Got my Crystal Caste Combat Mat today!

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

All I can say is WOW! This thing is HUGE!!! I got the biggest one they had and it is so big I need to get a bigger gaming table to hold it. Til then, the floor will do nicely. Very sturdy design; should last for many years. With the special erasable pens (5 @ $2 each) and shipping, it cost me 50 bucks, but I still saved a fortune compared to buying Dwarven Forge stuff to design my dungeons with... So, I recommend getting one as a cheap alternative to DF that is actually a lot more flexible (just not as cool looking as all those DF walls, floors and caverns). Here is the link:

COMBAT MATS
http://www.crystalcaste.com/mats.htm

Or, if you're filthy rich...
DWARVEN FORGE
http://www.dwarvenforge.com

PS: Why did I need 5 pens? Well, I got 2 black ones, a blue one (for drawing water), a green one (for drawing trees and bushes) and a brown one (for drawing rocks and wooden things).

 

[TalonComics]

Yeah, Crystal Caste mats are awesome especially considering they have hexes on one side and squares on the other. I use both the smaller size one and the largest size one for different occasions depending on the encounter.

And of course you can get them at my site too!

~Derek

www.taloncomics.com/crystalcaste.html

 

[applenerd]

My group and I got a Chessex mat and it has served us VERY well. It isn't dual sided but we never use hex and I was told by the store clerk that the chessex mats erased more easily than the Crystal Caste mats. Can anyone confirm or deny? In either case we used to use a large dry-erase whiteboard with 1" squares marked carefully in permanent ink with a yard stick. This was VERY unweildly to carry around though. The new mat is easy to erase and should last a long time. If anyone is on the fence about buying one of these types of mats I would say go for it! It is a very good investment if you are a serious gamer!

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

My group and I got a Chessex mat and it has served us VERY well. It isn't dual sided but we never use hex and I was told by the store clerk that the chessex mats erased more easily than the Crystal Caste mats. Can anyone confirm or deny?

I haven't done more than a quick test with my Crystal Caste mat yet. The black ink seemed harder to get off than the other colors for some reason, but only took a few extra wipes to get off completely.

 

[MythandLore]

Our group has used a few diffrent things, a huge roll of bucther paper (need to use rules to know distance), a mat (kinda small, needs special markers and need to erase), and now we use HUGE pad of graph paper (1 inch squares) it works great, you can draw on it with anything, the squares are already there, and if we need a map later we can go back and grab it, which I think is the biggest plus.
If you use a tavern or castle map a lot it's great because you have the map right there, so you don't have to redraw it over and over and over.

 

[Lunn]

I have owned my Chessex magamats (3'x4') for over ten years. I have used them weekly over this time. The color of markers that I have found the easiest to remove are green and brown. They usually come off without any problem, even if a week goes by before I wipe them off. A damp paper towel will clean them up with ease. The hardest colors to remove are black, blue and red. If I don't remove them as soon as posible, they tend to be very hard to clean off.

 

[TalonComics]

The big color not to use is red and isn't recommended by either Chessex or Crystal Caste. Red can be used but it does have a tendency to stain.
I've used a combination of things and when it comes to mats I think both companies are fine and really the difference is minimal.

~Derek

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Red stained my map, and it was only on there for a few hours. I go with Green now.