Mat Wars: GameMat Rising to the Top

by TastyTaste | Oct 22, 2018

It has been over three years since I did a review comparison of Gamemat.eu mats vs. FLG (at the time F.A.T) mats by Frontline Gaming in that review Gamemat was the new kid on the block, especially for the North America market. In the review both company mats came out as mostly equals. Though in the years since that review, things have changed, with Frontline moving to a mass production model with tons of choice and custom options, Gamemat on the other hand has kept it simple with a lot fewer mats, but in my opinion a higher quality. This means if you live in North America you will be paying a slightly more than a great Frontline mat, but if you have few bucks I highly recommend Gamemat mats as an alternative.

Gamemat also provides no hassle prize support (same as Frontline) for small leagues and tournaments, which I have run over the years, by sending mats half-way across the world. What makes the current line of Gamemat mats so great is the vibrant colors. In the past, I have preferred the more muted tons, but when placed together with the backdrop of great terrain and painted models, they really stand out.

For the recent league I ran, I used them in a few games to review; with Gamemat sending, the new Imperial Base and Fallout zone double-sided mat.

The images on the website don’t do the mat justice, here is a comparison…

As you can see the website image doesn’t totally color match what you end up getting and that was the only problem I foudn with mats I have ever gotten from Gamemat. The game pic was taken with a Iphone 6 and even on that you can see the texture and colors pop nicely, here is a close up with some nicely painted Nercons to give you an idea how the mat adds a bit to the action.

Now I know this might sound trite hype, but when I took the mat to watch a league match, a few random people at the shop come up to asked where the mat came from. I was kinda taken aback and found it oddly funny that random people would comment on how the great the mat looked when I was going reviewing the product.

Since this was a double sided mat, here is also what the other side looked like…

Now the double-side won’t be for everyone, because they are quite a bit more than a standard mat, but having the flexibility of different types of backgrounds is quite cool!

The other mat Gamemat sent for the league was the Quarantine zone mat. The best way to describe this mat is to stay “high def” the textures and colors really pop even with a mostly grey-blue pallet.

Here is one with terrain.

Once again though this mat is really awesome once you get tons of models on it.

Once again the Gamemat website shows a mat much more muted than it really is. This means Gamemat mats tend to sacrifice a bit of realism for great looks, but the lack of realism doesn’t take the place of detail and that is really what I love most about these mats. If you look at the Gamemat website you will find all the standard mat styles you see elsewhere, but you get the twists, like my other personal favorites.

Kingdom of Heaven Mat

and the crazy amazing looking…

Deathworld Forge Mat

All in all Gamemat has moved to the top of my list of mats to buy, so if you are willing to spend slightly more money, you will get a mat you will really enjoy and if you live in North American something not everyone has, when compared to the Frontline dominated market.

As well if you want to see other reviews of Gamemat mats check out the links below.

https://spikeybits.com/2017/09/top-5-new-tabletop-game-mats-video-review.html