About five years ago I began making tabletops for my games as a means to easily lift and store games that couldn’t be finished in one sitting.  My first one was nothing more than a piece of plywood that I would lay some Plexiglas on top of.

The first real improvements I made were little round trays to hold informational counters.   I started to cover my tabletops with micro-suede as this helped protect the maps without having any little fuzz balls that are common with felt.  Lastly, I added edges to the plywood both for style and to help stop counters from falling off.

PzKtable IIF – This table was given to Jeremy.  Notice the visible brads and unstained/unfinished wood. Also upon close inspection you will see two small studs coming through the Plexiglas at opposite corners.  This was a system I used to keep the plastic from sliding.

Photo courtesy or Jeremy Maciejewski.

 

PzKtable IIIJ – This table top has sections for removable trays so players can put their dice towers and informational counters on the side of their choosing.

    

 

 

PzKtable VIE – I moved away from Plexiglas in favor of 1/4″ tempered recessed glass to avoid the scratching and fogging of the plastic.  There were some complaints that the height of the glass made LOS hard to read but I found using the shadow of the thread was a perfect solution. This was the heaviest of all the tabletops I made.

 Recessed 1/4″ glass

 

 

PzKtable VG – My next project included dedicated compartments for dice towers and Raaco trays. This is perhaps my favorite tabletop to date but a little heavy so I switched back Plexiglas using Lexan per Doug Sheppard’s suggestion.  It still tends to scratch but not as much as cheaper plastic.  It is large enough to fit 3 standard ASL geomorphic maps in any direction

 

 

 

PzKtable IIIL – My last project was slightly smaller and much lighter.  The section for Raaco trays were removable and slide in to the table using dove tails.  This tabletop fits 2 ASL geomorphic maps side by side.

 

 

 

Tools:

At first all I needed was a $100 table saw as I wasn’t doing anything but cutting rectangular pieces of plywood.  As the projects got more complicated and I wanted the form and fit to be as close to perfect as possible, I invested in some quality tools including:

• 1/2″ drive top lift Router table with Incra Fence
•  Delta Table saw with Incra Fence
• Miter Saw
• Band Saw
• Delta Planer
• Craftsman Table saw for Dados
• IR Belt Sander

By far my favorite tool is the Incra Router fence.

---

 

 

 

 

 

If you are interested in having a tabletop or other wooden ASL projects custom made for you, please click on this link for more info ASL Wooden Gaming Accesories