Gaming Space at home - Your solutions and setups

[AthlorianStoners]

Moving this over from another thread, what are everyone’s setups and space conserving solutions for home games? 

Before we built our table my group and I would run mats or the new Blasted Hallowheart boards on a bed. Easy to work with and doesn’t require much space. 

Our new alternative was building a gaming table that folds in half. Slides right underneath a bed and barely takes up much room at all. 

[Kramer]

Sadly I have nothing that would help you in low space. But the best I can come up with (and used to use) is get a couple of these. Two long 6ft planks  and six 2 by 2 ft squares of a light but sturdy wood. Place the two long planks on top of the supports, squares on top of that. If you want you can paint them or easier still get a roll of modeling grass. Cut out 6 2x2ft squares and glue them on top of the wooden squares.  

Advantage it easily stores underneath a bed, behind a couch. Places like that. Disadvantages: because the squares are not attached the table will be very prone to gaps appearing between the squares because of slight bumps into the table. 

Hope this helps. 

[AsraiR]

Got a couple of folding wallpaper tables for £32 perfectly 6x4, bunch of MDF and GW terrain and away I go.

Just need a matt

[Nin Win]

Two 30 inch folding tables gives a gaming space with 6" on each side for putting dice and reserves and small tablets or printed data sheets or whatever.

[Richelieu]

Cheapest solution is probably just a couple of saw horses and a 4x8 sheet of plywood.  Gives 12" on each end for dead models, books, etc.

Edit: probably should have paid attention to what @Kramer wrote first since it's very similar.  

 

[Sharkbelly]

I have the 30" x 72" tables myself. Four of them and two grass mats make a nice 4' x 12' gaming table large enough for almost any battle.

[stato]

I have no place at the moment for a permanent or semi-permanent table so think ill be buying one of these from Urbanmatz.com, there is also one from gamemat.eu but that doesnt fold as small.

When ive got my shed built though ill be building a folding table, like one of my gaming club mates has done (this is his how-to video). Its a center section on wheels with 2 fold out wings to make a space big enough for 4x4 or 6x4, with a little extra for dice and books.

 

[Attackmack]

A folding table (as pictured above) and two MDF boards 3' x 4' each and on this I roll out a gaming mat. A bit of work to set up but when not playing all this is easily stored under a bed.

Sometime Im going to have a dedicated gaming room and then ill build a full size table and wont have to setup/take down. But until then, this setup works great.

[RuneBrush]

Mine's pretty basic, I just put out 6 realm of battle boards on my dining table.  There's about a 5" overhang all round but it's safe enough providing you don't lean on the edges.  Longer term I'm planning on getting a dining table with folding leaf to give me the full 6ft length - perfect would be some boards or a table topper, however they're a bit of a pain to store as they're so large.

A dedicated room would be amazing, however I've already got one room as a hobby/computer room so mustn't be greedy (a basement would be amazing!), can't really justify moving to a larger house to justify a gaming room

[mikethefish]

I use a table, made by FirmerTerraLLC, that is very similar to the one by Urbanmatz pictured above

 

https://firmerterra.com

 

It folds down into a space that is 4 foot, by 18 inches, by 9 inches.  I just slide it under my bed when not in use - works really well.  It's expensive, but I don't regret buying it at all.

[syph0n]

2 hours ago, RuneBrush said:

Mine's pretty basic, I just put out 6 realm of battle boards on my dining table.  There's about a 5" overhang all round but it's safe enough providing you don't lean on the edges.  Longer term I'm planning on getting a dining table with folding leaf to give me the full 6ft length - perfect would be some boards or a table topper, however they're a bit of a pain to store as they're so large.

