TWHS.

I have been cooking up “homebrew” terrain, including gaming mats, for tabletop wargames for myself for years.  I am pleased to be able to make some available to the tabletop wargame community.  I hope that your armies of tiny men and the armies of your frienemies have a glorious time battling it out on the vinyl mats.  I invite you to suggest improvements or new versions, and to share photos of the action.

Vinyl Mats.

I find vinyl to be a good cheaper alternative to many expensive commercial neoprene rubber backed gaming mats.  Our printed-on-demand vinyl mats are 300 dpi images on a single side of basic, lightweight vinyl banner material. (For an additional cost, I do offer the option to combine two 4x6 mats into a single double-sided mat.) The printer describes the vinyl as water resistant and durable, with technical specifications of temperature resistance at - 40°F to 194 °F, tensile strength of 551 (psi), and tear resistance of 66 (psi).  The vinyl weight is described as 13 oz. (per sq. yard). Although flat finish would be better, the vinyl has a slightly glossy appearance. The vinyl is not entirely smooth but has a very slight texture.  The vinyl can be wrinkled by edged heavy objects, if left creased, or not rolled up properly, although the wrinkles should smooth out over time.  The actual mat sizes as trimmed may differ slightly.

(We have added, at least temporarily, the option of printing your mat on fabric for an additional cost. Until we have more experience and feedback on the fabric mats, we recommend that you only select this option if you are already familiar with homebrew mats printed on fabric.)

Overlay and Display Mats.

Most of the terrain mats are 6’ x 4’ and intended for a full table.  There are also a couple of mats that are roughly half the size (4’ x 2.5’) and intended for overlays over a full-sized table.  The “Beach” overlay goes on top of one end of a tabletop or the “Grass” mat to create a beachhead. “City Blocks” is intended to be cut into pieces that can either be used to change the arrangement of some of the blocks in “Cityscape” or put behind your own tabletop roadways to make different layouts. There are a few even smaller mats (3’ x 1.7’) taken from partial strips of a full-sized mat (under “Display Mat”) that are intended to be used with display boards for armies or featured terrain.

Scale & Style.

Most of the 6x4 terrain mats are designed primarily for 15mm or 1/100 scale miniature wargaming, although the featureless maps (“Grass” or “Beach”) could work for other scales. Unfortunately, I do not currently offer mats designed specifically for 28mm. (You can contact me if you are desperate for me to scale up a mat or two.)

I also offer a couple of 6x4 “Sky” mats (and one 12x2.5 mat!) intended for air-to-air combat miniature wargames (with roughly 1/200 scale aircraft) and a handful of 6x4 and 4x4 ”Space” mats for starship miniature wargames.

In addition to the full table mats, I offer some 3’ x 1.7’ mats originally made as skirmish maps for encounters in a fantasy game. The mats are roughly scaled for 15mm / 1:00 scale miniatures but could work with other sizes. The mats are in a painted brushstroke style, not sharply detailed or photorealistic.  The mats have a 1/2” grid overlay.  A few the mats come in a series of two or three that roughly match up.

Imperfections.

The mats provide a lot more atmosphere than a blank tabletop — but the mat images do have occasional imperfections.  I am not a professional artist or graphic designer. On close inspection, you may find a few seams between elements, slightly misaligned features, or other similar minor flaws.  With that caveat, I only offer mats that I consider to be sufficiently polished for hobby use.

Keep in mind that the colors in the actual printed mats may be different (e.g., somewhat darker or lighter or with a slightly different tone) than the digital image on your screens.  While the room lighting also affects their appearance, compare the colored fields in the photo and image of the “Farmland” or the compare dirt in the “Battlefield” mats in the Gallery.  I will try to keep them updated with changes, but there might be slight differences between the sample image on this website and the current version of the printed mat, such as where corrections or adjustments may have been made in the meantime.

Triple Mats.

If you want several 6’ x 4’ mats, I offer a few mats that can be printed three together.  You can reduce the cost per mat if you choose to order one of the 6’ x 12’ triple mats, which are designed for you to cut into three individual 4’ x 6’ single mats.  The cost is $195 $144 for a 6’ x 12’ triple mat (equivalent to three 4’ x 6’ mats for $65 $48 each).  A good pair of scissors or sharp craft knife should be sufficient to cut them apart, but the vinyl can be tough.  Also, it can be a challenge to cut a perfectly straight 6’ line exactly where you want, so it may be worth ordering individual mats.