Counter Mix

[Skarg]

I just want to bring up the notion that TFT (well, GURPS too) creates a desire for counter art for everything that can and will be encountered in play, including every reasonable combination of weapon equipment.

And that's a very large list of wanted counters. Every single-handed weapon could be used with or without a shield (of different sizes) and/or another single-handed weapon. Etc...

We of course end up making or improvising markers for everything we need, imagination can supply anything, and the Internet and a laser printer and some rubber cement can provide practically anything, too.

However, the more difficult the counters are to match with home-made efforts, the greater the clash between official counters and improv. And, the more specifically detailed and less abstract the counters, the less versatile they are. The Melee counters were always the most abstract and most versatile/usable, and the new Liz D counter art looks pretty good that way, though also with some fun intriguing details on some counters.

When a player looks through the available counters to find one to use for their character, the main criteria tends to be finding ones that match their chosen equipment, especially the main weapon(s). It helps a lot if the sex/race matches too, and if it isn't clearly wearing the wrong armor type - but all of those are easier to match if there are some counters which are vaguely-drawn enough that they can plausibly be used for a variety of sex/race/armor and lack other specific details that might seem wrong for the character.

And then there's the desire for dropped weapon counters for every weapon, and extras especially for throwable weapons.

And for horses. And wagons. And all other animals and monsters.

And fire, shadow, magic walls, rubble, smoke.

Unarmed counters are also nice, for non-warriors who happen to be near combat in campaign situations.

Personally, I'm more interested in having a nice wide variety of digital counter images that people can print to make their own counters, than just physical counters.

[Rick_Smith]

Originally Posted by Skarg

I just want to bring up the notion that TFT (well, GURPS too) creates a desire for counter art for everything that can and will be encountered in play, including every reasonable combination of weapon equipment. ...

Hi Skarg, everyone.
These are the counters that I felt were most lacking in the original TFT, in rough order of importance...

-- Horses (small 2 hex) and large (3 hex).
-- 2 hex boars.
-- Elementals. 1 hex, 2 hex, 3 hex, 4 hex in all 4 types.
-- big spiders.
-- Terrain. (Brush, thorns, rubble, flat rocks.)
-- Furniture. (tables, & chairs mostly).
-- A variety of Spooks.
-- Good number of zombies. (A few more skeletons as well.)
-- A couple domestic animals each (sheep, pigs, cows, llama).
-- Small and large wagon.

I really like the idea of having at least one counter for every creature in the rules. So if there is a 9 hex Manticore in the rules, I would really like to see a 9 hex Manticore counter.

Over the years I've made a LOT of new counters.

Warm regards, Rick.

[Nebless]

Originally Posted by Rick_Smith

-- Terrain. (Brush, thorns, rubble, flat rocks.)

Granted I only have the 1 Dark City Game Ebon Rising, but this is one area i'd rather see counters for than the way DCG did it.

While the DCG map is very nice looking, it has everything printed on it and each paragraph describes which items and area of the map is in play. Makes it hard to keep track.

Originally Posted by Rick_Smith

Over the years I've made a LOT of new counters.

It would be nice if there was a TFT place where people like you could post your counter files for others to use like they do on the BoardgameGeek site (or just use that site's TFT area and let people know it's there).

[JLV]

I have to agree that sometimes DCG's maps get a little busy and it's hard to keep track of what's actually there and what's not, but they are highly informative! ;-)

Still, all things considered, I'd prefer some terrain counters; pillars, pits, bushes, trees, that kind of thing -- or at least something useful as a generic "obstacle."

[guymc]

I love counters, too. I grew up with games with counters, and learned to appreciate good counter art. That’s one of the reasons I am so glad to have Liz back on this project. Her use of shadow and light on the Melee counters made them GREAT for that game. The more neat counters we have, the better.

I also love the old Cardboard Heroes. I bought ‘em all back in the day, and when I had my own company and Steve had quit making them, I published quite a line of similar figures in PDF format myself. I hope I’ll get a chance to buy ‘em again for TFT.

[zot]

Originally Posted by guymc

I published quite a line of similar figures in PDF format myself. I hope I’ll get a chance to buy ‘em again for TFT.

Wow, sounds perfect!

[schoon]

Originally Posted by Rick_Smith

-- Horses (small 2 hex) and large (3 hex).
-- 2 hex boars.
-- Elementals. 1 hex, 2 hex, 3 hex, 4 hex in all 4 types.
-- big spiders.
-- Terrain. (Brush, thorns, rubble, flat rocks.)
-- Furniture. (tables, & chairs mostly).
-- A variety of Spooks.
-- Good number of zombies. (A few more skeletons as well.)
-- A couple domestic animals each (sheep, pigs, cows, llama).
-- Small and large wagon.

On board with all of this except the Terrain and Furniture.

For me, I'd rather see more creatures than things.

[stefanj]

Originally Posted by Rick_Smith

-- 2 hex boars.

I keep reading this as "a pair of hex boars."


Hex boars being a sort of magic-using wild pig.


Thank you for putting that in my head.

[Steve Jackson]

Full-boar confusion!

[ParadoxGames]

Originally Posted by Rick_Smith

Hi Skarg, everyone.
These are the counters that I felt were most lacking in the original TFT, in rough order of importance...

-- Horses (small 2 hex) and large (3 hex).
-- 2 hex boars.
-- Elementals. 1 hex, 2 hex, 3 hex, 4 hex in all 4 types.
-- big spiders.
-- Terrain. (Brush, thorns, rubble, flat rocks.)
-- Furniture. (tables, & chairs mostly).
-- A variety of Spooks.
-- Good number of zombies. (A few more skeletons as well.)
-- A couple domestic animals each (sheep, pigs, cows, llama).
-- Small and large wagon.

Warm regards, Rick.

I tried my hand at some 3-hex elementals. I found images online and turned them into clipart. Let me know what you think. Here's the link.
https://78.media.tumblr.com/3547c570...9z4o1_1280.jpg