Hi all,

Although new to the X-Wing game I have been a big follower since watching New Hope in an Australian cinema way back in 1977 as a kid. I have always wanted to recreate the Death Star battle and since the ability to actually play the game with such ships I have now set out to map a gaming board with the essential trench. Although just starting to make the board I thought I would like to share some images I have taken to show my efforts so far. This is just a loose gathering of tiles put together with an X-Wing and Tie Fighters included to give a representation of size.

I have much more casting (Hydrostone plaster) to go and I will need to make a number of turrets, probably via making a mold, as done with the Death Star tiles. In order to avoid ships trying to balance on the surface of the tiles I intend to make a clear resin "negative mold" each type of tile so that it will sit on top of the surface tile as well as add extra height above the surface. A photo will be better to demonstrate in the future.

Anyhow, this is just a start. Each tile is 7.5cm square and I am aiming at making a gaming board of approximately 2.00m x 1.00m in size with the trench running down the middle. My intention will be to use tile spacers between each tile.

I am aware of various rules already available for such a scenario.

Apologies if the images are too large.

Cheers!

Eboli

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Costly, but you could take a look at:

http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/gale-force-9/battlefield-in-a-box/space-and-crystals/space-station-lasers-turrets/prod_29243.html

Looks great!

Have a look at topics by DagobahDave, he has a bunch of trench run scenarios.

Looks fantastic but placement of miniatures would be a nightmare on that kind of surface, perhaps some kind of clear plastic overlay on top of the tiles would make them playable

This simply looks awesome. It can be painted, it can have a glass over to make the ships movements better. But at it is is already awesome, and I cant wait to see it get even better.

Thanks Dagonet for the link.

I had actually seen these but here in Australia with a dropping A$ these will be quite expensive. I am sure that with my willingness and resourcefulness I would be able to recreate something similar and with molding material probably costing around $20 will allow me to make multiple towers. i have done lots of Hirst Art plaster creations in the past.

Cheers!

Looks fantastic but placement of miniatures would be a nightmare on that kind of surface, perhaps some kind of clear plastic overlay on top of the tiles would make them playable

Yes - have already thought about that Funkleton. I will be making a few resin "blocks" that fits and sits on each tile type.

Cheers!

This simply looks awesome. It can be painted, it can have a glass over to make the ships movements better. But at it is is already awesome, and I cant wait to see it get even better.

Painting, yes - need to work out what colour gradient I am going to use. I'll keep this post updated as tings progress.

Cheers

Thanks Dagonet for the link.

I had actually seen these but here in Australia with a dropping A$ these will be quite expensive. I am sure that with my willingness and resourcefulness I would be able to recreate something similar and with molding material probably costing around $20 will allow me to make multiple towers. i have done lots of Hirst Art plaster creations in the past.

Cheers!

Yeah, I thought maybe get one and use those turrets as models.

http://buckaroo13.blogspot.nl/2012/10/x-wing-scratch-building-death-star.html

And there's youtubes as well I see.

If you go digging through the search (and it's a terrible search) I'm sure I recall topics about scratch builds as well, just set the date to prior to may 2014 to ignore the whole host of topics about ships with turrets

If you could make those for a reasonable price i'd so be into buying some they look great, i agree with a clear piece to go on top for ease of play.

good job keep it up.

Same here, really great idea and if you make them cheap-ish I would likely buy enough to fill a 6x4 table.

I do agree, for playability you would want a clear plastic sheet over it, but once painted/setup it would look really, really good.

I'd play on it.

I would argue against a negative clear resin cast. The non-uniform thickness would cause some funky distortions. That, and casting clear resin well is extremely tricky to do without making it a bubbled mess..... not to mention the good clear resin is really expensive. Then you have to worry about shrinkage too.

Instead, I would recommend building some sort of riser on key tiles to make a uniform height and put a piece of glass down on it. Or if built as a table, just have an inset built into the outer wall of the table top that is just at the highest deathstar tile part. This way the glass is supported both by the table edges and by key points from the deathstar itself.

Or if you're still set on a clear resin top, look into clear epoxy countertops. You can pour it directly onto your tiles to build up a level surface. The biggest issue though (besides the price) is there is a maximum thickness per pour of about 3/16". You can pour multiple times, but you have to do so within a few hour window, otherwise it heats up too much and can burn the epoxy. The good news though is that the surface is self leveling and air bubbles can be easily popped with a heat gun. Beyond that, it is pricey and permanent, but it's actually refinishable after it inevitably gets scratched. http://www.bestbartopepoxy.com/

I would still recommend a glass top. There is no clear alternative more scratch resistant.

Very good points treybert.

I haven`t thought too much about how to keep the ships off the surface so i appreciate your thoughts. As I am going to use tile spaces beteen each tile it would certainly be possible to build a clear plastic stand with legs that position themselves within the gaps.

This would certainly be cheaped, lighter and potentially easier to make with options for various sizes to cater for when ships are in close proximity to each other.

Have time to think about it fortunately.

Cheers!

Eboli.

Very good points treybert.

I haven`t thought too much about how to keep the ships off the surface so i appreciate your thoughts. As I am going to use tile spaces beteen each tile it would certainly be possible to build a clear plastic stand with legs that position themselves within the gaps.

