building a "family" gaming table

[cjbennett22]

I am building a gaming table
wanted to get in a last minute question for ideas for features.

my features include...
on wheels
bar table height
shelving for board games/puzzles
storage for miniatures
storage for game mats

basically an all in one table and pedestal.

[toadie]

Locks for the wheels, otherwise knocking the gaming table may displace or knock over minis....

One source ideas could be googling "Sultan gaming table"! 

[cjbennett22]

though I really like those tables because they really pack a lot into a basic table.  I kind of don't like the fold out things just because you really move around a lot with table top war gaming and im afraid of running into something and I never really sit down a whole lot during gaming.  Most games are turn based but even during your opponent's turn you need to pay attention and roll some dice.

They tables are worth every penny but the price and the features are just too much for me 

[Tiberius]

I hope you keep us updated on your progress (with lots of pictures).  That sounds very awesome, and something I would like to make someday myself.

[cjbennett22]

I will try,  I have the base done and ready for a horizontal filing cabinet (all metal) and then a cubby hole type pressboard piece of furniture at the end.  total size 4'x3' with the casters underneath

I have plans for a cubby hole going all the way through for 4' long rolled up gaming mats.

I really want this to not just be a gaming table but an everything table.  My family would be mad at me if I took up this much room for myself 

[cjbennett22]

here is the beginning
3'x4' base on casters (with brakes)
the steel horizontal filing cabinet and the simple cubby hole piece of furniture.  1 cubby will pass through 4' for gaming mats to be rolled up and stored in.

can you tell I have kids? 

[Tiberius]

Awesome!  I already love it.

Is that at bar height as it is, it's hard to tell in the picture, or will you be adding a lot more to the height?  There's all sorts of storage space in there!  What will the dimensions of the top platform be?

Also, just out of curiosity, what other games  does your family plan to use the table for?

[cjbennett22]

my kids are still too young to play anything, the oldest is nearly 4.  he LOVES trying to play warmaster but always gets entranced by my dice tower and the red dice. 

Right now, I only play warmaster, man o'war, heroquest and combine them a little bit with mighty empires with my brother.  The kids have a minion version of trouble and a finding dory memory card type game.  I still have all of my old board games which even includes an old dungeons and dragons quest and I am currently looking to get a spacehulk game before I dive into 40k epic and/or BFG.

There will be a paper roll dispenser for the kids to do a lot of art work on it and for the first few years of school ill be helping them with their homework on here and the wife hopes to use it to sew one day as well.

[Tiberius]

Have you ever heard of battle lore?  It's supposed to be a great introduction to war gaming for young kids and new comers. I think it's about 70 bucks at miniature market.

I'll probably have to work out a similar deal with my (soon to be) wife if I ever make something like this. Multiple uses and what not.

[cjbennett22]

I had not, I think heroquest will actually get him into it enough as he seems to do pretty well with that.  My brother has been using heroclix for his nearly 5 year old.  They have the new ninja turtles that the kid is completely infactuated with.....everything ninja turtles.  I don't expect them to do anything game wise for a while.  They still to many disctractions because everything, EVERYTHING is new and awesome to them  LOL

[cjbennett22]

Almost forgot to add this update today.

storage is all there and painted, the cubby is more than 4 feet long on the left.  Its not a craftsman's masterpiece by any means and its a basically good slapstick job but I think it has everything there.

[jchaos79]

Looking really good. I think the table is the best motor to make the hobby evolve.

Anyway, can I ask you how old is your boy?
Mine is three years old, and all I could do is "narrative stories" and hand "fake-battles" but he is not ready for abstract things like dice rolls... We start with paper-rock-scissor (maybe the first wargame and I will dare to say the base of all wargames, let call it infantry-cavalry-bow), but I discover that he is not handling very well when he loose and try to cheat...   I hope wargames will learn that there are some rules, not to cheat, playing is fun and winning something accesorie, and patiente, patiente, patiente.

So my question is how old do you thing a boy could start in a game with abstract miniatures and rules and dices to decide the fate of the miniatures? 

I do not want to introduce him very quickly as the freedom of his mind now is the source of all imagination, and I do not wish to parcel it so early.

[mlkr]

I have started to play (with) carcassonne with my 5 year old daughter. We dont use the rules for placing farmers because she finds it too abstract and dont really think that many steps ahead just yet.

She does on the other hand understand the basic rules on how a tile can be placed and how points are calculated. She can get a little competative with it but will just as well place a tile on a city I or my wife controls because she "wants to be nice" or "it looks good". All in all she enjoys it a lot and likes to see the finished result. Its more playing than gaming and winning/competing isnt really the focus - we usually just end up trying to build a nice map together but still keep track of points.

Another game we play is Ponder which is a simple turnbased boardgame where you try to move your figures from one end of the board to the opposite while trying to stop everyone else from doing the same. She can formulate battleplans for moving her own stuff but mostly misses out on wrecking other players progress. I try to push her thinking on this part by being very open with my plans and "warning" her of what I will do next turn so she gets a chance to wreck that action. Good fun ^_^

I think next step closing in on miniatures will be something very simple with just 1 character to worry about and perhaps just navigating a board with obstacles. Will see


/Mlkr

[cjbennett22]

This will forever be part of my internal strife with my kids.  I want to teach them everything I know but I don't want them to just do what I do.  I want them to have their own interests and, for example, have the hobbies that they want, not what I get them into.

I want to say that heroquest went really good compared to how I thought it would.  Right now I am just concerned with him rolling the right dice and the right amount of them and being able to count and see what he rolled and to NOT play with the mini's because usually the barbarian model is swinging his sword at everything all over the place with him since, I think 7 months ago, when he first saw and played with it.  But the last time we played he was just kind of watching and hanging out as I basically played for him and every once in a while he would roll the dice and make a comment about dead orcs. 

Also, Patience on a fathers part is needed.  Your son/daughter will want to follow the parent's foot steps and hopefully the parent will be willing to "carry" him/her along.  Your kids will tell/show you when they are ready to play.  Just like with potty training......I think.  trying not to give parenting advice, as there should be no such thing.  I use my own experiences, I barely remember when me and my older brother started painting our "Dragon Strike" figures so I must have been 6 or 7 at the latest.

Oh, my son was very desperate to play, "the black and stars game", Risk.  I knew better but took the time with him to set it up but he just immediately starting playing and moving the pieces all over instead of playing the game.

[mlkr]

Almost forgot to add this update today.

storage is all there and painted, the cubby is more than 4 feet long on the left.  Its not a craftsman's masterpiece by any means and its a basically good slapstick job but I think it has everything there.

Should of course comment on this since I am following the build getting along.
I like how you have taken a few bits and bobs and cobbled it together into a very functional furniture to store pieces in and play on. Smart storage for the gaming mats. Thumbs up ^_^
Looking forward to seing it in use

And CJB22 - Agree, if your kids find the stuff you do interesting it's a joy to let them join in and try it out. It's my hope that I will get my girl somewhat interested in the gaming hobby but I dont think it will be her main thing growing up. But we are quite a few parents in our local gaminggroup and all kids love the litle miniatures and the dice and everything. Both me and another guy have had our kids roll the dice for us in games of Warmaster before they head of on other stuff with the better part

Anyways - playing games with my kid is a nice way for me to get som hobbytime in and at the same time get to spend some extra time with her.