Yesterday Eda Schweiss posted about using ivory figurines for a more abstract battle map and Joel Priddy mentioned...

Yesterday Eda Schweiss posted about using ivory figurines for a more abstract battle map and Joel Priddy mentioned that he likes to use Quirkle pieces. I love these ideas because if I have to use a physical representation of a space in a game I want it to enhance my players' imagination, not replace it. Unfortunately I don't have the time, or skill, to paint some ivory figurines and I find Quirkle, with all it's straight lines and bright colours, to be a bit too modern for the sort of fantasy games I want to run in Whitehack. But then I realised that I already own a near perfect alternative, Quarto.

Quarto is an excellent two-player boardgame by Gigamatic which comes with 16 simple wooden pieces. Each piece is either short or tall, black or white, round or square and hollow or solid, importantly though, not two pieces are the same. So you could allocate the white pieces to the enemy while the black are the PCs and their allies. Tall might be Strong characters on the PCs side and Orcs on the opposition while short are Deft, Wise and goblins. Whatever fits.

Also, if you haven't played Quarto it's a great game. You start with a blank board and take turns playing a piece trying to make a line of four pieces which have one thing in common. So you could win with a line of four short pieces or four white pieces or four hollow pieces, whatever. The thing that elevates it above noughts&crosses though is that your opponent chooses the piece you play each turn and you choose theirs. To win you have to trick them into giving you a winning piece. It's great fun and a game only takes about five minutes, a perfect distraction while you are waiting for the last of your players to arrive.