"Travelling Battle Mats?" Topic

The advise of the hive mind is solicited. For travel purposes--or other things which can restrict an old man's gaming storage--I have constructed six sets of 2mm armies designed so that troops, rules, accessories and terrain will all fit in a courier bag--say 14"x12"x4". (Maybe 35cmX30cmX10cm metric.) But I am not satisfied with my mats.

1) What's my best bet for material for a thin mat which will fold or roll up tightly and go flat without major effort? Who makes them?
2) How about custom sizing? Most should be 2' (60cm) square, but I could really use 30"x60" for the ECW mat. (Long story.)
3) How about an unobtrusive 1" hex pattern for the WW2 mats?

If my best solution is felt or cloth from a fabric shop and stenciling on my own hex pattern, I'm fine with that, but if money will solve the problem, I'm interested.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Robert

I have three lightweight foldable fabric battlements, I am very satisfied with the product.

Wargame.World
Slagmark Battle Mat

The microfleece of Cigar Box Battle mats is superb for not creasing and laying flat. Can be cut to size and does not fray. Well worth the money for my tastes.

I'm a big fan of simple cotton prints from the fabric store. Most come in 44" widths and can be had as cheap as $4 USD/yard. I just bought a few yards of leafy green to act as forest bases. They roll up nice and tight for crease free game play.

For a hex mat, i made my own but marked the centers of the hexes with a dot of paint. On my green mat the yellow-green dot is visible when you need it to be, but disappears when you don't. I did a 4x6 mat with 4" hexes in about an hour.

Not sure where you are located, but I have used Cigar Box Battle (US) mats and Geek Villian (UK) with great success.

Cigar Box has larger selection and sizes.

Eric

Here is the Geek Villian mats in action in my latest blog post. link