"Who Else Makes Neoprene (Mouse Pad) Gaming Mats?" Topic

These are the "neoprene" terrain mat manufacturers I know about so far, that are useful for Historical, Fantasy and SciFi:

1) Deep Cut Studios
deepcutstudio.com

2) Frontline Gaming (FLG mats)
link

3) Tablewar (F.A.T. mats)
tablewar.com/the-f-a-t-mat

Question:
Is there anyone else that produces gaming terrain surfaces on "neoprene" (mouse pad material)?

I am not interested in any other material, just the "neoprene". Thanks.

Dan

I saw several of these in action at the last NJ Con. They were very nice.
urbanmatz.com

Hidden Forest Gaming makes some. I participated in one of their successful Kickstarters to get 2 mats, space and grass.

hiddenforestgaming.com

Neoprene is nice but I've decided over time it is not the end all. Figures do tend to slide around more and they can be a bit shiny making some photography challenging.

If someone would make the old Citadel style grass cloth mat with fuzzy texture on the neoprene backing that would be the end all.

There are companies who do banners that will print on Neoprene. You can use aerial scenery photos and have them printed or you can use templates such as can be found on Wargame Vault for various types of terrain.

link

Just do a internet search for neoprene banners. My local kinkos Fedes will do this as well but I have not checked their pricing.

link

You have more options than you realize Dan.

CC,

Thanks for asking this. I find myself in need of a 4x4 mat with 3" squares dividing it. I didn't know where to look!

Are you really sure about neoprene?
Cheap green ( or fawn or sandy ) carpet can be pretty cheap.
Especially if you can find somewhere selling offcuts.
And stuff doesn't slide on it.
You can paint it in various shades if you want a mix of colours.

I have 2 of the FLG mats, very nice

PWork Wargames has these:

link

A couple of their designs don't seem to be offered in neoprene though.

Dan

In this video by TheTerrainTutor:

YouTube link

you can find a review of the following:

Cigar Box Battle – cigarboxbattle.com
Deep Cut Studio – deepcutstudio.com
Gamemat.eu – gamemat.eu
Kraken Wargames – krakenwargames.com
Mats by Mars – matsbymars.com
Micro Art Studio – microartstudio.com
Playmats.eu – playmats.eu
Pwork Wargames – pworkwargames.com
Urbanmatz – urbanmatz.com

Quite a few to chose from :-)

Marcoreds

Hmm. Cigar Box does neoprene now? I thought it was just fleece cloth.

Dan
PS. I'm noticing that some of these neoprene manufacturers offer the exact same designs.

Cigar Box does neoprene now?

I don't think so. But add Wings of War/Glory to the neoprene list. But these are pretty specific.

Would be nice if someone will make 4x4 mats that would line up with each other, so for example one could use a city mat the would line up with a Suburb mat that would line up with a famine mat then to a wooded mat and so on a so forth.

I know it would take some serious planning to make it work, but heck it would be really cool to link up mats like that together in almost any configuration like a dock/wharf linked to an industrial linked to a city then the suburb, I know that would be one long gaming mat but imagine the "Zombie" game one could play! Or Super Heros!

I think I might start to work on something like that, I have a little more time to myself now. I wonder what I can come up with?

Doug

You should sell the idea to one of those guys!

Dan

I may but first I want to work it out so it will all work together.

By the way, I just ordered my first 3' by 3' neoprene mat to test out the sharpness of the printed image. I chose the Frontline FLG Tundra mat. It comes with its own carrying bag, according to the description.

I didn't order direct this time. I had several Ebay items from Noble Knight in my cart (Blue Moon 15mm figures mainly) and decided to see if they carried any neoprene mats and from which manufacturers. They have about 20 of the FLG mats in various sizes. Tundra was one of the ones they listed.

auction

If I do happen to like the product, I will probably order about 4 other ones (Grassland #1, Badlands #1, Ocean #1 and Snow #1) directly from Frontline. They have free shipping on orders over $100 USD, I think.

link
link
link
link

Deep Cut has a couple of mats I really like, like their Swamp and Cobblestone mats. I would need to order the carrying bags separately. But that will have to be later on, way down the road:

link
link
link

Last but hopefully not least is the Urban Matz "Asphalt" mat. I plan to use that specific mat for both concrete flooring and for asphalt, depending on the setting. The description reads that it also comes with a free carrying bag:

link

However … let's see if I even like my very first neoprene mat in person. :)

Dan

The Urban Matz "Desert" mat looks perfect for Mars, without it being too pink or orange:

link

Dan

Okay so Mats by Mars, has one mat "Streets of Justice B" if you got it in their 4x4 size it would seem to mate up on all four sides. If you bought more then a couple you could do a large city board.

