I'm wondering if anyone has getten the mats yet and what they think about them.  How close are they to being like a mouse pad?  How thick are they?

They are exactly like a mouse pad, the thin kind.  I used that rubber matting you get in the department store, in with the shelf liner rolls, to help keep my felt from moving about. So I kinda like having them with the rubber backing built in.  No board warping to worry about either.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the "two" halves thing there, but I kinda like that too now that I've seen them. If you have a large enough area, you could always move one of the halves over if the dogfight were going off one side of the playing area. Also, you have the option to configuer the two halves together either side by side for a more squarish playing area, or end to end for an elongated playing area.  Hell, I may even get a third one of these!

I've got to say, the game now feels more like a complete game with these colorful playing mats. Felt was better than a table top, but these put plain ole' felt out to pasture. I love the colors, and the WWI planes just look spectacular on these mats. 

The logos...

I can't imagine why Nexus would not put a Wings of  War logo on their Wings of War game mats!  

When I went in to my FLAGS to pick mine up, I asked the owner if he had seen the mats yet. He said he hadn't, and I asked him if he wanted to take a look at mine before I left. He said sure, and so we opened them up. The first words out of his mouth were, "Oh, the logos aren't bad. I was hearing that the logos were huge. Those are about what I would expect."

I can't think of one game off the top of my head that doesn't have the name of the game on the gameboard somewhere.  I guess they could have just put one logo per mat instead of two, but IMO, who cares? It's the game logo, big deal. I could see the $39.99 price tag keeping people from buying them, but a logo? Maybe the whole "Logo-Gate Affair" thing is just a knee jerk reaction to the rather hefty price tag of each mat? I dunno. But it makes no sense to me at all.  If you just can't bear to look at them, put your maneuver deck over them or something. The logos aren't outlined in black and are just plain white script, so I guess if they drove you that crazy, you could just fill them in with a sharpie.

Fortunately for me, my FLAGS gave me a 10% discount on the mats. But even at that, the $39.99 each,  price tag made me wince, not the logos. Those things are a tad pricey for a poor white boy like myself!   But considering some of the mouse pads, which are of the exact same quality, that I have bought and or seen with things like team logos and such on them, these are OK for a one time spend. I recently saw an Ohio State University Logo'd mouse pad selling for $29.99!!! That thing was just a fraction of the size of these mats!

My big issue with them aside from the price, is to now find a carrying case for them. Thay are rolled, so something along the lines of a map tube case may be in order. I'm not sure the boxes they come in are going to hold up very long, but they may for a while. I might be off to the Army surplus store here real soon.

I've had my share of wargames with the paper maps, and I just don't care for them myself. I always like a more durable, longer lasting playing surface, and I think these fit that bill. No seams to tear or rip and no warping to worry about. After the bitter pill of the price was over,  I was pretty happy with them. Like I said, I can very easily see myself getting a third one down the road for those really big games.

Thanks for the feed back on them.  I have a very nice credit at my local game store and was thinking about spending part of it on the mats.  When you say as thick as a thin mouse pad, how thin are you talkiking, 1/4 inch, 1/8 inch, 1/16 inch??

Just heading off to work here, but after a quick check, it looks to me like the rubber backing is 1/16, then you have the fabric adheared to that. So it looks to me like the whole thing is more like 3/32nds.

Funny thing, but I have some 1/8 thick Ohio State University drink coasters (I know, again with the Ohio State stuff. What can I say, I'm a bit of a "homer".  While I'm on the subject, the Reds are playing good baseball; good pitching anyway up to now...) made the same way, and after having had them for quite some time now, they are actually warping!

IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT SET COLD BEERS ON THE EXPENSIVE WINGS OF WAR MATS!

Oh, so these are pretty thin then   Are they pretty soft feeling like a normal mouse pad? Sorry for all the questions, but my local store will most likely not order any of these unless I special order them... so I doubt I'll ever see any before I decide to buy.
 

HMS Hajj said:

No problem on the questions, for $39.99 apiece, I can certainly understand wanting to find out what you're looking at before buying.  This Sunday I'm off work, and I'll post some pictures up on here.

