Cleaning a Battlemat

delericho · Jul 10, 2005

I've had a Chessex Battlemat for the past couple of years, and it has seen heavy use in a number of campaigns. Over time, the mat has become stained with residual ink that hasn't quite cleaned off properly when the mat was wiped. Mostly, this has come from red and purple pens, although there is quite a lot of blue ink on the mat as well.

I was wondering if there was any good way to remove this residual ink? Can it, for instance, be machine washed, or soaked in hot soapy water? Obviously, I don't want to damage the mat in the pursuit of cleaning it.

Any advice on this would be gratefully received.

Rodrigo Istalindir · Jul 10, 2005

This topic pops up every month or two. Try this thread or this one .

Better yet, ditch the battlemat your grandpa used and get a set of Tact-tiles

delericho · Jul 10, 2005

Rodrigo Istalindir said:
Better yet, ditch the battlemat your grandpa used and get a set of Tact-tiles

I've considered getting a set of these for a while. My concern though is this: since they use dry-erase pens, won't I end up wiping off the dungeon features frequently by accident? (We've been making use of tokens to mark movement, rather than miniatures, so when you move a character you're a lot closer to the playing surface, and so more prone to rubbing it by mistake.)

Oh, and thanks for the links, by the way.

Rodrigo Istalindir · Jul 10, 2005

delericho said:
I've considered getting a set of these for a while. My concern though is this: since they use dry-erase pens, won't I end up wiping off the dungeon features frequently by accident? (We've been making use of tokens to mark movement, rather than miniatures, so when you move a character you're a lot closer to the playing surface, and so more prone to rubbing it by mistake.)

Oh, and thanks for the links, by the way.

I've not noticed a problem with that, no more than with the old wet-erase, anyway. I use miniatures, thought, so the fingers tend to stay off the tiles.

Ogrork the Mighty · Jul 10, 2005

Nothing beats the Chessex battlemaps. Nothing.

IronWolf · Jul 10, 2005

delericho said:
I've considered getting a set of these for a while. My concern though is this: since they use dry-erase pens, won't I end up wiping off the dungeon features frequently by accident? (We've been making use of tokens to mark movement, rather than miniatures, so when you move a character you're a lot closer to the playing surface, and so more prone to rubbing it by mistake.)

We get the occasional smudge here or there but nothing that I would consider problematic. The mere ability to remove an unused tile and move it to where it is needed without the need to completely redraw the map more than makes up for any smudging that we encounter. We do use miniatures though and not tokens.

Lonely Tylenol · Jul 10, 2005

delericho said:
I've had a Chessex Battlemat for the past couple of years, and it has seen heavy use in a number of campaigns. Over time, the mat has become stained with residual ink that hasn't quite cleaned off properly when the mat was wiped. Mostly, this has come from red and purple pens, although there is quite a lot of blue ink on the mat as well.

I was wondering if there was any good way to remove this residual ink? Can it, for instance, be machine washed, or soaked in hot soapy water? Obviously, I don't want to damage the mat in the pursuit of cleaning it.

Any advice on this would be gratefully received.

Well, avoid solvents. These will damage the mat and take off the printed lines. While I'm pretty religious about taking care of my mat to prevent this kind of "burn-in", there are tiny pores that the inks can get caught in. Solvents won't help if water won't do it, because the inks are water-soluble, and would have come out for water if they were going to come out.

Don't machine wash it. A washing machine will tie knots in a battlemat. I'd also avoid hot water, which might further set stains and cause permanent deformation of the mat surface. Your best bet is probably a soak in lukewarm, slighly soapy water, followed by vigorous rinsing of the stained surfaces and drip drying.

jokamachi · Jul 10, 2005

I don't know of any cleaning methods to use once the mat is stained. All I can say is clean your mat as soon as the combat is over, don't leave it lying out overnight. You might wanna avoid those red and blue pens in the future, too.

bolen · Jul 10, 2005

Ogrork the Mighty said:
Nothing beats the Chessex battlemaps. Nothing.

Except tac tiles

Glyfair · Jul 10, 2005

delericho said:
Can it, for instance, be machine washed, or soaked in hot soapy water?

Yes. I've done this a couple of times, actually (drinks and such spilled on the non-treated side). It's not horribly effective at getting inks soaked in. I wouldn't put it in a dryer with any heat at all, though.

Cleaning a Battlemat

delericho

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Rodrigo Istalindir

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delericho

Legend

Rodrigo Istalindir

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Ogrork the Mighty

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IronWolf

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Lonely Tylenol

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jokamachi

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bolen

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Glyfair

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