Mad Mats: Furry Load

In race to get things together for this game, the pace has definitely picked up.  Turns out those months I had to leisurely assemble a little skirmish game have somehow disappeared.  What hasn't been winnowed down as quickly is my shopping/to-do list.

Every few weeks, another package arrives and each time I open it and smack my head as I remember something else that should have been bundled into the order or ask myself why I felt the need to add some really pricey 1/600 Phoenician galleys onto the order and maybe one of those new packs of Bavarian infantry.

What do you mean there's no dignity to be had in here?

What's also a given is that my little helper will find her way into the order as well.  If the great sagas were written in blood and iron, mine is written in cat fur.  Long, black cat fur.

The latest was no exception.  My Hobbylinc order showed up with some more Squadron green putty as the last tube bizarrely went dry after a few months, some model railroad O scale cabbages, Woodland Scenics acrylic water, and a big green Woodland Scenics mat.

The mat was the highlight of the order.  All the other stuff could have stayed in the warehouse, but that mat was the essential element.

As I've said before, I try to put a hard limit at $80/month on my gaming madness and usually keep it far under that level.  That sort of limit keeps me from piling up stuff faster than I can paint and assemble it and staves off the worst impulses when browsing new releases on Board Game Geek or The Miniatures page.  I can be really impulsive.

So back to cats and mats.

A decent mat seemed like a literal good basis for a game.  I also really wanted some more trees.  Maybe some animals for the pens I had yet to construct.  Some Renedra fencing for those pens.  Some Renedra barrels and sandbags to paint up as grain sacks.  Oh, and maybe some of those nice Woodland Scenics plants to make the fields look lush.  And doesn't every village need a good church?  From either Grand Manner or Curtey's that'd run a fair bit, but how could my village remain so impious?  Can't have that church without some clergy, so add them to the list.  It goes on and on.

There was now so much on that list, and I still hadn't decided on a mat yet.  Deep Cut Studios makes beautiful mats for around $70US that would fit the bill.  I had already IDed a mat by Cigar Box Battle Store for my Hellenic galley project, so one of their other mats would fit the bill.  The Mat O War offerings looked really nice as well.  I had plenty of options.  I also knew that whatever I ordered, it would pretty much take up the month's gaming budget.  That meant no more trees.  No cabbage patch, and no pig pen.  Just the mats, ma'am.

One night, after work and unwinding with a few tall glasses of water, I was assembling my latest order.  No Phoenecian galleys and no Napoleonic infrantry.  Just the essentials.  Yup.  I had resolved that this order would be my April expense and then I'd buy the mat in May.  It made sense.  The mat wouldn't require work, whereas the gubbins I was buying now would all require assembly and with time running down, I'd have to prioritize my projects.

As I was browsing Hobbylinc, I found a section of grass mats.  Really cheap grass mats.  It was like the I was suddenly told that, in fact, I could have my cake and eat it too.  I could place an order for some extras for that river project I hadn't started and still get the mat, all while keeping the order cost low.  There was one Bachmann 50"x100" mat for just under $20US.  How could I go wrong?

Well, I could first go wrong by ordering a smaller mat.  I had ordered the smaller Woodland Scenics mat that was 50"x33"  Why would I do that when the game size is 36"x36" or 48"x36"?  Three inches isn't much, but why?

Another way I could go wrong was by not just ordering a quality cloth mat, instead getting a cut-rate sheet of craft paper covered in green flock.  Unrolling that thing out onto my dining room table tonight, I realized that I had seriously erred.  The crinkly thing shed green dust everywhere.  It will have to do for now.

As far as the cat?  She loved laying on it.  She shed on it and it shed back.  I'm sure that for years I will be finding green flock mixed with black fur on my gaming materials and furniture.  SAGA, memories to last a lifetime.