Ben believes a kill on the battle map needs to be celebrated and properly noted. Sure, you could just tip your mini over and crudely call it a dead body but where’s the proper bliss and recognition in that? You own that square – now show it!

Dragonfire Laser Crafts makes the perfect corpse marker. Their death symbol is part of their RPTiles series and more specifically, comes in their Crypt Tiles set. Ben got sneaky though and was able to purchase an extra clump of singles out of their “bit box” by visiting their booth at GenCon earlier this year.

To mix it up, we also use the coffin marker (also part of the Crypt Tile set) to symbolize the bigger kills on the board. After all, those bosses or especially pesky monsters earned the right to have a fancier tombstone.

The Dragonfire corpse tile also allows for easy stacking of multiple bodies. This function is key as our game group’s house rule says two or more bodies in the same space makes it difficult terrain.

Great stuff, fellow gamers…and remember, it’s the little accessory touches that ultimately set your game board apart from the others

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Forget the endless pile of dragon hoard treasure…what every RPG’er truly wants is simply more time to game. In order to maximize those precious hours, Ben uses pre-cut game boards to stage each of his dungeon room encounters. The results will simply amaze you.

All the credit goes to game group member Bobby Hurley (who plays Magnum and Red Dawn in our weekly podcast). He’s the innovator on this crafty idea. Here’s how it works:

The boards can be purchased at Home Depot and are 1/8” in thickness. Hurley cuts them to different square shapes to accommodate Hirst Arts floor tiles (typically 3 by 3 increments). As an added touch, he also spray paints them a dark green to ensure they blend into the game table background. He’s even cut 1 3/4″ tall PVC pipe and camouflaged those when we need to demonstrate dungeon levels.

Prior to game time, Ben stages each room on individual boards and keeps them under wraps. He then lays down the pieces with ease in real time as the adventures move forth. By pre-building the rooms, Ben avoids those pesky 15-minute-plus setup delays.

Pretty soon you will get really creative and experiment with traps, more traps, trap doors, and pits. It’s all pure genius and easy to do. Give it a try and see just how much extra time it saves you in your next game.

How good are Hirst Arts rubber molds? They are so good that they made our inaugural post (a homage of sorts). Ben has cast the magic white powder countless times to build amazing modular dungeons…most notably for our 4E campaigns including Keep on the Shadowfell and now Thunderspire Labyrinth.

One mold that has gotten particular creative attention is the Cavern Accessory Mold #85. It’s got boxes, buckets, barrels, bridges, crates, chests, campfires, coin stacks, crystal balls, caldrons, grain sacks, jewels, flames, levers, lion’s head, pedestals, and stone doors. Too much? Nah – where would your rooms be without the finer details?

Even better, with so many painting combinations, touch-up (such as weathering and blood spattering) and assembly options, it really feels like the mold that keeps on giving and giving and giving.

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Few events crack the suspense barrier like a party opening a new-found dungeon door. The group braces for battle and assumes the worst. You can cut the tension with a bastard sword.

And just like that…the moment disappears. Ben equates this adrenaline rush to that brief moment of silence by the crowd when baseball player delivers his pitch to the plate.

With so much excitement at stake, finding and using the right door is critical. Ben ensures a full arsenal of doors is always at the ready. Is the door steel, stone or wood? What types of markings are on the door (writings or pictures)? What is unique about the door (lion’s head, scorch marks, dried blood)?

Luckily the crew over at Hirst Arts has given us the tools to do it right. Ben utilizes essentially three different molds: Cavern Accessory Mold #85, Cavern Floor Accessories #282, Water Cavern Wall Mold #81. After that, it’s just how fancy and creative one can get with his paint jobs.

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If your D&D miniatures are marching on an outdoor map, the chances are extraordinarily high that you will see some boulder clusters on or near the path. What lurks behind those rock piles is of course a different Blog entry entirely.

Woodland Scenics wrote the book on rock molds. They have a slew of options. Ben’s favorite is the boulder mold or C1232 Boulders 5×7 Mold to be exact. This rock collection mold spits out a ton different pieces. And if you want to get fancy on your paint job, snag a toothbrush (but not your wifey’s) and drop a little blood spatter here and there.

The mold does have a few sticky spots to deal with when popping the final rocks out but sometimes you just have to bear down. So while rocks may seem silly, sometimes it’s the smaller elements on a game mat really help bring the whole encounter together.

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Ben finally got a first-hand go of the Wizards of the Coast Dungeon tile accessory line. Gabe-age’s dawned the DM hat and took the gang through our very first Dungeon Delve encounter. He utilized The Halls of the Giant Kings Dungeon Tiles to set the scene.

Each pack contains six double-sided sheets of illustrated, die-cut terrain tiles printed on heavy cardstock. Gabe-age taped them down to his laminated game board to help prevent slide-age. Once done, the scotch tape came off with surprising ease.

The tile art is top notch, the durability way above par, and the variety abundant (10 different sets and counting). And while Ben’s terrain preference is to always go 3-D, these D&D Dungeon Tiles are your best choice when the budget is tight and the storage space is low

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