I know there are plenty decent quality unofficial mats available, but I want an official product, a proper Star Warsy one! It's been ages since the tile kit was shelved, tell us you're working on something else!

To much established competition. The tiles were never a good idea and there are already many mats with a space theme.

What would you want them to do to make them more Star Wars?

Death Star in the back ground, Star Destroyers, Mon Calamari Cruisers, Hoth, Yavin, Bespin, Endor, Tatooine, Death Star Trench mat, tons of things they could do.

I saw an ISD vs MCC that was incredible by the dude that does mels miniatures. I would love to purchase an "official" mat that was similarly themed.

I've got a black felt star mat that works fine, but I wouldn't mind having something with a more epic feel.

FFG has the Star Wars licensing rights (don't know if it covers art for matting but if they can do it for cards...). They can do up a mat that has ships, space stations, planets, or even movie stills in the background.

I prefer a plain black surface as any pics are distracting! Not to mention, pics can lead to "known distances" on the surface for competitive play, which I'm sure would eventually lead to "cheating!"

I saw an ISD vs MCC that was incredible by the dude that does mels miniatures.

Where?

I prefer solid black.

I would prefer grey to black, so when you are looking around for your straight 1 maneuver template you can actually find it

I would prefer grey to black, so when you are looking around for your straight 1 maneuver template you can actually find it

Excellent point!!

To much established competition. The tiles were never a good idea and there are already many mats with a space theme.

What would you want them to do to make them more Star Wars?

As others have said, actual Star Wars imagery is an option, but it's just the overall theme for me. Most of them just have a different style from Star Wars - nebula, different coloured stars, etc. A star Wars space scene is pretty much black with lots of white stars on it, and nothing else (unless you're near a planet or small moon).

As for actual imagery - a sliver of Tattoine along the bottom, like in this image (but without the ISD):

Speaking of which, what's happening in this still? Is the Tantive inside that docking bay?

A distant shot of the Death Star, a close up of the Death Star surface, Endor, Hoth. So many great options.

I saw an ISD vs MCC that was incredible by the dude that does mels miniatures.

Where?

http://www.afewmaneuvers.com/topic/2105-isd-vs-mc80-mat/

7th post down, I've downloaded the .pdf of the statless one, which I plan on getting a banner made... just as soon as I get a 4X6 table

Remind me to get a pic of my black kitchen tile surface. It's great as they are exactly 12 inch square tiles.

I dont mind some stars and planets as long as it does not get to crowded.

For anyone who has seen/played on the galeforce9 deathstar mat... looks cool but you'll go cross eyed in no time.

Fantasyflight should either make super cheap simple/basic battlefields or nothing at all IMO.

As FFG holds a license for this game, it'd be pretty sweet to put out a few mats under it. Deathstar approaching a planet or alone. Deathstar 2 above Endor, maybe 2 different layouts(1 mostly the DS2 and another like the movie still we all think of). I thought of a mat in an old post about being a top down shot of a Star Destroyer with a command tower as a stand up placed on it like an obstacle. Hoth with a few SDs coming in.

I wonder if FFG would consider this if it contracted it out to a mat maker like GF9. They make a great product and FFG wouldn't have to buy the equipment or some little mom & pop company that makes mats locally somewhere.

Failing this, anyone know the ramifications of finding a movie still and a mat maker to run something off? I've been looking at generic space pics from like the Hubble but **** they're so busy. That's a nice thing about GF9 that they tone stuff down so it's not so busy on the mat.

I dunno, I think the mats all feel a little cheap, and the images look fuzzy. I think the tile system has promise, as it allows customization, but it would require a few tweaks:

1) Add a grippy surface, but not a cheapy feeling rough fabric that also fuzzifies the image

2) Magnets or something along the edges to keep them together and lined up.

Tiles will equate to 'mileposts' in the game giving savvy players the ability to eliminate guesswork. I think FFG will not do this for the same reason it doesn't allow a player to use their own personal mat for competitive play.

Although, I would love to see the OP kits start to have custom scenarios with a custom mat for it. Winner gets the mat and scenario pack (specific scenario tokens, cards, whatever), second and third get tokens and a participation card for all. I love 100pt DM's, but variety is the spice of life.

Speaking of which, what's happening in this still? Is the Tantive inside that docking bay?

The Tantive is very small compared to the ISD (see other threads for more detail ) -

I have a screenshot but couldn't figure out a way to upload (sorry) - suffice to say, if you go back and watch the opening scene, you'll see the Tantive running from the ISD and as the ISD fills the screen, the Tantive is no longer in view because the ISD is so huge. Your screenshot is about 1 second away from the cut to the Tantive getting blasted

The Tantive is very small compared to the ISD (see other threads for more detail ) -

I have a screenshot but couldn't figure out a way to upload (sorry) - suffice to say, if you go back and watch the opening scene, you'll see the Tantive running from the ISD and as the ISD fills the screen, the Tantive is no longer in view because the ISD is so huge. Your screenshot is about 1 second away from the cut to the Tantive getting blasted

I just had a look on YouTube, the Tantive does disappear into the distance, but not before a little more of the ISD is visible. I reckon Mr Lucas's editing may have had a hand in this...