Tact-Tiles are the next generation of battle maps. Instead of one giant rolled up mat you have these hard tiles that interlock to form your battle map. We have been playing with Tact-Tiles extensively since we spoke with the creators of Tact-Tiles at DragonCon 2003. At first I was just going to use them a little then write up the review. Once I started using them the more I wanted to use them before I gave my final opinion on them.

So what is the final opinion you ask? Let's go over the benefits of Tact-Tiles.

1. Dry Erase instead of wet erase. Now I only need a paper towel and a pen. No longer do I need to be spraying water to clean off the map with character sheets getting wet and players complaining. Not to mention the junk you get all over yourself with wet erase markers; what a mess.

2. Level playing surface. No longer do I have to worry about that annoying bulge in the middle of the battle map where no miniature can stand on for more then a few seconds.

3. Dynamic size of battle map. In the days of the roll out battle map you were limited to the size of the map. No longer if you need another area just add another tile.

4. Do not erase as often. If the area keeps going to the east and the PCs cleared everything to the west you can just pick up those tiles and then put them on the east end. On a roll out battle map if the PCs hit the edge of the map you erased the whole thing and started redrawing. With Tact-Tiles you just need to grab a tile from somewhere on the map that is no longer going to be used and place it where you need it.

5. Draw some ahead of time. With Tact-Tiles you can have the "big" rooms drawn out ahead of time, and use the other tiles for the rooms up to it. When the big room hits you just whip out the tiles and bingo the players do not have to wait while the DM draws.

6. Very tough. Tact-Tiles are thick enough to remain rigid and strong, but the material is light enough to carry around with ease. Do not lay a lit cigarette on a tile though.

7. Good writing surface. Trying to write on one of those roll out battle maps on my character sheet with a pencil is an art in itself. You press to hard and you get another hole in your character sheet. Not with Tact-Tiles. It is a nice hard surface so you can write till your heart is content(just watch out for where the tiles connect).

8. PC attitude adjuster. While a roll out battle map is a good thing to use to whack a player upside the head with, it is usually laid out on the table with stuff all over. Not handy at all. With Tact-Tiles you just grab one of the tiles and whack him/her upside the head. Thank you Tact-Tiles my players are much nicer now.

9. Home Security. You will not be able to stop a burglar with a roll out battle map, but Tact-Tiles make great make shift weapons. You can throw them like large shurikens (can throw 3 a round too).

Are there any downsides? Well a few, so let's look at those.

1. Drawing a long straight line. Since the tiles do interlock you have a broken drawing surface. So you will hit a crack while you are drawing. This has two effects, the first is your line may look weird, and second it is rough on the marker. Solution: Do not press down hard at all, draw real softly (dry erase do not need pressure). Even though it is rough on the marker the markers run out of ink before the tip falls apart.

2. That hurts!!! Players will complain when you hit them upside the head with Tact-Tiles. It does hurt a lot more than a rolled up battle map.

3. Single sided. It would be awesome if the Tact-Tiles had another grid on the opposite side. Another square grid would lead to troubles as to how to fit the tiles together. If the other side had a hex grid on them Tact-Tiles would be the bomb.

4. Square edges. With the perfectly square edges the tiles fit together great but it does work over the pens. I thought maybe if you would round off the edges just a hair that will stop the stop that problem. I'm not sure how well this will work because I have not tried messing up my tiles. I want to keep the ones I've got working; I like them too much to mess them up.

Final opinion: Tact-Tiles Rock!!! I tossed my roll up battle map into the deep bowels of the "I do not use these any more" closet and carry my Tact-Tiles with me to all my games. I suggest you get yourself a set. You will thank yourself.

Their website is: www.bc-products.net


staff out...

Previous News  |  The Ekaj Archives  |  Back to Main  |  Next News

Questions? Comments? Sugestions?  E-mail the staff.