Tabletop for people with visual impairment

[sundancer 42139xp 1]

Hello all,

Because I was asked about this yesterday in a social medium: are there systems/game types in the tabletop area that are suitable for blind and severely visually impaired people? Do you have any sources, contacts or ideas? Simulators such as tabletop simulators are not wanted. The person would like to experience the real minis.

Thank you in advance.

PS: This might also make for a good Weekender topic I think. @warzan @lloyd @avernos @brennon

[thunderchildobsParticipant 365xp 1]

You may want to look at chess sets that are used for the visually impaired.

The pieces have a small peg in the base that plugs into a hole in the board.

This allows the visually impaired player to feel where the pieces are without knocking them over.

The sighted player uses the same board.

https://www.chessworld.com.au/blind-chess-set-for-vision-impaired-players/

 

You might be able to attach magnets to the figure bases and use metal sheet under the gaming board.

 

 

[sundancer 42139xp 1]

Thanks, they are aware of that chess system but they actually want to get into Tabletop Miniature Wargaming.

[pagan8thParticipant 6971xp 2]

I hate to quote Gerry… but theatre of the mind… but that only works or RPGs, not skirmish.

[sundancer 42139xp 1]

Yeah and they specifically asked because of a 40k battle report

[scribbs 14379xp 1]

I wonder whether something like Age of Penda might work?

Grid based, so no need for precise positioning, scope for using large bases of models, and you can blow up the order chart to a bigger size; basically all things that might mitigate for a degree of visual impairment.

[sundancer 42139xp 1]

I was thinking of Battletech and similar games using hex maps. Still collecting ideas. Thank you.

[zoidpinhead 12355xp 1]

Grid and Hex systems both sound good – Strengthy and Honour is grid based and the tiny scale allows for whole battles all in one go, arranging the units differently on each different type of base would allow someone to feel the different units without having to ask.

An alternative would be to go the opposite way and go for big minis using a skirmish rule set.  Western gunfights are relatively easy with 54mm or larger minis fairly easy to source.  For 40K context specifically why not try to reverse the Inq28 idea.  They took the 28mm minis from 40K and Necromunda and played Inquisitor with them.  You could try the opposite and invent Necro54, use the Inquisitor or other 54mm+ minis and play Necromunda.  If that is a bit too hard to manage then Blackstone Fortress uses very few minis so could convert to 54 or 75mm and the game pieces could be scaled up very easily with a scanner and printer to enlarge the tiles proportionally.

[hairybrains 12883xp 0]

Would DeadZone from Mantic work?

[ced1106Participant 6124xp 1]

I don’t know of any “fog of war” miniature games, but these would fit with visual impairment. You might have to redesign a wargame to not be visually oriented and use different senses. For boardgames, as an example, is Nyctophobia, which is played entirely in the dark, except for the bad guy, who can do anything, including touching the players, make sound effects, etc.

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