Portable Infinity Playing Surface Solution? Mantic Deadzone Deluxe Gaming Mat

Since starting to play Infinity last year, the visual aspect of the game has never been something I've managed get to the point I'm truly happy. A personal drive to have painted armies has taken over my time, and the huge amount of scenery and scatter has sat unloved and in primer on the tabletop for almost that entire time. Recently I've had a drive to get the terrain painted, which in itself has highlighted the next issue: the game surfaces I play on.

At home I've got an MDF board that I sprayed with pickup-truck bed paint to give it a tarmac-like texture. But it's not exactly suitable for transporting to the weekly Sunday fest of Infinity due to weight and size and so Infinity is played in a world of finely cut grass fields.

So I've looking round for other solutions. Zuzzy offer their thick, custom made rubber mats. But the cost of shipping and the lead-time on manufacture is a deal killer. However Mantic have recently released their Deadzone game, and to accompany it they've produced a 2'x2' Deluxe gaming mat. I've bought one to see what it was like with a mind to purchase an additional three more if it was a positive verdict.
 
So what is it like then?

Well put it this way, I'll be tracking down another three immediately.

It's a rubberised mat, something like a neoprene material. Thin, light, but feels premium and so far appears durable and up to rigours of heavy use. It's printed on one side with a concrete surface made up of large slabs with a variety of grates, manhole covers, and damage; with smaller details like spent shell casings and tufts of grass etc. It's not an absolutely pinshap image as you'd expect from a printed rubber mat, but it's certainly more than good enough for 28mm wargaming.

On the reverse side it has a non-slip textured surface that should keep the mat nice and still even on a polished table like the one I put mine on for the photo. It's advertised as crease-resistant but it does come creased from being folded for it's packaging. However they're quite shallow and gentle creases I'm confident are going to drop out with some use.

For the crucial weekly transport mission to the club, it's extremely light indeed. I can easily see four of these rolling up nicely inside a poster tube and being barely any trouble to carry along with my crate of scenery.

Criticisms or flaws? It's potentially expensive if you can't find a discounted seller. It's has a £15 retail price so would be £60 without postage. However I found mine for £12 which suddenly makes it a much more attractive prospect.

It is essentially a large grid of squares so I can imagine some neckbeard-types immediately having a keyboard-rage moment as they yell about it providing a pre-measuring aid for guessing range etc. Personally that's a dumb observation as most seasoned wargamers are adept at gestimating distance fairly accurately anyway. Grenade tosses may suddenly become more accurate I suppose, but really gun range is something my gaming group are so instinctively accurate with, without measuring that I don't see it being much more useful than having a bunch of Bandua and MAS buildings on the the board to help judge range. Or a board that has been constructed using foam tiles etc. Also with a load of terrain on it the value of playing on a grid ought to be significantly reduced - we use MAS pavements for additional surface coverage too.

Would I recommend this mat? Absolutely. Does it enhance the visual experience of Infinity? Absolutely. Will I be buying an additional three mats? Absolutely.