Activity – Ben – Pirates with Ben

Xerecs replied 7 years, 9 months ago

What you call textured I would call marbled. Textured to me implies that there’s a difference I can feel in the fabric, if I was to run my hands across it.
In terms of which I prefer, I would say darker. A lighter colored ocean to me feels cartoonish or light and comical, which pirates is not. I much prefer the darker tones which feel more real and more like water to me.
That said however, I usually don’t use a ‘play mat’ for quick afternoon games. For campaigns however I go out of my way to use a fabric ocean, often a dark blue bed sheet.
In defense of the plunder pack mat, if it had been ROLLED instead of TIGHTLY FOLDED, it might not have the creasing issue. That’s my only defense of it though, as it is a rather dull color.
- Ben replied 7 years, 9 months ago
  
  @Xerecs: That makes sense, I just call it textured since I don’t know what else to call it.
  Good point about the dark vs. light difference. I agree with you about the darker tones, and I especially like using those for “deep sea” water. But I really love the lighter ones for a more tropical setting, or small scale setting with shallow waters/etc. The lighter blues are kind of “happier” while the darker blues more ominous.
  Not using a play mat for quick games makes some sense, especially since you don’t normally do battle reports with pictures for those games. (that I know of… 😉
  I’m not so sure about the Plunder Pack map being rolled. It’s a few feet wide and would be more annoying to store in an elongated position. Plus, it would probably just roll back up so you would need some weights on the corners, which is not something I want to deal with when using a subpar map in the first place. All in all it’s just kind of a failure. I’d rather go back to Joann’s and get another cool blue fabric. I know they sell some watery design ones, I just don’t want symmetrical lines/etc for the patterned ones.
  
  Thanks for commenting! Hope to see you on the seas of VASSAL.
  -Admiral A7XfanBen
Captain Vendari replied 7 years, 2 months ago

I personally enjoy a “mousepad” material playmat, like the ones Ares Games produced for Sails of Glory. Two of those will run you about $40-$60, but they have the added benefit of not rumpling up if you brush your arm against them, and they make a good sized ocean for 2 to 4 players (a single mat can fit a standard two player game with islands spaced 3L to 6L apart)
- Ben replied 7 years, 2 months ago
  
  @Captain Vendari: Thanks for the suggestion! Are those easy to store and transport? One of my favorite things about a simple thin fabric is how it can fold or roll up easily and fit into a plastic bag or small box used to transport everything I would need for a game. And yeah, I’ll take the price difference of 5 yards for $17 vs. 2 of those for $40+. They certainly look nice though!
  Ben

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