I have collected a number of Cigar Box Battles battle mats the last few years. I really like fleece as a mat material, as it allows hills and rolling terrain to be placed under the mat, so no issues with blending such features on the table or having eye sores. They are also very light weight and easy to store, as they fold up into small stackable packages. This makes them ideal for transportable terrain.
Cigar Box recently released a new Fight in the Skies mat. I did not need another areal combat mat (I already have their Flying High mat. However, it looked like it would be perfect for small scale gaming! I have a couple of their Just Fields mats, but these are really only useful for 25mm or larger gaming. The vegetation detail to just to big for smaller scales. I thought it might just fill the bill. It was covered with fields and just had paths around field areas.
I ordered the mat and it arrived in a few days. When I checked it out, I realized there was a problem…. There were also some thin roads on two of the corners, that I did not see when I placed the order online. This in itself was not a big issue. The problem was that they were done in gray and gave a more modern look…. Disaster! I thought about returning it, but figured I could paint them out myself!
So, I laid the mat out on my driveway, grabbed a brush and some Woodland Scenics Earth terrain paint. I worked over all the road sections and painted them out. I thought it needed something else, when I finished, so I grabbed a medium brown paint pen from Army Painter. I hit the areas that I missed with the early painting and soften some of the other areas to give a two shade effect. I let is dry in the sun and laid it out in my garage overnight to fully dry. I packed it up the next day.
With that, I solved the problem and have a new game mat that I hope to use in my next game! If the gray does not bother you, you can consider the mat for small scale gaming (e.g. micro armor, epic Black Powder, BBB, Warmaster, etc.). If you do not like the gray, grab some paint and paint it out!
Jorg….