Cobblestone City Kraken Mat - Unboxing the Kraken Wargames Kickstarter

Last week I showed off the terrain I'd built but had to show it off on my Guild Ball mat as I was waiting for my mat from Kraken Wargames' Kickstarter. Well I'm not waiting any more - it arrived this week!

The campaign was run during November 2015 with delivery initially estimated at being March 2016, so it's roughly 3 and a bit months late. Production was delayed a little in China before shipping (which was handled by Fantasywelt, who are now stocking the mats, on behalf of the project creator) hit initial delays due to the mats being mixed about and packaged incorrectly when being delivered from China, then what appears to just be slow packing and distribution resulting in the rest of the delay.

Mat bag tag and a Kraken Wargames Sticker

I went for a 3' by 3' mat in the Cobblestone City style, which set me back 51 Euros including shipping to the UK from Germany. It included a free carry bag with a little tag to mark which mat is in the bag - very useful to make sure you pick the right bag if you have more than one!

The mat came inside it's bag in a strong cardboard box. The mat itself was tightly wrapped with a couple of plastic strips holding it in place.

The mat is made of neoprene, also known as the mouse mat material. This gives it a little bit more cushion and substance than a vinyl mat might have. It also has a very matte but smooth surface, meaning no excess slipping of things that might occur on a shiny mat.

Once out of it's wrapper I got it unrolled and it stayed that way - no wanting to return to the shape it's probably been held in since it was made and wrapped in China.

All of the designs of the various Kraken mats were initially produced by the creators physically sculpting then painting the boards, before getting loads of photos and having them digitally enhanced. This really shows up well in this mat as while the cobbles vary, to me there is quite a sense of depth between the different layers of cobbles - the roads, the curbs, the pavements - something I'd not really expected from a 2d print.

A little Kraken Wargames logo hidden in a corner

Why did I go for cobbles? Well, all my Batman and Marvel minis are based with Wargames Bakery's Victoriana Basius pad, as will my Infamy stuff when that eventually sees the light of day. It also offers a city feel that can be either modern, historic or somewhere steampunky inbetween, depending on what scenery you add.

On the note of adding scenery, I just couldn't resist sticking some on the mat with some models...

While I really like the mat, there is quite a colour contrast between the mat and the design shown in the Kickstarter - it appears to have received a massively blue tint which has changed what was a warm grey mat into quite a cold grey mat so some people may have picked the mat and when it arrives it's not the colour that it initially should have been. I don't have a problem with it as I don't have a specific tone set yet for my scenery and can now match the scenery to the mat as opposed to matching the mat to the scenery, which might be a case for some people.

The Initial Kickstarter design for Cobblestone City

Overall, I'm happy with my purchase and looking forward to being able to use it in games. Time will tell on its survivability but my first impressions are that it has a quality feel to it. The Kickstarter was run smoothly albeit with a few delays, but any problems I had were resolved quickly by the Kraken team. While it's early days, I'd feel comfortable recommending that people looking for a gaming mat should take a look at Kraken Wargames' offerings along with those from companies that have been established in this niche for a longer period of time.

The Kraken joins my small cluster of stickers on my lamp - I need more!