Battle Mats: Chessex vs. Roll4Initiative

KanedaX321
edited November 2010 in General Discussion
I've only been in the D&D world for about a year now as a PC, and am now starting my first campaign as a DM. Because I'm so new, I still don't have very much of the gear needed.

Right now I'm comparing erasable battle grids. Chessex seems to be the standard, but eBay also has a listing for a grid from a website called roll4initiative.

Has anyone ever made any comparisons between the two styles of mats? Chessex is a vinyl grid, while roll4initiative is laminated. Is one better or worse than the other? I picture a laminated grid as stiff, difficult to roll up for storage and even more difficult to flatten out again later, but I might be off the mark on that. It is more cost-efficient, especially as part of r4i's "gamer's kit", but I also know Chessex is the tried and true model, since it's the mat my DM uses in my current campaign.

Opinions?

Comments

  • EverRaven
    EverRaven
    Posts: 6
    I'll give you my experience with the Chessex mats - but, take it with a grain of salt. I'm sure others will see it differently...

    For me? It was horrible. Leave the marker on longer than a few hours? Welcome to hours of trying to clean it... Use red? Stains. And woe be to you if you use the wrong type of marker - permanent.

    I've used a few other products that also required the "wet" markers like the Chessex mats. All have the same issue. Especially the "if you don't clean it quick, it stains" problem. Usually I'd get three games in before someone would use the wrong marker or something else happened to ruin the thing.

    Early this year, a player bought me as a "DM Gift" the "FlipMat" sold by GameMastery (you can find it easy on Pazio). It is the laminated style, instead of vinyl. Yes, it folds - but frankly, I've left things on it for days and had no issues. Dry erase markers, easy to clean. And as a joke, we left a doodle on the edge for a month - it wiped right off with one swipe of a paper towel.


    Personally? I love the laminated maps - and they are cheaper. But, hey, tis a personal thing ;)
  • JonathonVolkmer
    JonathonVolkmer
    Posts: 114
    I don't know if they still include these, but my old 3.5 DMG came with a large folding paper battlemat included. It's probably around 2' by 3' or so - I'm at work, so I can't dig it out to check - but it's easily big enough to have even the most epic of our battles on with room to spare. The only problem, of course, was that it's hard to erase marker from paper. Also, paper is flimsy and tears easily. So one of my players took it to OfficeMax, ran a copy, and had the copy laminated. It's not fancy, and it doesn't fold up, but it cost less than $5.

    2 cents,
    JTV
  • Alatheon
    Alatheon
    Posts: 35
    I've never really had a problem with Chessex and wet erase markers -even after leaving a map drawn on it almost a month between sessions. They say you can use dry erase markers on it, but they can be kind of a pain to clean off.
    Most office supply stores offer a wet erase cleaner (it's probably just water with a little soap in it), and that works like a dream; but water in a spray bottle gets the job done admirably.
    As far as cost is concerned, if you can get a Chessex "irregular" print, it cuts the cost in half. They only sell them at cons (and some games stores will stock up on them there to resell). What constitutes an irregular print? On mine the only difference is that the mat has half inch squares around the edge instead of full squares. I've seen a few that have small blemishes on one side (pretty minor discolorations), but since the mats are 2-sided, I wouldn't call that much of a problem.
    I've never used the GameMastery maps, but I don't like trying to balance models on creases on a map. There are some cool designs on those though.
  • Yoshara
    Yoshara
    Posts: 48
    I use a Chessex battle-map and find it does it I need it to do. I don't have any issues with staining as long as I clean the map after game session, if its left on their for more than 1-2 weeks, thats when it stains (learned that one the hard way). Of course I haven't tried soap and water to get it off, will do so tonight!
  • pharoah4187
    Posts: 2
    I use a paper-grid with those clear overhead sheets. I have one sheet which is essentially four pages taped together and then I can easily add to it if it's necessary to go bigger. I can add layers so that I don't have to keep erasing/adding/etc as changes are made to the environment (things get destroyed/summoned/disappear/whatever) in the middle of the game session which can get confusing. I can make hasty marks on a separate sheet I use for keeping track of the various modifiers/hp/initiative/etc that I don't want the players to be privy to. Since they are taped together sheets, they fold easily with minimal fuss to get it flat again (or you can just peel the tape off). It might be a little more expensive than just laminating a paper grid, since you are forced to buy more overhead sheets than you need... but the flexibility is worth it and it's less expensive than the Chessex maps.
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