A dedicated room would be amazing, however I've already got one room as a hobby/computer room so mustn't be greedy (a basement would be amazing!), can't really justify moving to a larger house to justify a gaming room

I have a large dining table, it opens up comfortably above 6ft, but it's not wide enough. I'm investigating using MDF boards that fold as a table topper. If I can get them to fold in half, at least, with a durable surface (a good textured paint) I can store it in the shed. It's actually all the scenery I struggle (or would struggle) to store in addition to the models, paints etc.

It's a very space consuming hobby! 

[Attackmack]

1 hour ago, mikethefish said:

I use a table, made by FirmerTerraLLC, that is very similar to the one by Urbanmatz pictured above

 

https://firmerterra.com

 

It folds down into a space that is 4 foot, by 18 inches, by 9 inches.  I just slide it under my bed when not in use - works really well.  It's expensive, but I don't regret buying it at all.

How wobbly are those FirmerTerra tables?

They fold up way neater then most other similar tables but ive seen the ones from Urbanmatz and they are too wobbly for my taste.

[Karol]

How do people store those folded tables and terrain at homes, they tend to take up a lot of space, unless they are something like Warmachine terrain.

[stato]

14 minutes ago, Attackmack said:

How wobbly are those FirmerTerra tables?

They fold up way neater then most other similar tables but ive seen the ones from Urbanmatz and they are too wobbly for my taste.

Id say they look identical. Anything on long thin metal legs will wobble, just needs to be played on with care i guess.  There are not really any alternatives that pack away as small unfortunately.

[Praecautus]

An easy solution to extend a dining table, my mother in law has a large piece of wood which has batons attached underneath form a rectangle. This is placed on top of the dining table and the batons fit around the top of the proper table holding the board in place. Voila small table made much larger. When not in use the large board is stored in the garage.

My mother in law uses this for large family dinners - not warhammer, at least not that I know of.

[Attackmack]

1 minute ago, Praecautus said:

An easy solution to extend a dining table, my mother in law has a large piece of wood which has batons attached underneath form a rectangle. This is placed on top of the dining table and the batons fit around the top of the proper table holding the board in place. Voila small table made much larger. When not in use the large board is stored in the garage.

My mother in law uses this for large family dinners - not warhammer, at least not that I know of.

Now, if she DID use it for warhammer that would be absolutely amazing  

[stato]

7 minutes ago, Praecautus said:

An easy solution to extend a dining table, my mother in law has a large piece of wood which has batons attached underneath form a rectangle. This is placed on top of the dining table and the batons fit around the top of the proper table holding the board in place. Voila small table made much larger. When not in use the large board is stored in the garage.

My mother in law uses this for large family dinners - not warhammer, at least not that I know of.

Its a great way to hold a board secure on the table, however there are 2 problems with that;

1. 6x4 or 2 3x4 (or even 3 2x4) boards still need a fairly big space to store, such as a garage, and require an existing table.

2. If you have a garage why arnt you converting it to a gaming space!!! ?

[Praecautus]

11 minutes ago, stato said:

Its a great way to hold a board secure on the table, however there are 2 problems with that;

1. 6x4 or 2 3x4 (or even 3 2x4) boards still need a fairly big space to store, such as a garage, and require an existing table.

2. If you have a garage why arnt you converting it to a gaming space!!! ?

I don't have a garage yet and mother in law does things like keep a car in hers. Her house was from the time garages were of a useful size.

The board could be broken into smaller Ones and maybe use clasps or similar things s of some sort to hold together. I am not a carpenter so not sure of options but I bet there are ?

[Attackmack]

10 minutes ago, Praecautus said:

I don't have a garage yet and mother in law does things like keep a car in hers. Her house was from the time garages were of a useful size.

The board could be broken into smaller Ones and maybe use clasps or similar things s of some sort to hold together. I am not a carpenter so not sure of options but I bet there are ?

Honestly though, I have two 3x4 boards arent that hard to store, you can push them under a bed, stand them behind a door or maybe even push them in behind a bookshelf or something depending on your furniture. And if you do three 3x2 theyll be even easier to store!

