My Corellian Conflict 'Board' Upgrade and How-to

By ForceSensitive, in Star Wars: Armada

I did the thing! Made a wall mountable Velcro board for CC. I used token leftovers from X-wing to get some nice visual distinction between token types.

Parts List:

1 - Poster frame (plastic/cardboard cheap kind, 18"x24", $8 at Target)

1 - Box of Velcro strips (cut to size, $7 at Target)

11 Target Lock tokens (X-wing leftovers, not at Target, ironic right?!)

10 Shield tokens

6 Ion tokens

3+ Critical damage tokens (Optional really)

Step one: Carefully install campaign map in poster frame. Be sure to have the hanging bracket on the back be at the top of the map on the front. When buying this frame type, be sure to check the products corners as they get banged up easily even before purchase. Since minor damage is to be expected, don't be overly picky. I don't recommend any glue, the frames hold together by clearance fit.

Step two: cut small square bits of Velcro out, just big enough to fit the sticker circles across the diagonal of the square, doesn't have to be perfect, just close enough. Twenty four squares of the 'hook' side (da scratchy one) and thirty [+] of the 'loop' side (da fuzzy one).

Step three: Apply the scratchy hook side Velcro pieces to the plastic frame cover over the circles on the map. Having the scratchy one as the stationary part on the board will mean you won't accidentally scuff the plastic sheet with them when handling tokens later and the tokens will have the nice soft backs and not get stuck together in your storage caddy.

Step four: STICKERS! You can use whatever token type for each thing that you want. The good news is that the stickers all cover entirely the icons of the original token, so color matching isn't that big a deal except with target lock tokens a tiny bit if you're picky like me. This is the pairings I used:

Rebel presence: Shield

Rebel Outpost: Ion (cannon, lol)

Rebel Base: Red Target Lock

Imperial Base: Blue Target Lock

Base destroyed!: Critical Damage(ironic right?)

The only reason the color matching mattered on the bases to me was once the Velcro is attached it makes it easier to tell them apart in my box because they have the same color backs as fronts. In hind sight I might have switched what tokens I used for presence and Outpost, but I'm happy. If your having trouble with centering/aligning your stickers, use notches on the token or the face icon as a guide. The base destroyed token is optional as you won't need them technically, but I made three anyway.

Step four: Apply same size squares of fuzzy loop Velcro to the token backs centered as best you can.

And your done! Stick away with your new toy. Velcro is surprisingly strong even in tiny squares like this. To easily remove a token, use a twisting motion while pulling the token away.

http://i.imgur.com/j0Lg6HR.jpg

Looks sharp, well done!

Looks great! I would totally buy one from you if (when?!) you go into business! Well done!

Awesome, thanks for sharing.

Great work. I did something almost exactly the same but purchased these cheap round velcro stickers from Amazon ($6) to put on the map and tokens. They are within 1mm of the diameter of the circles on the map:

Thanks everyone!

@lord Prefer: Thought about it for a hot second, but I'm guessing that gets into some legal menutia that I don't want to mess with. Might do a couple for local friends though.

@thraug those were the type I was looking for at the store but I couldn't find any and didn't want to order online. Bet they look sick though. Are they too strong to pull off easily though?

Great work. I did something almost exactly the same but purchased these cheap round velcro stickers from Amazon ($6) to put on the map and tokens. They are within 1mm of the diameter of the circles on the map:

Same ones i used, though i got them from Staples while i was getting the map laminated lol.

They fit the sticker perfectly. Didnt even bother putting a token between them, though i probably should so it was a little more rigid.

I can confirm the round velcro stickers from amazon work amazingly well. I stuck the stickers to spare victory and objective tokens, and they pull off just fine. Just be sure to get the 5/8 size. I ended up getting 3/4 and the Velcro is just a smidge bigger than the tokens. Doesn't really bother me, but I might go back and fix it later.

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Edited by Caldias

If you get the frame about 2" bigger on one side you could cover the extra space with more Velcro and have easy storage for all the markers and tokens not in play.

For those who may be considering mounting the map on a QUAD-FOLD, or 6-FOLD, etc... Blank Game Board, I just ran across this site:

http://www.boardgame...ds_combined.htm

Really interesting possibilities, some great info., and very decent prices.

This is a great idea.

I found a cheap 18x18 quad fold board on Amazon. I'm thinking grab that, drill holes through the spots that would normally be for the stickers to make pockets, and use .4 mil steel tape on the back. Stickers on a few thin disk magnets and hopefully I'll end up with a foldable board where I can keep everything set up even while storing and traveling.

I've never done a project like this, what do you guys think?

My biggest concern is mounting the map to the board. Any suggestions? I was thinking adhesive spray, but am worried about bleed-through and staining.

It's gloss paper so spray should be ok as long as you are very sparing with it. If you get any pooling at all scrape it off with a ruler or something else before it dries, because it's going to ripple the paper. You will want to hold the board at roughly arms length away and just lightly dust it.

How many Velcro coins should I get. I can only get them in sets of 16 so I need to know how many I need.

How many Velcro coins should I get. I can only get them in sets of 16 so I need to know how many I need.

The set comes with 81 stickers total, though I don't know if all of them are essential. 5 sets of Velcro would allow you to make all but one sticker.

I only made tokens for the maximum number that could be put on the board at once in a 6-player campaign, so (off the top of my head):

Empire Bases: 7

Rebel Bases: 4

Rebel Outposts: 6

Rebel Spottings: 10

Destroyed base markers: 0. You don't need to mark destroyed bases on locations if you aren't using stickers.

So 2 packs will suffice. Excellent news for my wallet :P

The map is a really awkward size - I measure it at 61cm x 45cm - which makes it just bigger than A2...

I'm thinking of trying magnets, instead of velcro too - feel like each time you take a token off the map, you're going to be pulling the map away from the board/backing...

The map is a really awkward size - I measure it at 61cm x 45cm - which makes it just bigger than A2...

I'm thinking of trying magnets, instead of velcro too - feel like each time you take a token off the map, you're going to be pulling the map away from the board/backing...

If the map is to be framed, you'd just have to cut out the small area that the Velcro would cover.

I'm really considering mounting the map on folded boardgame material for easier transport.

Edited by Arttemis

I've been doing test runs of the map I built, just to see how the campaign map could develop over a campaign, and with as small as my Velcro bits are I have had no problems. The reason being all my Velcro is actually on the thin acrylic cover sheet, the map is just sealed in there.

It is also currently hanging in our FLGS and we start our conflict tonight!

I only made tokens for the maximum number that could be put on the board at once in a 6-player campaign, so (off the top of my head):

Empire Bases: 7

Rebel Bases: 4

Rebel Outposts: 6

Rebel Spottings: 10

Destroyed base markers: 0. You don't need to mark destroyed bases on locations if you aren't using stickers.

Aren't 12 rebel outposts the maximum? I thought it was twice the number of players, but could be they intended to say twice the number of REBEL players.

I only made tokens for the maximum number that could be put on the board at once in a 6-player campaign, so (off the top of my head):

Empire Bases: 7

Rebel Bases: 4

Rebel Outposts: 6

Rebel Spottings: 10

Destroyed base markers: 0. You don't need to mark destroyed bases on locations if you aren't using stickers.

Aren't 12 rebel outposts the maximum? I thought it was twice the number of players, but could be they intended to say twice the number of REBEL players.

Good catch. I don't have the manual with me (darg no digital manual!) but I'll look it over closely when I get a chance.