Gaming mat for Napoleonic 6/10mm (your advice needed)

[Warzone Studio]

Hello, everybody!
I am going to design a gaming mat for for Napoleonic 6/10mm war-games. It will be a basic one with plains and rye fields.
Here to ask some tips from experienced war-gamers.

Which war-games you know may need such mat?
Which size of mat do they need?
Should I avoid adding a river or a lake for the basic mat?
Is it possible to suit 6mm and 10mm war-games with one scale of mat, how do you think?
Can you recommend a correct width of roads for 6/10mm?

Also, will be happy to see any examples of gaming boards for this scale. Thanks in advance! Will be happy to send a ready sample of my future mat for anyone who helped for only a cost of its production.

[FierceKitty]

I'd say avoid printing your logo on it, which mny gamers find very intrusive, and don't put in too much detail which will have to be in every game. At most a few simple tracks, and minor variations in ground cover. 6mm and 10mm borrow each other's terrain all the time, so I wouldn't worry about that.
Good to see you're still in business.

[Ithoriel]

For me, if you have fields you need roads or tracks to access them.

I'd go for earth tracks rather than cobbled roads as being more useful in terms of time period and geography. Dirt roads would be quite wide as people try to avoid the centre when it is wet and/or  churned up by wagons and animals.

Not sure about water features. If you include a watercourse, I'd stick to having a stream rather than a full blown river.

I'd avoid lakes or pools - they are too identifiable. A war fought in a land with many identical lakes would seem strange, no?

3' square, 4' square and 6' x 4'  seem to be the popular sizes. I suspect that if you only make one size you will need to deal with regular requests to make others!

All the above is just personal preference but I hope it helps.

All the best with the gaming mats!



 

[Last Hussar]

A 6x4 can be masked down to any size

[Ithoriel]

A 6x4 can be masked down to any size

It can ... but do people who only play on 3' x 3' areas want to pay extra for a 6' x 4'?

Two 4' x 4' would cover a 6' x 4' table ... and so on.

[Warzone Studio]

I'd say avoid printing your logo on it, which mny gamers find very intrusive, and don't put in too much detail which will have to be in every game. At most a few simple tracks, and minor variations in ground cover. 6mm and 10mm borrow each other's terrain all the time, so I wouldn't worry about that.
Good to see you're still in business.

Sure, I am still in! Studio makes progress day to day!
We deleted all logos from last mats, somewhere they still are if they are integrated (like a carving on a stone or name on a wooden board). But now I just don't place logo at all.
6=10 mm for terrain, got it.

A 6x4 can be masked down to any size

Think, I will make 8*4 as I do last time. And then will cut to 6*4 , 4*4 and so on. Thanks!

For me, if you have fields you need roads or tracks to access them.

I'd go for earth tracks rather than cobbled roads as being more useful in terms of time period and geography. Dirt roads would be quite wide as people try to avoid the centre when it is wet and/or  churned up by wagons and animals.

Not sure about water features. If you include a watercourse, I'd stick to having a stream rather than a full blown river.
I'd avoid lakes or pools - they are too identifiable. A war fought in a land with many identical lakes would seem strange, no?

These are advices! noted.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

I spy yet another new member. Don't make it to heavy or thick, so it can be folded easily. keep the surface relatively terrain free, so that it is not period specific, you will sell more that way.

Oh and welcome.

[Warzone Studio]

I spy yet another new member. Don't make it to heavy or thick, so it can be folded easily. keep the surface relatively terrain free, so that it is not period specific, you will sell more that way.

Oh and welcome.

Materials are the same as always: mouse pad neoprene rubber, fabric or vinyl. You check them here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izqh3njOXAw

[MartinKnight1333]

It depends on the price if you have a market !

[Warzone Studio]

Thanks for your advices. Here I got the most useful ones!

[Ace of Spades]

On sizes; 4 x 6 I guess would be okay if the 'halves' of the mat are somewhat different; one half with a stream and some woods on it and few roads, the other half  having more roads and no stream for example; more cultivated. That way people with smaller tables can choose which half to play on by folding/maskin the other half.
Roads or tracks would be wide enough if they were up to 4cm I guess but it always depends on the basing of your troops what looks good.
A small stream with some marshy bits is preferred to a river I'd say and players can easily determine themselves on what sort of obstacle it is, if any.
Maybe an area of meadows with some extra roads would be useful so that could be used as is or as a location for a larger town.

Cheers,
Rob

[Warzone Studio]

On sizes; 4 x 6 I guess would be okay if the 'halves' of the mat are somewhat different; one half with a stream and some woods on it and few roads, the other half  having more roads and no stream for example; more cultivated. That way people with smaller tables can choose which half to play on by folding/maskin the other half.
Cheers,
Rob

That's an interesting idea. Don't know about 1st mat to be so diversed, but future mats - why not. I noted it down.

[kustenjaeger]

So if you are looking at rye and plains you are thinking central and Eastern Europe?  I don't think rye is/was much of a Western European crop.

I would definitely avoid just plains as most Napoleonic actions had a bit more terrain than that.  Would the mat be designed to go over objects to form high ground?

Regards

Edward

[John Cook]

The Napoleonic wars were fought on diverse terrain from the crowded western European, to the even more crowded terrain of eastern North America, to the comparatively empty plains of eastern Europe and European Russian, with Spain and Italy in between.  I prefer my mats to be plain and all terrain features such as roads, rivers and fields are overlays or, in the case of hills, underneath the mat which needs to be slightly larger than the table to allow this.  By printing features on your mat you are restricting its use.  It makes the terrain difficult to change and historical battlefields impossible to recreate.  As for size, 4'x6' would be way too small for me.  Could you not go for bespoke sizes.  Take a look at Cigar Box battle mats at North Star Miniatures and Tiny Wargames mats to see what your competition are doing.

[Ithoriel]

I think we're getting a little too focussed on the "mat" bit and not enough on the Napoleonic.

This isn't Warzone Studio's first rodeo They have some really nice stuff already.

https://warzonestudio.com/