I agree on side with water the other without. But just unbroken sand? Thats called a piece of tan paper. I won't lay out 12 bucks for tan graph paper ever. The features are a nice way of adding some interest to an encounter.

...but there wasn't this much water!

I have to question the logic of including water on both sides of a desert flip mat. One side? Absolutely. People (and critters) are drawn to water. But the flip side should have been unbroken desert. (***--)

What is wrong in having a side dedicated to unrelenting scorching sand like a desert should be? With this the Dungeon Master is lumbered with rocks, shrubs and even an oasis. "Oh, um... Ignore the oasis it's just a mirage!" Features that are inescapable on both sides. And then you've got a sphinx, but not a whole sphinx just half a sphinx. This would've been better with one side as plain sand and the other an oasis encounter with a pool of water surrounded by palm trees and some ruins. Or the flip side being a tented caravan maybe.

Love this flip-mat. have used it several times, including PFS scenarios set in Qadira and Osirion. Used the Sphinx as a statue to Irori, just a little imagination and this map works well for almost any desert terrain you need.

The only negative I have is the same mentioned in another review, one side should be straight desert dunes and scrub, no oasis. Still a great map, beautifully drawn.

This is a really fun mat to use for tactical gaming. The vegetation and rocks are just sparse enough that they are really fun tactically.

I tend to use this mat for much more than just desert encounters because it's the only mat that has the sort of low density scrubby feel this one has. It works fine for any terrain that doesn't have a lot of vegetation on it. As a big bonus the back side is just as usable as the front.

With the exception of the "Dungeon" flipmat that was released several years ago when the line was still owned by Steel Squire, I have (or soon will have) every flipmat that has been released thus far. Overall, "Desert" is quite possibly the most visually impressive flipmat Paizo has produced. The one side, with the sphinx, jackal-headed statues and oasis is beautiful and atmospheric, perfect if you have those elements in your desert adventure. So why only three stars? I think the map is somewhat limited in its utility. If you are hoping for a flipmat that primarily provides a generic "endless sand, dune and scrub" backdrop, then this mat doesn't deliver. Both sides of the map feature an oasis (and, of course, not all desert adventures will lead to a sphinx). I would have preferred something more generic (on which I could have drawn an oasis, if necessary). YMMV...