Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jay_Ibero_911 06-26-07, 05:57 PM	I'll be starting my own LG group locally soon, so I finally need to dish out and get one. There aren't any gaming stores in the area, so my only hope is finding one on the web. Anyone know a good site to buy them from? Also, I could use a good site to get a DMG and MM as cheap as possible...
Britt 06-26-07, 06:29 PM	I'm really liking the Dungeon Tiles products, cheap and effective. If you really want something you can draw on, there are a few different interlocking wet or dry erase tile systems out there. I like all those better than traditional battlemaps.
UMiskatonic 06-26-07, 06:42 PM	Steel squire's flip mats are the best product I've ever seen. They were bought by Paizo, you should be able to get them off of the Paizo site. Lon's Lair also sells gaming supplies online. He's a gamer, so he understands what you're looking for, and doesn't make mistakes. Very cool too.
danhenneke 06-26-07, 07:13 PM	You also might try an office supply store and get the large pads of graph paper. They are usually around $15 or so, and have about 50 sheets. You could laminate a sheet and use erasable markers on it. You could also draw a map then laminate it.
kenobi65 06-26-07, 08:26 PM	The "original" battlemats are made by Chessex; you can order them on their web site. They're a bit expensive, but if you take care of them, they wear like iron. I've got one that I've been using for 24 years.
UMiskatonic 06-26-07, 10:57 PM	If you're interested, a plaid tablecloth, like the ones at Bob Evans' restaurant, are composed of one inch squares.
kenobi65 06-26-07, 11:23 PM	If you're interested, a plaid tablecloth, like the ones at Bob Evans' restaurant, are composed of one inch squares. There's a guy I play LG with locally, who bought an enormous tablecloth with those 1" squares, put it on his dining-room table, then overlaid it with two huge plexiglass sheets. Instant mega-battlemat. :)
KShaver 06-27-07, 09:49 AM	Chessex or Crystal Caste for your traditional wet erase battle mats, I like the Chessex a little better. I've been hearing a lot of good things about the flip mats recently, haven't had a chance to try one myself yet, but they are from Paizo now as mentioned previously.
GeorgeFHarris 06-27-07, 10:44 AM	I'm really liking the Dungeon Tiles products, cheap and effective. If you really want something you can draw on, there are a few different interlocking wet or dry erase tile systems out there. I like all those better than traditional battlemaps. My understanding is that the company that produced the interlocking dry erase tiles (Tact-tiles) has not produced any in a while, because they are not able to get supplies of the dry erase material that they were using for the price that they were getting it for. If anyone knows of another company producing something similar, please let me know, as I would love to get something like that. GH
Genghis Cohen 06-27-07, 12:34 PM	My current favorite are the Flipmats from SteelSqwire because of their portability. I've seen a few people buy large (2'x3'?) pads of 1" square graph paper and use that. No cleaning, but not eco-friendly.
kenobi65 06-27-07, 01:57 PM	My current favorite are the Flipmats from SteelSqwire because of their portability. I've been fairly impressed with the Flipmats that I've seen others use, though one thing I find helps a lot with those is to, when you take it out to use, "reverse" the folds (i.e., fold each crease the opposite way from how it was just folded up), in order to flatten the mat out more when you lay it out on the table. Me, I'm old-school, and adore Chessex mats, but I concede the point on ease of storage and portability (though I store my Chessex mats in cardboard mailing tubes, which helps with the portability).
_metz_ 06-27-07, 02:02 PM	My current favorite are the Flipmats from SteelSqwire because of their portability. I've seen a few people buy large (2'x3'?) pads of 1" square graph paper and use that. No cleaning, but not eco-friendly. I have a laminator and A3 Printer. I just print the grid onto the A3 sheets and laminate them costs next to nothing, and easy to port around. Use water based markers (I have some good ones) and easy to clean. I have even started to draw maps (Yay adobe illustrator) and print them. though atm am at uni and not near the printer... (Its at home).
Jay_Ibero_911 06-27-07, 03:57 PM	Well thanks for all the input guys. Time to shop around, hehe.
Mithreinmaethor 06-27-07, 07:21 PM	The local stores here in my town have said that hey are unable to order the battle mats from chessix anymore. something about redoing their product line. I ordered a flip mat from paizo on the 16th. It just shipped today. So dont go that route if you are in a hurry
kenobi65 06-27-07, 09:27 PM	The local stores here in my town have said that hey are unable to order the battle mats from chessix anymore. something about redoing their product line. That's kind of surprising, considering that Chessex still has them on their own web page, and I think they've been a good seller for Chessex for years. Given that, I'd take what your stores are saying with a grain of salt; I've so often heard people say, "my game store told me X", when X had no basis in reality, or was a big misinterpretation of reality. Then again, Chessex has had issues in the past with vinyl supplies; when 3E came out, and suddenly everyone and his brother wanted a battlemat, they were out of stock for months, because Chessex's old vinyl supplier couldn't supply them any longer.