Wargames table trials

 Regular readers will know that I mainly play wargames (and paint) on the dining room table as I don't have a dedicated games room.

Now this table is fine, it is solid and a good size, 6' x 3', so plenty big enough for most of the sorts of games I do. Unfortunately it also gets used for other  things, like putting Charity Hampers on, or having dinner etc. So I need to time its use around other things going on in the room, and sometimes I'd like to leave stuff set up for a while. 

The other table I sometimes use is my 3x3 Card Table, which I also tend to use when playing remote games as I have my big extra monitor on it. This is also fine for small games like Memoir 44 or 6x8 hex stuff. It is up in the spare bedroom, so can be left set up for a while, however it is quite small. 

Now, when I was a kid, I used to play on a pair of pasting tables, just like these two. Cheap, easy to set up (over the bed!) and each one a nice 6x2 size. I picked these up at B&Q as I wanted to experiment with a larger table I could leave set up, but would pack away as needed. 

The soft toys belong to my younger daughter, the 31 year old Registrar Medical Oncologist who apparently likes us to hang on to these. The Minion and Clanger used to join me on Zoom calls when I was still at work in lockdown.

Modern pasting tables are apparently a bit more flimsy and uneven than those in the 1970s, so I beefed them up with some sheets of 9mm MDF on top of the tables, which held the whole together and made it stable. It also evened out the surface, which I needed to do to lay out some Hexon. 

I then clamped one of my base cloths over the top, and that tied it all together very well. I realised I only needed two of the 2x4 MDF sheets for the game I was doing, hence the very obvious raised ridge.

And that worked pretty well. The base cloth meant I didn't even need a non-slip mat for my Hexon. It is a bit low to stand up next to it for extended periods though, so I need to sort out a suitable chair.

So that is great, I have another gaming table option, which didn't cost much, packs away, but I can leave upstairs in the spare room as needed. In summer I guess I could even set it up the garage. Excellent!