My last post, about my Pavia project, discussed terrain mats. I mentioned that my terrain mat for my Historicon 2024 game was due to arrive in the next week or two. Well, the mat arrived today and I couldn’t resist posting a couple of pictures of the mat for my 20mm Senkaku Project.
The Senkaku islands are not far from Taiwan and are contested by Taiwan, China and Japan. The game will be a modern Japanese amphibious assault against Chinese forces that have captured the islands. For the terrain mat I needed some coastal terrain that would allow me to put hills and dense vegetation on it. The mat was made by Warsigil.
The two photos below show me putting down some of the vegetation, an LCAC and a couple of AAVP-7. I still have a lot to add, but I wanted to get a feel for the size and layout. My next job is to make some hills and rock faces.
Japanese LCAC and AAVP-7 storming the beachA close up of the LCAC
I was very happy with the mat when it arrived. I can now finish my figure bases so that they match the color of the mat. That is all for now on my 20mm Senkaku Project.
Even though I am working on my modern game for Historicon 2024, I am still also working on Pavia for Historicon 2025. The terrain mats are something that I plan to have custom made, as I just do not have either the time or the space to make them myself. Also, I would prefer to work on the figures, buildings and other terrain rather than spend too much time on the mats. As custom mats are a long-lead item, I need to get them ordered.
Type of terrain mat.
For the Italian Wars games that I have previously put on at the club or conventions (Garigliano, Novaro, Bicocca and Ravenna), I have used the teddy bear fur mats by Killing Fields Terrain. These have served me very well and have even helped me win Best of Show and Best of Theme awards. However, for Pavia I want to use something different.
Teddy bear fur mat.
For my recent modern Afghanistan game I used a custom mat from Warsigil.com. I was very pleased with how this mat turned out. So much so, that I have ordered another custom mat for my modern Historicon game for 2024. The new mat should arrive in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I have been working with Warsigil to produce mats for Pavia – I expect them to delivered by the end of the year.
Mat from warsigil.com
The reason that I chose Warsigil is the high quality of their work. Also, the Battle of Pavia was severely influenced by both the terrain and the weather. There were extensive wooded areas and the ground was very wet and muddy. The last thing that I wanted was a lush, bright green terrain mat. Below is a picture of a wooded mat that Warsigil custom made for another customer. This surface is the type of thing that I am looking at for Pavia.
Warsigil mat
I will use the brown areas for the woods and the greenish areas for the grass of the park.
Design of terrain mats
At the moment I have ordered five mats, each of 4′ x 6′. These are intended to represent the park. Later I may order two additional mats to represent the walls of Pavia and the area around the Five Chapels.
Without going into too many details in this post, the five terrain mats will go in a “U” shaped design. The area between the two sides represents the course of the Vernovola stream as it proceeds through the southern end of the park. In this area it was impassable due to marshy ground on each side of the stream. Also there were raised roadways on each side of the stream, so firing was impossible from one side to the other. The only area where the Vernavola could be crossed was near Mirabello and further north. This meant that a “U” shape could be used, which would allow players to reach troops in the middle of the park. They would in effect be able to stand in the middle of the park.
The following is the image that I sent to Warsigil and the key below is my details that refer to the wooded Warsigil mat photo above.
The brown areas will be the wooded areas and the green areas will be the grass areas of the park. The stream at the top is the northern part of the Vernovola. Mirabello will be located at the southern part of the mat with the stream on.
This layout will give a lot of room for fighting, but have the constraints of both the wood and the stream.
Upcoming work on the terrain.
The next thing that I will need to consider is the large amount of deciduous trees with no foliage. The Battle was fought in February and I want this to be represented. I still have to figure out how to make these trees as they are not readily available on the market. I will keep on working on Pavia for Historicon 2025 despite still having a lot to do for Historicon 2024.
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