Yesterday, I had some time to myself (after getting the tire on my wife's car patched - it had a nail in it), since my son and one of his cousins had decided to spend the night before with their granny (my mama). So, since I couldn't spend the time with my son, I decided to do a little possibility exploring.
I ended up visiting a Miracle Hill thrift store, two comic book stores, a housing supply warehouse, and Lowe's.
The comic book stores were targeted for a visit, so that I could check out HeroClix figures, to see what their current in-stick selections looked like. One of the comic book stores also doubles as a game store, so I checked out some of their miniature war gaming supplies, including both figure and terrain offerings.
The Miracle Hill was the first stop, but it just happened to appear as I was driving down a road that I had not been on in a long while. It was a very brief, disappointing stop, since I saw nothing of major interest there. But, heyt, it was worth a try.
BGDF site User Abdantas's superhero game undertaking is probably what prompted me to explore those HeroClix figures anew. That and Waco Joe's blog posting about converting hex-shaped cake dummies into terrain tiles.
The housing supply warehouse had me soon exploring ceramic tile options. Ceramic tile comes in different sizes, and it has one very attractive feature that I like and gravitate towards, for possible use as terrain tiles for gaming - heft. Many places cell ceramic tile by the box, which is a bit much, I suspect, for the gaming needs of many, or for small expansions of existing terrain situations. However, it can also be bought by the sheet, at some places. That's what makes it a feasible option, in my book.
I have not yet attempted to remove that web backing from it, the thing that links all of the individual tiles on a sheet together, so that all that you have to do is to lay it and grout between the tiles.
Ceramic tiles tend to be thicker than many cardboard terrain tiles. I'm not sure how well that it stacks up, thickness-wise, compared to Hexon II, Heroscape, and ViktoryII tiles. The biggest downside to using ceramic tiles as terrain tiles is the weight of the things. On the plus side, they are durable, and unlike foam, they won't melt, if painted with the wrong type of paint. If you're not going to be lugging your game from location to location, though, and plan to only leave it on the same table in your own house, then I really would consider the weight factor to be a non-issue, in that situation. Hundreds of individual ceramic tiles would quickly get very heavy. Hence, my concern, where transporting them is a consideration.
I looked for large sheets of pink foam at Lowe's. They had none. The current sheets of foam that they have in stock is green in color. The color, itself, is a non-issue. Reminding me of sheets of plywood, these large sheets of foam were available in 1/2, 3/4, and 1 inch thicknesses. If one has a way to transform these large sheets of foam into foam terrain tiles, a way that yields consistently reliable results in terms of shape, then I am inclined to believe that they are a potentially ideal candidate for use as terrain tiles for miniature and board gaming.
With one possible exception - their lack of heft! Maybe a second possible exception, as well - Will they slide too easily on a table set up for gaming?
Ideally, individual terrain tiles will stay put next to one another. How much shift in tile placement is acceptable?
Could it be that thin ceramic tiles is a solution? I did not have the benefit of the following article, before taking my brief tour of Lowe's and that housing supply warehouse, yesterday.
Heft can be added to foam terrain tiles a lot of different ways. Sliding issues can also be addressed via various methods. From the standpoint of production cost of the terrain tiles, themselves, I am thinking that foam is hard to beat.
In case any of you octagon fans are lurking in the woodwork, my local Lowe's even carries some octagon-shaped ceramic tiles. Between the Octagons? Diamond-shaped smaller tiles, if memory serves me correctly.
The Hexon II terrain tiles are positively beautiful, as far as the flocked ones are concerned. However, I still think that they are over-priced - particularly for the average board game designer still trying to prototype their first game.
For individuals looking for ways to prototype board games involving terrain tiles, the horizon is a dark one, from my vantage point on this planet looking outwards. The dark emanates from cost considerations. Hence, why it is important for would-be game designers to convert the dark to sparkle, by using their imagination and by investing a little tile in exploring possibilities using alternative materials already mass produced.
If Waco Joe can convert cake dummies into terrain tiles, then surely, the universe has a sense of humor. Other possibilities likely exist, many of which are probably staring us all in the face, even as they thumb their nose-equivalents at us, defying us to solve the game design dilemmas that we create for ourselves with our ponderings of design greatness.
Remember - You are only at the mercy of the game components powers that be, if you allow yourself to be. Sometimes, it is probably for the best, and wiser, if you allow others to provide you the game components that you need. At other times, however, ingenuity can save the day.
