while it looks really really cool i would think that in actual game play having to remove the 3D versions would get tedious? Its the same reason i didnt go with the ring and ball magnets for my big ships as they tended to move and rotate about when picking them up by the ship to move them during game play...(posted in magnets thread).... unless one triple posted the ships or single posted them so they could fit under or above the 3D rocks... otoh if one flys better than me overlapping wouldn't be a problem!!! lol

The magnets I use work really well. Removing the post when playing through causes very little hassle. They are quite easy to take off and put back.

I hear you about the magnets on ships. However, matching the proper magnets and balls with ships helps, and I really like being able to pose ships. It adds one more dimension to the game. The reality is that you could play this game without the models at all. Just use bases and tokens, but the whole draw to this game, for me, was the models. Thus I wanted 3D obstacles as well. I should note that my magnetic post set ups on some of the larger ships and small ships fixes the problem with weak posts coming coming apart when picked up.

My magnet set up for the ships is a little different then what I have seen posted. I do not use an external ring. I drill holes into the ships and mount the magnets inside. For most of the small ships a 1/8" W x 3/16" H cylinder with a 1/16" hole in the middle works great. Larger ships require bigger magnets. My Decimator is rock solid on its stand. I forget the magnet I used right off hand, but it was pretty big. Since the entire magnet is inside the ship it does not take away from the aesthetics.