FanPro 2006 Year In Review Options

[Serbitar]

Mega Mek anyone?

[Grinder]

Curse you! :D

[Mistwalker]

If your looking for maps, take a look at HeavyMetalMap program. It allows you to make any kind of Battletech map you want, print them, etc...

I have ordered it, but haven't gotten it yet, missed the release date in late 2006.

[Demerzel]

[eidolon]

Demerzel, have you tried laying a sheet of plexiglass over the maps? Not only does it solve the moving around issue, but you can then use dry erase markers (or is it wet erase that works better on plexi?...might want to test it first) to draw and annotate stuff during the game. Pretty handy. I haven't used it for BT, but I've done it for other stuff.

edit: Demerzel later confirms that I was thinking of wet erase markers. (It has been a while since I did this.)

[Demerzel]

That's brilliant. Wet erase would be better on plexiglass.

Where did you get your plexiglass? I wonder how well a clear desk blotter would work... My primary concern would be portability, I like to take the game to go.

[Thain]

Oooh, plexiglass... Never thought of that! :eek:

As too portability, you could just get some in 12" or 24" squares. You could cover a goodsize gaming table with a small stack, and they could be transported with about as much ease as a stack of gaming books.

And allthose gorgeous poster maps that came in my boxed sets... all those cool maps on the internet... all the stuff I've whipped up in Photoshop... :eek: :love: :eek:

I'm off to Home Depot!

[eidolon]

I don't recall, but it was probably either a Home Depot or a Lowes. When you're looking at portability, Thain pretty much got it. Also, look into (or just ask about) getting pieces that were cut aways and "scraps" from larger jobs, as it's usually cheaper.

Desk blotter as in one of those hard/softish plastic things? The only thing would be to check the compatibility with whatever marker you want to use. Seems like any marker might stain that stuff, but I've never tried it. Good idea if it works though.

If you don't mind sketching the stuff out yourself (and again, no real BT knowledge here so that might not even really be an option) then Chessex's Battlemat is awesome. I have the large one, and I use if all the time (well...all the time when I have a game going...).

[Demerzel]

I used a battlemat for a lot of my BT gaming back in high school. I never had the patience or time to really draw out nice maps that were fun to play on however. As a result it didn't get as much use as my FASA printed mapsets. Recreating their complexity with a vis-a-vis marker never really happened, neither for dramatic gameplay or aesthetic appeal.