograd 2, Caucasus 2, Smolensk 1, Bryansk 1, Vologda 1, Samara 1, Tambov 1, Kazachstan 1, Novosibirsk 1, Yenisey 1, Yakut 1 & Amur 1. All other territories are now 0.
Neutral States (value 39) … Mexico 1, SE Mexico 2, Central America 1, West Indies 1, Venezuela 2, Columbia 1 (new), Peru 1 (new), Chile 2, Argentina 2, Brazil 3, Finland 1, Sweden 3, Eire 1 (new), Spain 2, Portugal 1, Angola 1, Mozambique 1, Saudi Arabia 1, Iraq 2, Turkey 3, Greece 2, Bulgaria 1, Yugoslavia 2 & Persia 2.

That’s a nice set-up!  While there’s a lot of really great tables out there. I’m one of those guys that really just doesn’t have the space for a huge table. This is nice. Good job friend!

I like the whole idea of pulleys and storing it high on the ceiling. Nice job.

@CWO:

@ozimek1:

You could have painted at the borders, IPC values, territory names etc. on the glass. That way you could easily use the 3D map for different games by changing the glass overlay :)

I think that having different sheets of painted glass for different games would be an expensive proposition.  I don’t know how much Rorschach’s setup cost him, but the acrylic sheet which covers my own AA50 table set me back over a hundred bucks.

Yeah, I originally was going to etch all the borders onto the acrylic, but when you’re looking at $50 (give or take) per sheet for this size it would be far too expensive.  But, to be honest, the sheet is so close to the table anyway there is absolutely no mistaking the territories, so it’s all good.

And this way, if we want to play a different game, we just pop in a flat MDF panel underneath instead of the AA50 board and you’re good to go!

The entire table (not counting countless hours of time) cost me about $150 … still no legs on it though.

And, Jeremy and I finally finished our game.  17 rounds, 9 weeks (about an hour and a quarter, hour and a half a week) … Allied Victory when the Brits waltzed into a sparsely defended Berlin.