Template Sizes and Shapes

Template Sizes and Shapes

Foomp!

Ok, so if I want to have templates, what size and shape should they be?

Unless and until I have my own manufacturing facilities, I think it's best to write my rules for existing gaming templates, rather than force players to make buy or make new ones.

There are several commercially available templates.  IIRC, the most common ones are:

• The Games Workshop small blast template, which is 3" across.
• The Games Workshop large blast template, which is 5" across.
• The Games Workshop flamer template, which is teardrop-shaped and about 8" long.
• The Flames of War template, which is a 6" square.
• The Flames of War double template, which is 6x12".
• The Flames of War quadruple template, which is 12"x12"
• The Games Workshop Apocalypse blast templates, which is 10".
• The Games Workshop multiple template, which has several clustered large blast templates.
• Warmachine templates, which are about the same as the Games Workshop ones. 

As Flames of War's rulebook explains, artillery barrages actually make a squarish shape in aggregate, even though individual shells make a round blast. I don't see the exact shape and size as mattering all that much, as long as both players are using the same style.  The square ones, of course, will cover more models on average than the round ones, but that just means square-player battles will be more deadly on both sides.  So I am going to categorize templates into three sizes, and give players as much a choice of product as I can:

• Small: Use the GW small blast template or equivalent. It will usually cover only two or three moderately-spaced models.  It represents things like grenades.
• Medium: Use the FoW 6"x6" template or the GW large blast template or the equivalent. It will usually cover six to eight moderately-spaced models.  It represents mortar barrages and the HE shells of tanks.
• Large:  Use the FoW 12" x 12" template, the GW Apocalypse, or the equivalent.  It represents barrages from field artillery or the HE of enormous direct-fire guns.

Honestly, I cannot see much use in the flame or multiple templates.  The FoW 6" x 12"  template suggests several uses.  If I do want to use templates to represent a machine-gun spraying an area, then the longer shape might be useful for representing a lethal zone perpendicular to its facing.  Placed parallel to a gun's direction, it could represent a beam weapon's path of destruction.