Hexmats for wargaming
I have taken the time to cruise around a bit and find as many wargame
hexmats that are suitable for miniature airplane wargaming as I could find, and
will eventually do a review on each of these hexmats for wargames. If you are looking for airplane hexmats to use for airplane wargaming, what I focus on here
is hexmats that will accomodate at least 2-3 aircraft stands in a hex at a time. This typically means that these are going to be at least
3 inch hexmats (measured from one hexside across the hex itself to the opposite hexside).
AireMats by Aerie Games : $47.50-$100.00
The AireMats that warbirdsinminiature.com puts out are absolutely beautiful, and well worth the price. They come in two sizes: large and small with the large being 4.5 x 9 feet and the small at 4.5 x 5 feet.
Each 3.5 inch hex is painted on the mats and are clearly defined with a nice hex-pattern design. The nice thing about the AireMat is that you have enough room to really maneuver the aircraft.
For years I played on my Battle Masters mats,
but after playing on three different colors of the AireMats I decided that they are a must have. Now I am waiting for mine to come in the mail (I can't wait).
I have even heard rumors that they will custom make hex mats for you (I am thinking Space Battles here! or a battle on the planet H*th against the dreaded Emp*re and those nasty walker-things)
Without exception these are the nicest mats I have ever played on. They are not thick felt, so you get a steady base of table on which to set your figs (ie - the figs don't rock back and forth, VERY important for an aircraft game). The hexes are big
enough to fit 3-4 aircraft at a time. Sometimes you can see a seam on the large size mats/crease where they are folded but it really is a minor issue, and I have yet to see any hexmat successfully deal with this issue. I have also found that if you fold
a felt hexmat, the crease will stay in the fabric for a long time, but with these AireMats, the creases are not that prominent.
The ocean mats are absolutely beautiful, and they have just released an awesome pattern for Ground Green.
I have to give these hexmats a 5! They are amazing. Read the reviews of the rest of the Aerie Game company's products on our
Warbirds in Miniature review page. These
are some of the best hex mats for wargames that I have seen yet. You can get these
hexmats at the warbirds online store.
HotzMatz by HotzMats.com : $31.99-$79.99
Georgeous felt hexmats Review to come, once we have contacted Eric Hotz.
These hex mats come in 5 different colors: Sea Blue, Earth Green, Desert Brown, European Fields, and Deep Space. There are two different sizes: 6x4 and 6x8, and can be printed with
either 3 inch hexes or 5 inch hexes. They can also be obtained without any hexes at all.
That is all I will say until we have permission from Eric....
Yeah right! These are great mats!!! The European Fields mat is an awesome addition to your collection, clearly the gem in this series, and most likely one of the best hex-mats for wargames I have ever seen. The other mats are well made, and excellently
put together. They are
felt hexmats, so they are going to have a tendency to crease, but that is okay, as, they will ship them rolled for you if you request it (for those living in the US that is).
My favorite one out of the bunch is the Deep Space mat. Boy is it nice. Out of scope for our site, but excellent. You can get these
hex mats at
Eric Hotz online store.
A note from Eric Hotz: Just visited your www.hexmats.com. I noticed that you only list us
as producing 3 and 5 inch hexes. We now produce 1.5, 2, 3, 4 and 5
inch hexes as well as 2 inch squares. More sizes are in the works
including four new mat designs.
2" Hexed Game Mats
by Monday Knight Productions : $20.95-$49.50
These felt hexmats are nice in quality, have a good size to them, and the decorations/design (sky, space, etc.) are nice.
The selection that is available comes in either a 4'x6' or a 3'x3' felt hex mat. There are 5 different mat designs: Green, Sea, Sky, Desert, and Space.
The Sky and SPace mats are decorated nicely with a cloud and nebulae respectively, and are nice to look at.
I found the hexes to be too small to play more than one aircraft per hex if you are playing anything above 1:1200 scale. If you are going to play a single-aircraft per hex
game, then these would work I suppose, but for 1:300 scale gaming or greater, they just will not work very well.
The inking for the hexes (a series of paint dots in the shape of a hex) has a tendency to wear off fairly quickly when compared to the AireMat or the HotzMat listed above. Don't worry too much about
it though, they clearly mark a hex side, and even if there is a little wear, you can tell where the hexside is easily enough.
These are also
felt hex mats, so they are going to have a tendency to crease, and right out of the packaging, the felt was bulging a little on the table. After a while,
though, you can get them molded into a good table form, and the best way to store them long term is on a hanging-rack, or rolled, so they won't crease.
My favorite pattern that they have is the Sky pattern, it has a nice cloud. I was a bit taken aback by it in the store, as I thought that the hexmat had been discolored or damaged,
but it was actually the design of the cloud I was seeing, but I could not tell until I had the thing opened up.
Monday Knight Games also has a smaller hex scale availabe on their website, but those are right out for miniature airplane wargaming.
One last thing I should note is that you CAN purchase the mat without the hexes on them.
These mats are good, but even the largest they have, the 2" mat, still does not have enough room for my tastes. A Good 4 rating.
2" Rerversible Vinyl Mats by Chessex : $19.98-$99.99
These plain, vinyl mats are certainly durable. The fact that they are reversible, and you can write on them with markers is another positive. On one side, they have hexes, with squares on the reverse side.
So, they will work for Dawn Patrol without any problems.
They have a decent selection for sizes (Battlemat:26"x23.5"(66cmx60cm), Megamat=34.5"x48"(88cmx122cm), and the Mondomat=54"x102"(137cmx259cm)) and colors (Blue, Black and Tan)
Just as with the MKP felt mats (see above), I found the hexes on these mats to be too small to play more than one aircraft per hex if you are playing anything above 1:1200 scale. If you are going to play a single-aircraft per hex
game, then these would work I suppose, but for 1:300 scale gaming or greater, they just will not work very well.
You do not have to worry about the ink on these hexes wearing at all, as the mats are do durable, you can write on them an clean them using dry-erase markers.
These puppies, you do not want to develop a crease in, you will never get it out, so will want to make sure that you store them either rolled 9they come that way),
or flat, never folded.
I can't say that I have a favorite mat, but I tend towards the Blue, as that is the most playable for miniature airplane wargames.
These mats are okay, durable, but the hexes are just too small for a good scrape. A solid 3.5 rating.
4.5' Square Vinyl Mat by Milton Bradley : $OOP
These mats are great for using with miniature-airplanes. I had actually been using my own mat for several years, before I stumbled on the website for
Blue Max maintained by Phil Hall
that has a lot of good pics of this mat in action.
The mat is 4.5' square and has (at least) 5 inch hexes (from hexside across the hex itself to the opposite hexside). The mats are colorful, lightweight, and even a crease will not bother you too much. The biggest problem with using these mats
is that you have to trade for them or buy whole/partial/used sets of the Battle Masters game. Luckily I snagged a couple copies early on, and have one still surviving mat that I can use on quick notice.
We used these mats successfully in a World War I campaign, and were able to use some of the printed road network for the trenches. They worked out just fine and are spacious enough that you can fit 5-6 figs in each hex with no worries.
I checked the Hasbor website, as sometimes you can order parts for their old games, but these are not available.
These mats are just fine: portable and durable, you DO need to find two of them if you want a larger table though (good luck!). A 4 rating.
Johann