Welcome to my Deep Cut Studio Mat Review, this is my first review of a product, feedback and comments always welcome!

I’ve been playing off a simple MDF board for around 4 months now. It’s 6′ x 4′ and works really well for 40K. Me and a friend went halves on the Deep Cut Studio Urban Mat for £39.90 to cover my plain wooden board. Covering the wooden board properly wasn’t an option as I don’t have the time, skill and I was afraid it would drop flock/gravel all over the place if not properly done.

Deep Cut Studios provide a wide range of mats from 3′ x 3′ to 6′ x 4′ with a variety of backgrounds, from the depths of space to open grasslands and urban war torn cities. I was impressed with the variety of landscapes, I’d definitely consider buying a grasslands version in the future.

Purchase & Shipping

The purchase process was really easy and I am a big fan on Deep Cut’s web site, slick and fast. They sell mats, it does this task perfectly with its simply category listings, large photography and straight froward payment process. Two thumbs up from this web developer!

The mat took nearly two weeks to arrive so if you want it quickly for a game, forget it. Better to plan ahead of time. Presumably they’re made to order or shipped from overseas to the UK. It arrived in a robust tube and was well protected. It would be easy to cut corners on the packaging and risk the product but these guys haven’t, and I’d expect them not to as P&P was £10.

Material

The mat is thinner than I expected, I thought it would be perhaps 5mm thick and heavier. But it’s more like 2 or 3mm thick. It doesn’t feel like it would tear easily or squash and crease. I wouldn’t want to throw it about a lot between tables, you need to be careful with it still, but we used to being careful with our hundred of pounds worth of plastic toy soldiers! In short; it isn’t going to be prone to tears or creases from gamers walking by or bumping into it’s edges.

During the first use the edges were slightly curled due to it being in the tube. This is unavoidable, but it can be easily rectified using some blu-tak. After a while you don’t even notice, it’s a small price to pay so the mat can be stored correctly.

Finish

The mat is really nice, its not pixelated, well it is if you look very closely, just like anything. During a game it looks fantastic and adds a lot to the board and the atmosphere. Especially if, like me, you have only every played on a plain table before! Even my fiancé was impressed with it – she is a graphic designer! The surface is smooth and you can easily slide models across it, the bases don’t snag against the mat at all.

Putting it Away

It would be hard work to place the mat back in its tube on your own, get your opponent to help before he leaves to lick his wounds. When we first did this a cone shape was created at one end as it wasn’t perfectly straight during our rolling. Panic set in “This will never fit in”! But it did, easily, ensure you place the other end in first, not the “coned” end. Once its in the cone will simply collapse down inside the tube when the other end hits the floor of the tube. Simples!

Summary

Buy one now. You won’t regret it.