How do you decide how big the game should be? Print it out in multiple sizes, of course!
How big a game feels depends on a number of things. There’s the size of the board itself. Then there’s the size of the footprint on the table – there’s a deck of cards and a discard pile, and players might also have their cards on the table in front of them. The size of the box also plays a part in determining how big a game feels, as does the size of the individual game components. And, of course the number of components.
Yet size can also be deceptive. A 30cm board actually feels quite a bit smaller than a 35cm board. A 45cm board is massive, and a 25cm board is tiny. (It’s because the board is a square. When I think about the difference between 25cm and 45cm I automatically tend to think of the difference in distance, not in volume. Not helpful.)
I think a decision has been made. 35cm (about 14 inches) is big enough for it to feel crowded when the guards come out of the hut, but small enough that the base doesn’t look like a waste of space. Put the deck and the discard pile next to the board, players cards in front of them, a cup of tea and a couple of chocolate biscuits on the side, and suddenly the table is full. Yes, let’s go with 35cm.
Disarm the Base 
That sounds pretty good (have just been measuring that out against other game boards). Think a compact format is the right one for the game. Is that size board going to be ok for boxes?
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I’m thinking it means a box which is about 20cm square by 5cm deep. That’s the same size as 7 Wonders Duel (the two player version – one of my favourite games of all times!) or some of the Komos games. It’s on the smallish size but not tiny. And the components should fit quite neatly inside…
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