This would certainly be cheaped, lighter and potentially easier to make with options for various sizes to cater for when ships are in close proximity to each other.

Have time to think about it fortunately.

Cheers!

Eboli.

I have probably thought about this too much.... in the past at least. I had an idea once to do the same. My plan was to carve it out of mdf into 12x12 tiles, but the cleanup process was horrible. Carved mdf leaves fuzzies, so I abandoned the project. I scaled each individual tile to the same height so it would support a sheet of plastic on top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9V2Dq28YLE

I was actually thinking for spacers as small extensions coming up from the model itself. Or, if your highest tile one with a high flat surface (I think the reactor looking one), you can position those strategically around the assembled board and they can be your riser.

I have probably thought about this too much.... in the past at least. I had an idea once to do the same. My plan was to carve it out of mdf into 12x12 tiles, but the cleanup process was horrible. Carved mdf leaves fuzzies, so I abandoned the project. I scaled each individual tile to the same height so it would support a sheet of plastic on top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9V2Dq28YLE

I was actually thinking for spacers as small extensions coming up from the model itself. Or, if your highest tile one with a high flat surface (I think the reactor looking one), you can position those strategically around the assembled board and they can be your riser.

Have you considered just doing it out of acrylic or plexiglass?

Actually, I have a thought; what if you were to CNC tiles in negative on the underside of a transparent plexiglass or acrylic sheet, and then paint it? It should look like the Death Star surface, be as thin as you want, and still be entirely playable.

Actually, I have a thought; what if you were to CNC tiles in negative on the underside of a transparent plexiglass or acrylic sheet, and then paint it? It should look like the Death Star surface, be as thin as you want, and still be entirely playable.

Very clever idea, but also extremely tricky to paint.

That is actually very clever. 1" acrylic though is around $30/sqft

I have probably thought about this too much.... in the past at least. I had an idea once to do the same. My plan was to carve it out of mdf into 12x12 tiles, but the cleanup process was horrible. Carved mdf leaves fuzzies, so I abandoned the project. I scaled each individual tile to the same height so it would support a sheet of plastic on top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9V2Dq28YLE

I was actually thinking for spacers as small extensions coming up from the model itself. Or, if your highest tile one with a high flat surface (I think the reactor looking one), you can position those strategically around the assembled board and they can be your riser.

Have you considered just doing it out of acrylic or plexiglass?

Actually, I have a thought; what if you were to CNC tiles in negative on the underside of a transparent plexiglass or acrylic sheet, and then paint it? It should look like the Death Star surface, be as thin as you want, and still be entirely playable.

That's actually a really good idea. The biggest issue I see is the cost. 1" acrylic is around $30/sqft, about $20/sqft for 3/4". I still think the distortion would cause it to look off-pudding. That does give me ideas for other projects though.

Some very smart ideas being provided which give me lots of room for thought. I do like the idea of having plexiglass/sheet of acrylic sitting on top of the reactors which would be strategically placed around the board. This allows the avoidance of various stands getting in the way of each other as ships get moved around and problems when getting close to each other.

Good thing is that i do have time to work out this issue.

Has anyone ever looked at using different height stands as another form of strategic play. For example there are 3 stands at heights 1,2 and 3. If a ship at height stand 3 attacks a ship at height stand 2 it must add +1 to it attack range distance. Just thinking about ways to adjust attacking aspects of ships being in the trench by ships above the general surface.

For movement i am thinking that you could easily make changes. Example. Tie fighter at height 3 wants to to do a hard turn 3 down to height 2. Player will then use a hard turn 2 template instead and put the ship on a height 2 stand. An action like barrel role could also be used instead if a ship allows barrel role.

It would mean that i will need to construct more complicated stands but i do think that using different heights would add a lot to the Death Star surface battle. Possibly just making a longer stand posts by using magnetised sections being added to each other for could be an easy solution.

Too complicated?

Anyhow, lots of things to talk about as i work on casting tiles.

Cheers Eboli

In regards to your tiles ; they look like a close resemblance to these..

http://www.tomspinadesigns.com/custom-themed-furniture-star-wars-death-star-home-theater.html

Needless to say ; now there are 3 death star boards that make me drool lol

This is unacceptable!!

.. one of your Tie Fighters is flying backwards.

Seriously though, looks good. I'm very interested to see how you tackle the 'flat playing surface' issue and doubly interested to see this great board painted. Well done mate.

.. one of your Tie Fighters is flying backwards.

Clearly he is covering their 6.

Looks cool! If memory serves, I saw a Kickstarter campaign for this, or something similar last year, or so. A friend of mine popped for the complete set, I believe.

Ah, I realised after taking the photos that the left Tie Fighter was facing the wrong direction Was hoping no-one would pick it up...

The original tiles I obtained from a Star Wars fanatic in the UK who made them herself and created a mold for resin purposes. I was not actually aware of a kickstarter from last year but will see what I can find of those tiles.

The mold is made using a silicone material that is very flexible and can create very good detail and longevity. Resin can be used for casting but it does tend to create more wear and tear than using Hydrostone plaster.

Cheers all!