# The Dungeon Book of Battlemaps



## ddaley (Jan 4, 2020)

The link on their home page to the battle map books page is broken.  The correct link is:






						Loke BattleMats: Battle Mat Books
					






					www.lokebattlemats.com


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## dbm (Jan 4, 2020)

These are fab, mine arrived just before Christmas. I order the new double set, plus two of the small books. Here they are with the previously bought Giant book:


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## DWChancellor (Jan 4, 2020)

I have something similar from another publisher.  Very useful.  I like that you can just bust these out for whatever is going on.  Building in my Dwarven Forge takes too long for free-form sessions.

Tried to pre-order but website doesn't seem to be working for me... =(


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## ddaley (Jan 4, 2020)

DWChancellor said:


> ...
> Tried to pre-order but website doesn't seem to be working for me... =(




Not sure where you are having issues.  But, from this link, I was able to add books to my cart and begin the checkout process.  I didn't complete the checkout however:






						Battle Mat Books
					






					www.gamingbooks.co.uk


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## DWChancellor (Jan 4, 2020)

ddaley said:


> Not sure where you are having issues.  But, from this link, I was able to add books to my cart and begin the checkout process.  I didn't complete the checkout however:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Figured it out.  Huzzah!

The link is fine. * If you try and add multiple copies before the cart (i.e. write a 2 and then click pre-order) it won't add to cart.  Add one copy to cart, and then update there.*


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## EthanSental (Jan 4, 2020)

I got in on their Kickstarter and just got the Pdf for use with fantasy ground.  Haven’t used them yet in a session but they look great on the tv.


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## Nebulous (Jan 4, 2020)

Just ordered Giant Book of Fantasy and Sci Fi.  These look neat.  I already have a bunch of Paizo maps and these seem comparable. Smaller maybe.


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## thealmightyn (Jan 4, 2020)

The only, and probably minor, problem is the number of grid spaces that are overtaken by the spiral. Not a huge issue, but it would have been nice to not have to deal with that. Honestly, I would have preferred a book whose pages you just detached to end up with a stack of separate maps.


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## Hurin88 (Jan 4, 2020)

Looks good.

If only there were hex versions!


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## Richards (Jan 4, 2020)

thealmightyn said:


> The only, and probably minor, problem is the number of grid spaces that are overtaken by the spiral.



Judging from the photos, it looks like the squares directly next to the spiral are full squares - in other words, the spiral doesn't take any squares away from the map.  You just have to use some imagination to pretend the squares on either side of the spiral are in fact right next to each other.  It likely wouldn't come into play unless you were using a bunch of spiral books all at once and some of them were placed perpendicular next to the top of another book such that the "extra space" of the spiral doesn't allow the squares of another book to line up nicely.

Johnathan


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## dbm (Jan 4, 2020)

Hurin88 said:


> Looks good.
> 
> If only there were hex versions!



I emailed them to ask if they might do a hex version, since I play games based on that standard, too. It’s not currently on their roadmap, unfortunately.


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## Hurin88 (Jan 5, 2020)

dbm said:


> I emailed them to ask if they might do a hex version, since I play games based on that standard, too. It’s not currently on their roadmap, unfortunately.




I asked their vendor at GenCon too. Hopefully they change their mind sometime!


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## TheSword (Jan 5, 2020)

Best thing I ever did was buy an A3 colour printer for about £100 and a A3 laminator for about £15. The quality of maps these days means they can be scaled up in word quite easily. You can even use images and the ‘remove background function’ to superimpose the equivalent of stickers.

That said, these books are handy for those emergency sessions where people go off piste and you don’t have time to prepare.


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## Nebulous (Jan 5, 2020)

TheSword said:


> Best thing I ever did was buy an A3 colour printer for about £100 and a A3 laminator for about £15. The quality of maps these days means they can be scaled up in word quite easily. You can even use images and the ‘remove background function’ to superimpose the equivalent of stickers.
> 
> That said, these books are handy for those emergency sessions where people go off piste and you don’t have time to prepare.




Probably worthy of its own thread, but did you shop around a lot before picking a printer?  I'm don't have access to one anymore at work, and print shops charge an arm and a leg, it might very well be worth it to shell out $200-$300 for a quality printer that can spit out large maps.  I hate cutting and taping small ones.  Some of the big maps it was like 25 sheets of paper.  UGH.


