I purchased this battle mat in February of '11, and it took almost 2 months to get ordered and shipped. Unhappy with the long wait, I still gave it a shot and am now absolutely sold that it was more than worth it.
I have several older Chessex style wet erase battlemats, 2 of the Paizo flip-mats, and 2 pads of gaming paper equivalents and this out performs them by far. It out performs the wet erase battlemat by allowing full usage of every conceivable dry-erase color with no perceivable staining, even when colors such as blue and red (notorious for staining other dry-erase style mats) are left on between weekly sessions. I have yet to have an issue removing the marks during the next session beyond using a little more elbow grease. The flip-mats are great for travel, but their staining is standard for certain colors (again, blue and red notably) as well as a water-absorption issue should something get spilled on the game table, or even the condensation that appears on your 64oz Mountain Dew. The draw-as-you-go style dungeon mapping is great for this easily erased battlemat, leaving me free to only use the limited resource gaming paper for truly special encounters where more artistic care is wanted.
All this, and it’s magnetic too? Tired of the miniatures getting accidently moved when the table is bumped or a PC is trying to move his character? Grab some magnetic plastic from a craft store and glue a square to the bottom of your mini’s. Don’t have a table large enough? Mount the battlemat on a wall and use magnetic tokens instead of plastic (or painted) mini’s. The manufacturer claims you can use wet-erase, dry-erase or even permanent markers and still have it easily come off. I’ve tried all 3, and while the wet and dry erase marks do come off easily, permanent marker lines take some more work and usually need a dry erase marker to help remove. I like knowing that should a permanent marker accidently be used (and we’ve all had that happen at one time or another) it won’t ruin the mat, however I wouldn’t suggest tempting fate with continual Sharpie use.
Bottom line, if you’re looking for a new battlemat, wanting an upgrade, or just wanting to find a better dry-erase mat, this one stands up to the needs and lives up to its promises.
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