From Rough Sketch to Battlefield: How We Turned a Customer’s Drawing into a Custom Gaming Mat
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At BigWargames, some of our favourite projects don’t start with finished artwork.
They start with an idea.
Recently, a customer approached us with a rough hand-drawn layout — a strategic city map concept with rivers, industrial zones, mountains, farmland, and an airfield. It wasn’t polished. It wasn’t digital. But it had vision.
And that’s all we need.
Step 1: Understanding the Vision
The customer wanted:
• A central dense urban battlefield
• Natural terrain breaking up approaches
• Road networks for vehicle movement
• Distinct industrial areas
• A functional airfield for scenario play
• Balanced deployment options
The key was maintaining gameplay balance while bringing the world to life visually.
We translated the sketch into a structured layout plan — scaling distances properly for tabletop play and ensuring movement lanes made sense for competitive scenarios.
Step 2: Digital Map Design
Once the layout was locked in, we rebuilt the map digitally in high resolution.
The result:
• Detailed central city blocks
• Flowing river systems
• Textured mountain ranges
• Patchwork farmland
• Industrial estates
• Full runway airfield
• Subtle grid overlay for measurement
Everything was designed to print sharply at full cloth scale without losing clarity.
Step 3: Printing & Finishing
The final mat was produced on our premium cloth material:
• High-resolution print
• Vibrant but realistic colour balance
• Soft playing surface
• Machine washable
• Professionally hemmed edges
• Lays flat on the table
The finished result wasn’t just a mat — it was a campaign setting.
Why Custom Mats Matter
Off-the-shelf mats are great.
But custom mats allow players to:
• Build scenarios around their own lore
• Recreate historical or fictional cities
• Match terrain collections
• Design balanced tournament layouts
• Bring a long-running campaign to life
This particular project became a fully playable strategic city battlefield — designed from one person’s imagination.
That’s the power of custom work.
Got an Idea?
If you’ve got:
• A rough sketch
• A notebook drawing
• A map concept
• A historical layout
• A campaign idea
We can turn it into a fully printed, hemmed cloth gaming mat.
No design experience needed.
Just imagination.
RESULT
Designed & Printed in the UK by BigWargames
We specialise in custom cloth battle mats for tabletop gamers who want something unique.
Because the best battlefields start with an idea.