I went to a store tournament last night and I had my first chance to play on my new Deathstar play mat. Here is my review.

No one else there owned one, so it was fun being the kid with the new toy. (Despite just about half of them were flying Scum)

It looks really cool. Let's be honest. The fact that this game looks as cool as it does is a big deal.

It is really cool material. Like many other people have said it is made out of material more like a mouse pad. But it didn't stretch and it unrolled really well.

It did have a couple of problem. One was pretty big and the other was really small. Firstly is is pretty slippery. You would think that the first thing you need in a play mat is a play surface that reduces sliding and bumping of the ships. Secondly the corners are rounded. That little bit of area at the corners that was cut off hasn't come into play in game I have ever played in, but the point is that it could. The play area in X-wing is square. And going off it by just a fraction of a cm kills a ship.

These are both issues that were known. I bit the bullet and bought one myself. I have an experiment planned this weekend to treat the fabric side with a non-skid fabric spray to see if takes the slipperiness down just a peg without becoming tacky. I'm testing on other fabric, then will test a section of the starfield map. We'll see... It does look great and travels well...

I don't see the rounded corners as a problem at all. Just treat it as though the play area extends all the way to the corners. If you need to check if a ship has fled, place a range ruler flush with the edge.

If you're in a corner to start with, you'll soon be out of it. If you get yourself into a corner during play, you're probably going to fly off anyway.

The slipperiness is the real issue for me.

how is the slipperiness compared to other mouse pad mats?? like the HCD ones because i don't think they are slippery?

Add a washer to the bottom of your bases, and fill in the rest of the bottom with black silicone. Wipe the excess off with a serrated plastic knife (I used a leftover plastic knife from McDonalds and threw it out afterwards) to get a nice ridged texture on the bottom. It is quick, cheap, and makes your ships MUCH easier to move around without slips and bumps. It took me about an hour, including the time it took to go to the store, and cost less than $10 to do about 20 small and half a dozen large bases.

Its way slicker than I like playing on. I was actually surprised.

You'd think FFG would release a mat that was fairly grippy when their game is a game of millimeters.

Add a washer to the bottom of your bases, and fill in the rest of the bottom with black silicone. Wipe the excess off with a serrated plastic knife (I used a leftover plastic knife from McDonalds and threw it out afterwards) to get a nice ridged texture on the bottom. It is quick, cheap, and makes your ships MUCH easier to move around without slips and bumps. It took me about an hour, including the time it took to go to the store, and cost less than $10 to do about 20 small and half a dozen large bases.

Good idea, but I'm curious, what's the washer for? weight?

Yes, for weight. Also, the black silicone stays better if there is an uneven surface to stick to. I painted the whole thing (and the pegs) matte black afterwards also, I think it looks much better on the table.

how is the slipperiness compared to other mouse pad mats?? like the HCD ones because i don't think they are slippery?

It's pretty much the same.

I like the mat a lot. The vinyl ones have huge problems with folds and storage (curling). The "rounded corners" issue can be checked with setting the rulers flush with the sides like has been mentioned before.

I have no idea how durable they are. I loaned mine to a friend who plays a lot just to do a stress test over a few weeks.

All in all I am VERY pleased they went with the mousepad-style.

I don't see the rounded corners as a problem at all. Just treat it as though the play area extends all the way to the corners. If you need to check if a ship has fled, place a range ruler flush with the edge.

Right... and when was the last time someone burned right off the very corner? Can't say I've ever seen it. :-)

I've got an HCD mat that I bought days before the FFG announcement and have played on one of the FFG mats. Either FFG got HCD to make the mats for them, or bypassed the middle man and found HCD's supplier. The mats are pretty much exactly the same. They even both have a minor problem where the mats bubble slightly (no so much to make them unplayable) in a distinctive diamond pattern.

hmm i don't think the HCD mats are slippery? however I do have washers in my bases but thats it no silicone.. yeah i don't like the vinyl mats as they ARE slippery and they want to roll back up or curl..

A small ball of poster/sticky tack on the bottom of the bases works wonders to keep ships in their places. It's dirt cheap, you dont see it at the bottom of the base, doesnt leave marks behind and you can easily remove and apply it

The slippery complaint is always an odd one, because it is all relative. Are the slippery compared with felt? yes. Are they slippery compared with vinyl or painted wood? not at all.

I have an HCD my wife bought me as a birthday gift. Then a week later or so FFG announced the impending release of their playmat. They are both really nice and I'm not all about brand loyalty but it would have been cool to get that one with the Death Star on it. Not that I'm complaining about the totally awesome gift my wife bought to support my X-wing addiction.

Plus side is that FFG finally came through after discontinuing the star field tiles they announced forever ago. My how time has flown by.

