At various gaming events over the last ten or so years, I've seen people using a variety of clever techniques to improve their gaming. I don't mean tactics, I mean various ways to deal with the details of physical game-handling. Taken individually, many of these seem like minor improvements. But over the course of a game, they add up. So in an old Operations tradition (see Rod Miller's article in Operations 1), I'll share a few ideas and call on you readers to contribute more.

Most of You Probably Know These

Tweezers are useful in direct proportion to counter density. They are especially useful in games with both facing rules and typically high counter density. The angled forceps available from The Gamers work well and feel comfortable to me. Other guys use straight forceps. Be sure to use something bigger than the tweezers that typically come in a manicure set. To test your tweezers, try picking up a stack of six to eight counters repeatedly.

Using a toenail clipper to remove the corners from counters is worth the effort. Clipping counters makes them easier to handle in close proximity, especially in games where facing matters. Take care to check both sides of the unit to make sure you don't chop off any information. Some counters use an anonymous side for hidden identity rules. Clip these consistently so that their shapes don't give them away.

Using plastic sheets (the kind of which Plexiglass ® is one brand) is the superior way to lay out maps. The sheets keep the maps in place, and you have a smooth, flat playing surface. The plastic protects your mapsheets from wear, tweezer-dents, dust, crud, hand oils, and spills. You can add temporary notations with overhead projector markers. Buy the stuff at any hardware store, and look for the kind that's 1/8th inch thick. The plastic comes in a variety of sizes, and you may want to have it cut to size at the store. Once I got a 3x6 foot sheet and had it cut into 3x4 foot sheet (perfect for two 22x24 inch maps joined at the long edge) and a 2x3 foot sheet (perfect for a single map). Don't get them too big, or they'll be awkward to handle and store. Be careful to distribute the stress when you pick it up, or you'll end up snapping off a corner or causing a big crack.

A Moveable Feast

John Reed and I have been meeting once a week to play titles like This Hallowed Ground and Tunisia, packing them up at the end of one session and then setting them up again the next time. Sounds tedious, right? Not so. We use cocktail ice cube trays to store the units between sessions. Dan Derby pointed out these trays to John, who devised the system. They are called "Frigid Midget" from Dial Industries, and are available in packs of two for $2.00 from Lechter's stores. Each tray is six by fifteen cells, and each cell can hold up to seven counters. By indexing the cells by column and row, we save most of the writing involved in recording a game. We pick up the units in a given hex, write that hex's number in the space for a certain cell, and stick the units in that cell.

We have found it's best to pick up stacks in some kind of order like left to right and top to bottom within each hex column to make it easier to detect and correct any mistakes you might make recording positions. To record facing, we use the scheme of the TCS scatter diagram; to show vertex facing, we add a dash. So, for example, a unit or stack in hex B12.14 facing direction 1 reads "B12.14: 1" while a unit or stack in B27.12 facing the vertex between directions 5 and 6 reads "B27.12: 5." Sometimes we record the correct strength points or supply points in a hex, just in case we happen to drop the units while setting up. Often we record the side facing up (mode or formation) as well.

Consider the advantages. We do not have to write out the designations or types of the units. Packing even large games moves quickly. Setting up again is, if anything, easier: grab the first stack from the tray, read the hex number from the sheet, and stick the units in that hex. To keep the trays full of units from being jostled, pack them inthe game box, pile in maps and rules snugly on top, and keep the box flat and level. With a little care, we've been able to transport games by car scores of times without mishap.

Roll the Bones

Optimizing an action as basic and ubiquitous as dice rolling should provide a lot of benefit. I'll cite once again Rod Miller's article and his suggestion for CWB fire combat rolls: roll simultaneously two red dice for the fire, a green or a small red for rounding the 1/2 fire results, a yellow for stragglers, and a black and a white for the morale result. You can handle RSS fire combat the same way by eliminating the rounding die. I like to roll three dice for surprise in OCS: two same-colored dice to determine whether surprise occurs and one for the shifts.

Some guys use custom dice-rollers, clear plastic boxes with some number of dice inside. The main advantage of these is that you don't risk dice bouncing all over the place and knocking units out of place. Some sophisticated dice-rollers have been spotted at HomerCon, including a roller that provided the entire CWB fire roll. If you plan to spend many hours with a particular game or system, making a custom roller is worthwhile. No matter what games you play, you can make use of rollers with one and two six-sided dice each. Build your two dice roller with different colored dice, so that you can use if for both 2-12 and 11-66 rolls.

A Call to Arms

I've mentioned just a few ideas here, including ideas that many of you are already using. What I'd like to see is a collection of good ideas that Operations readers would like to share. Please mail them in to The Gamers (mark "Gaming Techniques" on the envelope) or email them straight to me at opsed@tgamers.com.