I was looking to make a playing area for my X-wing game so it did not look like I was just playing on a boring table. In a previous post I posted this :

How about a gaming mat that could be played on. I mean expand one of the magic the gathering type mats they play on to the legal gaming size, put stars, a cool looking starwars motif in the middle and then on the sides put spots to put your cards and tokens. I am just wondering if this could be done or if it would be to big of a problem. What are you're guy's opinions. Or if they are out there point me in the right direction. Has anyone come up with a great idea for a playing field?

Thanks

Some people buy ready made mats others build their own - if you want to buy one - look for 3x3 starfield maps on ebay or amazon

If you want to make your own, check out some youtube tutorials- I recommend Rubbishinrubbishout he's an aussie, that has a nice simple tutorial that I'm dying to try myself.

Appreciate the advice and the recommendation Charlarino. I will have to check it out.

The Gale Force 9 mats are pretty nice and are legal size. The space station one is a bit annoying to play on as things seem to disappear (plus the asteroids don't look good on that one in my opinion) but the others are really nice.

I got mine from bannersonthecheap.com

Just find a high res space image you want and select the size you want. It was around $20 for a 3x3 matt.

it's gotten a little scuffed since I use it so much but it's a good cheap way to have something under your ships besides a table.

Thanks you have given me some great ideas. Just wish Fantasy flight games would make an official mat for the game. But it should be fun coming up with an idea for a mat myself. What is the best fabric to use?

I made one with thin but sturdy board material I had cut at my local hardware store. I painted it black and then dusted it with white spray paint for "nebula" feel and then when it was totally dry I sprayed on a few coats of Plasti-dip. Its really great to play on, the plasti-dip made it almost too grippy at first but since collecting a little dust its pretty much perfect. The downside is that I can't take it anywhere conveniently.

If you want to keep your ships from sliding around -- which is a serious problem with vinyl mats -- get an extra large black yoga mat. Cut it down to the proper size (you'll usually get two 36x36 game mats from each yoga mat). The material is very durable, very grippy (both to the table below and the ships above), and lays flat even if you have to push a couple of tables together (you won't get a "ditch").

My second choice would be black felt, but I find that this bunches up and collects pet hair.

Vinyl mats are far too slippery, even though they look nice. And they do get scratched easily.

If you want to keep your ships from sliding around -- which is a serious problem with vinyl mats -- get an extra large black yoga mat. Cut it down to the proper size (you'll usually get two 36x36 game mats from each yoga mat). The material is very durable, very grippy (both to the table below and the ships above), and lays flat even if you have to push a couple of tables together (you won't get a "ditch").

Also note that if you want the proper size for Epic play, you'll want to leave your 3'x6' yoga mat in one piece.

I ordered one of the mats from miniature market that is made out of the same material as mouse pads. Not very expensive and no sliding issues....plus it looks very good.

At my game store we've got home made felt mats, home made cloth maps, one vinyl mat and my yoga mats. I'd say the cloth and felt are probably the worst solutions, the cloth map has memory from the folds when the person puts it away, and the felt one is starting to wear and makes it hard to line up the tabs. The bought vinyl map is pretty solid and it's thin so it's easy to carry around. The yoga mat is hard to roll up tight but it offers a nice solid play surface with little shifting. The vinyl and Yoga map are pretty good at avoiding the table ditch. I would say cost to usability the yoga is the best, two mats for aprox $20 and a box cutter, nice non-slip surface and really durable, just hard to carry around. I imagine if you are good at sewing and bought a good game grade heavy felt, those would hold up well, but from what I've seen they have issues. I have yet to see one of the vinyl banner mats, so can't comment on those.