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Hey all,

I really like the type of gaming mat that GW produces. Only problem is that it only comes in green grass variety. Does anyone know if any other company out there produces similar quality mats in other colors? Specifically I'm looking for ash wastes/blackened earth (suitable for a bombed out city) and desert/badlands style (yellow/reddish sand). Obviously, non-hex patterned, etc.

My primary concern is that the quality is good (cloth not paper) and the mats don't shed flock. I've seen some older mats produced by Woodland Scenics that looked nice from a distance, but were basically flock glued to paper that shed like a Border Collie whenever they were moved. I'd also prefer not to get the type of mat that you have to paint yourself (the Zuzzy mats I think they're called).

Any suggestions?

-Tyr

Zuzzy does some fantastic mats, but they're latex and need to be painted (and apparently reek like rubber).

Hotz mats does a selection of felt mats, with or without hex grids printed on them.

I've recently been looking at The Terrain Guy who seems to do GW style mats in different colours, but I can't find anywone who has bought from there.

If you can find the Sabol Combat mats, they're great (except for the lettering down the side, grrr). I have both the Plains and Sands mats (one looks like Desert, the other like Mars), and they're excellent. Great graphics and high quality surface.

The Hotz mats are decent - I have the lunar one. A little thin, and I could see them having issues with a lot of use (mine sees a couple of uses a year, so no worries).

I don't have any experience with the Terrain Guy, except for some folks on another board who ordered one a number of years ago and liked it, but said shipping took forever.

Woodland Scenics makes some roll out maps. They're a model train type of company, but a lot of their lineup can cross over into our hobby. While I don't see any grey/blacks, you could probably fix it with a liberally used can of spraypaint.

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/Show/category/ReadyGrassVinylMat/page/2

 -Loki- wrote:
Zuzzy does some fantastic mats, but they're latex and need to be painted (and apparently reek like rubber).

Hotz mats does a selection of felt mats, with or without hex grids printed on them.

I've recently been looking at The Terrain Guy who seems to do GW style mats in different colours, but I can't find anywone who has bought from there.

I didn't know The Terrain Guy did mats... let me know if you get one / find a good review of his mats!

I have couple of easy and cheap do it yourself solutions.

First, if you have a fabric store near you, go and check out their rolls of textured vinyl. It comes in a variety of colors, looks great on the table, and is dirt cheap. Would be around $10.

Another solution is to go to your local home improvement store (home depot, lowes, etc.) and get some 2'x4' Masonite or MDF panels.
Next, go to flooring and pick up enough vinyl tiles(the faux granite ones are excellent) to cover the panels. Should cost around $35 total.

Obviously, my experience is with American prices, but these are both great and cost effective alternatives in any event.

Hope this helps.

I bought two of the latex Zuzzy mats, the guy took awhile to make them, although everyone said exactly that, but I love them. They do have a fairly strong latex smell to them, but its not horrible or anything. The service was great, even though it did take awhile, but when i emailed them with a request for an ETA the guy was very prompt in replying and even gave me two smaller mats as an apology for the delay. I would definitely recommend them, although you have to be a bit careful with them, the roll up fine, but it is possible to scratch the surface if you drag heavy models across them. They stand up very well to beer being spilt on them though...not so much my poor vanguard vets who copped a soaking in the same friendly fire incident...

Probably a dumb question, but can you add flock/basing to Zuzzy mats or just paint? I imagine the flock would come off when the mat was folded, right?

I have four mats from The Terrain Guy. I love them. One is a textured urban/grey, one is textured urban with craters (my least used) and one is a desert type. All those are small (2ft by 2 ft) and I also have a 4ft x 4ft desert mat.

In all cases they are a fabric with a coating that does not shed. It seems to be a rubberized finish. They roll up well and lay flat. I don't really use the one with the craters too much. They are added to the surface with some type of rubberish substance, maybe a caulking substance. They look okay and add some 3D to the flat mat, but I want to blacken them/make them look more like blast craters than they currently do.

I am VERY happy with my purchases from The Terrain Guy (I also got some scatter vegetation/tall grass bases from him). He is a good guy to deal with and his products are well made.

Here is the desert type mat so you can see the texturing:







And the urban:

Thank the seven circles she is wearing a bib! That photo almost had too much texture.

Thanks, CaptJake, that's very helpful! You bought them through ebay, right, or is there another way?

I bought them right from his website: http://www.theterrainguy.com/gamemats.html

He also sells other stuff too.

Jake

Those are just the comments I was looking for. I'll have to grab the desert one for my Infinity table once I get terrain for the project rolling.

If you can find them I love my sabol design mats.

Here another vote for Hotz mats (also takes some time because all are custom made):

Love the desert one. I'll need to see if they can do a darker urban one though. The concrete one is too bright for what I'm looking for...

My only suggestion is to check out the model railroad store. I've seen cloth-type mats there sometimes.

I like my Zuzzy mat (ruined city version) a lot. Although it's still thin, it provides much more texture than a cloth mat.

I also found that a wipedown with a damp-but-not-wet cloth seems to solve the issue with the smell.

Anyone know any sellers of custom mats in the UK?

R.