After seeing a few options at the Kessel run tournament as well as pictures online I am wondering what others are using for a gaming surface? Obviously the game can be played on any surface, but nothing gives it that space feel like a nice star field surface.

At the tournamant we played on 3'x3' pink insulation board which worked OK as the standard gaming table is not wide enough. One player brought a beautiful star map complete with Death Star that was printed on vinyl and worked well (sorry no pic right now).

On the way home I stopped by the fabiric store and picked up 1yrd of Balck Marine vinyl which I cut down to 3'x3' ($16 total cost). I knew from my Naval Gaming experience that Marine vinyl makes an excellent surface for holding minis as well as rolling dice, yet folds/rolls up for easy storage. For now it is plain black, but I may do some minor paint alterations in time.

I kind of thought FFG would come out with a printed mat of some sort simlar to the Wings of War mats they did in the past. As this is the only space game I am currently playing maybe the market is already saturated with them and I am unaware. Even so if FFG produced a liscensed product with Star Wars on it I am sure it would sell.

In the mean time what are you using?

For the KR events we helped out at this weekend, we went to the local fabric store and got some craft felt, some plain black and some black with glitter. Cut to 3'x3' they worked very well, with the felt being "toothy" enough that the ships didn't move around at all. Some players remarked that they liked the felt surface better than hothie's "official" game map from Worlds, which, being paper, is fairly slick and easy for ships to slide around on. The felt is a very cheap alternative - on sale for $2.99 a yard and you can get 2 3x3s from one yard. so $1.50 for a workable playing surface was a bargain. Not flashy but very practical, plus you can fold it up to carry it around

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I use a 3x3 piece of black felt fabric bought at Walmart for 3.99. I then used a white paint pen to put stars on it. Just touch lightly for smaller stars and push harder for bigger ones. It looks pretty good and works great for holding ships in place.

Yes, felt is nice as it is cheap. If you are running a tournament and need multiples is is a good option.

I moved away from it for my home gaming due to the fact that models tended to snag on it and getting it to lay flat especially on larger uneven surfaces could be a pain( Granted I was using a larger surface for historical mini gaming). The Marine vinyl while it costs a more rolls up nice is a bit thicker and lays flat.

Heres my home build play mat made from a metre of black cotton, 3' x 3' marked out with white side lines and a blue and a red edge either end for setup. The plain play area is speckled with a white star field. Not bad for a couple of hours work on a Sunday afternoon.

A guy I played with at the Kessel Run brought in his own mat. It was a felt mat with a space background printed onto it. I believe he said he got it online for about $20 not including shipping. I'll see if I can get the full details from him tonight. I much preferred the felt mat to the paper printouts that the store had provided, and it sounds like a lot of others have the same idea (and on the cheap). Using felt versus a board allows it to be easily rolled up for transport and storage, and doesn't get crinkled or creased like paper. Also, unlike a lot of surfaces (such as the paper at the event) felt creates just enough friciton between the surface and your bases. I don't know how many times (probably nearly every movement) I went to put the template between my pips, and bumped the base a little bit, sliding it this way or that. Yeah, they are small bumps, but maneuver in this game is so important and precise that it matters (especially added up over time) in tournaments.

I have two playing surfaces available that we use:

Hotz mat

And this:

I'm actually working on mine right now. Here's the supplies I've used so far.

And this is what I've got so far.

Here's a close up of the planet for you all.