"Terrain Mats - Any Good?" Topic

Hi, I have been looking at the Terrain Mats site and am thinking of buying some of their mats (link below – hopefully!) and I am curious to know if any TMPer has any views on these products based on first hand experience? I have some nice thick felt mats already but thought that the Terrain Mats seem to be another level up in terms of visual appeal. I have searched the TMP archives but the discussions on this are now quite dated. All help appreciated – thank you.

terrainmat.com

I have posted on a few of these threads before. I have about 12 of these mats, and have atleast 3 more that I plan to buy at some point. I suppose that would be a mark in the "yes, they are good" category.

Thanks Sharpes – I noted that some of the previous comments on TMP referred to how thin they thought the mats were. Do you think that this is the case and/or how well have they stood up to wargames use? Thanks!

The sell the ones by Woodland Scenics which are non-hex. Great price for the sizes. However if you have to have hexes, Litko makes templates which can be used to make hexes on a mat.

The mats from Terrain Mat are the best you can buy, hands down. I own two of them and have played games on several of the mats owned by Sharpes.

They are certainly more fragile than using plain felt, but I have no worries at all that they will hold up to a lot of gaming for many years. If you can afford them, buy them.

My mat is the D-Day one featured on the site.

They are outstanding. I also have two desert mats. I cant recommend them highly enough and Richard is a great guy to deal with.

Great recommendations guys – thank you!

They are somewhat thin when compared to felt. My best guess as to the material used is that it is the stuff you put down in a garden to stop weeds from growing. This adds a benifit, in that they lay over terrain nicely, I place my hills under the mat, and it works well.

I dont know what he uses on the top, but he told me he uses a spray gun to get it on there. It is somewhat rough, not damaging figures rough, but still, it can be uncomfortable to lean on at times, I think this helps to keep them together longer.

I bought my first mat about 2 years ago, play pretty often, put on games at cons, and havent had an issue yet. Dont know if I will have them with me on my death bed, but I expect to have them for quite a number of years without any issue.

Thanks again Sharpes – I shall definitely place an order now.

Wow, i had never seen these before. Those are truely amazing, the best mats I haver ever seen.

I'm a gowna' hav' ta' rassle me up soma' 'dem.

Seriously, now that I've seen them, I don't know how I've gotten this far.

The torture is that while they are expensive, I want all of them!

One last thing, you dont need to stick to the sizes on his website. I buy all of mine to be 6 foot by 16 foot, my hame table is 5.5 by 15. They come as a single mat at this size, nothing pieced together.

And one other thing, as much as I like his mats, I dont like his roads and rivers. They curl up, even when stored flat. If he had done them on the same material he uses for the mats, they would have been great, but mine came on a styrene type plastic card material, and I just dont like them at all. But, dont let that stop you from getting the mats themselves!

I second Sharpes comments above – i got my first green grass type mat a couple months ago and it is excellent.
Avoid the roads as they curl curl curl sadly.
The rough ground and wood areas are also good – made from rigid white plastic and can be cut to any shape.

The mats are expensive when compared to alternatives but look superb and realistic – and in my limited experience i would say they will last a long time in normal use.

PS – i guess if you do somehow wear a spot then there is no reason you can't patch it with flock, or even the backing itself with tape.

OK, I'll post a contrary opinion. I, too, was impressed by the look on the website. I ordered the Wild West mat. It arrived folded with deep creases in it. There was no road (despite the fact that it was ordered with one. The flocking/scenic material did not extend all the way to the edge of the mat, limited the useful space to a degree.

It IS durable. It is nice looking (where there are not still traces of the shipping creases or no flocking material). It was NOT worth $100. USD

They do crease… Mine did after I left it on the table for months but they have 'dropped' out. Perhaps it was the shipping of it folded that caused the problem?

Im not sure, but I think he was gonna use big tubes from now on… Will let you know when my new ones turn up tomorrow or Saturday.

They are durable, but like anything, the more you look after them, the longer they will last.

I haven't had an opportunity to try them out yet but they do look very nice. We just received the first shipments of the SeaScape Naval Terrain Mat at Seawarstore.Com

link

I recieved a mat for Xmas, it looks great. But a couple of holes have formed in the mats, with very little use. and although it has been now laying flat on the table for 3 weeks there are still creases. Anyone have a solution to get rid of the creases.

Mine was also creased.

You can get the creases to relax by spraying lightly with water, but you can't get them out all the way. Careful – the water may cause the flock to loosen. (You can stick a bit back on with white glue.)

