Hey guys, I thought I should share this Kickstarter with you! You can get your own game mat created however you want it:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1849499446/bespoke-spray-painted-space-game-mats

I'm a fan of this one, actual photos from our galaxy:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/374295421/dstone-art-space-game-mats-wave-2

Some epic options as well... like:

Shipping to the UK is a bit pricey though...

Nice. On this one they aren't real images they are artistic creations, I guess it depends what you would like as your backdrop

Well, those "pictures" of space aren't real images either, not entirely at least. The telescope sees gas compositions of argon/helium/hydrogen/etc. And then artists assign colors to represent them, yielding these space images. But if one were capable of seeing it with his/her naked eye, it wouldn't be pretty and colorful like that, since most of those gases are translucent.

Well, those "pictures" of space aren't real images either, not entirely at least. The telescope sees gas compositions of argon/helium/hydrogen/etc. And then artists assign colors to represent them, yielding these space images. But if one were capable of seeing it with his/her naked eye, it wouldn't be pretty and colorful like that, since most of those gases are translucent.

Technically , the telescope sees different wavelengths of light, which we can use to determine what gas composition is out there. Then someone does some artistic mapping of the non-visible wavelengths to visible light and it makes pretty pictures!

Well, those "pictures" of space aren't real images either, not entirely at least. The telescope sees gas compositions of argon/helium/hydrogen/etc. And then artists assign colors to represent them, yielding these space images. But if one were capable of seeing it with his/her naked eye, it wouldn't be pretty and colorful like that, since most of those gases are translucent.

Technically , the telescope sees different wavelengths of light, which we can use to determine what gas composition is out there. Then someone does some artistic mapping of the non-visible wavelengths to visible light and it makes pretty pictures!

Yeah... that's totally what I meant! Listen to what he said!

thanks for sharing! I might back, not sure though cause of shipping. Still has 29 days left!

I like the custom one, but nearly $150 for a game mat... O.o

I ordered several mats from Monday Knight Productions: http://www.mondayknight.com/Mats/UnflockedMini.html

The 3x3 unflocked maps are under $20 each. MKP is also very responsive, compared to other small companies that I've ordered from, and I would recommend them to anyone who's looking for a mat.

Well, those "pictures" of space aren't real images either, not entirely at least. The telescope sees gas compositions of argon/helium/hydrogen/etc. And then artists assign colors to represent them, yielding these space images. But if one were capable of seeing it with his/her naked eye, it wouldn't be pretty and colorful like that, since most of those gases are translucent.

Technically , the telescope sees different wavelengths of light, which we can use to determine what gas composition is out there. Then someone does some artistic mapping of the non-visible wavelengths to visible light and it makes pretty pictures!

Yeah... that's totally what I meant! Listen to what he said!

Yes, there is certainly artistic license taken with deep space photography. You also have to take long exposure photos to get anything useful in the first place...

I think they came out great, better than spray paint.

I think the "photos" mats are awesome, and I am considering getting at least one 3x3, but it is a great deal for $80 that you can get a 3x6 and a 3x3 for epic and regular play. Sounds good to me, but $80 is basically the Tantive or all I will be spending on Wave 4 in the near future. Also the wife might kill me... .

I think the "photos" mats are awesome, and I am considering getting at least one 3x3, but it is a great deal for $80 that you can get a 3x6 and a 3x3 for epic and regular play. Sounds good to me, but $80 is basically the Tantive or all I will be spending on Wave 4 in the near future. Also the wife might kill me... .

I think for $55 you can get 2 3x3's that you can work individually or lay next to each other for the epic scenario.

Man, I'm torn. I love the idea of a custom spray-painted mat but with the second Kickstarter, I can get a 3x3 and a 3x6 for 2/3 the price of one custom 3x3.

I hear what you are saying although due to the items being custom made and not mass produced I can't reduce the prices on all of the pledges...however, I have stuck a few on special offer (very limited amount) for buy one get one free.

Yes, there is certainly artistic license taken with deep space photography. You also have to take long exposure photos to get anything useful in the first place...

I think they came out great, better than spray paint.

For deep space photography, "long exposure" is a bit of an understatement!

It's actually multiple exposures...

The observations were done in two sessions, from September 23 to October 28, 2003, and December 4, 2003, to January 15, 2004. The total exposure time is just under 1 million seconds , from 400 orbits , with a typical exposure time of 1200 seconds . In total, 800 ACS exposures were taken over the course of 11.3 days, 2 every orbit, and NICMOS observed for 4.5 days . All the individual ACS exposures were processed and combined by Anton Koekemoer into a single set of scientifically useful images, each with a total exposure time ranging from 134,900 seconds to 347,100 seconds . To observe the whole sky to the same sensitivity, the HST would need to observe continuously for a million years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Ultra-Deep_Field#Observations