Little things please little minds, they say. Well, one finds that hobbyists are often highly pleased with small things that they convince themselves will enhance their hobby. Hence my recent hankering to try out a dice tray.
Rolling my dice on the table has been good enough for me for nearly 50 years. I think the catalyst for a dice tray adventure was seeing dice trays in use during recent viewings of Little Wars TV. And then there was that advert for a dice tower that came up during a recent punt around the internet. However, I rejected a dice tower as just too intrusive. And a bit silly.
A rapid search on Google turned up a number of options, but in the end I decided to go cheap and cheerful, so not too much money would be wasted if the idea turned out to be another pointless purchase. To my shame Amazon got my business in the end - I guess Mr. Bezos needs to buy more rocket fuel at
some stage. Just £5.99 for
this cute little made-in-China item. It came next day and I am really quite pleased with it.
 |
| A smooth baize-like material on the inside, in a suitable shade of green. |
 |
| Button up the poppers and there's your tray |
 |
| The underside is a slightly shiny faux black leather. |
Size is about 6" x 8", which is just about right for me. Plenty of room for dice rolling without taking up too much room. It's obviously designed to be something you can carry around flat, for convenience, but I wouldn't want to keep using the poppers too much - they don't feel that solid. I'll keep it done up and ready to use. Otherwise, quality is actually pretty good for the price, with no flaws or manufacturing faults. And it works really nicely, cushioning the dice as they fall with a satisfyingly soft thud. Oh dear, I think I'm getting a little light-headed.
So, from now on, no searching for dice that have rolled onto the floor, no dice hiding under trees, and the dice you are actually rolling won't get mixed up with others that just happen to be lying around on the table. I'll be ordering a second one in time for my demo game at Partizan on 7th October.
Exciting Times Ahead
On the subject of Partizan, I have two big weekends coming up - the Cotswold Wargaming Day on the 3rd October, then Partizan the following Sunday to do a Shadow of the Eagles demonstration game. So look out for reports on both of those in the not too distant future.
'Til then, go well, and good gaming.
I got a dice tray about 5 years ago - one of the best things I've bought - no scrabbling around on the floor for lost dice !
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good price Keith and looks the business. Funnily enough after some recent LWTV episodes, I was thinking about making one in wood with a felt base, but may reconsider after this! See you tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI like this style, and recently picked up one myself. They can be found in a lot of different styles, colors and even logos, and I would love some with 18th-century crests on them for appropriate games.
ReplyDeleteHi Kieth, I hugely enjoyed the Cotswolds Wargaming Day. Thanks for putting it on.
ReplyDeleteThanks Norm. It was good to meet you.
ReplyDeleteI use an Ikea picture frame with the back taken off, you can use it as a target and then lift it off to remove any misses amongst your roles.
ReplyDeleteA useful and interesting post Keith. I've been using trays and a tower for years. Necessary due to the detailed nature of most of my terrains. In fact we have a house rule here in Oakridge that the dice doesn't count unless it ends up inside the tray or tower - no bouncing allowed! Cotswold Wargaming Day was lovely as usual (I shall be blogging on it this week) and very good luck with Partizan - hope you sell lots of rule books. Chris http://notjustoldschool.blogspot.com/
ReplyDelete