Gaming Mat Kickstarter - looks interesting

[Nooblord]

Hi,

There is a kickstarter for 3' by 3' impregnated felt gaming mats:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/987582441/subf-x-gaming-mats-for-miniature-board-gaming?ref=discovery

The 'frosted cobblestone' mat screamed out 'Frostgrave' to me and I might well back this one (they are also doing a pure snow mat and a more icy looking one as well as normal cobblestones and dungeon flooring).

A £19 pledge gets one mat of your choice with free postage in the UK.

Anyone else backing this?

[Hu Rhu]

Hadn't seen that kickstarter before.  Thnaks for teh info.

[Major_Gilbear]

Hmm, looks okay, but I would expect something a bit more... professional-looking TBH. I mean, it's a basic repeating cobble texture with a ropey "frost" effect over it.

I think the cobbles need a bit of variation to break up the cut-n-paste look, they need to look cold/frosted (rather than clean, sunny and warm), and the bigger frost patches should be more realistic-looking and integrated. As it is right now, it looks like something that anyone with my level of Photoshop skill (i.e., low!) can do in a few minutes with a free texture from Google Images.

Of course, if you like it, then please disregard my comments! 

[Polkovnik]

Yes, I agree. The frost effect looks more like clouds. I'm surprised some of the other companies making this sort of product haven't jumped on the Frostgrave bandwagon and produced a mat for it. I would think that they could make a really good playing mat for this game, but I'm not impressed by this one.
I've started to make a Frostgrave board using the Heroic Maps Winter Wilderness tiles (available on Wargames Vault). I've printed them onto sticker paper and stuck them onto a mdf board. If something like this (with a bit more paving showing through the snow) was available as a playing mat I'm sure it would sell very well.

http://www.heroicmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wintermain.jpg

http://www.heroicmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/forestaltarmain.jpg

[Nooblord]

They look better 'in the flesh' so to speak. For example:

[Awesomeshotdude]

I'm surprised some of the other companies making this sort of product haven't jumped on the Frostgrave bandwagon and produced a mat for it.

I'm currently getting a custom one made by Deep Cut Studios. Essentially it is their cobblestone mat with the manhole covers removed and then 50% - 60% of the surface covered in patchy snow.

[Major_Gilbear]

They look better 'in the flesh' so to speak. For example:

Well, that's a different mat you've linked to, and I still think that a lot of the designs are a bit basic/repeating. Of course, for the tiled dungeon floor it's much less of an issue, but there's a lot on offer in that KS that could do with some improvement I think. Anyway, I'll leave it at that.

[armyofmites]

@Polkovnik
Thanks for the links, i never heard of Heroic Maps before (shame on me) and i just downloaded some stuff from their page. Very helpful!

[Cherno]

I also think the snowy cobblestone iamge is rather simple, not to say lazily done. Snow doesn't just get transparent in certain parts; It's obvious that a soft brush was used to paint the snow, but in reality, the pattern would be different. Snow would accumulate in the cracks between the stones, for example.

[wrinklestiltskin]

I'm currently getting a custom one made by Deep Cut Studios. Essentially it is their cobblestone mat with the manhole covers removed and then 50% - 60% of the surface covered in patchy snow.

Sounds interesting, I'd love to see the finished product. They have the mousemats, right?

[Awesomeshotdude]

Sounds interesting, I'd love to see the finished product. They have the mousemats, right?

Yes they do have mousepad material mats, however they can't do custom ones (on the mousepad material) for several weeks yet...so I've ordered a PVC one, and when they start taking mousepad material mat custom work, I'll order the same image printed on that.

I'll get some images up when I get them.

[Morray]

Nice price but yea, a little repetitive for my tastes. 19 quid posted is pretty amazing though.

[baza]

Not bad for the price, anyone seen the cigar box battle mats, Cold Magic which would be ideal for Frostgrave albeit a bit pricey.

[Awesomeshotdude]

Sounds interesting, I'd love to see the finished product. They have the mousemats, right?

I just received my custom mat from Deep Cut Studio's today. It's a PVC material (which I'm not overly fond of) as they don't do custom mousepad material mats yet, but will be soon...and I'll get the same size and artwork done on a mousepad material mat when they do become available.

Essentially, it is their Cobblestone pattern with the man hole covers removed and snow added over the top...4' x 4' in size. I'm pretty happy with it.

Whole Mat;



Close up of Artwork;



With a few bits of terrain plonked down on top;

[wrinklestiltskin]

That is one nice looking table!

Those ruines, up front, are those the 4ground ones? I like the look of those, maybe a bit too clean, but nice.