Ground Tiles - Options

[Sirrob01]

I've been looking over all the various tile joining options we have around the place and wondered if I've missed anything as I'm finding performance to work/storability that plain cork tiles with a glued on texture are winning out, and I've experimented with all the below....

Question have I missed any or has anyone seen a Unicorn tile joining mechanism - ie simple,quick,cheap, durable and self supporting (normally it's pick 2/3)?

WWG - TLX
Interlocks really well and layouts are semi bump immune but cutting out all those notches in the foamboard really tries my patience and for the hassle I'd honestly spend 10secs longer and mount magnets (see below)

Plain Foamboard squares
quick, simple, cheap but one bump of your table and your playing "Was this tile here or over there". Gluing non-slip stuff to the back helps or throwing out a felt table cloth before laying them but then I might as well use cork and save a step.

Cork
quick, simple, not to many $$$ - Like foamboard but built in anti-slip but stuff still "walks" for want of better word over the course of a game.

1 big board
quick, simple, cheap....Assuming your board doesn't warp into a pretzel/cup overtime and you don't need a 6x4 table sized piece

Magnet tiles.
Mount 3/8 inch magnets 1 inch in on each side reversed polarity and then wrap the tile with a card wrap. I've made 2 and it worked but it was neither quick or particularly cheap....but those tiles wont come apart when stuck together and they are bump proof and self aligning assuming you don't glue a magnet in backwards....

Fridge magnet sheets and white boards
Print and glue tiles to fridge magnet sheets and then stick to white board works really well except for the whole portability thing as you need a huge whiteboard on a plus you can game on a wall....

Swallow pride and buy a pile of these (battleframe):
www.back2base-ix.com/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=70
Easy to build and interlock well, cost a fortune....feels like cheating....

Various interlocking hooks and shapes
Mel had some of these and they worked quite well but getting the tiles to sit flat was sometimes a little challenging.

I must say with all of the above (except the giant whiteboard) you still need a nice big flat table to lay everything out on...

Anyways have I missed any tile mounting method? or anything anyone else has tried?

I'm willing to give anything a shot

Thanks for any help

[Parduz]

The day i'll go in paper tiles i'll go with the magnet options, but in a different way.
I'd build 5mm foamcore squares, with the print glued on.

Then i'd plant one magnet in the center of each side, and then an iron screw over it. No more magnet poles problem.

[Zephalo]

There is also the "plain foamboard squares locked with toothpicks" method Fat Dragon Games uses in their E-Z lock system: quite cheap, but well working method.

Greetings,
Zephalo

[cherno]

I've given ground tiles a lot of thought in the past several years. First of all, I still use TLX tiles, it's quite some work but the quality is outstanding and the system works. However, I generally only use tabs around the outer row of tiles to create a "frame" around the interior. Another possibility, particulalry in street layouts, is to only use tabs with the street tiles itself, creating a rigid grid between which the open spaces and building tiles sit.

Lately, I've been thinking about building a dedicated narrow frame around the whole TLX setup, like four long strips of foamboard that have magnets at their ends, that just go around everything and keep it in place.

I also experimented with tabs that are cut in two, which each side having a magnet. This way, they can be removed from their tiles if needed see below) but also stay put because of friction in the slots.

Mounting magnets directly to tiles can create problems because the tiles can not be turned in every way anymore without the magnet polarity interfering. Good enough for simple layouts, but if there are special tiles involved that should face in a particular way it can become frustrating.

[imnntt]

You could try using rubber placemats and sticker paper. I don't know how they fair against cork, but I've been using them for years. I get get them at at one of the local discount stores (Big Lots). I stick the sticker paper to the shiny printed side of the mat, put clear contact paper on top of that, cut them out, and use permanent marker on the edges. The mats I use can usually fit 2 letter sized sheets and have a non-skid surface on the botttom. They're cheap to make, thin (easier to store), and pretty durable (one of my kids discovered, a couple years ago, that my Dungeon Plungin' tiles make good frisbees and they're still in good shape).

