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So my partner wants to make her own gaming table to have at her house. She was thinking about doing something different, and getting one of those Zuzzy mattes, specifically the despoiled reaches, and then turning it into a snow terrain. Sounds like it will look awesome, but there are 2 important questions to be asked of people who have a Zuzzy matte.

1) is it hard to play fantasy on them? As in, does the surface of the matte make it hard to slide movement trays on them?

2) Would snow flocking crack or fall off this thing really easily when rolled up / any suggestions on how to do it?

Thanks for any info!

PS here is a link to the matte - http://www.zuzzy.com/despoiled_reaches.html

I have "The Ruined Land" in 4'x4', so I'll try to help out =)

1) Sliding movement trays might be a little difficult. The mat is some kind of latex rubber, to prevent it from sliding around the table. However, if you have actual movement trays, you can probably lift them slightly off the table.

2) They highly recommend that you not paint the mat. Instead, they suggest using washes and drybrushing to color it. Of course, this is because they are usually rolled up. If you are going to be nailing/gluing/stapling the mat down, then you shouldn't have much of a problem.

From their own FAQ:

Once painted is it possible to roll the mat up, or will the paint flake off when it is rolled?
The Terra-Flex mats are designed to be painted and then rolled and unrolled countless times. Just make sure you use thin washes, dry-brushing and scumbling techniques. And don't use primer or thick layers of paint. If you prime the mat or put the paint on thick it will crack and possibly flake off.

1) is it hard to play fantasy on them? As in, does the surface of the matte make it hard to slide movement trays on them?

Of the three mats that Zuzzy makes, the 'despoiled reaches' is on of the best for using with fantasy (as far as playability). There is a good bit of detail and it is very low/ compact. You shouldn't have any problem sliding movement trays. With monsters or individual bases, you'll need to lift the figure, but that is going to be true with any highly textured game board. I would definitely steer clear of the 'verdant land', the rough grass is way too tall and any slightly off balance figure (standards, mixed plastic and metal, etc.) will constantly be falling over.

2) Would snow flocking crack or fall off this thing really easily when rolled up / any suggestions on how to do it?

If you plan to roll the mat up, steer clear of flock. As Blue Orphen said, the company suggests it's own method of painting the mats. With the sculpt of the 'despoiled reach' it should be very possible to paint as a snow board. Just paint the jagged rock as rock and the lava flows as snow. Adding flock to the board would just be covering up the benefit of a custom sculpted mat. Not to mention it would all fall off within the first few uses.

I think the Zuzzy mat is a great item, my only negative point would be the ridiculously bad casting quality. It appears as if they just pour the latex straight into their mold without any special treatment. This leads to air bubbles throughout the mat. As the mat is only about a 1/16th of an inch thick, it generally only affects the taller details, (especially on the 'verdant fields') and pretty much disappears among the busy sculpt, but there are a few instances on my mats where a hole passes all the way through. Honestly, unless you're using the mat in a tug-of-war, this shouldn't be a real issue, but I wish they would take the time and give the mats a little more attention when being produced.