I wish someone would make a gaming mat that's got both sides of it grippy and rubber, like the bottom of a mousepad. Just...just give me that on both sides, y'know? Then it doesn't slide off the table and my stuff doesn't slide off of it. Heck, it'd even make gaming a little quieter, because the dice wouldn't be as loud. Everyone's happy.

I wish someone would make a gaming mat that's got both sides of it grippy and rubber, like the bottom of a mousepad. Just...just give me that on both sides, y'know? Then it doesn't slide off the table and my stuff doesn't slide off of it. Heck, it'd even make gaming a little quieter, because the dice wouldn't be as loud. Everyone's happy.

I want my enemies...err opponents to know that the thunder of the dice foretell their doom.

There is one grippy mat, but I haven't tried it. I've heard good things:

http://gripmat.com/

I have the FFG one now, so I'm going to try to make it work. Siliconing my bases is one thing, but the point of a portable mat is to take it elsewhere where other gamers have not done the same means that treating the mat is the objective, not the bases.

I cut squares of mouse pad material and glue it inside my bases. As long as you make sure the material is thicker than the recess, it works great. Much less mess than the washer/silicon method, which I used previously.

The slippery complaint is always an odd one, because it is all relative. Are the slippery compared with felt? yes. Are they slippery compared with vinyl or painted wood? not at all.

In terms of grip: Vinyl is bad. Mousepad is not as bad. Felt is good. Yoga mats are best.

I haven't played on GripMats yet, but I'm interested to see how they compare.

Home depot sells cans of spray-on rubber, designed for coating the handles of your tools or whatever to make them more grippy. I picked up a couple cans and then got a thin sheet of masonite that I'm going to cut up to make myself a nice, grippy playing surface. Assuming it works well, or even if it doesn't, I might try rubber-coating the bottoms of my bases, too. I'll post my results after I've tried it.

GripMats are better than the board I built out of that premium shelf liner... and MY board has been accused of being "too" precise. Not sure how that's possible... but I'd put GripMats at the very top tier of precise/sticky without modifying your bases. I'm going to be ordering a couple here soon! They're about twice as thick as the FFG ones, about $10 more, but I think perfect in every way. Even the square corners

Home depot sells cans of spray-on rubber, designed for coating the handles of your tools or whatever to make them more grippy. I picked up a couple cans and then got a thin sheet of masonite that I'm going to cut up to make myself a nice, grippy playing surface. Assuming it works well, or even if it doesn't, I might try rubber-coating the bottoms of my bases, too. I'll post my results after I've tried it.

Plasti-Dip. Available in spray or paint on varieties, both found with the spray paint. This stuff is amazing, I use to for work all the time as a primer and as a seal. Never thought to hit the bottom of my XW bases with it. Though I'd recommend prepping the bases with some sanding before you try it. The stuff is amazing but it peals off smooth surfaces very easily. I'll have to give it a try myself.

Also of note, it can sometimes be tricky getting an even coat as the spray comes out pretty thick and sets VERY quickly, especially if it's older. You can water down the paint on variety, which can help get a more even result. But for using the spray on a game board just try and keep your spray-strokes smooth and even. You should get a very nice result, and it takes paint very well. You can even die it if you like.

The slippery complaint is always an odd one, because it is all relative. Are the slippery compared with felt? yes. Are they slippery compared with vinyl or painted wood? not at all.

More slippery than any star filed printed on poster paper play mat I have ever used. In fact it is more slippery than any surfaced that was designed for playing flight path games on. The only think that is really worse is just a table top or a 3'x3' piece of wood that one of my LGS uses for their tournaments.

Home depot sells cans of spray-on rubber, designed for coating the handles of your tools or whatever to make them more grippy. I picked up a couple cans and then got a thin sheet of masonite that I'm going to cut up to make myself a nice, grippy playing surface. Assuming it works well, or even if it doesn't, I might try rubber-coating the bottoms of my bases, too. I'll post my results after I've tried it.

Plasti-Dip. Available in spray or paint on varieties, both found with the spray paint. This stuff is amazing, I use to for work all the time as a primer and as a seal. Never thought to hit the bottom of my XW bases with it. Though I'd recommend prepping the bases with some sanding before you try it. The stuff is amazing but it peals off smooth surfaces very easily. I'll have to give it a try myself.

Also of note, it can sometimes be tricky getting an even coat as the spray comes out pretty thick and sets VERY quickly, especially if it's older. You can water down the paint on variety, which can help get a more even result. But for using the spray on a game board just try and keep your spray-strokes smooth and even. You should get a very nice result, and it takes paint very well. You can even die it if you like.

Yep, that's the stuff. I got the spray-on kind. I've been a professional bench carpenter (including staining/spraying) for over a decade, so I know how to get an even coat, plus I already tried a sample board and it turned out fine. But thank you for the tips. I did not know about the peel-ability of it, I'll make sure to watch for that.