monger | 29 Apr 2015 1:45 p.m. PST |
Here is a video showcasing Cigar Box's Battle Mats for the ACW. Good looking stuff here. Cigar Box ACW |
Intrepide | 29 Apr 2015 2:09 p.m. PST |
A rather spirited ad. Those mats do enhance some very scant bits of terrain into an impressive background. |
7th Va Cavalry | 29 Apr 2015 3:55 p.m. PST |
You seem to really like these mats. It almost appears as advertising for them. I guess some free mats for talking them up is fair. |
Toronto48 | 29 Apr 2015 4:12 p.m. PST |
I know it is fast and looks good but in effect you can only play on one terrain setup like board game |
Extra Crispy | 29 Apr 2015 5:17 p.m. PST |
I saw some of these in action at Little Wars last weekend. They make some that are "generic" covered with fields but yeah, having mats with roads or rivers permanently really limits their usefulness… |
Winston Smith | 29 Apr 2015 5:35 p.m. PST |
Ummmm…. What if I want to have a battle and those creeks and streams and roads don't match the battle I want to do? |
Wulfgar | 29 Apr 2015 7:46 p.m. PST |
I've bought two of the 4x6 mats: the grassland with roads and the Europe II. Since my gaming table is 2.5 x 4 feet, I've found that the mats can be folded in order to make several varying layouts from each one. Because of the variation, it doesn't feel like my options are limited in any way. I suppose it might be different if my table were 4x6. Both mats work well for Japan and Europe. I'm planning to add the forest mat this summer for battles in Wales and Ireland. |
monger | 29 Apr 2015 7:52 p.m. PST |
From my experience so far, I have had no issue with altering the look of the mat simply by laying my own terrain on top and under the mat. Easy really. You don't have to have the SAME lay-out every time. I have eliminated roads, woods, fields etc. doing this. I use my own felt pieces over top. Really simple. |
WehrWulf | 29 Apr 2015 8:02 p.m. PST |
Just order the generic field or desert mat instead. I recently bought Cigar Box's plain desert mat, no roads, and I like it. I was lucky to get a TerrainGuy 6x4 grass mat before he shut down, and even though I love it I'm still considering picking up a Cigar Box grass mat. They store & transport much easier. Price is competitive with the likes of Monday Knight (which I own one as well), so overall a good value I'd say -and yes I paid for mine :-) Cheers! |
Jcfrog | 30 Apr 2015 6:16 a.m. PST |
Neat. No doubt that whenever I 'll be around my toys again I will buy several. Awesome terrain. |
FlyXwire | 30 Apr 2015 6:56 a.m. PST |
"I couldn't look away" – because the games and mats look great! |
Phil Hall | 30 Apr 2015 7:36 a.m. PST |
I wonder if they would consider making just road/trail and river pieces to give a little mor diversity. |
War Artisan | 30 Apr 2015 11:57 a.m. PST |
The limitations of a terrain cloth's road and water network are mostly illusory. The terrain that most affects the way a game plays out are the woods, hills, and built-up areas, and these can be in different places for each game with a particular cloth. As for features being in the "wrong" place, a little tweaking to the scenario design is sufficient. A stretch of road that doesn't fit your scenario can be designated a muddy track that confers no movement bonus. A creek that would otherwise interfere with an approach march can be designated a shallow rill with a gently sloped bank that will have no effect on a moving unit. This reduces unwanted terrain features to mere decorations. I started out making my caulk-and-flock terrain on interlocking foam floor tiles (about 20 years ago, now) just because I wanted as much flexibility as possible in my table layouts. Later, I made a couple large canvas terrain cloths for specific battles (Gettysburg and Brandy Station), and found that by rotating them and letting different portions of the cloth hang off the edge of the table, then altering the terrain with add-ons (as monger suggested) I could achieve an almost endless number of looks. Most of the dozens of games illustrated on my Flickr page have been done with just these two cloths, yet no two look the same. I rarely use the tiles any more. |
monger | 30 Apr 2015 3:03 p.m. PST |
I am going to do a video on this topic I think. I will take the Cigar Box "Nashville" mat and show all the ways it can be altered for max. variety. Seems to be a misconception (understandably) how these mats based on particular battles are very "limiting" and not as useful. As an aside, Cigar Box has just released a NEW mat based on Quatre Bras. THIS mat however has NO building markings on it (leaving that to the players). Seems they did this based on feedback from customers. Here is the video on that NEW mat: Quatre Bras Mat Update on this soon. Kurtus |
Winston Smith | 01 May 2015 5:18 a.m. PST |
Why should I have to "tweak" a map feature that's in the "wrong" place? Or pretend that a creek that should not be there is a sunken road. Just that admission shows the limitations. They seem to be about $70 USD apiece, the cheap ones. I'll pass. |
monger | 01 May 2015 7:44 a.m. PST |
No one says you *have* to "tweak" anything. Treat it for what it is… a mat with features on it that can be altered as you see fit, *IF* you want. Simple really. I likem' :) Here are some of my "tweaks" – if that's what you would call it. Note my own felt pieces thrown on to change things up. Looks a helluva a lot better than on a plain board.
And of course… here are some plain lay-outs without the mat. I admit, still looks good. If anything, the cigar box mats are brighter than my traditional lay-out – not a bad thing:
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War Artisan | 01 May 2015 1:16 p.m. PST |
Very nicely done, monger. Those photos definitely illustrate the payoff for gamers who, after spending all the time and cash it takes to build a miniature army, are willing to invest a little time and effort into creating a table that shows them off to their best advantage. |
monger | 01 May 2015 3:05 p.m. PST |
Thank you Artisan. Really does make a difference – terrain. |
FlyXwire | 02 May 2015 6:35 a.m. PST |
I want to draw emphasis to what War Artisan said, and to add a bit more commentary of my own – the board terrain helps present much of what creates the "battle problem" for a scenario, the miniatures are the "tools" used to resolve that battle problem. Cigar Box is doing great service in making the creation of a base board layout for layering on additional terrain features that much easier for gamers. Then too, many of us present games at public venues also, where a quicker set up of the board surface helps to get the action up and running (often within a session's limited time slot). Having a pre-textured mat surface (especially with a road network already displayed), should do nothing but help this. For transporting and space efficiency, roll-up mats are killer! |
zaevor2000 | 23 Aug 2015 5:44 p.m. PST |
I have to agree as well. When I ran my Waterloo event at Texicon this year, once I molded some Tshirts into appropriate ridge lines, dropped the cloth over them and placed the villages, all I had left to do was put down the unit stands. For running a game at a con the BattleMats are absolutely incredible. Really speeds up set up and break down when combined with having magnetic sabots to keep the unit stands on… I also got the generic green once and will probably get several of the Civil War ones. They really hit the ball out of the park with these mats. Frank |
Elenderil | 25 Aug 2015 11:23 a.m. PST |
It would hurt to do it with such an expensive item, but with the generic fields mat you could cut out the individual fields and lay them out as you see fit. |