December 24, 2001 - How-to Article
Roy's Completely Unguaranteed Instructions on Mounting of Desktop-Published Counters

sample DTP gamea ConsimWorld Exclusive
by Roy Bartoo

CSW Preface: The charter of ConsimWorld is to promote the historical gaming industry, specifically offering support to our publishing partners and fostering a community for others to share their passion.

Given the rise in desktop published (DTP) game designs, an ongoing challenge for the gaming enthusiast is the special preparation work required before play of these games. Namely, the mounting and cutting of the counters provided for play is an added chore that must be mastered. Unfortunately, many of the creative DTP-produced titles published each year (which can carry a high game collection value given their limited print run), are not purchased largely due to this manual labor effort required in mounting/cutting the counteres. Sadly, the end result are some creative gems not landing on our members table-tops to be enjoyed! This CSW-exclusive article therefore salutes the labor-of-love and blood, sweat, and tears effort of our valued DTP partners, and aims to motivate those of you who have yet not purchased a DTP design to do this manual labor required. For those who are fans of DTP designs, we hope these counter mounting guidelines are helpful to you.

Here is a listing of some of our most active DTP Partners. After you read this article, we hope you will take the initiative to check out their titles and purchase some of their games!

Black Cat Studio, Rick Barber  Discussion
Blue Guidon Games, Scott Holmgren  Discussion
BSO Games, Richard Berg   Discussion
Khyber Pass Games, Andrew Preziosi   Discussion
Markham Designs, Robert Markham   Discussion
Microgame Design Group, Kerry Anderson   Discussion
Minden Games, Gary Graber
Perry Moore Games, Perry Moore   Discussion
Simulations Workshop   Discussion
Vae Victis magazine   Discussion

Also, be sure to check out the official CSW Discussion on DTP Produced Games.

CAVEAT: We understand that there may be many methods and preferences for mounting DTP counters. As for the author of this piece, Roy Bartoo, he's been mounting counters for some 17 years, and recently finished art school which provided additional experience in sticking bits of paper to cardboard and cutting.

PREPARATION
First, make a color copy of the original countersheet (for your own use) — never ever mount the original sheet, as if (when) you make a mistake you are out of luck. Two 8 1/2" x 11" copies are better than one 11x17" (as photocopiers distort ever-so-slightly, and there is more distortion with the larger copy). With Vae Victis counters, since they use European paper sizes you may find the tops/bottoms of the counters getting clipped off by the photocopier, in which case you may also want to reduce the copy slightly, 95% works well.

Use scissors to cut the "counter fronts" apart from the counter backs, so that you have two half-sheets of paper. Then, get a half-page-sized piece of mount-board — you can buy it at any art supply store or framing store, if you look sufficiently pathetic they might just give you such a small bit from their scraps. You want a piece that is big enough to mount the counters, with 1/2 inch or so around the edges (so you don't have to be absolutely precise in the first stage). If you are going to be doing a number of DTP counter sheets you might as well buy a full sheet, it is not expensive. Comes in a number of colors — mat-board is about the same thing, works equally well.

If you are truly impoverished, thin cardboard (like on the back of notepaper tablets) works pretty well, but will deteriorate over time. Do not use any variety of corrugated cardboard as it crushes and distorts and is completely unsatisfactory. If you want thinner counters than the mount-board results in, either cardboard or 3-ply bristol board (which is however expensive). For REALLY thick counters, you can use foam-cored board, which is about 1/4" thick but very light (and hard to cut cleanly).

You'll also need adhesive (I recommend rubber cement, buy a small tin, it comes with a brush attached to the inside of the lid and is easy to use), a sharp knife (I recommend X-Acto hobby knife - sharp, the blades are cheap and replaceable, and the blade is thinner than utility knives so you get a cleaner, thinner cut), and a metal ruler (don't use a wood or plastic ruler if you value your fingertips — an X-Acto knife can cut through them easier than you'd believe, plus the edges of wood/plastic rulers tend to get dinged up and then you don't get straight cuts), preferably with a non-skid cork back.

And finally, a clean, quiet, dust-free, animal-hair-free place to work. You wouldn't believe how many times hairs and little lumpy bits turn up - underneath the sheet that you've just glued down.

AFFIXING THE COUNTER FRONTS
With rubber cement, coat the front side of the mount-board, and the back side of the "counter fronts" half-sheet. Let the cement dry. If you've thinned it (like I do) you'll want to recoat, and let that dry as well.

Once the cement has dried (approx. five minutes), stick the "counter fronts" sheet onto the mount-board, being careful not to trap air bubbles nor put creases into the paper. If you do make a mistake, gently pull the "counter fronts" sheet up and reset it on the mount board (the advantage of rubber cement over spray adhesive is that you CAN lift and reset — spray adhesive you have to get it right the first time). Gently rub the "counter fronts" so that it adheres well to the mount board. Using a sharp razor-knife and a cork-backed steel ruler, cut along the outer edges of the counters, all the way through the "counter fronts" and mount board, on all four sides. When cutting, be patient, and use a new, sharp blade. It will still take several passes to get all the way through the mount board, but hurrying will AT LEAST mar the counters (when the knife and/or ruler slips) and may shorten your fingers (painfully and abruptly - I've seen it happen). If you hold the ruler still, each pass with the knife will fall into the groove and make a nice clean cut.

