If you use minis in your tabletop games, moving from square to square, or hex from hex to bring some order and tactics to melee fights then how do you handle flying creatures?
In fact, how do you handle any battle that resolves over more than one level of height? How do you cope with a courtyard with archers on the roof? Or an underground chamber with dangerously narrow walkways ringing it as they rise up to the ground above?
Some gamers mock-up multi-level maps with the use of toilet roll tubes and cardboard. That’s the start, but it can obscure vision and block the action on the battle mats.
The alternative is clear plastic “combat risers”. You’ll find these on Amazon, Etsy and specialist gaming sites.
The model I’m using to illustrate this article it from Axe N’Shield gaming gear and costs nearly $40.00.
With the Axe N’Shield model and many others, you do not need to mount the top level. You could put a flyer model there instead. The strategy in building your collection is to ensure that the parts for your risers are interchangeable.
It’s worth keeping in mind that even the best tabletop terrain engineer cannot overcome gravity. I’ve seen at least one combat riser topple when, at a gaming convention, a stressed DM thought it would be dramatic to put a heavy dragon mini on the elevated platform. It was dramatic, just not in the way they hoped as first, the tower leaned forward and then the bottom slid out. What a noise as plastic and resin came crashing down.
How do you handle multi-levels in battle mats and flying creatures? Let us know in the comments below.
