Comments on: The Successor to Tact-Tiles: Battlegraph Dry Erase Boards, aka Battle Boards (the Stew Interviews their Creator)

By: GameMastery Review: Pirate Ship Flip-Mat and Map Pack: Mines - EN World: Your Daily RPG Magazine

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:23:22 +0000

[...] a bit on Flip Mats). Sadly, the guy who made Tact-Tiles is out of business now, and I've not found an exact substitute. That writer is right. I guard my Tact-Tiles with my life. And a sword. __________________ ~No one [...]

By: longtooth

longtooth — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 05:12:28 +0000

I have spruced up the longtooth site a bit while its still under construction. Check out the nifty new flash that will give a better idea of how the homesite will look. Give it a second to load and then enjoy! http://www.longtoothstudios.com

By: Boo-key

Boo-key — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:04:48 +0000

There are tiles made from thick plastic with textured grid instead of black lines. I saw them on ebay but they don’t show up on the companies website:

http://www.GreatVictoryWidgets.com

I also found some cool erasable dungeon mats there. Looks pretty cool. Anybody seen these?

By: Meat Shield

Meat Shield — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:11:58 +0000

@longtooth - Well, I got the Tact Tiles out for our session this weekend, and apparently I was wrong - they also have differing sized tabs and slots, depending on which face you are looking at. I was wrong, sorry about that Longtooth. Gawd, I could have SWORN they were the same size.....

By: longtooth

longtooth — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:30:31 +0000

@PerilousDM - The boards are made of hardboard. Which is a highly compressed wood fiber / resin combination. They are much more rigid than cardboard. Keep an eye out for an upcoming video where I allow my two year old play with the boards, which he has really enjoyed doing lately. It should be a great demonstration of their durability. The next video will be about drawing dungeons in advance. I will try to liven up the presentation a little. I have had a bit of feedback concerning how dry the demo is. LOL Maybe a hot spokes model? Would that be better? ANYTHING would be better. : )

By: PerilousDM

PerilousDM — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:00:13 +0000

@longtooth - Not only do I use miniatures, I still have a good collection of the now-ancient Grenadier miniatures (circa 1979) that I painted - wow - almost 30 years ago! I recently inventoried my D&D minis, and I am up to over 500 pieces, and close to 300 different figures. I also turned my wife and sister-in-law on to painting, helping boost my metal collection. ;] As for counters, I use the stack of blank 1/2" cardboard die-cut counters I've collected (made by The Armoury, not sure if they're still around) and label those for conditions, etc. Yeah, I'm big into visual aids. :^D

By: PerilousDM

PerilousDM — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:54:55 +0000

Re: Battlegraph - I invested in 21 Tact-tiles back at GenCon in Milwaukee, and at $91 they turned out to be a great investment. The solid plastic and painted on grid are virtually indestructible... what is the substrate of these Battlegraphs? I'm guessing 'Monopoly' board style cardstock, or perhaps old Mayfair Games (the puzzle-board originators) style cardstock (thinner than MB/Parker Bros boards). Either way they will may be susceptible to the corners bending/separating. Also, paper based boards will tend to warp in humid environments. A shame these can't be made of plastic; Tact-tiles ftw.

By: longtooth

longtooth — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:12:45 +0000

I would be interested to know how many people use painted minis, counters, or a combination of both. I know that we use a lot of counters. A variety of objects ranging from board game pieces, colored lumps of glass, and cardboard cutouts in addition to miniatures for our characters when we find ones we like. I am developing a line of gamer friendly "tokens" or "counters" that I have found to improve our games here. What are your experiences out there?

By: Martin Ralya

Martin Ralya — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:24:00 +0000

@longtooth – Agreed — I take care of my stuff, and taking care of these certainly wouldn’t be an issue for me. I just appreciate your honesty in pointing out that Battlgraphs (like everything else in the world) aren’t perfect.

Personally, I’ve managed to go several years without spilling anything on my Tact-Tiles, and if I’ve spilled anything on a paper map or board game in the last 20 years, I certainly don’t remember doing it. The occasional gaming book has suffered, though.

By: Patrick Benson

Patrick Benson — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:54:39 +0000

@Matthew J. Neagley – Fair enough. I would not want to use a solution that requires re-application. I also wouldn’t want the dry erase ink mixing with the wax as it is sure to eventually come off of the board itself and who knows what it might come in contact with and stain.

I’m sure there are things that might work fine, I’m just not betting on wax as being the right solution here. Maybe white board paint with black pigment added would work? Plus, the point is not to spill stuff on the board to begin with.

By: BryanB

BryanB — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:19:27 +0000

I missed the Tact-Tiles when they came around. I may need to check these out, although I have often been satisfied with just my Chessex battlemats or dungeon tiles.

By: Matthew J. Neagley

Matthew J. Neagley — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:57:56 +0000

@ Patrick Black crayon with occasional re-application should take care of both those concerns. However, as an alternative, what about clear nail polish. Certainly there has to be something that will do the trick (but just isn't efficient from a mass production standpoint)

By: Patrick Benson

Patrick Benson — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:55:27 +0000

@dmmagic – One of my players is the creator of the Flip Mat and owner of Steel Sqwire and he gave me a bunch of the demos he had when he sold them under the Steel Sqwire brand before making the deal with Paizo. They rock! I keep four of them in my gaming binder and they are great for conventions. If they don’t lay flat just reverse the folds and they will. I can’t say enough good things about them.

That said, these Battlegraph tiles look great too. I’ll probably end up with a set of these as well. You can never have enough cool gaming geek toys!

By: longtooth

longtooth — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:54:26 +0000

@Martin Ralya - Thank you! I think the golden rule applies here. If you think about it though, keeping them dry isn't that big of a deal, and if a spill occurs, having been warned, you can just clean them up quickly. I was just treating everyone as I would want to be treated. Good news is that after release we will begin to offer boards that have been sealed, and hex grid boards. These will cost approximately twice as much though. Worth it to some and not to others. For me, I would rather just keep them dry, and save my money for other toys.

By: longtooth

longtooth — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:38:01 +0000

@Meat Shield - Hi folks! This is Brian Davison, creator of Battlegraph Dry Erase Boards. I am thrilled to be here, and thankful to get such a nice welcome on Gnome Stew. If I may comment on the message above, I would like to explain why the sides have different sized tabs and slots. They don't limit the configuration of the board at all, in fact they clarify how the board should be oriented. When you draw out your map ahead of time, you will not have to worry how the next piece falls into place. it will only go in one way. Tact-tiles were this way as well, it was just that the difference was not as pronounced. Thank you everyone for the support. We look forward to many years of providing you with great accessories to the games we love. Brian Davison Longtooth Studios Making the stuff games are made of