What do YOU use to represent movement/combat?

Just wondering what everyone uses for the PC's and NPC's to interact with each other. I use the SW micromachines dudes stuck with mactac on pennies. For the board i use a dry erase Chessex roll-up mat. The micromachines vehicles (any line) also work for props as well as HO train scale stuff.

For individual tools, the players also pick an action figure from my collection to have in frount of them to introduce themselves to others in new games. I also use them to introduce new NPC's (anything from GI Joe or the plethora of other fig lines work too).

Any other ideas out there?

Gesh

 

For the board i use a dry erase Chessex roll-up mat.

These things are THE BOMB.

Or, in this setting, the THERMAL DETONATOR!

We've recently switched. We now use LEGO mini-figs, though I was far, far, FAR more partial to the Micro-Machines. It was all a matter of finding one with a large base, thus not needing anything to make it stand upright.

For the battle-mats, we usually use a lexan shield over and dry erase on that, rather than the board. Sometimes we also use a paper-square map under lexan, depending on who's hosting.

 

Years ago, our GM looked everywhere for the perfect table cloth withone inch squares. That's our board.

I use 2 things for me. One is a small figurine, and the other is a Gundam Model to represent my Mobile Suit.

 

In our game we utilize what appears to be board pieces from "SORRY"

 

Pen and paper. Yeah, a purist

 

Star Wars Micro Machines. Some action fleet stuff is to scale, and the Millenium Falcon playset is so perfect. I've got a customised Jedi I'm itching to use for a New Republic Game - MM Ki-Adi-Mundi body with MM SotE Dash Rendar's head. Brilliant stuff - if I could get a picture up here I would.


Heck, I might as well plug a friend of a friend's page as well - these are his WEG Star Wars minis: Rob's Minis Page. Rob is often on "Hot Mini Or Not" and wins a variety of tournaments in Australia.

E_S

 

Man, I just use extra Character Sheet 3000s. Or if it's a really long stretch, this bit of Laminated 20'x3' graph paper we used to use for AutoDuels.

 

My old gaming group used to make up custom character tokens using images from various comic books scanned, cropped to 1" square, and printed onto posterboard. The 'heads' side of the token featured the character image and the 'tails' side had a big red "X" over the character image for use when the character had been knocked unconcious/killed.

My current group uses dice to represent each character.

 

I use microsoft Exel and print up sheets with one inch square boxes on it. I use a pen to draw the current scenario on it, though if I can find a RPing group I might cough up the dough for a dry erase board. I never thought of using micromachines. I have enough of them.

 

Well, that's what this forum is for. So that everyone can get ideas to represent their characters in their games to enhance the experience. All ideas are sound and use things at hand which is what the whole "imagination" in RPG's is all about. Nobody has a complete set of vehicles/figures and a big enough checkerboard to have everyone be exactly authentic. Those SW miniatures they are making look nice but my word are they expensive. There was a thread about Wizkids SW a while back that intregued me though...

Gesh

 

We use my small collection of micromachine star wars figures and ships.

Im sure that lego's would be easier for situations in which you would be representing your heros in melee combat. But for space encounters the micromachines work really good.

Thanks for the link to the starwars micromachine site. I am just wondering if they are still in circulation at stores, like walmart, or have most places stopped carrying them?

 

My first GM had a hex board and figurines. I make do with pen and paper. I'm not a purist, just poor.

I also have a hard time thinking of other things besides a straight shoot-out to make combat more interesting. And space combat is the worst. Gives me a headache. I'm sure there must be a faster, more cinematic way to do it, but darned if I know what it is! (I resorted for one game to giving the player in the X-wing a custom X-Wing mission for her to fly, because it was supposed to be cool, dang it!)

 

The michromachines, I just discovered, are great if you're using them for starfighter combat, but it'll take a little doing to make it work with space transport and Capital ships.

 

I use the big graph from the Invasion of Naboo game, and the one from the GM Screen. For characters, we tried figures, but it takes way too long to sort over 500 figures after I take 20 or so out for a game. Now we use printed tokens, which are much easier and do not make the visuals the most important aspect of the game.

 

What r those Chessex boards?

 

I've seen them. They are about $30 at my hobbey shop, and are vinyl, which I think can be written on w/ dry erase marker. They also have a massive $98 board.

 

Yes, those things are great. We use that along with fantasy minis in our current D&D games. We did not have the board during our last Star Wars campaign, so we used pen and paper to deal with combat, but we will certainly be using it in our next game.

 

I use the paper board that came with the GM screen.

 

Jacen, the vehicles are good, but scale can be a problem. I tend to use the figures more. One other thing I found was that some action fleet vehicles are in a good scale - eg Slave 1, and the odd die-cast too (the Gian Speeder from Episode 1). Otherwise, if you have some WEG minis action fleet figs are to scale.

E_S

 

Since most of us in our group are not able to buy all those miniatures, we try using little tokens sometimes with some sort of graphical representation of the setting.

 

Are the WEG minitures avalible any more?

 

Well the WEG are available to an extent. Meaning you have to find a comic book store that didn't sell them all.

 

I generally use a figureine that at least somewhat resembles what character I'm playing. Although, one time I forgot to bring it to my gaming session and ended up using a cheeseball.