Changing mat

[martin goddard]

I have now thrown away  10 games cloths/mats.
These were mainly green and sand felt. I have also chucked out a couple of "terrain mats"  products which are really nice in terms of laid on texture but do not fold well.

I  expect to only buy commercial mats from now on.
Tiny Mats and Geek Villain seem to have all that I need.
This gives me about 20 printed mats.

I feel printed cloths are good value if you play plenty of games. It also depends on the proportions a player wants to spend on an army and scenery.
My spending is about 40% scenery and 60% figures.
I think this is a good position to be in.

I might use  odd bits of cloth when play testing a table size for a new game or making a one off  by painting upon cotton.


martin

[Sean Clark]

Ideally, I'd like a mat for each set of rules that goes in a box with all of the scenery I need for that game. I'm a long way off being in that position as yet, but that's my goal.

[Colonel Kilgore]

Me too, Sean - one has to keep things simple for games logistics!

I'm going to speak to a certain mat manufacturer at Beachhead and see what he can do. I have a couple of nice mats from him with square grids and a nice plain printed margin all around, to avoid cutting errors. If he could do those as a standard offering for PP games (we'd really only need 4' x 4', 3' x 4' and 3' x 5', I think?) then we could maybe reduce manufacturing errors and all buy with more confidence?

Simon

[martin goddard]

Good idea Simon
A standard.

martin

[Smiley Miley 66]

Which Mat manufacture is that then ? Simon.
Maybe we can all go up and see them and then we can give them an opportunity to see there is a market out there for them to fulfil ? If several of us go to them over that weekend !
It would be nice to be able to get a Mat that is printed to a set standard with Squares marked on them properly! Also the correct size.
Miles

[Colonel Kilgore]

It's the same one with whom Sean recently had troubles, but finally ended up happy, Miles 

Simon

[John in York]

It's also the same one who did me a perfect cloth for Square Bashing. They managed it first time but I did spell out my requirements in mind numbing detail (having seen some of the issues other people have had).
The company is therefore more than capable of doing it and their choice of designs and prices are really nice (in my opinion).
I do think a delegation is a great idea and would ultimately help the company reduce waste.

[Nick]

I've got 3 fleece type mats from Geek Villain now which cover me for most areas. Very pleased with them, and may add one or two more in the future. All non-gridded though so have to place templates carefully.

Nick

[Richardwills]

Good idea Simon.  I'd be in for a group order.

Richard

[Stewart 46A]

Sean,
I'm lucky in that I have achieved that with the figures required in foam trays in an easy to cary bag and scenery and mat rein a plastic box.

My loft is like Thunder bird 2 hanger,
figure bag & scenery box for each game/period ready to go

Stewart

[Sean Clark]

It's the same one with whom Sean recently had troubles, but finally ended up happy, Miles 

Simon

Not quite...
I've still not recieved anything! 😅

[Colonel Kilgore]

But you will, Sean - what could go wrong? 

Simon

[Leman (Andy)]

I have been happy with my gridded mats from Deepcut and also the two Geek Villain mats - grass and snow. Thinking of giving an Italian company a go in the New Year for a rollup neoprene 3x4 or 5 mat referred to as Mediterranean. Useful for Italian Wars and Ancients in my case. I did get a mat from Tiny Wargames a few years back, when I still had a 6x4. It is farmland, with an 8 inch grid, and is great for playing 7x5 scenarios at 2/3 scale. Played some very memorable FPW games on that using Scenarios for all Ages and They Died for Glory. Also good for some of Bruce Weigle's scenarios.