Table sizes yes I repeat Table sizes

[Mr Farson]

What's gwanin me piff tings

 

I'm currently looking at revamping my playing area in my new home. The smaller table size offers me additional space for army storage while big table is well big table

 

As an aged soul whom started with 3e 40k I find myself most familiar with 8x4 and 6x4 boards (the occasional 4x4 when one is feeling particularly daring)

 

Im conscious that many of you post 8th edition types have only ever known the smaller board sizes.

 

So onto the spike of my question.

 

What is the board size you most commonly play on?

 

[Marshal Mittens]

My normal home table is 8x5, though I also play historicals and a larger table is a must for those. 

 

I think it's fun as weapon ranges suddenly become a lot more important. 

 

Also you can have a lot of terrain and it can really change the game and how it's played. 

 

If I am in a game store I am normally playing on a 6x4 which is what most of my local stores have. 

[Cleon]

My table is 6 by 4, I have the extra panel to make it 8 by 4, but have only used it once as I start to run out of room to get round the table.

 

I actually prefer (logistics wise) playing the smaller footprint on the 6 by 4 with extra space for books, cards, casualties etc. so I'd always suggest spacing for the bigger table.

[NovemberIX]

When I was regularly hosting games we used a pair of 6X4 tables. It's always easier to scale down than it is to scale up was my thought process.

[Khulu]

I built a 6'6"x4'6" table and everyone I play with loves it. I'm tall as hell so I made it taller than I have found any gaming table (I want to say 4' but its been a couple years so I might be wrong - I can measure and update when I get home). Even the shorter guys in my group have liked it.

 

As for the extra space, I built it that way because I wasn't sure we would stay at the smaller size forever, and still had some 6x4 mats I liked, so I wanted to be able to use them. The extra space is useful either way - with a 6x4 game you have space for cards and dice and such. On a "standard" size game you can put deep striking units along the edge so they're easily accessible. I am very glad I built it bigger.

[crimsondave]

6’x4’

 

I have too many mats to change plus it feels wrong going any smaller to me

 

I started in the early 90’s with 8’x4’ so the new size feels almost board gamish 

Edited December 1, 2024 by crimsondave

[The Yncarne]

fixed table - 6' x 4'

set-up/popup tables use ~2' x 4' plywood extensions on the top. these then have a 6' x 4' or the smaller mats on top.

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

Edited December 2, 2024 by The Yncarne

[Kenzaburo]

4' x 4' or, if there's more than 2,5k pts on the table, a 6' x 4'. Got two RoB boards (one 40k, one AoS) for this, as well as a custom built one.

[Irongert]

I still have an 8x4 table from back when that was the norm. We mostly play on 6x4 but the extra space is just usefull to put stuff down. It also helps with skirmish games in that we can play two games on one table. 

[Rhavien]

I've indeed shrunken my gaming table to 60" x 44" for quite a while now. My hobby room isn't that spacy and the extra space makes it feel less cramped. Noone from my gaming group had an issue with it yet. But I have to say, that noone around here plays massive hord armies. Maybe for  those it could feel claustrophobic, but as said I have no practical experience with this case. 

[a_typical_hero]

72" by 48" for regular games and 48" by 48" for smaller ones.

[CommissarXin]

I have a Built by hand 6X4 table and likely I'll keep playing on 6X4 mats and whatnot as I like bigger tables.

[Petitioner's City]

I am reminded of this!

 

 

This is from the Hail Caesar epic rulebook (by Rick Priestley). It's something I think modern Warhammer misses for sure - the idea of going bigger, to tell a better story. 

[Petitioner's City]

I made my 8*6 table, based off of clockwork orange (yaktribe) table idea (https://yaktribe.games/community/threads/55-ikea-gaming-table.11035/ )

 

 

Definitely keen to have bigger tables for greater maneuvering :)

 

 

[Xenith]

6x4 is the norm for me, though this feels a little small for heresy, where basically everything is in pistol range by turn 2 and a lot of things can shoot 48". 

 

We block off parts for new GW 'Minimum' table sizes, though 9/10th ed feel better on large tables. With many parts of the game, it fel like the left hand didnt know what the right hand was doing, so compensated for short range weapons through the main rules by making tables smaller, and in codexes by increasing ranges. The end result is that almost evrything is always in range, rendering the range value pointless. I like a 6'x4' with a basilisk or a fire prism off in one corner.  

[Evil Eye]

I'm firmly of the opinion 6' X 4' was the norm for ages for a good reason, but that said I'm not a particular stickler for precise board size, as long as it's a rectangle and is big enough for the size of game. I never understood the obsession with following the official guidelines for table size to the letter, especially given they're supposed to be guidelines and not hard-and-fast rules anyway! As Xenith said, if the board needs to be smaller just mark the edges off or wall them off with terrain to get the right size. I will say though something that can be made of 2' X 2' squares is good as it enables easy modularity.

