Static Grass Mat – Review

Following on from my recent review of the Glassland ‘Teddy Bear Fur’ Mat I now bring you a look at the second mat I got with that shipment.  This time its the 5×7 Static Grass Mat from The Wargaming Company.

Like its fur counterpart this mat comes a little larger than the standard 6 x 4 allowing you to place hills underneath it to create relief.  The thick nature of the mat means that to will contour well even around step hills, thus allowing you to make steep and shallow rises and depressions.

The material of the mat is cotton and is thicker than your average mat, however it sits well on your table and doesn’t show fold lines from storage. It also doesn’t move when placed down.  What I have found in play is that the mat is a little spongy which can mean that aircraft on their taller stands can be a little unstable, so best to ensure you have them well magnetized.

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The obvious key feature of the mat is the 3D static grass on it.  It really does bring the ground to life looking far more natural than its 2D cousins.  The grass is different lengths and has patches of dirt which are also textured.  It really does look impressive and pictures can only do so much justice.  I was a bit concerned that the mat would leave bits of static grass all over the place and risk going bald over time, however, while I don’t know how they do it, the grass even when rubbed or shaken doesn’t come off at all.  It seems very durable.

Gameplay wise, I would avoid rolling dice on it.  It just isn’t flat enough and the dice get caught in the grass and end up cocked.  Keep a dice box or tray handy and you wont have any problems.  I have found that roads can be a little awkward to place down if you want to be exact with them lining up.  The thick nature of the mat and the different heights of the grass can lead to them the road pieces not joining up as exactly as on a flat board, however that is a little bit scenery OCD coming through!

The pattern of the mat works for most theaters of war but especially well for Europe as you can see for my dutch scenery based Team Yankee game and also my Normandy FOW pictures,

Price wise this mat come in at $75 so 58 GBP meaning like their grassland mat it is very well priced compared to other 2D mats out there.  However shipping is still an issue to the UK with it being a similar cost to the mat itself, so may be more appealing to our North American friends who can get it delivered for less than $20.  

Overall i’ve been really impressed with the mat.  It really helps to bring a battlefield to life doing a great job at replicating a realistic ground cover.  If you can flock our scenery and miniatures to match it would look even more fantastic (something I plan to do with my Bagration Soviets).  If you do fancy picking one up then check it out here.