hey guys, i have a stupid but quick question

i am in the process of painting my own gaming board, and was curious, is it legal to pre-mark the deployment edges off. i was thinking of masking them off, and doing a really thing, bright orange line to make them off.

the question is, in my area, a lot of people don't have their own play boards and the FLGSs don't have enough play boards, so when i get both of mine done, i will probably be bringing them to the game store and letting them use them for tournaments and such, and because of that i don't want to do anything that is "illegal" in tournament game play.

thanks in advance guys.

Frowned on probably, but not strictly illegal. In a game where you aren't allowed to premeasure anything, this would provideo a slight advantage to a player more familiar with the mat.

i was worried about that, so ill leave it off.

Don't paint any measurement marks on the game board. It would be illegal for any tournaments. Mostly because it can tell someone exactly how far away they are from the board edge, and therefore what moves may or may not fly you off the board.

The tournament rules actually state that if any players lend their own mats for tournament use, they are not supposed to play on their own mats. I've never seen that rule strictly enforced, but it prevents someone from making a mat with a background with know distances between background objects and getting an advantage from that.

Make your own mat, and use it at your local tournaments. But, don't expect to play on it. You may play on it, but don't expect it, because the rules state you shouldn't be allowed to. And when you put a background on it, make it as random as possible. Don't purposely space object at specific distances. If you do that, someone may notice it, and will just ask that the mat not be used any longer. And if that happens, you've just wasted time and money.

ok, thats fair, im just painting a few planets and a star field. nothing major or fancy. my intention to loan them to the local FLGSs when they hold tournaments is strictly in uppling the play experience with the players, so if i play on my own mat or not really is no big deal to me.

i have just heard grumblings from local players that they are tired of playing in "green" space, meaning they are tired of using the war machine and warhammer tables for tournament play, because sometimes the edges of the play space arent clearly marked (they maske them off with painters tape) after round 2 or 3 so i figured i would do my part to help out.

ill post pics when im done if you all want them, but so far, i am not impressed at my mural abilities in this game.

well, here is how it turned out. i still have some work to do. the planet has some color blending to get done with, the corona effect on the sunrise needs some work (and by some, i mean a lot) and the purple nebula needs brought up.

also, the picture has a nasty shadow in it, and the center of the play area is over exposed. it normally doesn't look as "milky", there just isn't that much white there, but the light over states it.

lastly, there little grey circle will be the death star as soon as i figure out what the best way to make an accurate death star portrayal is. any feedback is greatly appreciated, and i was half tempted to find a picture of the death star, print it on some high quality paper, with photo quality gear (a friend has a die-sub printer i could use for this) and then cut it out with a circular cutter and literally glue it on, then clear varnish the whole thing? thoughts. im just concerned it will look so much better than the rest of the play surface it will just look out of place, so any suggestions on this are greatly appreciated.

Fair play, awesome looking board

I really don't think that the Death Star image idea will work as, like you said, its would be mixing styles.

Looking back at your image you are more than capable of painting your own DS, that way it would fit nicely.

On a personal note, I prefer open space as a play surface, there's only so many dogfights that took place around the DS.

Just my 2 cents though.

Keep us posted

My personal preference is a plain black square. I find that mats with lots of stuff going on cause me to misjudge distance as well as lose track of asteroids more easily.

Artistically speaking, yours rocks. Looks good.

-Cal

I like that mat, it looks sharp.

ok, i think i have the death star done, and i built out the nebula in purple a little more, so I'm ready to coat it. does anyone have any recommendation on what to coat it with to protect the paint job and maybe give it a nice surface to play against?

i was thinking some form of clear lacquer, but wasn't sure if anyone had any experience in that department.

ok, i think i have the death star done, and i built out the nebula in purple a little more, so I'm ready to coat it. does anyone have any recommendation on what to coat it with to protect the paint job and maybe give it a nice surface to play against?

i was thinking some form of clear lacquer, but wasn't sure if anyone had any experience in that department.

You should seal it, but I would use a matte finish, couple of coats at least. Rolling dice, tokens getting tossed, ships sliding. My GF9 mats are holding strong but I have a series of tiny scratches all over the play surface.