Battlefield

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When I first started war gaming my battlefield was a cloth dyed dark green, others at school used upside down Subbuteo pitches. Handy, easily available, and most importantly  portable.

Fast forward the best part of 40 years and a Subbuteo pitch doesn't quite cut it, nor big enough. Visiting Salute, blogs, internet forums and reading glossy rule books shows bespoke terrain tables with detail that would not be amiss on a model railway layout. That would be fantastic to have that, but back in the real world that isn't  happening. For a start where would I put it? So the search for something smarter than a dyed green cloth with the storability of a Subbuteo pitch, but bigger and fancier.

Does such a product exist? After many blind avenues I came across the Mat-o-War. Looked just right for my needs, but a bit of a problem - not in production.


Eventually they were available, again, from Antenociti's Workshop, so I placed my order. I went for the biggest one available which is 3m x 2m (I think). Thick almost felt like in appearance, but much tougher than felt, my mat arrived folded. Left out for a few days to lose it's  creases, they were stubbornly hanging on - a steam iron got rid of these (although I was a little too keen with the iron and as a result my mat now has a top good side and a not so smart underneath with the shape of an iron on it).

Storage is a bit of an issue, so I bought a length of waste pipe from the DIY store and store my mat rolled around this. I noticed after I'd bought mine that there was an option to purchase it in a tube, wish I'd noticed this when placing my order.

Antenociti's also sell flock which is almost a perfect match for the green mats

Sadly they are no longer available (again) but if they are available I would heartily recommend them as a battlefield mat.

Until then these felt mats from S&A Scenics come in a variety of colours and some big sizes.

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