I simply put these on a roughly 6x2 folding table, no clamps or anything to hold them, and they stay very firm and wont move at all on the table.

 

I made my board from 12mm MDF and that in itself will do, but I also covered one side of each board with a vinyl fabric just to give it a softer surface. If I play boardgames and such I often just use the boards as is, and when I wargame I roll out a suitable mat on it.

[Amenhotep]

I use 3 4x2 MDF boards on top of the dining room table (or less pending on the system/game size i'm playing). A note on putting stuff on a dining room table (which in my case is exactly 3ft wide), i'd always use some protection on the table itself such as a mat or a bunch of placemats so you don't inadvertently scratch the table with the boards. I'll generally clip them together as well for maximum stability with some big bulldog clips. On top of this i then use a gaming mat (in my case one of the now venerable 1st Ed 'FAT' mats). Happily the dining table can extend to about 10ft, so plenty of space for casualties and books, although it starts getting a bit cramped at that point!

 

 

[lolwut]

16 hours ago, Nin Win said:

Two 30 inch folding tables gives a gaming space with 6" on each side for putting dice and reserves and small tablets or printed data sheets or whatever.

This is what I do. 

I have 2 of these tables, which i got at target. Then, i put down sheets of cardboard, so it's totally flat, and my FAT mat on top of that. 

And it's exactly what you said - there's room for reserves, dice, casualties, etc, not on the table itself. 

Would recommend this approach. 

[Twitch of Izalith]

I have a folding table - I think its the urbanmatz one. Its not the most sturdy design but I don't have space for a permanent table at home. My gaming group has a permenant set up with 4 tables though so mostly I play there - its easier to transport an army than set up at home.

The table is fine though. It doesn't wobble and its much better than the 2 wallpaper tables I used to use. It just lives behind the couch when its folded up.

Storing scenery is much more of a hassle - Its all awkward shapes, none of it folds and its all reasonably fragile. I have 3 big plastic crates that are always in the way where ever I keep them!

Minis are stored - in a cabinet, on 2 sets of shelves, in dozens of box-files with KR foam, on my paint desk, on the kitchen units, on the coffee table, on book shelves, on the TV stand, window sils, ...pretty much any flat surface is fair game

People tell me I have a problem and I agree with them - my house isn't big enough  

 

[EccentricCircle]

I have some Ikea tables, where the legs unscrew. I have four, and keep two of them up as a dining and painting table, and then deploy two more to occupy my entire living room for gaming events. They fit quite neatly under my bed the rest of the time. I think they are this sort, although the name seems to have changed since I bought mine: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/desks/desk-computer-desks/adils-linnmon-table-white-spr-29932181/

They are great because they are quite a modular set up. I do a lot of RPGs so can deploy a useful amount of table space depending on how many players are in attendance. For wargaming they can be assembled as a medium sized battlefield, a large one, or as two small ones depending on what we're playing!

[avanp]

As someone with a helfort, I know the hassle of terrain storage. So, I made this. It's 10 inches by 7 inches, 5 inches tall. Enough ruins to cover a 4x6 table. It's made out of a heavy plaster so it's durable and won't move around on the table. 

[Artobans Ghost]

I am lucky as I have a basement and dug my heals in when I finished it. I gave the fam a tv room, a laundry room for all and I took the last 25% for me ? all the materials were from extra stuff from  my contracting and the the uses for my hobby room we’re abundant from other members but I held my ground. Took me 6 months to build but my wife surprised me with a man cave plaque to put on the door. She now  sees sanity returning  to me as I hide away and build/paint and will actually come in once in while to see what’s happening. I played fantasy from 2005-2011 and actually started playing again last fall after a hiatus and fell in love with AoS. 

Unfortunately I cut my 6x4 board down to 3x 5 for better space but it really hampers the game. Traffic jam central. I really  like the black 4x4 table above with the fold  down 2 x4 extention. I think I’m going to do something like that.