AFFIXING THE COUNTER BACKS
That's the easy part. Now, using the knife-blade, carefully mark on the thin edge of the cardboard the lines between counters, so that you can see where they are when looking at the back of the mount-board. You don't need to mark every single line between each row/column of counters, I generally just mark the ones in the center of each side. And you don't need to make a deep notch, just something you can see while looking at the back side of the mount-board. Next, coat the back of the mount-board and the reverse side of the "counter backs" sheet with rubber cement, and let dry (just as when doing the counter fronts).

ALIGNING COUNTER FRONT AND BACK
Now comes the trickiest part, getting them aligned. Put a new, clean sheet of paper on the mount-board, leaving about 1/4" of mount-board showing around two sides — so most but not quite all of the mount-board is covered by the clean sheet of paper (termed a 'slip-sheet', this prevents the "counter backs" from gluing itself down while you are still trying to position it, as dry rubber cement adheres only very weakly to clean paper, but strongly to other dry rubber cement).

Carefully position the "counter backs" in place on the mount-board, matching the lines between counter rows/columns with those you marked on the narrow edge of the cardboard. When you think it is in place as well as you can get it, gently rub down the "counter backs" on the thin strip when the slip-sheet doesn't cover the mount-board (this will hold the "counter-backs" in position temporarily). Gently pull the slip-sheet out, and check to make sure that the "counter backs" are indeed aligned satisfactorily with the marks you made onto the narrow edge of the mount-board. If they are not staisfactory, gently lift the "counter backs" and try again (it should lift fairly easily, since the slip-sheet kept most of the "counter backs" from adhering to the mount-board). It may take two or three tries to get the alignment as close as you want (and, in my experience, for some reason the Vae Victis counters never line up quite right all around). Once you have the alignment satisfactory, gently rub down the "counter backs" onto the mount-board so that it makes a firm join.

CUTTING THEM APART
Last step is cutting the counters apart. Lay the ruler along the first line of the longest row/column of counters, and gently cut through with your knife, just as you did before — but DO NOT cut the row/column of counters loose from the block. The idea is to first cut them into strips, with one counter at the top of each strip only partially cut through. Once the counter block has been cut into strips, starting at the loose end of the strips, again using your knife and ruler, cut the individual counters loose, row by row. You'll probably need to apply firm pressure on the ruler to keep the strips from trying to slither out from under the blade — the sharper your knife, the less pressure is needed. The last row, which was holding the strips together, gets cut apart individually with the knife and ruler.

It is not as tedious as it sounds (takes longer to describe some of the steps than to do). The hardest part by far is getting the fronts and backs to line up, I recommend care & patience here.

Other options: if you don't feel comfortable using sharp knives, you can use scissors or a paper-cutter. You'll probably want to use thinner cardboard than mount-board in that case, and be aware that the counters will tend to be slightly twisted (because of the way that scissors or a paper-cutter work).

Some people prefer to use spray-mount (available in any art supply store, and some photography supply stores, the best variety I know is 3M Super 77). If you do it that way, make sure you lay down newspaper underneath whatever it is you are spraying, and use a clean sheet of newspaper each time (it really is a nuisance when you try to reuse a sheet of paper, only to find that the countersheet is now irrevocably glued to the old sheet of newspaper). Also, make sure you spray outside! This stuff is Really Bad for your lungs. The reason that I prefer rubber cement to spray adhesive is that with rubber cement you can separate the surfaces and try again if you've made a mistake — spray adhesive is permanent the first time. My experience is that it is awfully easy to get trapped air bubbles and folds or misalignments with spray mount. And you can't use a slip-sheet because the sheet that you've put spray-mount on will cheerfully glue itself immovably to the slip-sheet. I sometimes use spray-mount for single-sided counters, never for double-sided (just too hard to get it aligned exactly right the first time). Also, I find that spray-mount tends to get on your fingertips, causing you to stick to things you didn't anticipate.

DO NOT use water-soluble glue (Elmers, bottled craft glues). If you are really really desperate you can make it work, but water-soluble glues cause the fibers of the paper to become wet and expand, giving you bubbles in the countersheet, which are almost impossible to remove.

Some people use glue-sticks, in my (limited) experience with them are are messy and only semi-permanent.

BUY A DTP GAME!
I hope you find this information helpful. There is a virtual treasure trove of DTP games out there for you to enjoy and add to your game collection. The Charles S. Roberts Awards have recently established a category to recognize the best DTP-produced design each year (Solomon Sea was awarded the prestigious CSW Award for 2000). I encourage you to visit the many publishers listed in the preface of this article, and take one of these games for a test drive. You won't regret it!

Roy Bartoo

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