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 .

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