"A tuft winter [game mat]" Topic

Guys,
I finished embellishing my 6X4ft. winter mat, (after 6 packs of Army Painter tufts!) here's the frozen-bushes edition. Viewed on the tabletop, I think the tufts help add that little bit of extra 3D effect to the flat mat's appearance.

Nothing sticks better to vinyl than tufts with a little Goo glue to keep them in place, even when the mat gets rolled up for storage.

I've shown this Tank On Tank [modded rules] game mat in action quite a few times before on the forum, and it's one of my favorites, and figured it was worth the expense of the new tufts upgrade!

(1/144th scale minis)

Just the mat -

Very nice!

That is… SUPERB! VERY impressive. Thanks for sharing that. Cheers!

Well done!
It really sells the effect.

Beautiful! I'm cold just looking at it.

Very Cool! I mean cold. It looks cold…brrr.

you are right, the tufts really do add a little something-something.

Looks like Texas last week!! very nicely done.

Gents, thank you for all the cool comments!!!

It's coming up on a year now that we've all been crafting away, and dreamin' of getting back to the game table. I'm lucky to be retired, so I've rounded out a lot of my loose-end collections during this down time, but, what's sustained me best, is making plans of getting back to playing my favorite period – WW2!

The winter mat above will hopefully serve to host some late-war scenarios on that I'm wanting to do – maybe a connected series based on some of the battles in Hungary during the winter and spring of 1945.

I very much appreciate all your positive feedback here – it does help keep one energized considering the times.

Excellent!

Looks really good! I hadn't thought of doing that with tufts.

Grelber

When you write Goo glue do you mean Sprue Goo (chemically melted sprues) or Shoe Goo?

Or something else?

Your matt is fantastic and it does make me feel cold. Maybe I should try a Desert matt instead

Uh very nice.

Can I ask which manufacturer the mat is from please.
The effect is very nice and your tuft enhancements make the scene look wonderful.

Cheers

Thanks so much guys!

Dragon, the GOO glue is made by Walthers, and it can often be bought off ebay too (I can get it from my local hobby shop most of the time) -

link

Worgaimz, I did most of the mat's digital re-texturing into this winter scheme, by converting an image file bought from Wargame Print (then had it custom-printed out on vinyl [advertising banner] material).

The hidden 'magic' of the mat, is that it mimics a hex grid pattern w/o that being so noticable (not a perfect area grid – but with some irregularities which exert an asymmetrical variation on movement expenditure – w/the 'lay of the land' so to speak). The conversion to this areas-style mat evolved from the original hex-gridded 3D boards I had made (did those for 3 & 6mm miniatures), but the new board style still functions with our group's modified, grid-based Tank On Tank game rules……

(looks like miniatures – but plays smooth like a tactical board game using area movement, with single-type terrain spaces, area-defined artillery beaten zones, area-expressed/unit-occupation mechanics, and area-close combat resolution, etc.)

Here's the temperate version in TB fur (also 6X4ft.), with some of the smaller areas merged into bigger ones, to ensure enough room for buildings and larger scale miniatures within. It allows hills to be placed underneath, but it's just not "there" yet in its visual appeal, as that winter mat above.

I'm considering tufts for it too!….seriously though, thinking those big Warlord-brand tufts might be able to compete with the fur pile height of this mat, and help add some organic "noise" along the field areas (tufts glued down in straight segments could even be counted as blocking LOS, if a scenario was in bocage country) -

Fabulous!

Who printed the teddy bear fur one for you?

Thanks.

Tom

Hey Tom!

I made that….I love making terrain……probably more than painting minis (maybe way more in fact). :)))

Thinking about those big Warlord tufts mentioned, I went searching – they're mostly out-of-stock. Then the expense of needing another game board project full of them……$$$

Wait a minute I'm thinkin', I've made up a ton of hedgerows for one game out of fiber door mat, GOO-glued with Woodland Scenics crumble foliage on top (but these bocage strips are still rigid on their mat backs)…..

Just cut off the backing on one of these to see if the rows will stay together, yet be flexible enough to set down along areas of this TB mat above, and able to conform (if attached in short segments that can [hinge] bend) to hills?

This stuff might just work (front row with mat backing cut off) -

Seriously good stuff. I appreciate the thought behind the grid, too.

Thanks for the reply FlyXwire.

Tom

Absolute marvel!
The thing with tufts and bushes stuck, it forbids or makes awkward, village or woods areas, if you use prepared surfaces to put on the table for it.
Also not friendly with big bases games.

Guys, thanks for all your input!

As Jcfrog points out, tufts can interfere with terrain placement, and especially for keeping those formation stands dressed up for linear warfare games.

The WW2/moderns-style mats here have their patchwork areas to allow for this placement, and are designed to fit the game's terrain and minis. When the fields are populated by trees or buildings they define the terrain affects, so the placement of pieces within an area isn't critical, and the objects can be moved around to accommodate miniatures within (having these area's part of the mat's design allows for terrain to be taken off of bases – as the terrain borders are already there to use).

Here's a setup map for a Battle of the Bulge game I hosted using the winter mat (pre-tufts) – the terrain location can be pretty accurate sometimes (especially when the forest has back cut back into wood lot shapes).

Well, I've taken my first cautious additions to the TB mat here, by glueing a few hedgerow sections to it now.

Starting on the mat's edges in case I screwed it up, but liking those results, I feel ok to move a little closer towards the middle (though I'll leave most of the mat's central ground for removable terrain placement – for scenario variety).

Once I've got all the base bocage glued on, thinking of going back and adding some blending foliage to them, perhaps giving these areas a little 'vignette' treatment.