Review: PWORK`s West Land gaming mat (Desert style for my Afrika Korps)

[Into The Eagle`s Nest]

Finally I decided to get gaming mats bandwagon rollin`! Besides daily work and life keeping me busy, I managed to research into this subject very deep. I came across more than a handful of manufacturers that offer a variety of different gaming mats and systems: custom prints, special hex prints (or similar), PVC and cloth versions, small overlays like streets, etc. With my focus on North Africa and desert war in general, I focused on all versions showing desert-, arid- and wasteland-ish prints. After enormous pic research, digging forums, boards and blogs deeply, I was at the brink ordering Deepcut Studio`s Wasteland mat. But after an email with Deepcut`s people I was told that this map will see a re-edit/upgrade, soon. So I decided to keep cool and wait for the revamped version.

So far, so good, so what?

When it comes to tabletop terrain and mats you`ll get 10 different opinions from 10 people asked. It`s a very personal thing and I have my (stupid?) opinion about it, too! For me a tabletop should be a "one piece diorama style" game, a piece of art where figure bases, vegetation, buildings should match each other and consist of an overall color scheme. I know it`s hard to do, especially when you already have several units finished and new (pre-painted?) buildings or new paints come to the table. With that in mind, I completed almost nothing at this stage - many figures are ready to be fielded but lack complete bases. My plan is to do all the bases when I find a mat I fall in love with and so get an matching color scheme.

Next step? I started the shopping mayhem! :-) Let`s take a look at my first desert gaming mat by <a href="http://www.pworkwargames.com/en/" target="_blank">PWORK WARGAMES[/url] that arrived a few days ago. Enjoy!

PWORK West Land Mat (Size 4'x6' - 120x180cm) came in this typical sturdy roll - nothing more to say and write about it:

PWORK`s logo is printed on the mat, but just very small and in a corner - no problem for me.

The print is good, material is strong and the backside offers some kind of rubberized material.
It`s always hard to take good pictures showing real colors but I tried my best. Check these pics for details and coloration:




Here are two GW colors for a better understanding:


My pics are OK but tend to be on the cooler and more khaki side. I see PWORK`s mat to be on the yellow-ish side of the desert spectrum, which I do not favor. For me it lacks a bit of coolness and red tones, but every other person will think different.

Another shot with some scenery/objective marker: (real map looks much more yellow!)


The material seems a bit stiff and tends to bend when taken fresh out of the box.


There are also slight waves but I think everything will lay flat when resting a longer time.
(black`n`white pic for better visiblity)


Final thoughts:
Good mat, but I am totally unimpressed! My first though after I have taken it out of the box: "cool, it`s fu**ing yellow and reminds me of grandma`s tablecloth!" The material seems pretty solid, print quality is good and the layout/graphics are like seen on the PWORK´s website, but I don`t know. If I would have seen it in a store, I haven`t bought it.

I am so fed up with lame computer graphics on websites showing theoretical prints and no real picture of mats in use! Dear sellers, it`s 2015, wake up and do our website work!

I have to admit that I really like my pics, because the mat looks better like in real life. I also know that there is no right or wrong regarding desert colors, because you`ll see all kinds of colors and vegetation in different regions, but I am looking for something different. The graphics layout is a bit too simple, too. It sometimes looks that they had 2-3 different design parts and pasted them around. It might sound a bit picky but almost everybody can work with Photoshop these days.

With this first battle mat at home I can`t wait to get my hand on the next one. Hopefully I will find my "dream map" or perhaps will go the custom tiles back-2-base-ix route. Stay tuned! :-)

[Arrigo]

well if you do not like it I am happy to take it! 

I found it extremely good from your pictures! 

[Into The Eagle`s Nest]

Already sold it! I am waiting for Deepcut`s Wasteland Theme 2.0 version atm.

[Arrigo]

ooook... but from the pictures it does a very good job as background for both the Panzer III and the Jump Off Point.

Hopefully you will be happy with the DCS mat...

[Gunner Dunbar]

Interesting, I'm not doubting your opinion, because it's obviously subjective, I think it looks good, and not to yellow, however, we are only seeing a small picture of part of the mat, maybe the whole thing in person is more overwhelming, thanks for the review, I have been thinking of getting a mat lately so this I'd useful.