[cowboyleland]

I have used "poster putty" to stick tiles to the table. It can be a bit lumpy if you put on too much, but it pretty much works. The only possible draw back would be cleaning the greasy spots off of a fine dining table if you were worried about the finish. I guess you could put down a thin sheet of plastic first. I play on my kitchen table which has a plastic top. A quick wipe is all the clean up it takes on that.

I wouild like to use fridge magnets but the big metal sheet (white board) is daunting. I know they sell magnetic paint. Does anyone know if it would stay on bristol board or felt if you rolled it up?

When my kids were small we bought a magnetic dart board that can be rolled up. It seems to be iron filings sandwitched between layers of felt?

[echelon]

Oct 8, 2012 22:44:08 GMT -9 Sirrob01 said:

Swallow pride and buy a pile of these (battleframe):
www.back2base-ix.com/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=70
Easy to build and interlock well, cost a fortune....feels like cheating....

You could probably build something very similar to that out of box card and replace the magnets with paperclips/bobby pins... wouldn't be too quick to build, though...

[glennwilliams]

Although I make mine with glue on "hook shapes", you might head down to the local department store, WalMart, Staples and find report covers. Those plastic strips they come with work well for the outer edges.

BTW, in my experience, the hook shapes really only work when glued to the bottom of laminated tiles. Getting them to line up can be a problem (which is why my tiles have artwork along the edges to define the attachment point).

WorldWorks also tried Velcro: make a base board by cutting foamboard to the dimensions of a long rectangle of your tiles, draw lines indicating the tile square boundaries, glue a small square of Velcro to the center of each square on the base board, then its opposite number to the center of each tile.

Alternatively, make connectors (maybe 1/2" x 1") of card stock and lay down repositionable tape or glue on one side. If the connectors have decorative artwork, they can be applied to the top of the tiles, making connecting much easier. Hmmm . . . will try that for my next Omega Prime release.

[old squirmydad]

The local office supply sells 6"x6" corkboard squares and I've started using those heavily. I like the 'no cutting out gobs of foamcore' part of the equation. The full sheet adhesive labels I've been using have trouble adhering to the cork though so I either need better labels or live with adding little glue welds where needed.

I made five 'Battle Boards' out of 3'x3' foamcore, all a little warped now.

I made an Ebbles interlock board, used it twice, bit of a pain to assemble.

Made a WWG swamp map using tlx...I refuse to make anymore tlx tiles. The locking together aspect was awesome though.

Someone (oldschooldm?) posted a pic of a tabletop where they had laid down their tiles, just printed on paper, and placed a sheet of clear acrylic over the top of them to hold everything down.

Curently I'm building a wooden 4'x4' skirmish table-topper that has a 3'x3' bounded center area to place tiles in. It's made to sit on top of a card table and just clamp in place. I should be able to paint it this week and post some pics. I'm thinking of getting a 3'x3' sheet of clear acrylic to place over the tiles in the center well but that might just be glamorous overkill.

[cowboyleland]

Overkill is OK if it is glamourous

[Sirrob01]

Thanks all a few there I'd forgotten about and one I'd forgotten I'd tried long ago .

with the magnets I did north pole on the right and south pole on the left about 4 inchs apart on each tile edge. I could turn them any old which way and they joined okay. I'm still messing around with a few ideas but it's making the process simple and strong which is the hardpart

Intrigued by the place mat idea.

Squirmydad would be good to see some picys of your new table.

;D

[old squirmydad]

Not painted yet;


Central section is 3' square with a railing to keep dice, minis, cards, and sodas out of/off of the playing area. A swift scenario setup scene;



I'll be base painting it tomorrow, I think the central well will be in sea blues for a water base layer. There are 2x2's underneath the lid to frame it to the tabletop so it doesn't get bumped around. I think I'll buy the acrylic after all as then I won't need to mount my tiles on anything at all-the mass of the clear acrylic pressing them down should definitely hold them in place.

[oldschooldm]

This is awesome. I think you'll be very happy with a perfect fit acrylic sheet (as long as you leave a way to lift it!) Lift - drop in tiles/flip-mat/etc. - drop, and place terrain.

Your table is going to be awesome! Post final pix please!

[old squirmydad]

Thanks, will do.
I'm already planning to cut out one corner in a semi-circle so I can get a finger under it to lift, or maybe glue a strap under it so I can lift it up, depends on how heavy it turns out.