Check it out
link

I will get one of these to figure out how to make others to lie up with it.

Plus they have a couple of others that I want to get "The Lost Temple" Alter, Basin, and Plaza all in 4x4 size.

Doug

It says that the streets are scaled for 10mm.

Dan

Oh Okay, I guess I need to pay a little more attention to the details

Guys

Would any of these Ocean and Lagoon files print ok as 3'x3' mats?

link

On two of them the bottom layer of the image was done on PowerPoint as "blended" and the other two were done as "markers".

Dan
PS. Here is the Lagoon one that was done in "marker" mode:

I'm not sure about the blue and green you have there but I am confident you could find patterns very similar to your blue ones in vinyl flooring.
The stuff that replaced lino.

I've got a green patterned one.

If you can't get exactly the colour you want, the side intended to be the bottom is rough and takes paint pretty well.
Or you could lightly sand the top and put a green patchy wash on a blue pattern. You need to rough it up slightly to take acrylic properly.
It's not quite as thick as neoprene, of course.

Ok, I gave in to temptation and ordered 2 more Frontline FLG mats. I ordered the ocean one and the ice planet one:

link
link

I'm hoping that the blue is as in the website photos, so that I can use it for both colder and warmer waters.

I also bought a couple of these smaller 24"x14" "display" mats, so that I can cut them and create an uneven coast for the 36" edge of the main ice mat, for when I lay it next to the ocean one. I might even end up with a couple of small sections leftover, to create ice floes or icy islands:

link

What do you guys think of that crazy idea?

Dan
PS. I'm REALLY liking my Frontline FLG tundra mat. The first thing that came to mind when I saw it in person was prehistoric Europeans or the first Native Americans. Perhaps Vikings vs Skraelings, or even Conan the Barbarian when he was in the northern lands.
link

Guys,

It's unbelievable. It looks like FRONTLINE has a 20% off SALE going on right now!

store.frontlinegaming.org

Plus, on any order that is $99 USD or more the postage is FREE!

Man, I almost sound like a commercial.

Dan
TMP link
PS. I wish I had waited a couple of days longer before placing my order a few days ago (Ocean and Snow 1). I also ordered a couple of the small "display" mats to trim down and create transitions between my 3'x3' mats. Oh well, my mats are already on their way. I can't wait to see them in person. :)
link
link

I would like to say the Deep Cut mats are exceptional, what I think stands out is the service to print hexes etc on the mat, with the idea of the lines being very discrete. I ordered a tundra mat from them which was to have a 15cm square grid that was only marked by dots in the corners of the squares and it was to show as little as possible. And boy did they deliver, the mat is fantastic and you have to look for the grid to see it so it does not distract from the mat.

i have just ordered two aerial mats from them to make a 8x6 foot mat with 2" hexes to work with Check your six. I talked to the guys and they are making the terrain match up via some photo shop work and making a faint hex grid. I will post some photos when I get them. But great service and great looking mats.

I myself have a Tablewar/Frontline grassland Neoprene mat and I am very happy with them. I will be ordering a few more from Tablewar, Frontline and Deep-cut and my tables are very nice looking. Plan on getting the beachhead and ocean, and the Desert mats from Deep-cut. A few city mats by Frontline and maybe another from Tablewar. I have two tables, but my smaller table is 6 x 6 so I get the 3x6 mats and they look fantastic. I have a larger table 16 x 12 in my large game room and have the old grass paper mats from various manufactures on it and these (neoprene mats) by far blow any grass paper away. Although I have customize my paper mats too look awesome with weathering dust. They are expensive but well worth it, they roll up and easy to transport. And they are easy to cut if you need them to adjust to your table dimensions, using a razor knife. Luckily Frontline makes a 6x3 city map, that works for my table.

My one complaint with the FLG mats is the regular features that they want to put on their artwork. So the Jungle mat has a pathway in it, and the Mars one has what seems like linear roads/features. I'd rather have more of the generic images and place my own roads and pathways. For my purposes the Snow, Asphalt and Battlefield graphics are the best.

I went with the Urban Matz designs. To me they look more generic and uniform. I'll let you all know how they are when they arrive.

I wish someone would make such a map suitable for Dropfleet Commander.