I wonder how many of us are using tiles and miniatures? I intend to use them in my Conan game but all the printed geomorphic tiles are becoming out of print and, so far, no restocking in a near future ; which makes me think that maybe most GM aren’t using them.
What do you think?
For F2F games we use vinyl battlematt from Chessex and water-erasable markers. We draw the map and use miniatures as usual. Much faster and no limits. With tiles I always feel confined. You have to adhere to what is there.
That makes sense but Tiles are faster ^^ and it seems to me you can always redefine the terrain and adjust it to the specifics of your encounter (the bridge doesn’t exist or the fire-camp is something else). Now, if you have to redefined a lot of things, this is a problem.
I own the tiles and I have minis from the conan miniature game Monolith released. We occasionally use minis for tight combat situations but for the most part we use theater of the mind. I do like the way the mini rules work in conan though. it keeps combat fluid and reduces the tactical war gaming feel that games like D&D have.
I use minis and terrain. Tiles are cool, and I have used them, but they aren’t 3d…
Speed isn’t everything.
Speed wasn’t my point. The main take away of the combat system is to give a cinematic/epic feel to it. I don’t fault others for using minis more than I do. I just find that they tend to convert it from a cinematic experience to a more tactical/wargame like experience which isn’t right for my group of the game I run.
If you enjoy adding that to your game and it fits your group, have at it! There are many ways to enjoy games. Especially TTRPGS.
The way my group and I roleplay, there is little point in trying to predict what kind of landscape is going to see tactical combat. I own all of the Monolith stuff so far (none of the Modiphius tiles). The players choose Monolith minis to represent their characters, but I prefer abstract beads to represent all NPCs. I have difficulty predicting what sort of mini, exactly, might be required, and the minis seldom are accurate representations of what I’m describing, as a GM.
We use a wipe away mat of squares for the tactical scenarios. I love the zone system. I always try to innovate interesting elements to the stage.
I ordered the Conan boardgame (45€, 74 minis ^^)
That’s what I have too! I also bought a couple of the expansions for the fun of it. A few of my players and I played it once for fun when too many people couldn’t make a game and now I’m looking into getting more expansions because we all had a blast.
Same here. 74 Minis for 48€ (in Germany) is quite a treat.
The game is great. I have the “King” version and all the expansions. The few times I played it were AWESOME. I kept imagining using the system for roleplaying purposes. The only reason why I don’t play it more is because of the set up time. And I have a young child in the house.
With all the little pieces I completely get that. I have a similar problem which is why I don’t play it as often as I like either.
i bought the vtt 4 set pack off of roll20 directly to my games of conan. worth it.
Thank everybody for your insight, maybe as I’ll proceed I’ll be bored with the same tiles even assembled differently and I will have to come up with a more traditional system. For the time being, I’m just enjoying.
Check out some of the expansions for the monolith game too. Most of the larger ones contain additional tiles that will help with your concern of using the same tiles all the time and give you some extra minis to use at the same time.
currently we have the monolith game for minis/encounters, and the backlog of stuff I have from other games, for a map, I use an older 32’ HDTV connected via HDMI to my surface tablet with a plexiglass layer over the TV for protection., from there I use pictures of the conan tiles or other maps I have found on line, I have also added locations on the plexiglass layer I have over the TV for a few options, like an NPC reaction track for in town,and a weather track. this allows my players to see some basic info beyond minis and description that they would always see plainly (also one for time of day)
Wow, high tech in an age undreamed of 