I also tried ironing it from the back (no, really!) I used a towel under it – not a good idea as the flock stuck to the towel. So I just ironed on my table, and got it fairly flat.

These are my experiments. YMMV.

Cheers!

The crease worked itself out after a week laid flat for me – I also love mine and plan at least a couple of more.

Mine also came with creases, my understanding is that he can only use shipping tubes within the UK. Anyway, I lay mine out on the gaming table for 1 week, then I screw a wooden dowel tot he end. I roll it up, and store it in this manner. After 1 week flat, and 1 week rolled up, it lays perfectly flat when I unroll it for a game.

If you click on this link, then click the picture again, you will get an oversized view of the cloth. You can see it doesnt have any creases left after being rolled around a wooden dowel.

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link

I just got two of the 6'x8' mats a few weeks ago, along with some rough terrain pieces.

Mats:
1. I am in the US and the mats were folded to ship here. One mat was folded well and had little or no damage, but the second was practically wadded up and took some damage in the areas where it was folded. Not too bad, but a little car in packing could have gone a long way.
2. The mats look great and seem durable.
3. Most of the folds have come out, but I plan to hand the mats over a 1.5" diameter rod with some wieghts on the ends to pull all the wrinkles out.
4. I got a Desert mat and a semi-arid mat and asked that they add a transition on the desert mat so I can lay the two next to each other and have the terrain flow from arid to desert. They followed my instructions and it worked like a charm and looks fine.
5. Happy with the mats even if a little expensive, just need better care in shipping!!!

Rough Terrain
1. Don't bother. Waste of Monet.
2. Mounted on plastic card that was warped up on all the edges and will NOT lay flat.
3. Was damaged in shipping with rocks being knocked off.
4. Flock coming off the plastic in a bad way.
5. Not worth spending money on. Get the mats not the rough terrain add ons.

Customer service by Richard on answering questions and doing custom work such as the transition I wanted were great. Just not happy with the shipping (too 14 days to get out of UK customs, 1 to get through US customs)or the way the mats were packed and folded.

Jeff

My first one is being prepared for shipping as we speak, I will comment when I get it.

IMHO, the Hexon II terrain system is far superior to any terrain mat.

The Hexon II stuff looks like it is done with really nice quality, but I dont like that it looks like a bunch of hexes, never liked playing on Geohex either, I like a seamless board to game on, just more pleasing to my eye I think. How long does it take to set up the hexes for a convention game? When I only have an hour to haul my game into the convention hall, and set it up for the players, I need to be quick.

"How long does it take to set up the hexes for a convention game?"

Depends on the size of the game, but I'd guess about 10 minutes.

Well, the Hexon system solved my "use Memoir 44 or Tide of Iron to bridge the gap and lead innocents into minigaming" problem straight away. I will definitely be getting that sooner or later. Thanks, Mike.
But I still don't like the hex look for my own games, especially sologames, where I try to get a "warmovie played for my benefit" feel. That is where I hope terrainmats will help out.

"Well, the Hexon system solved my "use Memoir 44 or Tide of Iron to bridge the gap and lead innocents into minigaming" problem straight away."

In that case, you should give these rules a try:
PDF link

"But I still don't like the hex look for my own games"
No problem, each to their own. I thought I wouldn't like the "hex look" either, but when I got some Hexon II and tried it, I was pleasantly surprised.

My Seascape Terrain Mat is the best I've ever had. Creases did require work.

Got two mats today in tubes…

No creases and they look stunning! Cant wait to use them for my Karbala V game…

Thanks guys – great info and 'yes' I shall be placing an order now!

Just to say, that I too, have today received my TerrainMat.
It was a custom order for use with 2mm scale miniatures (Yes, I know that's really tiny!)and came exactly as specified, luckily I'm in the UK so cardboard tube meant no creases…I also ordered a river section and that,well,on first inspection didn't really measure up to the quality of the mat itself. The plastic card mounting means it doesn't want to lay flat at first, but with some gentle flattening it will come back into shape. I think the main problem with these is that they are hard to deliver 'flat', when packed, they need to be curled up in a cardboard box, so this leads to the backing initially taking on that shape. If only the river/road sections were on the same backing/base material as the mat!
Overall however, a brilliant product, well worth the investment.

I have always liked my Geo-Hex mats over anything else I have seen used.
The beauty of the Geo-Hex mats is that you do not have to order them Battlescaped (with hexes).
You have the choice of hex or no hex along with the basic difference of green or desert for land and then you can also move on to space or water.
Plus, in the last while MKP has widened their offerings even further.
Here's the link:
link
Enjoy!!

