Traveling set

Due to the popular request, I am presenting here my traveling wargaming set.

If you are like me, and you spend better part of the week in hotels on business trips, out of home, you would like to take your hobby with you. Here is the way I am doing that.

The first thing every wargamer/RPG player needs are dice. So, even when I fly short distances within Europe with just hand luggage, the dice sets goes with me. My do not leave home without set includes all Rory's story cubes, some Fudge dice for FATE, at lest 3 complete sets of polyhedral dice with several additional D20 for D&D or OSR, and lots of additional D6 for everything else.

With most of the books stored as PDFs in my PC, this is enough for a several evenings of solo RPG plays.

But if I travel by car, or if I carry a big suitcase due to the need of packing a suit, I like to brig along also some wargaming stuff. Only, in this case it is important to accept going small and to accept compromises.

First thing needed for a good game is a table. My traveling table is 1"x1". If you use inches into centimeters approach, it can double as 2"x2" table, and that is enough for most skirmishes.

My tables are made from wood veneer or thick cardboard. Upper surface is first covered with magnetic foil (I use the self adhesive one, to glue it easily on complete board)

Over the magnetic foil I glued self adhesive paper with grass pattern printed on it. If you look at the photo you can see lines where A4 sheets meet each other.
Good idea is to glue magnetic foil on both surfaces of the board, and then to cover one with grass pattern as shown above, and second with stars pattern for space ship fights, if you like that kind of things.


For the small board, you will need small figures. I use 10mm figures for fantasy, 6mm for Napoleonic wars or SF. Fantasy is the best solution for traveling, since these games can be played with little or no terrain. For firearms period it is usually good to have crowded table with lots of cover, but when you are on the road you do not want to carry too much terrain with you, no matter how small it is.

So, when I travel I usually carry with me what is shown on the upper photo - big warbands of humans, dwarfs and orcs (Copplestone castings 10mm), giant rats swarm led by two ratmen (all GW, small parts from Skaven sprues), some dungeon monsters from different manufacturers, selected 10mm terrain and some space ships for SF space combat. Important part of the set are counters visible on bottom right.
All models are individually based. As base for small models I use 3mm washers (7mm outer diameter), glued to the bottom of the figure's original base. Washers catch to the magnetic surface of the board, and in this way i know that I will not accidentally ruin my setting.

Bigger models are based on appropriate bigger washers.
Terrain peaces are either commercially available paper models scaled to 6/10mm, or custom made by me. Terrain peaces also need to be able to attach to magnetic foil. Best trick I found for that is to use old (or for this purpose especially purchased) metal measuring tape - it is cheap material, catches to magnet and can be easily cut. Just glue part of it to the bottom of your terrain as shown below, and you are ready to go.

The last thing is to pack the miniatures. I was never the one to worry if they will get damaged or not - small miniatures I use are robust and do not break easily, and if some paint goes of I can easily fix it. Therefore, I just put all the models into plastic box left after some small electric device, and then drop it into the suitcase. If you want to take better care of your miniatures while traveling, you will have to think of something yourself.

You will also need something to measure distances, and that is it.

So, if we ever happen to be in the same hotel somewhere in Europe, you may count on it that I have my gaming set with me.
Meet me in the hotel lobby, I am always happy to throw a game or two.