Well, 1/16 + fabric does sound like it's tisue paper thin when you read it, I must say!   But they are fine as far as thickness goes, and yes, as you mention, they do feel very  "soft ". They also feel very durable.  Like I said, the price was a bit of a pill to get past, but after that, I feel as if I've invested in something that not only enhances play of this game greatly, but will last and last. There may be less expensive alternatives out there, but these mats are certainly something this game has been lacking.

kaufschtick said:

RELATED IMPORTANT NOTE: DO *NOT* TRY TO USE A HOT POCKET AS A SUBSTITUTE OBSERVATION BALLOON ON THE MAT....

:)

Thanks for the continued replies and photos would be great... maybe with a plane base next to it for reference would be even better. I talked to my local store owner last night when he came over and he confirmed that he would only special order the mats. Even at whole sale price, they are a big investment for him to just have sitting on the shelf.
 

csadn said:

LOL!!!

HMS Hajj said:

I can certainly understand that, the concern about the price, I mean. With any luck, I'll get a game going with one or both of my sons tomorrow, so I'll get some pictures of the mats with the planes on them then. I can't really convey enough here how much of a difference the mats make in the "look" of the game, at least from my point of view anyway.

But at $39.99 each...I can also see this as a stumbling block. That is probably one reason why they broke the whole mat into an east and west part, as one mat for $79.98 would most likely have a very difficult time selling. At least at $39.99, one could conceiveably buy just one of the mats to give it a look see. If you were really unhappy with it, I'm sure you could at least recoup a portion of your money reselling the mat (E-Bay & such?). That would be at least better than plunking down $79.98 and being in the same boat.

And like I've stated before, I can see myself grabbing a third one down the road somewhere, I have a friend who has a couple "bingo hall" tables in his gaming room that could accomodate the space. But seeing as I'm not independantly wealthy here, I'll be directing my "wargaming budget dollars" toward a couple other items on the radar first!

I have no doubt that they add to the look and feel of the game, it's one of the things that is making me want them.  We play on 4x6 tables, so it would take both to cover it (with a few inches hanging over  ).

They are beautiful!  I picked bought them both yesterday.  I may not get a chance to play soon, but if I do, I will put up pictures.  I agree with what kaufschtick said about the logos, thickness, and softness.  In my opinion, the logos are not a big deal in comparison to how big the mats are.  I volunteer at a camp in the summer, and I have gotten many young people into boardgames.  I'm sure that these mats will entice more of them to play Wings of War.

kaufschtick said:

Originally, I wrote that as a joke... then I thought about some of the gamers I've known.... :)

I'm also imagining how my Feral-Born male cat will deal with one, given his tendency to hop onto the table while we're playing (since *that's* where the Human Attention is, that *must* be where the cat should be): {LEAP} {SLIDE} {*THUD*} ....

How are the mats at keeping the cards (either aircraft or maneouver) from sliding around?  We have had problems with both, espcially when they all start overlapping during a close dogfight.

Thanks

Robin

 Well, here's some quickie pics of the new mat. The cards move about on the mat just about the same way they do on the table top or felt IMO.  We've always held the cards in place by applying pressure with a finger on one end of any given card in question, and then inserting or removing any overlapping card from the other end when we need to move them. Never had any real issues with "card slipage" , as far as them sliding around or being moved unintentionally, myself. 

I kinda like the Battle of Britian look with this mat too.

One of my favorite scenarios to set up is the good ole' "Flying Tigers" type scenario!

A good ole' piece piece of cloth is still good for other looks. Blue for naval dogfights, tan for desert, and light blue for the high altitude stuff, like B-17 raids and such. My kitchen table top is 52.5 inches by 52.5 inches, and I loose a little over a foot on the backside with the mats, but they sure do look sharp.  

It'll be interesting to see if they give any thought to releasing mats like these for the WWII version of the game, although these seem to work just fine.

kaufschtick said:

Um, may I make a request: Get a Photobucket account, or similar, and just post links of the pics, please? Having to scroll through 10' of pictures every time I read a thread is, to put it politely, Inconvenient. Thanks.