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## Nebulous (Jan 5, 2020)

TheSword said:


> Best thing I ever did was buy an A3 colour printer for about £100 and a A3 laminator for about £15. The quality of maps these days means they can be scaled up in word quite easily. You can even use images and the ‘remove background function’ to superimpose the equivalent of stickers.




Also, how big a sheet is that?  I don't know anything about paper sizes really.


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## generic (Jan 5, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> Also, how big a sheet is that?  I don't know anything about paper sizes really.



A3 is 29.7 x 42.0*cm*, 11.69 x 16.53 *inches*.


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## TheSword (Jan 5, 2020)

Its rare that I’m running a battle more than 2 sheets of A3 that’s 22 sq x 16 sq or 110 feet x 80 feet. A standard Paizo Matt is almost the equivalent of 4 A3 pages. I also find A3 is the largest size I can comfortably transport flat. Laminating then means I can use them over again and also draw on them with markers.

I have also experimented recently having a slightly smaller scale so 20 x 14 squares. We use minis so it can be a squeeze if there are a lot of models on but the grid helps it all make sense. I tend to do that when using a published adventure and the map size means I’d have to use more A3 pages than I’d like.

I used amazon and went for recommended, high starred laser a3 printer


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## pogre (Jan 6, 2020)

Very cool product! I'm not the intended audience, but I can certainly see the appeal.


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## FitzTheRuke (Jan 7, 2020)

I think I could sell a few of these in my store. I wonder if I can get them at a Canadian game distributor...


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## thealmightyn (Jan 7, 2020)

Richards said:


> Judging from the photos, it looks like the squares directly next to the spiral are full squares - in other words, the spiral doesn't take any squares away from the map.  You just have to use some imagination to pretend the squares on either side of the spiral are in fact right next to each other.




I'm having trouble telling which book is which. The sci-fi looking book definitely looks fine because the spirals are only on part of the squares, but in some of them -- an example is the side-by-side of two circular-ish rooms -- the squares in which the spirals sit are most definitely part of the map. And the photo right above that one you can easily see that the squares covered by spirals are part of the map since there are rooms whose walls are perforated by the spirals.


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## Jediking (Jan 13, 2020)

A friend and I back a similar product (shown on ENworld a while ago) - Immersive Battle Maps by Yarro(w?) Studios.
Just used them a couple of weeks ago and the players were pretty happy when I pulled a double-page detailed map for a boss fight

these are great products, and gives cool ideas for climatic battles or adventure seeds


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## thealmightyn (Jan 19, 2020)

Jediking said:


> A friend and I back a similar product (shown on ENworld a while ago) - Immersive Battle Maps by Yarro(w?) Studios.
> Just used them a couple of weeks ago and the players were pretty happy when I pulled a double-page detailed map for a boss fight




I backed that Kickstarter as well, and the book arrived right on time for me to use the ship map for my party's encounter with a kraken.


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## Nebulous (Jan 19, 2020)

thealmightyn said:


> I backed that Kickstarter as well, and the book arrived right on time for me to use the ship map for my party's encounter with a kraken.



I have purchased both the Yarrow and Big Battlemaps and are waiting for both.  I will post my thoughts in more detail after they arrive.


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## Nebulous (Jan 22, 2020)

Well, I had both the battlemap books arrive in the mail today.  At first blush, I like the Immersive Battle Maps better than the Giant Book of Battle Mats, but they are similar.






IBM comes as a heavy as crap coffee table hardback approximately 63 pages.  It is very heavy, printed on thick hard card stock.  GBoBM is a lighter weight (but still heavy) wirebound book approximately 62 pages.  It is thinner than the Immersive Battle Maps because the paper is not as thick.  Both are glossy dry erase material.

I do think the art for the IMB is a little better than the wirebound book.  The images are a little crisper and more engaging, with less generic maps.  The way the book unfolds it lays pretty flat.






















The wirebound Big Book of Battle Mats is good too but feels slightly more generic than the former.  There's maybe 10 sheets that are just blank terrain.






















The Yarrow Studios Immersive Battle Maps I would have to say is a little better, but they are both useful.  I do like the 2D tokens that came with the Yarrow maps, but I think the other ones have something similar.  Both sets I believe also feature Sci-Fi maps (or will soon if not already).


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## Jharet (Jan 27, 2020)

These are pretty nifty.  I just got my Big Book of Battlemats.  They're very handy for DMs on the go.


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## Ampolitor (Jan 28, 2020)

I wish they could do a book for Castle Ravenloft, now that would make a damn fortune.


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