[Sirrob01]

Looks really good.

[dcbradshaw]

Oct 10, 2012 11:24:26 GMT -9 old squirmydad said:

Thanks, will do.
I'm already planning to cut out one corner in a semi-circle so I can get a finger under it to lift, or maybe glue a strap under it so I can lift it up, depends on how heavy it turns out.

Suction cups maybe?

[Sirrob01]

I'm experimenting with plain carpet tiles at the moment as a backing material for ground tiles. There heavy and ridiculously cheap, 1 carpet tile is giving me 9x 6x6 tiles (roughly 50c per 6x6 tile). If I can make it work I'll post my results and how I achieved them.

At the moment I'm fighting against warping using the glue one way and glue failing using it the other. If you could source those pre-sticky ones it would probably work a treat. As a bonus if you can get hold of brown/green carpet colour you could flip them over for a nice desert/grassy plain surface .

anyways I'll post back my results at the weekend.

[old squirmydad]

I forgot, I did try with 1'x1' linoleum tiles that came with adhesive (pre-glued?) that only cost $1 each. Seemed like a good deal, but they were REALLY heavy. Kind of defeated one of the strengths of paper tiles-their low mass.

[Sirrob01]

True on the weight but I'm trying to add some heft back to my tiles .

Anyways iv been beaten by the carpet tiles, I cant find a glue that either doesn't warp the tile or fail after 5 secs. Pre sticky ones might be feasible but I cant test those. For anyone curious the glues I tried:

qwikgrip water based contact adhesive both ways:
As contact adhesive - Card tile can be pulled easily away from the rubber surface
As wet glue - Sticks em down permanently but even clamping them between two sheets of mdf and big clamps for 2 days as soon as I remove them the whole tile curls slightly.

Spray contact adhesive:
see above except I could pull the card tile away from the rubber even easier.

elmers spray glue: abject failure not even sure you can describe what it did initially as "sticking" but then its not designed for rubber.

superglue: Yep stuck down, expensive and very difficult to not end up with yourself stuck to something due to 6x6 inch square begin covered in superglue. fortunately paper, metal rulers and magnets are easy to remove from your skin....or maybe thats remove with bits of your skin

anyways I've spent enough time testing I'll leave further tests to someone else 3m 77 Spray might be worth a try, btu that stuff costs a mint down under $30 + for 1 can

[old squirmydad]

Some progress on my table;


I cut the clear acrylic to fit inside the central well of the table. The best tool I've found for cutting acrylic is the Roto-zip, a rotary cutting tool that looks like a Dremel. Reciprocal saws create too much vertical movement and vibrations that can cause fractures in the acrylic and ruin your work.

I still need to put little tabs in the corners to make it easier to lift out, and finish painting the table proper. One thing I found about this setup that hadn't occurred to me is that I can stand it on it's side and the acrylic keeps the tiles pinned in place.

[Vermin King]

Very nice. I think I have a caroms board in my attic that could use a retrofit ... at least on one side.

[markem]

To imnntt: Do you have pictures? I'd like to see them! Thanks! :-)
To old squirmydad: Pretty neat! :-)

If you look on the "My experiences so far" post you will see what I am using. The weatherseal stuff from Frost King is extremely light, flexible, but keeps the pieces from moving around on the table top. It is also kind-of cheap ($6.00 for 30ft roll). I use an X-acto knife to cut it but you can use scissors too. All of the tiles I have made thus far I was able to print, laminate, cut, and put the WeatherSeal on the back in about an hour. The printing and laminating was the slowest. I am sure that when I start printing out the character/monster tiles that it will take me a bit longer to do them. But I'm hoping to do a double-sided printing and then to laminate the characters/monsters also. For bases I got some of those chair felt bottoms which I am going to experiment with to see if they can be used for the figures.

[markem]

Has anyone tried those scissors which have a wavy pattern to the blades? They used to be popular for cutting cloth. I was wondering if the pattern could be used to match up the tiles so they didn't move around a lot. Thinking of buying some to test them out.

[cowboyleland]

They are called "pinking shears" if you need to ask for them in a fabric store. I think it might be hard to get the "teeth" of tiles to line up consistently, but it is worth a try.

