So I’m gonna start this with saying I’m not sure which forum to post this topic under, so if it’s the wrong section I apologize. I just moved into a new apartment that isn’t disgusting and I was looking at portable war gaming tables that I could collapse and stash in one of my closets. Before I dropped any capital, I wanted to ask the trusted folks of the forums if they have any experience with collapsible war game tables and if there were any brands or models that they would recommend. Thank you so much :)
Let's say I did quite some theorycrafting on that topic, though somehow never really went into practice ;) Question #1: are you asking about the table as a piece of furniture? Or about a set of terrain to furnish a gaming space? Or both? Question #2: are you planning to buy ready-made stuff, or make it yourself? For storable table as a piece of furniture, my project was very simple: get two pieces of board form a DYI store. Size being 65x130cm each - thus, together they'll make a 130x130cm surface. This in turn is meant ot give you a 5cm zone between the edge of your 120x120cm gaming surface of a standard Infinty table, and the edge of the table itself - I've seen enough models deployed on a table edge plunging to their doom on the floor to want a little safety space between these. If you don't intend to use a gaming mat, then it will be wise to mark a border between gaming area and safety border zone - with adhesive tape, a grove cut into material, or paint. Well, or simply permanent marker! This idea allows you to later add a 60x130cm piece in the center, should you ever want a 130x190 table for some other game system. Ah, and use anti-slip tape on the underside of the table, so it won't slide on whatever you place the boards. It is meant to be placed on your dinner table or whatever suitable piece of furniture you have in your apartment. Yup, they are not linked together. Pros: Cheap & simple. Just order two adequately sized pieces of board from your local DYI store. Glue some non-slip patches underside. Done. Stores easily - because it is just two peices of board. Con: Needs to be placed on existing furniture, and adequately supported. The problem is - any model being an actual, collapsible 4x4' table is way more complicated than my DYI skills can reliably handle. And will be both larger, more expensive, and more dificult to pack away than two simple boards. To say nothing about possibly transporting it to an event... If you are going to buy a gaming table - 've seen nice desings from Gamemats.eu. Haven't had a chance to try them, however. As for gaming table as terrain, in my experience urban terrain with nesting buildings is hard to beat in terms of storage space used and ease of setting it up. Making a table in this fashion is, however, going to take time and effort (I can offer a link to a series on guides I wrote about making Infintiy terrain out of mounting board. Early desings were not really nesting, but I have developed it later - and I ended up with an designs for a table-in-a-box, saly I dropped the project before I made it into actual terrain). If you'd rather buy ready-made terrain, I believe the current Corvus Belli cardboard terrain sets should do fine (Sálvora Governmental Complex Scenery Pack and the Kaldstrom terrain pack, I guess two of these should do. Bostria mentioned that CB intends to release a supplementary terrain pack to turn these into a decent table, but it wasn't been released yet AFAIK). It is not as tightly-packing as a DYI terrian could be made, but still OK. .
I bought a couple folding tables, 2'X4' each, together they are a 4'X4' table. Got a 4'X4' game mat which rolls up well. Then have a few of the CB terrain kits (1 from Wildfire, 2 from Kaldstrom) and some of the cardboard box stuff from older sets. Also bought a NY Terrain thingee for Marvel that has a couple cars, a coffee stand and news stand. All of it can fold up and fit in a decent sized closet, depending on other contents of course.
Cheapest and easiest is 2 MDF boards with a piece of a rubber mesh. I forget what its called but there is a non-slip mat you get to put under rugs. You can pick them up at any hardware store. The MDF won't slip and scratch the table. I found just having it around is handy just for random projects where I need a temp surface and don't want to ruin my table. This isn't great for transportable. But good if you are looking for a storage friendly table.
I have no idea why I didn’t think of 2 2x4’ tables. That’s so simple and efficient, it kind of blows my mind.
Thank you for your super thorough response! I was specifically referring to the table. I actually made my bed frame be 3 feet high so that I can store all the minis and terrain underneath it so I have no problem with terrain. It’s really the footprint of the table that I don’t have room for in my apartment. I have room for it but not something that will always be up. I don’t have a surface big enough to lay a4x4 on so I can’t really use my tiny table for that. But I didn’t think of DIY. So I’ll start pondering that option maybe. I like the euro game mat table. But I worry about it’s strength. I’ve watched a few YouTube videos of it. But I was wondering if there were other options that people had experience with that were better
I just don’t have a table big enough for the 2 mdf sheet approach. But it is super storage friendly. Thank you :)
Well, the simplest "furniture" table I've played on was a sheet of splinterboard (might've been 4x4', or 4x6', I don't really remember) simply laid on two sawhorse stands. Cheap and easy to come by. However, it won't support a "two 2x4' plates" setup reliably. And indeed was too low for comfortable gaming. A table with screw-on, screw-off legs could do, given how much storage space you say you do have. for me, this was a no-go (due to lack of space). also ,I didn't liked the idea of attaching the legs to my table every time I wanted to use it. Nevertheless I guess we've given you a couple of ideas - as far as gamers could've helped you :) Now, you need advice from a skilled carpenter - whom I can not claim to be :(
Sawhorses with regulable height. Extensible legs (metal normally) or a top block that slides up and down (wood, improvement on the simple version).
Also, you may look into foamed PVC or corflute for surface. Being plastic with air they are light and water resistant. They may need a protective frame and a bit of back reinforcements.
For two 2'x4' tables I can recommend Ikea, they have really cheap table tops and cheapest legs can easily be screwed off for storage if needed. Top: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/linnmon-tabletop-white-60251137/ Legs: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/adils-leg-white-90217972/ The leg are screwed onto the support with just your hands, take a few sec per leg.