I will have to try this as it looks very good. Thanks for all the useful information.

All the best

Craig

I just ordered the Gunfighter mat this morning. Can't wait. It looks fantastic.

Out of interest, how long do they take to arrive, in general?
I live in the UK – btw.

Crow

I have used Geo-Hex mats for years and although I am generally happy with them, they come only in 4 X 6 and I would like to have the option of larger mats. I hate having to over lap them.

These new mats look great and I will probably order one to try it out. The flexibility of getting a custom size is very appealing. How do these hold up when traveling to and from conventions? My Geo-Hex mats can take a lot of abuse. I am very concern about the creases. I get products from overseas in tubes all the time. I Wonder what the problem is.

David

Scarecrow, mine was a custom order, and took around a month to reach me (I'm also in the UK).

I guess if it was a more 'off the shelf' generic version, then I think the turn around is more likely 8 to 10 days for manufacture, and then its up to the tender mercies of the Royal Mail. Mine came in a metre-long hard cardboard tube by first class post.

Also you have to factor in that each mat is actually hand finished in terms of spraying and flocking, so this is in no way an 'instant' product.
In any event, e-mail Richard at TerrainMat, he's really easy to deal with and is very helpful with questions.
Cheers, SteelonSand.

Ah, thanks SS.

My mat arrived in a tube about two months ago and is spread out on the table since then. It is 10 x 6 and the creases are still very bad. The whole effect is like undulating countryside. I haven't played on it yet.

I will have to find some heavy material to make roads (wood probably) as anything light will not sit properly. I have tried stretching it but that doesn't work.

The surface is also very rough – like coarse sandpaper. Does anybody else have that problem?

It looks fantastic and I love the fact that there are no seams but am disappointed with the creases and the fact that it is so rough.

Semi-satisfied customer

Got an email today, ten working days after ordering, giving me a tracking number for airmail. I can't wait!

Broglie, it sounds dramatic, but how about trying the ironing suggestion from 'The Black Wash' further up the thread; although a trick I remember from cadet days for getting a sharp crease in trousers without making them shiny might help:
a layer of thick brown paper (grocery bag type) over the mat and then a warm steam iron over the top – go slowly and increase heat/steam as you go.. just a thought.

Hexon,is that the foam hex sytem of GHQ??? Look at this great Kursk gaming table mI was just slaughtered in at RECON!!

link

I figured they would move, be a hassle, but we had elbows, hands all over them, and they didn't BUDGE!!! Absolutely great. We stacked and packed entire board (2-3 tiles high on a 4-8 table (LOTS of em) in minutes! They were great!

No Hexon is not the GHQ foam system.

Its made of molded hard polystyrene, usually in six hex blocks that are clipped together.

kallistra.co.uk

Ah, I just called that the "Kallistra" :) If and when the Quid stops playing games with us here in the good 'ole USA, I may have to seriously invest (and it is serious). That Terrain book with Matashiki stuff etc. had a nice section on them.

Steelonsand

Many thanks for the tip. I may well have to resort to such drastic measures.

Regards

I just got my Gunfighter mat through (8 working days) and it's exactly what I was hoping for. With the somewhat poor photographs on the website, I was worried that the end result wouldn't look anything like the one shown on the site – but it does. It's gorgeous.
It was delivered in a tube aswell so no creases! Huzzah!
One downside to this mat (I don't tknow if it's the same as the others) but it is very course – like 60-grit sandpaper – so you won't want to be laying your beutifully painted figures down on it!

Crow

Scarecrow

Mine also came in a tube but has still not settled after 6-8 weeks.

Mine is like very coarse sandpaper so that now we are not keen to put our newly based figures on the mat. This defeats the purpose.

Not sure I'd buy again

Regards

Mine arrived today. It is beautiful!
It has creases from being folded and since the table where I was hoping to keep it sandwiched between two pieces of MDF is currently occupied by the SOs decorating project, it is rolled up around a broomhandle for the moment. I will report on how it works out when I get my table space back.

A couple of pictures of my Gunfighter mat in use.

Warmachine: Khador vs Protectorate of Menoth:

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Crow

I'll add an update. I have used mine about 20 times now and it is starting to lose some of the flocking in patches here and there as it settles (which is has done very nicely). It is gorgeous but I wonder if it would be better to add a coat of varnish when you get yours.

Ok, rolled mine out on the side table and set up some terrain and troops. Here's how it looks:
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There is one crease left after a week rolled up around a broom handle. Here is a pic of an SHQ mini based on a swedish coin with 15mm diameter standing on the crease.
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