Combat Tier [RPG]

It's really hard to to do three-dimensional tactical combat with miniatures.  Battles that take place underwater, in outer space, or simply with some foes on the ground and others flying complicate measurements and angles.  Combat Tier isn't a panacea, but it at least helps to solve the problem of visualizing and remembering where everyone is.  The basic idea behind the product is one of those things that is really simple in theory but hard to do well in practice: creating elevated platforms for miniatures to stand on so that players can gauge "how high" (or "how deep") they are relative to "ground level."  The Combat Tier box contains six platforms (four 4x4s and two 5x5s), two four-cube high long extenders, and one two-cube high short extenders.  The platforms and extenders fit together so that miniatures can stand on them at various heights.  Because everything is transparent but contains quite-visible grid markings, it's very easy to see how far miniatures are from one another in a (for example) "one square over, three squares up" sense.  I've used the product in several encounters and found it works really well.  The platforms and extenders are stable and sturdy, and they fit together logically.  It can take a minute to figure out the right combination of pieces to assemble to get different heights, but it's worth it.  The only limitation I foresee is that if you had an entire party of adventurers, all flying at different heights, against a slew of enemies flying at different heights, more than one box would be necessary in order to represent where everyone is.  Still, this is a really cool product that helps to take some of the difficulty out of three-dimensional combat.  It's a solid buy for GMs, especially those running higher-level adventures.