Well its cheap and one 4x8 sheet can work for this board and a trench I wanna build. I originally was g onna use foamcore but big sheets were ridiculous priced. Maybe ill keep looking my wife is pissed im even considering spraying that adhesive in the house anyway so thats why I asked. Its 13º here so outside is out.

I just finished making a very basic play mat for X-Wing:

You can check out how I did it at my blog: http://littlemens.blogspot.com/2012/12/what-do-we-want-cure-for-adhd.html

WarLokk said:

Both, I made three types of of it. One is just one piece hemmed up on the sides, another is double sided for the fabric and the other I had a rubber mat that I glued it on. I take both of the pure fabric ones with me when I go to the LGS or other peoples places to play.

Mine's not finished yet, but here's what it looks like so far.

Close up of the planet for you.

I did all this buy using only these items.

These are all very cool, though I certainly hope FFG is working with Lucasfilm to create some official versions of these ideas.

The one thing I do hope is that at least one of whatever they offer is a simple Star Wars star field (it IS distincitve, to my eye anyhow) without the crazy nebulae and hubble-esque space eye candy. I can appreciate these looks under certain circumstances but they largely come off to me like murals from vans in the 70s. I wouldn't mind a little visual interest like a planet horizon on an edge or something but I do hope we can get at least one beautiful starfield.

One doesn't have to think too long on other possibiities:

Death Star Surface (I even think there could/should be a way to deliver a version that has 3D elements to it (snap-ins?). As an aside The 3D Death Star surface at the FFG Event Center is utterly amazing.

Over Endor

Bespin (this is one that would offer a nice change up from the predictable and still be very strong thematically).

Over Corsuscant (call me names if you must but I look foward to the prequel ships showing up in this line)

Hoth (for when we get the Snowspeeder and ATATs - they HAVE to make them right?!

Certain there is much more possibility. Just spinning at thoughts. Really enjoying this game.

picasaweb.google.com/m/viewer?fgl=true&pli=1#slideshow/106062366164643223693/5835212467183627041Here is a printed copy of DagobahDave's Death Star trench run map, it's only 41" x 41" not the 50"x48", Staples couldn't hit the 48" wide mark.

Nice job brother, are the tiles 10cm square to match the range ruler? I love the fact that you can rearrange, later you can create even more customized game squares and possibly smaller ones for placing objects like asteriods within the board instead of on top. Or just use a normal square and place the object in the center for simplicity and create one with an object toward one corner that can be rotated any direction to fit the type of game your setting up for. All in all I think I would like to emulate what you have begun.

I have a 3' x 3' piece of black felt which works great, especially given that I travel to play a lot. It works good for reducing the the amount of slide on an accidental bump and folds up for easy travel. The only issue I have had with it is that from time to time you will snag your move marker as you are trying to place it. I prefer the felt over wood, plastic, and vynil because it of its ability to reduce unwanted sliding.

I am using the new GF9 4x4 Space Mats. There are two different designs so far with more coming.

http://wargamerontour.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/kessel-run.html?m=0

Chris

GF9 mats are not Available yet per their website

They are. They just haven't updated that portion yet. Just got mine about 4days ago. You can see it in my "my set up" post, just a few down on the main page.

lnmyer said:

They may really want to update that they are in stock. I want to buy one of there mats, but want to wait until they were in stock. So every time I go to the site and see they not in, I don't buy. Companies loss money that way.

I ordered it tuesday, should be here on monday. Pretty quick. I wanted a good mat for when wave 2 comes in.

I found a 36x48 piece of foam core for $12 at Hobby Lobby yesterday. Very basic but functional.

For folks who have been using the vinyl banners, how well are they working as a playing surface?

I was just poking at the CorSec site, they've currently pulled the mats and are retooling to make them with a thicker materail and cheaper price. No more details yet. I'm hoping they'll have some on hand at Cold Wars in March.

I got tired of waiting around for something I ordered to show up, cancelled my order and made one myself with supplies from a craft store

All told cost me CDN$ 25 including taxes.

