'Mat O War' a review, plus more 'Arcane' FoW houses.

With the Flames of War forces now finished for the time being, (The Eastern Front beckons next!), I'm finally trying to pull together all the terrain bits I need. I had been looking to replace my old Citadel 'Battlemat' but they are now so long OOP that I could not find one. It was purely by chance that I came across this 'Mat O War' whilst ordering some Mininatur scenics from 'Antenocitis Workshop' and it sounded the perfect game surface. I ordered the 2m x 1.25m green mat and it arrived yesterday. To say that I am pleased with it would be an understatement, it is actually an even better quality product than I had expected. The surface shade is very realistic of browns and greens that blends perfectly with my static grass bases, but above all it is incredibly tough and durable, being much thicker than the old Citadel mat. The cost of my mat (6'x4') was a very reasonable £22.00 and I cannot recommend this product highly enough. It can be steam ironed to remove creases and then rolled up, whats more you can go further and decorate the mat with spray paints and flocks etc, but as it stands it's perfect for my needs.

You can see how thick the mat is and the varied shade compared to the S&A Scenics felt mat behind it.

I doubt I could have achieved this finish without an awful lot of work!

More 'Arcane' houses.
My little Normandy village has expanded with further 'Arcane' MDF buildings, I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of putting these together and getting a bit of paint on them, maybe somewhat 'Balamory' but I like it! The damaged roofs are very well modeled with the exposed beams etc, they are very simple to glue together.

German artillery battery.
I had finished these some time back but had been on the lookout for some tows to get them where they need to be  as these are 'immobile' guns. I found these five little resin halftrack tows on eBay for a snip at just £12.00. A repaint and bases took no time and finishes off the battery nicely. You can also see the staff team (table), command team and two spotter teams. I also got a template for them, useful device with all the ranging in and firing info printed on it.

Once I have finished some painting for John C this week I will start to put some games together at last. It's been a very long time since I felt so much enthusiasm for this hobby and I do for see Flames of War and Bolt Action occupying me for a long time to come.

A hint at the future direction, three earlier Panzer III varients at rear. The Tiger 1E in front will complete and expand my Heavy Panzer Platoon along with the ridiculously expensive Wittmann Tiger pack.

The story of Micheal Wittmann I found very moving, so I had to have this!

And finally, some FoW essentials gathered via ebay, loads of dice and markers plus the artillery template.