The Loose Association of Wargamers

Right, so it’s time to replace my very old wargames cloth and I’m faced with two options.

Firstly, Cigar Box Battle Mats excellent range. I’ve heard a lot of good things about them.
Or
‘Mouse pad’ material printed mats. My X-Wing mat is one of these and I’m very happy with it.

Terrain boards are not an option.

I’m interested to hear Loose Ass members who have either(or both) thoughts on these.

I have mats by Deep Cut(Mouse mat and fabric), Tiny(fabric) and Cigar Box(Fabric).
Tiny look the nicest but feel a bit unfinished. They're obviously just cut from a larger roll and the edges left raw. You can sometimes see the weave in close up photos.
Deep Cut and Cigar box both look great too.
Deep cut fabric appears a bit too 'plasticky' for my taste......although my mat is a couple of years old so they might have changed the product. Their mouse mat types are great for flat surfaces but not if you want to lay them over terrain.
Cigar box have the nicest material, a nice close woven cloth, .almost 'felty'. they drape nicely over underlain hills etc...and are nicely oversized. However be careful over the actual printed design as the one I have (Fields 2 IIRC) is much darker in reality than it looks on the computer screen.
Deep cut and possibly Tiny will do custom design mats too, which is always worth a thought, but at a price!

If I was getting another one i'd probably go for the Cigar Box ones but i'd be very careful about the design and try to see them in the 'fabric' first.

I regret enormously chucking out my green blanket when I left Chile. It cost me about six quid, was 2m x 2m, and just needed some staining with a bit of thinned acrylic to get rid of the lawn like look.

grizzlymc wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 10:39 pm .... and just needed some staining with a bit of thinned acrylic to get rid of the lawn like look.

Please tell us that wasn't a euphemism......

I tried to wrap my euphemism in it but it was too bulky.

I’ve been having this discussion with Neanderthal as we’re both considering moves to pre-printed mats, even for display games.

I’ve got a Deep Cut mousepad cobblestone mat, very nice, lays well, won’t take hills under it. It’s thicker than rubber backed. There’s a good review of these mats here:
http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.co.uk/ ... eview.html

Also a Tiny Mats rubber backed Arid Green (you can see it in the last couple of pics in my Biscotti Wars thread). It was the best looking ‘picture’ of any I looked at. I’d echo Paul’s comments on Tiny, with the caveat that these are very minor quibbles for me. Being rubber backed it still won’t take hills under it but I’m experimenting with small bits of scrunched up cloth under it to give it a small amount of relief.

I do find it interesting that the Tiny mat can look different in varying light conditions, sometimes it will look a little ‘flat’, other times it looks fantastic, lovely detail and the impression of relief. I’ll be intrigued to see how it looks under exhibition lighting.

Overall, very happy with both, will buy more from either of these suppliers again. I’d recommend Deep Cut’s carrying case for transport and storage - cheap and useful.

ive got the desert one from cigar box and its great. Definitely thinking about getting another one

I think Jeremy should start his own range. He could call them J-Cloths.

What? Already taken? Damn, I was quite pleased with that, too.......

I have been told that putting butchers paper (also known as newsprint over the dry cloth and then ironing with a hot iron will halp melt the paint into the cloth. I did my blanket in watered down paint with windex in it.