War game mat - Wake Island - or any island ?

Started by Sunray, 10 March 2020, 11:54:14 AM

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Sunray

10 March 2020, 11:54:14 AM Last Edit: 10 March 2020, 12:08:39 PM by Sunray
On the web I see 25mm style games of Wake Island with excellent scenic boards or mats.  Does anyone make an off the shelf mat of Wake Island - or for that matter ANY island relatively flat geography ?  Does not have to be in 10mm.

Further to above, have just found Tinywargames Desert Island 6x4 cloth (not Wake ) at a rich £60.  Any other options out there?

FierceKitty

I've got one of their mats recently - both sides visible in posts of the last few days - and I'm very happy with it. Why not write to them directly? They seem interested in what people say.
I don't drink coffee to wake up. I wake up to drink coffee.

John Cook

If you have the time and inclination, have you considered making your own.  I have made 'mats' successfully from disposable tablecloths, which come in a variety of colours, and cost no more than £7 each.  I bought several on line some time ago.  In addition to their intended purpose, I also use them for covering my workspace (I prefer working against a white background) as well as for bespoke home made gaming mats. They are 4.5ft x 9ft and took water-based acrylic paints well, as well as flock and scatter material.  I have made snow-scapes and seascapes.  I would think that painting Wake Island onto a blue tablecloth would not be much of a challenge. 

Alternatively, Tiny Wargames will make customs mats to your own design.  All you need to do is to send them some imagery.  I have no idea of cost but, I think, that is likely to be the only source of a professionally made Wake Island mat.

In the context of mats generally, the pro with Tiny Wargames mats is that you can get different sizes, the con is that the cloth they are printed on doesn't 'cling' very well and they can drift if not fixed in someway.  I usually pin them to stop them 'drifting' which solves the problem, such as it is.   I have Tiny's Grass and Arid mats in 7ft x 6ft and they are very good indeed.  As I remember they cost about £70 each. 

I also have some Cigar Box mats from North Star.  These are made of a fleece-like material that clings much better than Tiny Wargames.  Their size, however is limited to 6ft x 4ft, which means I need two to cover my table.  They are a similar price to Tiny's.

Another other company is Terrain Mat.  These are textured cloths hand made to order.  They are made of a kind of fine netting backing material, rather like the stuff you put down to stop weeds growing or, perhaps flyscreen - not entirely sure which.  The down-side is that they shed scatter material and need periodic maintenance.  They are much more rigid than cloth, so contouring with stuff underneath is not so easy.  They are also very expensive at about double the price of Tiny's and Cigar Box's mats.

Finally, I have found eBay a productive source of all kinds of wargaming scenics, including mats and related stuff which you might be able to 'harvest' for a home made mat.


Sunray

Thanks for these helpful comments.  I have always built my own base scenery, but with the hint of an Easter family game, I was minded to do a Wake Island off East Africa - threatened by my resident SCAS ( Soviet Client Arab State), circa 1950's era.

This means I don't have to wait for 1941 US figures.

I have a couple of tropical sea front tiles for the "Raid on Goa" (including a passable 10mm barge converted from Revell Harbour tug), so that might be a starting point, but with the heads up will do  a decco on this range of mats and the instant coffee solution.

A Wake type Island is low relief above sea level, hence a mat might work well - otherwise , back to carving polly.