Battle Mat Sizes

Hriston · Jun 1, 2019

Hi!

I'm designing some rules for random wilderness combat encounter map generation, and I'd like to take into account what the typical sizes are in which battle mats might come (if any). The rules would be primarily for D&D 5E, so I'm mostly interested about battle mats that are printed with 1" squares. For my purposes, the ideal combat encounter area would be 60" x 60", but I'm curious what other dimensions are considered standard.

Thanks!

Olgar Shiverstone · Jun 1, 2019

The Chessex double-sided ones are 3' x 4' (36' x 48"). I've never seen 60"x60" ones.

Most wargame mats I see are 3x3, 4x4, 6x3, or 6x4, so those might be available in 1" squares or hexes.

BTW -- I prefer hexes for outdoor encounters and squares for indoor ones.

Hriston · Jun 2, 2019

I should have mentioned that my interest is mostly in square battle mats because the rules I’m designing generate a square encounter area. I have a 3’ x 4’ battle mat, the same dimensions as the Chessex one. (Mine is made by Melee Mats.) I can see Chessex also makes one that’s roughly 2’ x 2’ and one that’s 4’ 6” x 8’ 6”. The reason I want one that’s 5’ x 5’ is that would give me a square playing area with a diagonal distance of just over 80”, which is the biggest encounter distance I expect to use with a scale of 5’ per inch. I’m curious to see if there are any commonly used square dimensions above 4’ 6”.

Kris · Jun 2, 2019

I mostly GM away from home ...so with that in mind:

I have a (unnamed) small wet erase mat that is 22x25" (this sees the most use).

A large (Crystal Caste) wet erase mat that is 34x46" (this rarely gets used). Note that it's actually 3ftx4ft if you count the fancy border (and, if I GM'd from home, I'd use this more).

And I've also just bought one of the cheap, Paizo flip mats (24x30") - which I plan on trying out next due to its portability (and the fact I don't have to worry about folks using the wrong kind of pens on it).

Battle Mat Sizes

Hriston

Dungeon Master of Middle-earth

Olgar Shiverstone

Legend

Hriston

Dungeon Master of Middle-earth

Kris

Adventurer

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