I'm curious how many OSR DM's use miniatures in their games. Do you use pongs (flat, circular markers, with/without images printed), or something else for tactical demarcation on a board? What type of terrain, or board, do you use? This is a query on RPG's, not fantasy miniatures games, please.
I use miniatures (I also play 2e BattleSystem, and 2e BattleSystem Skirmish, so I have numerous armies of figures for those, but they serve in my RPG sessions, as well). I sometimes use a mixture of Battlemat with 3-D terrain pieces (guard towers, for example, sitting atop the mat). I have 2-D dungeon prints, mounted on vinyl floor tiles, cut to size, but these rarely get used (sad, as they are quite pleasing to the eye). I most commonly use my Chessex Battlemats, both square and hex, with miniatures, but nothing but ink marks, to map out the terrain.
I only resort to the mini's and mats, when things become tactical. Otherwise, we use Theater of the Mind, along with graph paper, and a pencil, to map out the dungeon. Once we begin using miniatures, the flavor of the game changes to more like miniatures gaming. For tactical combat, I very much prefer mini's, and some sort of terrain (usually the Battlemat, as this is the fastest, most efficient mapping method, as well as the most versatile). You? What do you do, in your RPG adventures and dungeons? Cheers!
