Loke Books of Battle Mats

We use the Cyberpunk themed version of these Loke books in our game and they work really nicely. So I was inspired to buy myself some and of course I went overboard and bought three two-book sets. These aren't quite as large as the Cyberpunk maps, the giant books are 12x16 inches and these are 12x12 inches, but that still makes for a good size map. 12x24 if you use the two page spread or 24x24 if you combine two books as Loke intends them to be used.

The quality is good. The art is fair. The usefulness... well, time will tell. I'm excited to use them and can envision a whole bunch of possibilities. Besides, each one of them comes with a blank grid map to increase their versatility. 

I picked up three of the 2 book sets; The Dungeon, Castles, Crypts & Caverns, and Towns & Taverns. Like I just mentioned, each is a 2 book set of paired map sets. Meaning they can combined or used alone, depending on your needs and wants. You get 40 maps in each book, one per page or half that if you leave the book open and use facing pages. The spiral binding makes this easy, as the books lay flat. As long as your minis can hurdle the wire binding, you'll have no problems. Again, these books are designed so as you can use both of them together to create a 2-foot playing surface.

They all have a one inch grid printed on them and they're all laminated to wipe clean if you mark them up with non-permanent markers. My only gripe is the central binding detracting from the aesthetic, but that seems like a dumb thing to complain about. I mean, how else are you going to do it. This seems like  the best viable solution. Are these must haves? I don't know that they are. They're a cool idea and are full of potential uses on the game table, but if you're content drawing your maps on a roll-up battle mat, maybe you don't need them.

Finding a place to put them may be an issue. They're big and they don't fit on my office shelves. Which is probably my fault for making the shelves slightly undersized. They fit a standard rulebook, but not much larger than that. Anyway, 12x13 is too big. If you get the giant 16 inch battle map books... well, you've got space on your shelf that I just don't.

Having said that, I see there is a fourth set coming out, The Wilderness. I'll need to pick that one up and find room to add it to the collection. I debated about getting the Giant Battle Mat line of books, but I'm content with these smaller, two book sets. They will do nicely.

In short, you can fold these books over on themselves and use one 12x12 map at a time, use them open for a 12x24 map, double them up for a 24x24 map, or just keep lining them up and make an enormous map. The art and style of the three products seems like that would be a completely viable way to use them. They lay flat. They take wipe-off pens nicely. And they're super easy to use. All-in-all I'd say that's a pretty good product. I'm happy with mine.