Co-founder of Frontline Gaming, and creator of the ITC, Reece Robbins has been a pillar of the tabletop community for over two decades. From developing Blood Throne to launching industry-leading hobby products and major events like the LVO, his career is defined by innovation and a lifelong passion for gaming since the 80s. Today, he remains a very active community organizer and business leader dedicated to the growth of the hobby.
The FAT mat has less glare which is probably better for pictures and videos plus it looked like that other mat was bubbling up a bit, that would be annoying in game but you would just need to make sure its really smooth beforehand.
My big thing is that the FAT Mat is mobile compared to a vinyl mat. The vinyl mat when rolled up tends to keep the curve a bit longer. Now it wouldn’t be an issue if the vinyl was permanently on the table.
Other thing is, the Urban mat and the deployments. In an edition that is becoming longer to play, the fact that you reduce time by already having the deployment measured for you is fantastic. I had the LGS I visit get a free mat from the program. Telling people that you don’t need to measure the distance of your deployment, and cover the table in a line of dice or markers, just makes everyone happy.
My suggestion is to make more maps in different designs, but has the deployment sections like Urban. I don’t know your sales for the other designs, but I’m going to take a wild guess that your Urban mat is the top seller.
I was going to write a post, sarcastically mentioning the “downsides” to the FAT mats.
But really, anybody who:
Games in a shared space
Takes photos of their battles
Wants to protect awesome table top surfaces
Has problems rolling dice onto the table, rather than the floor
Loves thematic settings for battles
or
Has a fetish for neoprene
simply HAS to buy these mats.