Recently I acquired DBA Version 2.0 and found that besides many improvements it is quite useful for solo gaming. Instead of the recommended 60 x 60 cm table for my 15 mm figures I decided to use a 80 x 80 cm table giving a dimension of as many base widths as I would have had for 25mm figures fighting on a 120 x 120 cm table. This gives better possibilities for maneuver, especially for fast units. For years I was irritated by running from side to side of the table in order to move the units - and also to view the battlefield from their respective angles. So I decided to invent a wargame table that could revolve while I remained stationary. The solution was to spend a few pounds on the purchase of a disc used under television sets, which readily turns 360 degrees. This disc was glued under the center of the table, and now I can stand or sit down while the world turns around in front of me. If you measure the distance between the outer sides of a 80 x 80 cm wargames table you will arrive at a figure and thus a max turning diameter - of a little above 110 cm. Thus it was tempting also to test a circular wargames table of 120 cm diameter and use it with the DBA Big Battle rules. This table was sawn out of chipboard in two semicircles that were glued to each other and secured on the underside, which was constructed so that it fit on the upside of the 80 x 80 table. As it is always important to be sure that nothing can fall from a wargame table, I pondered on how to make a "wall" round this circular table. Carton was the first idea, but it is rather fragile. I ended fixing to the sides of the circle strips of linoleum, in two layers where the pieces of the first layer met each other. This circular table which has approximately the same area as the 120 x 60cm wargames table proposed in DBA for the Big Battle rules can take 2-3 standard wargames armies on each side, gives them some good possibilities to manoeuvre before clashing, and you can use the DBA rules with rather few modifications for deployment, number of terrain features, etc. And best of all: due to the merry-goround system you can have any part of the battlefield turned close to yourself whenever you want so without having to run around the table. A revolving table would probably also be useful for many solo boardgames. Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #137 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com