GHQ: TerrainMaker Gaming Mat (Product Idea)

[Timothy OConnor]

This is inspired by Ritter's comments in another thread. Ritter wrote:

I can tell you without a doubt, that if more people had Terrain maker, I would use hex movement - PERIOD! It is the smoothest method I have found for movement and range...

So, here's the idea for GHQ. Produce a 4' x 6' gaming mat with 4" hexes which is therefore compatible with TerrainMaker. Produced in appropriate/realistic colors (subtle/faded grass green, desert tan, snow white) it would be a match made in heaven! You could probably team up with Hot Matz as a wholesaler for their existing product. The official GHQ / TerrainMaker stamp would go a long ways to making this popular.

I currently play my modern Afraqistan rules/campaign on 4" sqaures but would immediately convert to hexes if GHQ made such a matt readily available.

I would add to the product line very thin 4" hexes made from 3mm plywood or some sort of plastic so that customers could model urban and forest templates in 4" hexes. Maybe you could sell sheets of 4" hexes pre-punched so that gamers could quickly and easily "punch out" an area of connected 4" hexes when designing a town or forest area. Obviously the existing TM hexes could be used to make hills and cliffs.

This could be fairly easy to pull off from a business perspective by teaming up with companies such as Hot Matz (for the mats) and Litko (thin template material.) Essentially you're simply re-branding and wholeselling at that point.

This TM Mat approach would also eliminate a fundamental problem with TM: it's tough to keep all those little hexes together! And it's expensive and time consuming just to acquire/produce enough hexes to cover a typical gaming area (4 x 6 is a standard in gaming). A TM Gaming Mat with 4" hexes would make such a project mush more viable and gamers would have an immediately supply of hex material for hills, etc.

You could also team up with someone to make roads (1.5" wide) and rivers (2-3" wide) in 4" increments (eg 8", 12", etc.) and with junctions to fit hexes (60 / 120 degree turns and junctions.)

Heck, maybe I'll do this myself!

EDIT

SNIP [No webstore links, please!]
Sorry GHQ! Didn't realize I was breaking a rule. Was trying to show what it looked like. Is image below ok? It's from a game club (Tin Soldiers of Antwerp or TSOA) that uses 4" hexes.



Above is an image of a TM-like 4" hex product. But it has the same problem: building the base gaming area is costly. A TM Gaming Mat eliminates this significant barrier to adopting the TM product line.

Tim

[Hobilar]

I use a Hotz Mat with 2" hexes to play Deluxe Advanced Squad leader 3D with my GHQ stuff. It works great. Now I only need to find someone who makes 2" hexes so I can make better hills. I made some hex hills from foamboard, but the measuring was difficult to do by hand, and cutting them out without getting ragged edges was next to impossible for me.

I also made my own 4" hex mat from an old GW mat I had. It works well too, but I prefer the 2" hexes as they fit better with ASL's 1 tank per hex play and I also get more game board on the same size table. I plan on buying some of GHQ's 4" hex materials to make beter terrain for that board someday.

I keep forgetting to take pictures of our sessions, but I'll try to do it sometime to demonstrate. My terrain is not as nice as what I've seen in these threads so far, but it gets the point across.


But for what it's worth, I'd buy a 4" hex mat from GHQ to go with their hexes if I didn't have one already. Heck, knowing me I'd probably buy one anyway.

[Mk 1]

SNIP [No webstore links, please!]
Sorry GHQ! Didn't realize I was breaking a rule. Was trying to show what it looked like. Is image below ok?

Tim:

Perhaps a word or two of explanation is in order.

We have very few rules here on the GHQ Forum. Basically, the rules are don't post links to commercial websites, be reasonably polite, and have fun.

Here are the words our hosts have offered in the sticky thread on how to register for the forum:

Welcome to the world of GHQ. First, thank you for your interest in becoming a registered member of our forum. ...

Because this forum is paid for and maintained by GHQ, we ask that you do not include any website addresses for other companies in your postings. We try to keep a very friendly and informative atmosphere on our forum, so please refrain from using profanity and any name calling. ...

All posts are subject to being edited or deleted by any of our forum moderators. This forum has got a lot of very informed regular users, and offers a wealth of information. It is a fantastic tool for people who are just getting into military gaming and modeling, as well as those who have been active in the hobby for decades. Use it, have fun with it, and be an active member on it!

Thank you for your support,
GHQ

Your posting included a link to another company's web store. It was pretty clear that you did this with no bad intentions, and it was not taken as a big issue. But it was clearly on the wrong side of the line, so it had to be snipped.

The discussion of miniatures wargaming, including the discussion of other companies' products, and the posting of pictures, are welcome and appropriate in your postings. Our hosts encourage discussing all aspects of the hobby. They only ask that we not link to other companies' websites.

Sorry for any inconvenience. Hope this makes matters clear.

-Mk 1 MODERATOR

[hauptgrate]

Modular terrain certainly has its advantages. I scratch-built my setup over 20 years ago using fabric and MDF wood as well as paper foldup buildings, etc. If I were to do it all over, I would use a 11/2" inch hex based system -- there are felt mats available from some company down in Florida -- or just make a pattern using a CAD program and print out what you need on your computer. Start with that as the table base, then put terrain over the top. Hills could be built up out of foam or built in several-hex sections, and so could towns. As Ritter noted, smaller hexes would require very many -- but a modular approach of terrain being built in several-hex sections would help move beyond this problem. Another approach I saw was several years ago when a Warhammer 40K playing friend built up several geomorphic 2'x4' board sections -- reminiscent of the old PanzerBlitz game. IIRC, he had 7 or 8 sections plus extra terrain pieces to place on to the two or three he was using for a particular game. A large but relatively light wooden box held all the sections. I think any idea to make novices get into miniatures is a good one -- and while many can try to paint a tank, terrain might appear to be too daunting for many...

[Extra Crispy]

For those of you using smaller 1.5" hexes a fast and cheap way to pick up hexes is in the HeroScape boxed sets!

[WHM]

I'll secod the idea of a GHQ game mat even though i am invested in their hexes.

I saw a Holtz mat at Historicon and have seen them being utilized on the net and was favorably impressed.

A mat would allow for faster st up and take down of terrain not to mention the always problem of storeage.

[ZMONSTER]

While a mat would be nice, very nice! It seems that GHQ's response in that arena are their Micro Skirmish boards, utilizing their terrain maker product in a similiar fashion.

Now I don't have any connections to GHQ, other than this site and as a customer. This is just my opinion as it concerns business in general.