Thursday 13 August 2009

Gale Force 9 T.A.C template

I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago, as I'd wanted to try one out since I heard a review of it way back last year on 40K Radio. I acutally got to use it in a game last night, so I though I'd share my opinion of it.

As you can see from the picture, each side of the template has a different measurement which you are quickly going to use in a game of 40K. The long side is 6" long (assaults, infantry movement, walker movement etc), there's a 2" side (unit coherency), a 1" side to make sure your models and your opponents stay apart by the minimum distance, and a 4" side for vehicle squadron coherency. The other side has a little ruler measured in clear 1" increments for measuring distance when for example a unit is running.

I used it in a game this week. It took a little getting used to, reaching for this template, and not reaching for a tape measure, but once you've done it a couple of times, I found it really helpful. You can pretty quickly measure distances for rapidly moving models, and most importantly, you're measuring accurately. No more stretchy tape measure, going 7" instead of 6" etc, the template gives you the accurate measure.

The template itself is thick plastic, and mine is a much darker blue than the picture above and it's transparent. I did manage to put a scratch on the back of mine, so I'm not sure how long the ruler on the back will last.

So I enjoyed using it, and I found it useful. I wouldn't consider it an essential purchase by any means, but if you've got a bit of spare cash, or need to make up an order to a minimum amount to get free shipping (which is how I ended up with mine) go for it. The cost is £4.50 on Wayland Games, $5.59 from the Warstore.

5 comments:

jabberjabber said...

I've sometimes thought about purchasing one of them, but I always end up thinking that the humble tape measure has more uses (i.e. around the home) in comparison.
Thanks for posting your review :)

Tigerstyle said...

Absolutely, the TAC template won't replace the tape measure, but it's just a nice to have. I can see it being handy if you've got loads of Orks, Nids, IG etc to move quickly.

oni said...

For me the TAC Template is a must have.

Be careful, they scratch easily. I was in my local GW some time ago and the red shirt wanted to show it off to some of the other gamers. He laid it flat on a CoD table that had a heavy sand texture and proceeded to demonstrate. The whole side got scratched up.

Raptor1313 said...

It can't replace the tape measurer, that's for sure.

On the other hand, when moving on foot it saves you a heap of time. When assaulting, it saves you time.

Best of all? If you face blast weapons/ordnance/templates, then it is your new best friend, because it makes it much easier to space your units out and minimize the damage done to them. I've gotten the most use out of the 2" Coherency side, but I play against Guard a decent amount.

If you ever face blast or flamer weapons, then it's worth the money.

Tigerstyle said...

@oni

I found that with mine. The table I was playing on had patches of sand on it and I managed to put a scratch on one side of it.