It's just a piece of foam core board, it was originally 40"x60" and they cut it to a 40x40 for me for free using their framing cutter. Which was handy because the 40x60 wouldn't fit in the car with the car seat in the back…

$1.70 for each colour of acryllic paint, white, yellow, blue and red, and some painters tape at home for the line. Then just took a cheap wide bristle brush and flicked it at it.

Might not be "professional" but it plays well and looks good in my estimation.

Took no more than an hour and a half to make, start to finish.

I don't like tons of nebulae, preferring the look of the black of space, plus I find it more adaptable.

I apologize the pictures aren't stellar, they are from my phone.

Next on the list, polystyrene asteroids and cotton wool nebula as obstacles.

Hello all. I just started playing with only about 5 games under my belt. I had to get myself a play mat so I rolled the dice on Bannersonthecheap.com . I paid 25$ including the shipping for a 3x3 vinyl play mat. The photo area is a standard 3x3 with a 1 1/8 inch border. It came to my door in 4 days.. They shipped it out the next day after I ordered it. My only complaint with it really is that its a little reflective. My lights where I took the picture only increase that effect in the photos. Bannersonthecheap.com I've got to rate this 10/10.. super fast shipping, great product, CHEEP.

Also the graphic is from this website. Bannersonthecheap lets you import any photo to use.

http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/top100/

I got one from Banners on the Cheap earlier this week. I placed the order early last Wednesday morning and got the notice less than 24 hours later that it had already shipped! I used a pic of the Trifid Nebula. It looks BEAUTIFUL! Yes, quite shiny but taking into account the high quality of the mat and how inexpensive it was, that's a very small trade-off.

A bit of advice though: Banners on the Cheap requires that your upload be 20 MB or less. I would STRONGLY recommend that your image file be as close to that limit as it possibly can. You want as high a resolution as possible. That is the one problem I would honestly say I'm having with this first mat, and that's my own fault. It's still gorgeous to behold and is going to see lots of play on it but if you can at all make the image sharper on it without costing more, absolutely do it.

I'm thinking of getting at least two more made by them soon. One just "regular" deep space with stars and another with nebulae/gaseous background. Perhaps even a 4x4 mat: with a regular 3x3 area and a 6" area on all sides to put cards, tokens etc. on it :-)

I managed to get my asteroids done.

Pretty happy with them thus far.

Simple to make as well.

Start with dense polystyrene balls from a craft store, carve them out to the desired shape. Paint grey (I used a GW paint "Charadon Granite" I had kicking around, and let it fully dry and then dry brush lightly with white making sure to highlight edges.

I really love the Asteroids Rocks, it's look more realistic that the tokens, good job, greettings

@ Camarodragon and KnightShift:

The mats look great, but I am wondering how playable the vinyl surface is. Do ships move around easily if bumped, etc. I've played on an "official" FFG tournament map from the World Championships (thanks, hothie!), and found it to be very "slick" and susceptible to easily moving the ship bases unintentionally. I know I am not alone in this observation. A simple felt mat is much better in this regard, like those made by Monday Knight Productions, or made from simple craft felt. I'm curious if the vinyl from bannersonthecheap.com and other sources, such as Gale Force 9, provide a grippy surface to help mitigate the human error that is a part of this game.

TL;DR Do the ships slide around on these?

Well, they're available from the store I work for:

Deep Space - https://www.scifigenre.com/itemDetail.aspx?nItemID=132678&sid=01S1YRSV12UH1N1

"Space Station" (Death Star) - https://www.scifigenre.com/itemDetail.aspx?nItemID=132679&sid=01S1YRSV12UH1N1

I may get a Corvette just for the image! My 7 year old would love it

Here is the board my brother and I made. We used 1/4 inch 2x2 pre cut boards. They were pretty warped so we used some flush mount picture hangers to help interlock them and get them to level out. We then just used a gray primer, which we left a 6 inch boarder for cards and tokens for use on a smaller table (supports itself) or for larger games. We then used black spray paint, some white tempura paint flicked on with a toothbrush, and then sealed it with a clear coat. I think it turned out well and so does every one else that has played on it. For some reasons pictures make it look a lot more glare happy then it is.