"Muddy Water Game Mat" Topic

Many companies make various types of water effects gaming mats, but they all seem to be varying flavors of blue.

I'm interested in trying to find a muddy river gaming mat, assuming anyone wakes one. I know there are several companies who offer custom mat production, but I'd like to see if there is some sort of off the rack version available.

Any help would be much appreciated.

HMSE

Brown "Leather Effect" vinyl from Dunelm Mills works very well if you are in the UK.

Cigar Box Battle makes three alternate river mats but they are more greenish than brown. They come in 3 versions, all river, limited banks and about an 18" river down the middle. All can be seen on their site.

I can't get the Dunelm link to work from work. I'll try from home.

The CBB Full River looks more like "looking out the window of a bullet train going thru a forest" than anything else.

Joann Fabrics makes a vinyl roll that lists "sable" as a color. It looks iffy on the net. I'd want to see it IRW before I'd be willing to buy.

Thanks for the suggestions…

Here's a vinyl one from Joann Fabrics with ships on it. Not sure if it was called sable.

link

Hobby Lobby has some brown vinyl that looked pretty good to me.

Actually, I just finished making a muddy river game mat to use in our Friday night battles. It is fleece, 4' X 8' and is a winding section of the Yazoo River. I also have another I made from a Mississippi River section.

This was an action where the Union was trying to escort supply ships to Union troops below Vicksburg. The Union did not make it, although the CSA was mauled pretty badly, including the Arkansas (seen on fire in the last pic). Purely hypothetical, but a lot of fun. Rules were David Manley's Iron and Fire.

How'd you get the shimmer effect on the fleece?

How'd you get anything on the fleece? Is all that terrain airbrushed on or something?

That looks fantastic, but completely beyond my artistic reach.

- Ix

Also, the big honking single funnel job looks to be General Bragg. Is that a scratchbuild or commercial? If the latter, whose?

Tks

k

Can you please provide some additional details on how you made the fleece? I assume you had it commercially printed but what did you use for the image? It looks great!

Also, I live the clear bases? Where did you find those?

Thanks in advance!

Hi,
I make these maps using Photoshop. The files are huge (150dpi) and then reduced to 40 megs and uploaded to a quilt printing company. The fleece is color fast. I make the images either using topo maps or Google earth and then working on those. The shimmer in the "water" are blue "stripes" in the green.

When I said I use topo maps, I also have done several ACW battlefield maps: in 1"=50 yds – Peachtree Creek, Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern), Antietam, Gettysburg Peach Orchard/Wheatfield; in 1"=100 yds – Antietam and Gettysburg (Longstreet's Attack). I've also done another river section or harbor area (can be used for either). The battlefield maps are well received in the gaming group I belong too – putting styrofoam under the hills works well as the fleece drapes nicely. And, since everything is proper scale with everything else, the battles play our along historical lines. I've been doing this for about 5 years and have developed a large Photoshop library of various terrain features. Many are done from actual photographs. I also include actual pictures of structures on the battlefield – which is cool for those who have visited.

If you'd like to see pictures of those and the full maps of the river sections, let me know and I will put some up.

And yes, that is the General Bragg. Bay Area Yards hull that I super-detailed with railings and posts and such.

Hope this helps.

Kevin

Oh, the clear bases are from Litko.

I'd like to know the name of the company that you upload to, as well as see the river sections. This looks terrific!

So the islands are "printed" on the fleece? I thought they were made separate and laid in place.

The blue stripes that induce the shimmer are printed on?

This is a real game changer.

Yes, everything is printed after being drawn in Photoshop, including the islands. The company I use is Spoonflower. Can't recommend them highly enough.

I am out of town for a day; when I get back, I will take some pics of the full maps and post them.

Would still love to see pictures of the full Mars. Thanks!