I'm a new GM, starting a dark heresy campaign in the coming weeks, but I've run into a bit of a snag. I've got a lot of my group that are "battlemat"-centric if you will, and they would like to see the game played on such.

Understanding that I realize the game is a roleplaying game and not a miniatures game, my query is, has anyone found or can point me at a good source for rulings and documentation regarding playing using a battlemat?

The current thought I had was using hex-grid and counting each square as 3m, but I'd like to see if anyone has something on paper. Thanks for your feedback.

Whatever you do, I would have the unit you use, be it hexes, squares, octagons, whatever, equal 1m. My group uses 1/2 cm graph paper for maps and little flourescent lego dots as sprites, and the system works fine for us. You could also consider going more freeform, having unit-less maps and using measurements for distance. I think the best advice I can give you is to use what you want and will fit the scale of your combats most appropriately.

I'd stick to the 1m unit thing, though, otherwise you're going to run into problems with anyone without an AB of 3.

If your guys are really that "battlemap-focused", it is better to have 1grid=1m. Otherwise, they have to start to "guess"...and in my experience, this guys like it hard & fast with no fuzz around the edges.

I bought myself a download-copy of FractalMapper8 over at DriveThru-RPG (webside). It costs a bit, but is a good tool for mapping (combat maps, buildings, areas, continents...). Many people seem to use "Dundjinni" and give good feedback about it. Otherwise, you will find a lot of totally free "just hexgrids" for download. Problem: you will have to do all the drawing yourself...but hey, that is what you get if you pay zero

Talking rules: I do not think that your are going to need much of extra rules, since movement is part of DH RAW (rules-as-written). The only thing you might wonder is "turning round". I say a turn up to two "hex sides" is free. If you want to turn a little more, a routine agility test makes it a free action, otherwise you loose one meter worth of movement for turning.

I appreciate the feedback, everywhere I've looked, it seems that people are drawing maps for the 1 grid = 1m. That is what I was considering to begin with, so we'll stick with that I think.

@Gregorius: I actually have a pay copy of FractalMapper, love it, but I don't use it as much as I'd care to in situations like this. I will be using it for this campaign though.

Thanks for all your help!

I just use squared mats, 1 square = 1 metre

I usually use the 1" = 1m scale for my maps too, although sometimes it is more useful to change this to 1" = 2m. This will obviously depend on the size of your mat and the scale of the battlefield in question. Some of the combat zones in existing DH scenarios are quite large. Larger scale also makes the rifles a little more useful on occasion, a good thing IMO, since pistols tend to dominate smaller maps.

I think that in DH long distance fights (ie. ranged) don't really need battlemaps, just a sketch that tells everyone who's where. The distances are big enough to allow for some flexiblity. And it's really tough to have a battlemap for distances of 100+ metres and play combats in 1to1 scale. Close combat is a different story - battlemaps help a lot in avoiding 'stupid deaths by confusion'

My group uses a "grid battlemap" with a 1square= 1m breakdown...we also use a large piece of dry erase board from when larger measurements are needed.....of course then you have to use a little bit of math and we have found it to be easier to use Cm = M

hope that helps.....good luck

myrm said:

Same here. I own 3 large Chessex battle mats and a collection of marker colors which have been used enough that my players know that doors are blue, windows are green, etc.

-Cynr