I am looking to build a table for X-Wing and I am wondering what people think is the best play surface. I am thinking I will probably just glue the thing right onto the table, since I plan to build it in such a way that I just put the table on top of my current card table(s), so it doesn't have to be one of the pre-fabricated playmats.

I am looking for something where the figures don't slide around too much, but where I can actually get the templates out of the way.

Black yoga mat, 36x36. I got one that's a bit longer and I trimmed it so there's about 3 inch margin on opposite ends to put cards etc. on. It grips the bases great! For stars get a white paint pen from Michael's and go crazy dotting all over it

I have a felt mat that that I got from hotzmats.

I love it. So much nicer than the GF9 vinyl mat my mate has.

The thing with vinyl is it scratches very easily and I find ships slide on it far too easily for my taste.

The down side to felt is if you were to spill some liquid on it you would need to be quick about not letting it soak in

Love my mousepad like material from frontline

Miniature market has very nice mouse pad maps that work very well.

GaleForce Nine vinyl mat.

Another vote for a black yoga mat.

I have the mouse pad material mat. I am definitely going to try the black yoga mat method. I think holding a can of white spray paint at a distance and doing a light misting might work.

frontline mouse pad mat... THE BEST but for a cheaper alternative mouse pad mat try the new HCD ones..

I bought a vinyl mat it was a massive improvement over playing on the table, models still move a little but you could always weight the bases.

Anything perpendicular to the gravity vector.

I really like playing on my neighbor's billiards table (felt).

To decorate your yoga mat, I recommend using a little white acrylic paint on an old toothbrush and flicking the bristles with your thumb. It'll take a few applications, probably. You can create a kind of Milky Way band by flicking a small amount of acrylic from a close distance, and add a smattering of larger stars by using more acrylic and flicking from further away. Then use the back end of a small paintbrush, dipped in paint, to apply more stars by hand.

You can practice on the smoother-looking side of the mat to get your technique down. But both sides are very grippy so it's fine to use either side.

I bought some 12`inch by 12 inch black tiles. Put them on a table, works for me.

Black felt GW star field map.

Cost about £5

8 foot by 4 foot so easy to fold in half or mask out the play area.

Tokens and ships dont slide about, its perfect.

One thing to keep in mind... Epic is 6x3.

Myself I built a table for miniature gaming, 4x6 table for 40k, FoW, Warmachine, ect... I got 2 yards of black felt from Walmart for like $5 or so. Used a paint marker to draw a line at 6" from either side, and put some spots on it for stars.

I like it, ships don't slide hardly at all.

Yeah i know but 8x4 means you can mask off 6x3 and have an area for your cards etc

if you look closey you'll see in that pic at the end a white tape line. The table is 3ft wide so 6 inch either side hangs down

Yeah i know but 8x4 means you can mask off 6x3 and have an area for your cards etc

That's what I did, only it's just a 6 inch strip along the long edge. Didn't have room for a 8ft long table.

6in is actually about perfect to put cards, tokens, damage deck, ect on.

My table is normally about 5 foot by three but you can extend it on either side by a foot and a half

Black felt play surface.

I also upgraded my bases with 1/10 inch thick mouse pad that I cut out and glued to their undersides using Elmer's all purpose spray glue. 1/10 inch seems perfect. Any more and the bases sit higher. If you plan on playing in tournaments, you should leave the bases you take unmodified.

Presumably what you meant to say was :

"Apart from the awesome magnetic game mats a certain poster has for sale on EBay, what is the NEXT best surface to play on?"

Hoth.

Anything perpendicular to the gravity vector.

I really like playing on my neighbor's billiards table (felt).

I was actually talking to my wife last week about how it would be cool to have a magnetized wall, and then play X-wing on the wall, with magnetic bases...

I recently held a tourney in my backyard, got some adjustable height sawhorses which had cutouts for 2x4 wood laying lengthwise. Then placed a piece of plywood on top and screwed it down. Next placed a piece of felt that covered the entirey of the plywood and then push pinned the overhang onto the bottom of the plywood to hold the felt taught. Last I used white acrylic paint pens and a long ruler to draw in 3x3 areas and left spots on both sides to place cards and extras. I used the big giant white paint pen since it's easier. Total cost for everything was around 60 bucks. I already had the saw horses so those might be an extra 40 bucks or cheaper. But still 60 bucks is cheap for everything. Also the opposite side of the felt I left blank to use for epic play so it's now a reversible play mat haha.

GripMat!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bfrgames/gripmat-get-a-grip-on-your-game