I bought a couple of Chessex battle mats years ago, including one of the 
huge ones (4 by 8 feet), but now I'm looking to start a modern genre 
campaign (next year, using my own homebrew system), so I expect to see a 
lot of ranged combat.

Denmark, where I live, is Metric, so I'm not optimistic about finding 
good and RPG-useful measuring tapes here...


Here is what I need:

Several tapes of different lengths, lightweight and without any kind of 
"housing" into which the tape retracts after use. I'd prefer the tapes 
to be made of cloth or plastic, rather than metal. I'll want things kept 
as simple as possible, so no half- or quarter inches, only integer 
values (and preferably continuing using inches after the first foot, as 
in 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 inches and so forth...). Ideally no centimeter 
values, although I can live with inches on one side and centimeters on 
the other.

I think ideal lengths would be 1 1/2 foot, 3 or 4 feet and 10 feet, 
seeing as the biggest battle mat is almost 9 feet from corner to corner. 
(I could live with a "housing"-version of the long tape, I guess, but 
not the other two.)

Can any of you direct me to an UK webshop that sells such measuring 
tapes? I imagine an RPG or wargame supplies shop.

If necessary, I'm willing to use a webshop in the USA, but I'd much 
prefer the UK, to get cheaper shipping and avoid import customs.

-- 
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org

Peter Knutsen wrote:
>
> Several tapes of different lengths, lightweight and without any kind of 
> "housing" into which the tape retracts after use. I'd prefer the tapes 
> to be made of cloth or plastic, rather than metal.

My wife has some dress making measuring tapes and these are made from 
either cloth or plastic. You might get some from a dress-making emporium 
rather than a games based one.

Can't offer you any actual suggestions about where to get them though, 
last time I got one was in a Christmas cracker.

-- 
James Kemp
http://www.full-moon.info/

J M Kemp wrote:
> Peter Knutsen wrote:
>> Several tapes of different lengths, lightweight and without any kind 
>> of "housing" into which the tape retracts after use. I'd prefer the 
>> tapes to be made of cloth or plastic, rather than metal.
> 
> My wife has some dress making measuring tapes and these are made from 
> either cloth or plastic. You might get some from a dress-making emporium 
> rather than a games based one.

Yes, that's a possibility, but it'd probably still have to be in the UK, 
if I want one with inches.

> Can't offer you any actual suggestions about where to get them though, 
> last time I got one was in a Christmas cracker.

I doubt many dress making emporiums have online shops, but just in case, 
what would be a good search term to use? "measuring tape"? I could try 
searching for sites with addresses ending in co.uk...

-- 
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org

On the grave of Peter Knutsen <peter@sagatafl.invalid> is inscribed:

>I doubt many dress making emporiums have online shops, but just in case, 
>what would be a good search term to use? "measuring tape"? I could try 
>searching for sites with addresses ending in co.uk...

I googled for haberdashery.

For example

http://www.sewessential.co.uk/Search.asp?SearchString=measure&Offset=0&x=26&y=6

has a 10ft tape that looks promising.

--
Jim or Sarah Davies, but probably Jim

D&D and Star Fleet Battles stuff on http://www.axsm89.dsl.pipex.com
becaue pipex's technical support is crap and so http://www.aaargh.org doesn't work.

-- 
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

In message <47087568$0$21930$157c6196@dreader1.cybercity.dk>, Peter 
Knutsen <peter@sagatafl.invalid> writes
>I bought a couple of Chessex battle mats years ago, including one of 
>the huge ones (4 by 8 feet), but now I'm looking to start a modern 
>genre campaign (next year, using my own homebrew system), so I expect 
>to see a lot of ranged combat.
>
>Denmark, where I live, is Metric, so I'm not optimistic about finding 
>good and RPG-useful measuring tapes here...
>
>
>Here is what I need:
>
>Several tapes of different lengths, lightweight and without any kind of 
>"housing" into which the tape retracts after use. I'd prefer the tapes 
>to be made of cloth or plastic, rather than metal. I'll want things 
>kept as simple as possible, so no half- or quarter inches, only integer 
>values (and preferably continuing using inches after the first foot, as 
>in 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 inches and so forth...). Ideally no centimeter 
>values, although I can live with inches on one side and centimeters on 
>the other.
>
>I think ideal lengths would be 1 1/2 foot, 3 or 4 feet and 10 feet, 
>seeing as the biggest battle mat is almost 9 feet from corner to 
>corner. (I could live with a "housing"-version of the long tape, I 
>guess, but not the other two.)
>
>Can any of you direct me to an UK webshop that sells such measuring 
>tapes? I imagine an RPG or wargame supplies shop.
>
>If necessary, I'm willing to use a webshop in the USA, but I'd much 
>prefer the UK, to get cheaper shipping and avoid import customs.
>

