"Best Battle Mats?" Topic

Who makes the best battle mats?

Cigar Box, by far IMHO. I love them, worth the price.

link

Agreed, Cigar Box.

Deep Cut Studios.

Homemade … they're always just exactly what I wanted.

The Terrain Guy, but he shut down. :-( wish he'd get back in the terrain business. Hint, hint.

BUT…Cigar Box is the best now!!!

Has anyone seen the new "plush" Cigar Box mats? What say you?

The Best will be anyone who does an 8'x5' mat. :)

The Terrain Guy, but he shut down.

I still am kicking myself for not buying more from him. I have a 30X30" mat. Absolutely fantastic. The most durable mat I've seen to date.

My 2 Terrain Guy mats are looking as good as when I got them 8-9 years ago. One of the best things I've bought for wargaming.

Whether they are the 'best' mats, I couldn't say.

Cigar Box by a mile. Although I still like Hotz stuff.

Very happy with my 2 PWORKs mats. Good service and quick shipping too.

pworkwargames.com/en

I saw these at Cavalier and ordered the Partisan mat, they are lovely and every bit as good as my Cigar Box mat.

tinywargames.co.uk

Truthfully I haven't seen any others, but my mat by Cigar Box is absolutely beautiful. A wide selection, excellent service and well worth the price.

Terrain Guy's mats were a heavy rubberized fabric – no give or drape.

I happily switched to Cigar Box Battle mats when he shut downs and believe they are superior. They are made from a soft fleece that easily drapes over hills In addition, they are washable.

Rick

Another vote for Cigar Box.

+1 for Cigar Box mats… and I too miss The Terrain Guy's products -- I have his terrain tiles and hills which are wonderful!

I love my Deep Cut Studios mats. They are excellent quality.

I reviewed a few of the mat companies on my blog:

link

That's a very comprehensive review, Salibaba. Thank you!

tinywargames.co.uk make very nice mats. I like the rubber backing variant. They also do a Chicago way mat.
Cigarbox is a good choice.

I would recommend Mat-O-War Wargaming Mat. Hope it helps.

Take care

Andy

A real drawback to Cigar Box is the rendering of tall objects on them – walls, hedges and trees.

My preference would be for them to stick to straight ground cover.

Further, some of them look kinda cartoony on their own. I'd actually like to see them revisit some of the art – especially in the fields heavy mats where there's a lot of light splotchy dots all over that don't look all that real.

Like 4Ground they don't always look great just out of the box. If you dress them up though they can form the foundation of a great setup.

Andy Maloney – tinywargames.com will do any size mat that you want. I got their ACW river mat printed 8' x 5'. It is terrific.

That said, I love my Cigar Box mats. If they did an 8 × 5 mat it would be an automatic buy for me. I've got 3, with a plush one on order.

How two-sided would the plainer Cigar Box mats be? I'm looking at say the grasslands ones with hexes – would the other side work as a regular mat?

I love the Hotz Mats — the Roman Seas mats have nice muted hex grid.

Excellent mats from tinywargames.co.uk great range as well

I much prefer textured gaming mats to the printed nonsense. And The Terrain Guys' going out of business was a sore blow to me.

I'm very happy with my Cigar Box mats. Hope to add a sea mat next.

@Boy Wondyr X They're pretty much one-sided affairs. The reverse side is white.

Those you craft yourself at home.

Crafted Canvas Acrylic Painted Mat.

For those who said Cigar Box, do they slide around on the table or are they heavy enough that they stay in place once you put them down?

I like the look of several of their mats but I don't want a mat easily slides on the table. Both my homemade fleece mats and my old Citadel battle mat both easily slide on the table and it drives me crazy. Neoprene backed mats stay put but I like the option the Cigar Box mats give over draping the mat over hills.