[wyvern]

Aug 14, 2013 10:00:58 GMT -9 markem said:

Has anyone tried those scissors which have a wavy pattern to the blades? They used to be popular for cutting cloth. I was wondering if the pattern could be used to match up the tiles so they didn't move around a lot.

Yes, 20-ish years ago from memory, and also the wave-pattern cutters (a circular wave-edge knife blade that rotates about its centre on a handle, still giving a knife-like upright cutting action). It's difficult to keep the alignment generally because the indentations aren't sufficiently deep, and the wave pattern tends to be too smooth to hold together well. If you could find some scissors with a sharp "V" pattern, that might be a little better, but I suspect the emphasis will be on little. Jigsaw puzzle pieces are that shape for a reason!

I found the wave-pattern cutters were somewhat easier to use, because like a knife, you're simply cutting into the surface from one side, whereas scissors, whether pinking shears or not, cut from both sides together, slightly offset from one another. That's not too bad for simple paper (or of course cloth), but on card, there can be problems with edge crushing, dependent on its thickness. Even the cutter didn't work well with thicker (1.5 mm +) card, because I found I just couldn't get enough pressure to bear consistently to give a clean cut on one run. As soon as you have to do multiple cuts, there are massive problems with the wave alignment.

[pblade]

If you just want a way to keep your tiles from sliding around on the table, why not cut corner locks? This is easiest if you're using gridded tiles, but it would work even if you aren't.

Cut 1" (or 1 grid if you're using a different size) from each tile's corner prior to mounting. Use these pieces cut out to make 1x2 & 2x2 pieces for use as locks. Then when you're laying out your table, just put a lock of the needed size in the hole created by your notched tiles. This should keep your tiles from moving around much at all.

Myself, I favor toothpicks around the outer 'frame' of tiles. The whole thing may move if bumped, but the individual tiles are nicely secure.

- Pb

[flockofthese]

I figured I would throw my experiments into the mix. This is something I did before I found this forum. I got some mat board from Hobby Lobby. The big sheets they sell are not cost effective. They have packs of smaller pieces that are a decent prices though. Each pack has 35 pieces in them. They are assorted sizes and colors, so I assume they may be scraps or something. Anyway, I got a few packs of 12x12 sheets for $5 each. I cut them into 6 inch squares. Then I got a bunch of grip liner at big lots. It was about a forth the price of getting it at Walmart. I glued grip liner to the back of the tiles. I was then going to glue the printed tiles to the front. That's pretty much it. I never did make a full battlefield out of it, but the smaller test I did seemed to work well. I did decide Its probably not worth cutting the mat board into smaller tiles. Its easier to just glue 4 paper tiles to one big mat board tile. All this ended up being a waste of time for me though.

I went back to Hobby Lobby intending to get get more supplies for the tiles. That's the kind of store that I enjoy just drifting around in for a long while. I somehow managed to drift into the fabric department. I don't know what possessed me to go there, as I never had before. While there I saw that there is a whole lot of fabrics that look really great as ground. You can find stuff that works for darn near any terrain you could want, terrestrial, and otherwise. It was 7 or 8 dollars for a 3ftx4ft section. When you consider the time, ink, paper, and glue you save by doing it that way, its well worth the price. I bought enough fabric to make two large battlefields. One type of fabric I got looks like grass, and the other type I got looks like sandy gravel. The grass matches up great with WWG's Hinterland sets, and the gravel works with every desert themed set I have seen so far. If you want to add roads or something, you can lay them on top of the fabric. I haven't done it yet, but I plan to use all that mat board I got for the roads.

The only drawback to this fabric method is wrinkles. I imagine that could be avoided by rolling the fabric instead of folding it. I guess it might need to be attached to something in order to stiffen it up enough for rolling. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know for sure.

[cowboyleland]

It will roll around a tube nicely, then you don't need to stick a back on it.

[flockofthese]

Good call.  That will work perfectly.  I don't know why my brain always starts coming up with all these complex solutions to problems, when the simple one seems so obvious.

[cowboyleland]

You are not the only one with that affliction! I just know I've bought long sheets of fabric on rolls for use in various theatre productions.