[TheArtilleryman]

I use a bunch of 2’x2’ square pieces. Normally I’d set up a 6x4 but often these days a 4x4 is more practical for the 1000 point games I tend to play. I don’t ever have time to finish a larger game and I don’t have anywhere I can leave the game set up at the moment. 
 

I’ve never understood the reasoning for changing the standard size. It just feels too small and awkward to measure out.

[LameBeard]

I play most on a board I made that’s roughly 41”x44”.

 

It’s this random size because I made the supports to fit this big bit of mdf-like fibreboard that came as packaging for furniture, so it’s as big as I could make it. It’s very annoying not to be 4’x4’ at least, I can only dream of 6’x4’.

 

I understand GW changed board sizes around 8th to fit multiples of their cardboard battle-boards, whose size was determined by the way they folded into standard packaging. So it was very much the tail wagging the dog.

 

I can understand with recent housing pressure in the UK and elsewhere a move to smaller tables has benefits, but doing this at the same time as bigger models has made the game worse in my view.

 

ironically I now want a smaller 3’x3’ table - I feel the smaller it is, the more often I’d get it out, and it would be the standard size for some skirmish games I now play (GW models but not GW rules).

 

 

[Marshal Mittens]

In my old house I could do 16x5.5, though I lost my man cave in the move. When I move in 2026, I want a man cave again. The big size was mostly for historicals and RPGs, but i would like to play 30k/40k at that scale. 

 

Mostly did 8x5.5

Edited January 11 by Marshal Mittens

[TheArtilleryman]

6 hours ago, Marshal Mittens said:

In my old house I could do 16x5.5, though I lost my man cave in the move. When I move in 2026, I want a man cave again. The big size was mostly for historicals and RPGs, but i would like to play 30k/40k at that scale. 

 

Mostly did 8x5.5

I did have the whole garage pretty much given over to Warhammer but my loved ones made me clear it and laminate the floor so they could practice roller skating moves and ballet. :sigh:

Edited January 12 by TheArtilleryman

[Bouargh]

3 hours ago, TheArtilleryman said:

I did have the whole garage pretty much given over to Warhammer but my loved ones made me clear in and laminate the floor so they could practice roller skating moves and ballet. :sigh:

 

 

Sounds too familisr...

 

I knew this year Santa's gifts were prefigurating future (additional) rolling issues... As for ballet, well, I hoped she would get fed up and change her mind... This was a couple of years ago; big misconception of mine. There are some competitors you just cannot beat I guess.

 

Who else says "welcome to the club"?

Edited January 11 by Bouargh

[crimsondave]

3 hours ago, Bouargh said:

 

 

Sounds too familisr...

 

I knew this year Santa's gifts were prefigurating future (additional) rolling issues... As for ballet, well, I hoped she would get fed up and change her mind... This was a couple of years ago; big misconception of mine. There are some competitors you just cannot beat I guess.

 

Who else says "welcome to the club"?

I’m lucky.  My living room is pretty open so I just get ran out of the house to my building so she can dance.

 

I have a climate controlled portable building I have a table permanently set up in for 6x4.  I’ve had a guard/Iron Warriors clash going on for months.

 

 

[Marshal Mittens]

15 hours ago, TheArtilleryman said:

I did have the whole garage pretty much given over to Warhammer but my loved ones made me clear it and laminate the floor so they could practice roller skating moves and ballet. :sigh:

Yeah I have a 4 yearold and 1 yearold girls, I imagine I will be there soon. They both love dancing. 

[TheArtilleryman]

8 minutes ago, Marshal Mittens said:

Yeah I have a 4 yearold and 1 yearold girls, I imagine I will be there soon. They both love dancing. 

Beautiful. Enjoy it! Mine are 22, 14 and 12. The younger two are the roller skaters and they won a ton of medals and trophies this year so we’d be dumb not to encourage it. Dancing is at least a lot cheaper - skating seriously drains the budget omg really I need a second job just to pay for it … another reason I don’t spend a lot on the hobby these days :cries:

Edited January 12 by TheArtilleryman

[TheArtilleryman]

8 hours ago, crimsondave said:

I’m lucky.  My living room is pretty open so I just get ran out of the house to my building so she can dance.

 

I have a climate controlled portable building I have a table permanently set up in for 6x4.  I’ve had a guard/Iron Warriors clash going on for months.

 

 

Not jealous at all … this is awesome. I used to be able to do stuff like this. Not the heating though, that’s an extra I would love to have.