I got several 5 meter / 5 yard cloth tape measures for a pound each 
fairly recently, the type that reel into a plastic drum when you turn a 
handle. I found them in a cheap shop that has _everything_ at a pound. 
They were graduated in 10ths or 16ths of an inch, I think. I very much 
doubt that you'd find anything equivalent on line at such a reasonable 
price, especially taking postage into account.

-- 
Marcus L. Rowland             http://www.forgottenfutures.com/
LJ:ffutures     http://homepage.ntlworld.com/forgottenfutures/
   Forgotten Futures - The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
   Diana: Warrior Princess  &   Elvis: The Legendary Tours
   The Original Flatland Role Playing Game

Marcus L. Rowland wrote:
> I got several 5 meter / 5 yard cloth tape measures for a pound each 
> fairly recently, the type that reel into a plastic drum when you turn a 
> handle. I found them in a cheap shop that has _everything_ at a pound. 

We have such shops too, here, but I very much doubt they'd stock 
something as obscure as a measuring tape using foreign units.

(Even if they did, they might very well use ancient Danish inches, which 
aren't exactly the same as the ones Chessex have used.)

> They were graduated in 10ths or 16ths of an inch, I think. I very much 
> doubt that you'd find anything equivalent on line at such a reasonable 
> price, especially taking postage into account.

But I don't want the drum (I want something light and handy), and I'd 
very much like to avoid the graduation of sub-inches.

The ideal would be a drum-less measuring tape made specifically for 
wargamers and roleplayers, seeing as that kind of people are only 
interested in whole inches.

-- 
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org

In message <4719fd87$0$7608$157c6196@dreader2.cybercity.dk>, Peter 
Knutsen <peter@sagatafl.invalid> writes
>Marcus L. Rowland wrote:
>> I got several 5 meter / 5 yard cloth tape measures for a pound each 
>>fairly recently, the type that reel into a plastic drum when you turn 
>>a handle. I found them in a cheap shop that has _everything_ at a pound.
>
>We have such shops too, here, but I very much doubt they'd stock 
>something as obscure as a measuring tape using foreign units.
>
>(Even if they did, they might very well use ancient Danish inches, 
>which aren't exactly the same as the ones Chessex have used.)
>
>> They were graduated in 10ths or 16ths of an inch, I think. I very 
>>much doubt that you'd find anything equivalent on line at such a 
>>reasonable price, especially taking postage into account.
>
>But I don't want the drum (I want something light and handy), and I'd 
>very much like to avoid the graduation of sub-inches.
>
>The ideal would be a drum-less measuring tape made specifically for 
>wargamers and roleplayers, seeing as that kind of people are only 
>interested in whole inches.
>

Might be worth trying the shops anyway - things like those tape measures 
are made for the global market, so you might be able to get them - you 
can always cut the drum part off. I know you don't want the graduations, 
I can't really suggest anything on that. Someone who sells stuff for 
primary schools in the USA might be your best bet.

I'm a great believer in the usefulness of these shops - I work in a 
school science department, and we get a lot of stuff we need that way; 
for example, instead of buying light boxes at 25 pounds a time I've just 
bought 16 laser line devices at a pound a shot which do essentially the 
same thing, and don't need a separate power pack, just a couple of 
batteries.

You could, of course, print tape measures onto card or something, then 
cut them out to the length you want.
-- 
Marcus L. Rowland             http://www.forgottenfutures.com/
LJ:ffutures     http://homepage.ntlworld.com/forgottenfutures/
   Forgotten Futures - The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
   Diana: Warrior Princess  &   Elvis: The Legendary Tours
   The Original Flatland Role Playing Game