"If you're going to make "Wargaming Mats"..." Topic

…why not go a half step forward and add a light grid of hexes? Minimum Two inches, maybe up to 4"/6" even, but there are a LOT of board games out there that work with miniatures and vice versa.

There is a fair amount of crossover in the gaming community at this point and, IMHO, adding hexes to "mats" would increase their value.

Don't some companies already offer this as an option?

It's a tough call. Personally, grids on the mat would keep me from buying it.

Personally, grids on the mat would keep me from buying it.

That's why it should be an option.

I just ordered one from Deep Cut Studios. A 4x4 desert mat with light 6" squares to play PBI. They will custom print what ever you want over their mat range.

Several firms do, but it depends how they're made – adding a hex grid to a printed design is a trivial exercise, but on a handmade / textured mat, it's a huge amount of extra work.

Thanks for the feedback.

So the general consensus seems to be that (all/most?) "Mat" companies should at least offer the option of adding hexes (or squares) to mats, which seems very fair to me.

The Hobby continues to advance!

I may be in the minority here, but having come into miniatures from a boardgaming background, I see hexes as a "step-back". I was thrilled at the analog approach to miniature gaming- where you could be- on the bridge, next to the bridge or under the bridge with just a few millimeter change, but with hexes, you were "on the bridge" only. It seemed more restrictive with hexes. My 2 cents.

Five answers (of any nature) is a "consensus"? ? Only on TMP!

AFAIK almost every mat maker does this already?

Many people like me do not like hexes painted on their grass.

Oh sure, those football fields have markings painted on them, as do soccer fields too, but I've yet to see your average, run of the mill grassy field with a hex pattern on it.

If I want hexes, I'll play a boardgame.

Perhaps hexes one side, plain on the other?

I'd like some sort of projector that would electronically place a hex grid on whatever terrain configuration I came up with. Then I could turn it off and on at will. Could be laser light similar to a laser level. I'm not picky. Please invent and send me one to test.

Five answers (of any nature) is a "consensus"? Bleeped text? Only on TMP!

Ha, and only one of those five posts was actually agreeing with him, one disagreeing, and three stating "you can already get that" without passing any judgement on its desirability…. ;-)

Sigh…

I'm doing everything on hexes these days and it strikes me that the cross-over between figure and hex grid gaming is growing.

Commands and Colors is an obvious bridge for getting boardgame mechanics into a figure game and so mat manufactures offering a 13 x 9 hex grid would probably do quite well.

Cigar Box is very much an up-and-coming mat producer, but their range, though significant, seems not to include grids. perhaps prints runs and their cost effectiveness does not allow variations such as grids to be offered on a none grid item (such as their Gettysburg mat), but I would have thought a standard 4" hex on a 13 x 9 field on mottled background would financially stand on its own two feet.

I have a couple of the napoleonic 20 boardgames, my favourite being The Danube campaign. My hex table isn't big enough to replicate all of their map – but that system seems ideal for transferring over to figures on hexes for an army level game.

Every manufacturer I have bought from does indeed already do that. I have only ever gotten one with hexes, though. Most games I play don't use them.

I like hex mats for air games, but otherwise not a fan. Horses for courses though.

Hexes for air and naval works for me. Otherwise no hexes.

They make projectors like that now.

You just need to suspend it from the ceiling, plug it in, and put a hex-template on the viewing plate.

Ironically enough, they are called overhead projectors, and are usually used to project images on walls, but no reason you couldn't project the image on the battlefield below.

Hmmm projectors. Useful beasts…

I'm not a fan of hexed terrain but when needed (check your six etc) I've just used hex templates that I've made. I don't have any good photos but here's one that might give you an idea what I'm talking about: bottom of the picture below:

I agree with every comment here except for the ones with which I disagree.

This is one of your best qualities Terrement, you are quite the agreeable fellow.
P.S. Hexes to be optional, I have lots of mats but prefer no hexes personally, with the exception of one old Monday Knight productions sea mat which I use to play wooden ships and iron men with miniatures.

I've always wondered why I don't see offers for custom battle mats. I would think if you send them a file of something you create all they would have to do is print and ship.