Zuzzy Miniatures Flagston Paven

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SW-FG-001.painted[1]By Paco Garcia Jaen

Not too long ago I reviewed a Zuzzy’s Battle Mat and I couldn’t help but to be delighted with the product.

This time the talented people from Zuzzy Miniatures have been kind enough to send me a 11 x 14 inch mat from the latest range of terrain, the Stonework range, called the Flagston Paven.

For those of you who didn’t get to read my first review, this battle mat is made of very flexible natural rubber latex with an extremely detailed sculpted terrain on them. The mat, although between one and two millimetres in thickness, is very sturdy and, unless you truly try, it will not tear. Ever.

Even if you try it will take a lot of effort and you’ll be wasting a good product. So don’t do it.

Acrylic paint sticks to it like a dream and, with a bit of practise, one can paint gorgeous textures over the mat that will stay put for years. If the paint is applied thinly enough, it will go into every small detail. Roll your mat time and again, and time and again the texture will stay there without cracking and without flaking. Magic!

SW-FG-001.display.front[1]My admiration for James Hubbs, Senior Creative Partner at Zuzzy Miniatures, keeps growing. I truly have no idea what sort of state of mind one goes to sculpt this sort of material, but it cannot possibly be an easy task.

Allow me to me elaborate. This particular mat has stone tiles. Each tile is square and approximately 1 inch wide. Each square is covered in sculpted stones. There are enough different sculpted tiles for patterns to be avoided. Yes, some tiles are repeated, but they’re rotated and placed so cleverly and you will struggle to find them. That means that even if you get the big mat, that we’re talking a fantastic 4x6ft in size, the terrain will remain consistent but without becoming repetitive.

Now I really have no idea how one can achieve that when working by hand. It is difficult enough to achieve that effect with a computer, to do it in “real life” is nothing less than remarkable and testament to the talent behind the product.

I do have a bugbear, though. The size of the sculpted stones and the line of separation between tiles are a bit too big and they throw the proportions away. Let’s put it this way, if you expanded the size of this mat to real life proportions, you’d be standing on massive rocks, and the tiles would have a big gap between them.

SW-FG-001.display.rear[1]Having said that, tracking movement on this mat will be extremely easy. You will be a lot less likely to need a measuring tape, helping speed up the gaming experience quite considerably.

Once more, you can’t go wrong with this product. Great quality material, great sculpting, great price and made in the U.S.A. Again it would be ever so easy for Zuzzy Miniatures to find a place in another country where the costs would be a lot lower. Yet they choose to support their local economy and produce things locally. Kudos for that!

If you are outside the U.S.A, you still have no excuse not to get this mats. They’re very light and won’t demand horrendous postage costs. Also they will last for so long that you could almost consider this an investment rather than an ornament.

You really don’t need to think of excuses to buy this mat. It is well worth it in every way!

 

One Response

  1. Sir_Lunchalot says:

    Actually if you want to purchase one the international shipping can be pricey – your 11×14 mat might be light, but my 6 foot by 4 foot mat was not. The postage (only going to Canada!) was around 1/3 the cost of the mat.

    That said I still think Zuzzy mats are amazing. my club has some that have been used regularly for 3 years and they’re still in good condition.

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