Storage, Care and Feeding of your Combat mat (tm)

[dagger]

We use the plexi more for the fact that it makes an excellent surface for miniatures and is easier to draw on. But it does help keep the mat safe from the occasional stain (from drink spills or whatever).

 

[guedo79]

That would be perfect for me if I could get everyone to come to my place and I had a room where I could leave it up.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

We've not had any problems witht he red marker (but we don't use it that often), but we do have several nice faded blue lines that don't come off. A river here, a wall drawn in blue there, and some character names used for initiative order that can still be made out. Oh, there is also a nice big red stain on the back of the mat from when someone spilled a glass of red wine.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Mine's been rolled up and tossed in the trunk of my car, between games and the occasional dog mistaking it for a bone and trying to carry it off and bury it. They're pretty darn tough.

Mine is Chessex, BTW. I find that if you wipe it clean after each session, it'll last pretty much forever. No special care needed - certainly not laminating it! I'd be far more afraid of destroying it by trying something like that than by mere neglect.

If water doesn't take the marker off, try Windex. That will take most any mark off pertty well. I've noticed that on Chessex mats, it will also slightly fade the printed lnies, but you'd probably have to clean it with windex every day for a year for it to be an issue. The Crystal Caste ones are a little more forgiving that way, but on the other hand the marker ink doesn't show up as nicely as on Chessex.

BTW, Chessex now has a 4' x 8' reversible mat. $99.95 at Games Plus. I feel like the kid from Christmas Story every time I go in there and walk past it...

 

[alsih2o]

Besides what do you tell people?

"Oh that? I keep my drum sticks in it?"
"Well, they are extra long drum sticks....."

not only giant drumsticks, it also can act as a giant dice cup, sufficient for all but the most munchkin of xd6 rolling

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

avoid using the red one

Ah yes. THe cursed red marker. I have to hide that when one of the other DMs is using my mats. He likes it too much.

It's a bit of a pain, but ethyl alcohol works good from cleaning.

 

[guedo79]

BTW, Chessex now has a 4' x 8' reversible mat. $99.95 at Games Plus. I feel like the kid from Christmas Story every time I go in there and walk past it...

I drool over that one every time I drive out to our gaming store. Someday I will have somewhere to use that and the table big enough for it.

 

[Thrommel]

I do have one of those and I kid you not it is FRICKIN HUGE.

You have to have some serious real estate to use the Mondo Mat. We played with it a couple times at my buddy's office and it overfilled the conference tables there.

The advantage -- once you start a dungeon delve, you can go a looooong way without erasing.

The disadvantage -- unlike smaller mats, there's a lot greater chance that your players are going to be setting their beverages on it and using it as a writing surface since it takes up the WHOLE table.

I've had a Chessex Mega Mat for 15 years now and I love it. Great product. Unrolled, it's a fantastic battle mat. Rolled up, it's a good player discipline enforcement device.

Soap and water are your friends. Beware the hated Dry Erase marker and subversively abundant Sharpie. They shall make you weep.

-Thrommel

 

[Destan]

DO NOT, i repeat. DO NOT burst my bubble.

This, quite simply, had me laughing for about the past five minutes straight. I encourage you to read this thread from the start so you see the above quote in context.

Is it late? Yes. Should I be concentrating on freeing the trapped cat from the heating duct? Probably. None of that changes the fact that my stomach now hurts from giggling.

Whew.

G'nite,
Destan

 

[Dagger75]

Lets see, I think my battle mat might be rolled or folded up and under the couch right now. It might be in the trunk of my car. When I first got my battle map I went to Mail Boxes Ect. and bought one of those fancy plastic mailing tubes, but after a few years of carrying that darn thing with me I leave it at home and just fold my battle up and throw it in my back pack.

I to have left a dungeon drawn on it for MONTHS at a time once. The top part of it cleaned off pretty good put it seemd to have soaked into the bottom part. If I flip the mat over I have a perfect map of some evil temple.

There is one think wrong with my battle mat. I let my friend borrow it for a con, well some DORK wanted to make sure the markers weren't permanent and drew a nice circle in the middle on the mat. Well that was a permanent marker. I guess testing a marker on the corner would have to hard.

I guess battle mats are like kids; first couple years you nurture and protect them from harm, but then you let them grow up and live in the real world.