We have had quite a few people ask us how to get the most out of their mats, so we decided that a new blog post was in order!

The core concept behind our mats was to make it easy for “Joe Gamer” to quickly set up a great looking battlefield in a short amount of time. I decided to take a few iPhone pics of some of the basic steps I use to create a great looking battlefield in just a couple of minutes.

 

Step 1 – Find your average dining room or breakfast nook table! This is my table which is about 4×4, so I did have some overhang with the mat (5×7), but it shows how you can quickly set up a great looking game.

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Ordinary kitchen table with a ruler on it for scale.

 

Step 2 – Put down some hills. I use old Geo-Hex hills, but cardboard, foam, old books, etc will all work fine, since nobody will see it once you start gaming. The fleece CBB mat will drape nicely over the hills and doesn’t create any odd creases or folds.

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Some Geo-Hex hills – you could use whatever you want to create your elevations. A friend of mine uses cut and stacked cardboard to get a very nice effect.

 

Step 3- place the mat over your hills.

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The mat will drape nicely over the hills to give you some great 3D rolling terrain.

 

Step 4 – Add basic terrain features like trees, buildings and fences. This is our “Euro mat”, but it works fine for any periods with plenty of cultivated fields. Here I am setting up an ACW game, but this mat works wonderfully for Napoleonics, ECW, Ancients, Medieval, WWII, etc.

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The table with hills and basic terrain features.

 

Step 5- Add your miniatures and start gaming! It’s that easy. I literally spent less than 5 minutes on this game, because the printed fields, and other printed terrain features (wooded areas, hedge areas, stream ,etc)  speed up the prep time immensely.

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The table with figures added. We are ready to start rolling dice!

 

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Here is a close up of some 28mm ACW figures on our “Euro Mat”.

 

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A close up of the action! Can the Federals push the Rebs off the hill?

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I hope that gives you a better idea of how we use our mats. I’m planning some articles on some more advanced techniques to enhance the mats, so stay tuned to the blog. Also, if you would like to share your ideas and pictures we would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact us through the blog. Take care and good gaming – Cory