Battlemats and pre-made/painted terrain

[squeaky]

Hi chaps, have any of you any experience with using/buying Battlemats, for example http://www.terrainmat.com/

Any opinions, other suppliers of similar products?

I'm also on the look out for pre-made and painted terrain - http://www.battlefield-modelling.com/1,terrains.html look to be a cheaper alternative to Eslo, but still a bit pricey...

The painted gear at moondragons is also very nice, but some of it is too expensive  - http://www.moondragons.com/html/what_s_new.html

Any suggestions peeps?  And NO REDZED I'm not going to make my own 
Though I may get around to painting up my AMERA plastic moulding stuff 

[Dewbakuk]

How about the Conflix range? Good quality casts with a reasonable paint job.

Should be available in pretty much any model shop but here's the first online seller that came up.
http://www.thehobbybox.biz/prodtype.asp?cookiecheck=yes&PT_ID=404&strPageHistory=cat

[joroas]

They have more out now that site is out of date.  Pegasus and Dreamholme also do painted terrain too.  PMC sell stuff on EBay too:  Sellthatstuffboy.  All of it is good, solid and servicable for a variety of peiods.

[Arcticman]

Sellthatstuffboy is no longer a registered member of ebay I'm sorry to say. I don't know why...
The good new is that PMC games sell their own stuf on ebay nownad have branched out and now make boats for 28mm as well.
Search for pmc_games and you can see their stuff.
I have almost 20 of their buildings and I love them.

[whisperin_al]

I have a snow mat from terrainmat and have been reasonably pleased with it, I did a brief review on my blog:

http://thewargameshed.blogspot.com/2008/06/terrain-mat-nice-product-customer.html

I've used a whole range of pre-painted terrain in an effort to get around my poor painting, general laziness and impatience!  I've got a few pieces of Eslo terrain which is nicely done but a little limited.  As you mention Snapdragon terrain is very attractive but a bit pricey when bought painted (I've picked up most of my painted Snapdragon stuff from eBay).  I also have pieces from PMC Games which are very functional if a little uninspired in some cases.  If you want really nice painted resin stuff (and a prepared to have a large hole burnt in your wallet) I can recommend Grand Manner (http://www.grandmanner.co.uk) whose buildings are nicely detailed, very well painted, even at wargaming standard, the service is pretty good and they have quite a range.  Here's one of their Latin/Hispanic buildings I picked up from them recently:



A friend of mine always reminds me that painting terrain isn't all that difficult.  More a matter of practice and you can get a pretty reasonable result with some very simple techniques.  Having said that I have quite a few unpainted resin buildings sitting on my workbench and I'm still procrastinating!

It really depends on which period you're looking at and how big your budget is...

[Captain Blood]

Yes, I have several Grand Manner buildings - they tend to be chunky but well designed, with lift off roofs and interior detail.

Monolith Designs also have a huge range of resin buildings - well worth looking at.

Snapdragon / Moondragons are quite stylised (slightly fantastical - even the Vietnam stuff!) but personally I like them, and have quite a few of his pieces.

Terrain mats usually look pretty crap to me. Go for boards.

[whisperin_al]

I think the two areas where terrain mats look better than boards are for sand and snow.  Unless you make your own custom boards you just can get the slopes and undulations.  The only other way you can capture that is by making your own boards.

It's like all terrain stuff, they have their limitations and you need to chose what suits your needs.

[fritzy]

Hi all,
   I have a couple of hills by Terrascenic, £12 each and come painted textured and boxed(each in their own). I haven't got the patience for these and thought them good value. They look great too. And also there is quite a selection of differing hills and will make to order if there is something you really need.

 Have a look, you know you want too

Cheers

Fritzy

[squeaky]

thanks chaps

I'm going to try once more with roads, and see if I can make a better job adding texture and paint to my Amera VAC items.. AND I'm going to my the three hour drive to Edinburgh (Claymore show) this Saturday and catch a first hand look at Grand Manner buildings - not that I can afford any but I'm sure it will be inspiring

Last Valley will also be at Claymore - I've read enough on the net not to hand over any cash advances     but he does do very nice hedges and bocage - I've no idea how much, I've always skipped past the table at previous shows 

[Aaron]

I have seen a nice looking battle mat made out of a cheap canvas drop cloth from a DIY store. The one I saw even had roads airbrushed on very convincingly. You can then put contoured blue foam under it for hills if desired.

[joroas]

Lovely roads were made in latex and painted in a range called Highway Rubbery and rivers/bridges called Wobbly Water.  I have a lot, but then the company disappeared.  Anyone know where?

[Geudens]

Sellthatstuffboy is no longer a registered member of ebay I'm sorry to say. I don't know why...
The good new is that PMC games sell their own stuf on ebay nownad have branched out and now make boats for 28mm as well.
Search for pmc_games and you can see their stuff.
I have almost 20 of their buildings and I love them.

Sellthatstuffboy = PMC games (or that has always been the case at least).  David (STSB) claims his dayjob is too demanding for the moment, hence sales through PMC.

I'm a hex-player and swear by Kallistra.  Beautiful, absolutely complete range and indestructable in terms of tabletop use.  However, I do not use their roads & rivers (had those already from Gladiator Games, nice enough, cheap but sadly OOP now I believe).  If I need a wide river I simply use Kallistra blue hexes or put a plastic blueish tablecloth underneath the K-hexes.

http://www.kallistra.co.uk/

On top, the people at Kallistra are really nice - especially Sally  -(as are many other traders I hasten to say) and will truly consider your suggestions as to future releases (I know, they did so with me).

Rudi

[Snate56]

I know I'm really late chiming in here, but check out Zuzzy's Terra-Flex system mats.

http://www.zuzzy.com/rl-tf-001_terra_flex_gaming_mat.html


SteveN