Apparently, I was mistaken on just about every count. My bad.

Wow, love that multi-colored star mat you are using Hothie!!!

Is it a speckled fabric mat, or did you have it special made?

It looks superb!

I've seen some nice, black felt mats with small silver, or gold colored specs on them, which would be good for representing stars, but haven't seen one with multi-colored specs like yours, in varying sizes.

Please let us know where you got it, or how you made it.

Different colored, and multi-sized glitter specs, perhaps, which are then sealed on with a spray adhesive?

A piece of that under your Rebel Blockade Runner would make the base blend in very nicely with the rest of the star field.

As for the next wave, I inquired to the officials about that, and just received a reply from what appears to be a low-level employee, who did say the future of X-Wing, and its expansions will be awesome, so there is some hope for new fighters, and other vessels going forward.

I'm really hoping for the following in Wave 3, e.g,:

B-Wing - a nice, heavy fighter for the Rebels

Tie Defender - a super, space superiority fighter for the Imperials, to rival the strength of the Millenium Falcon, and give them a nice two-unit, 100 point fighter force

Z-95 Headhunter - another nice, low points cost option for the Rebels

Tie Bomber - not really thrilled about this one, but since it was in The Empire Strikes Back, I imagine it is pretty much a given for Wave 3

Finally, I can see the Lambda Shuttle being released as a separate item, since it is large, and works for both the Rebels and Imperials

The fabric is a piece of felt I bought at JoAnn's a few weeks ago when they had felt for 2.99/yd. So the mat was essentially $3, and we have 2 of them as well as some plain black ones. And that one came exactly as you see it. But, my wife made another mat from plain black and a sparkly sheer material sewn on top of it. Here is a pic with ships on it:

The pic really doesn't do it justice, as the flash reflects off of a lot of it. She still has to sew the other 2 edges and tighten the sheer material down a little, but it's a fun one to play on too. Glad you like them. The materials for this one are from JoAnns as well.

My biggest hope is that "mercenary" ships that could be used by either faction would come in wave 3. It would be a perfect opportunity to introduce prequel ships, since small mercenary groups would not neccesarily be able to afford the most cutting edge tech circa episodes 4, 5 & 6. I hate the yellow color, but I would love to field a squadron of Naboo Starfighters. That and the TIE-Hunter are the coolest looking fightercraft in star wars (IMHO).

REBEL SHIPS:

B-Wing - Good hull and shields, low agility and plenty of weapon versatility. Downsides would be it's low agility (1 I am guessing) and the lack of any astromech units. This will be a more expensive alternative to the Y-Wing I imagine.

Z-95 Headhunter- My reasoning for this is that the rebellion used them extensively throughout the war with the empire and cost wise they would be a good alternative to the X-Wing for a rebel version of the swarm squadron. They are canon now since the Clone wars series so the "no EU ships" counter doesn't apply. I would give them a 2/2/2/2 since that represents a middle of the road fighter, but I am sure there would be a better stat build out there, if not already.

IMPERIAL SHIPS:

TIE Bomber - Like all TIE class fighters it wouldn't have any shields but could pack a powerful punch with a variety of missiles/torpedoes. I expect FFG to add new weapon cards with these ships. Give it a 1 agility to match the Y-Wing, but I wouldn't be opposed to 2 to help it out with the lack of shields. Maybe it could have a 4 or even 5 hull? It would need to act as a support craft in all squadrons to do big damage quickly to tough rebel pilots or Millennium falcons.

Skipray Blastboat - Another Sieenar fleet systems vessel that could be in the large ship category. This would basically add more tactical options for the largely shield lacking Imperial forces. This would need more tweaking though, but I think it has more potential compared to the Lambda shuttle.

After wave 3 I really hope they go into EU territory with this and avoid the clone wars. Although if they released a clone wars expansion I would probably buy it. As far as a ground warfare version is concerned, I struggle to see how a rebel vs imperial version would work. If they stick to movie equipment then the rebels are screwed since they have what? A few gun emplacements, the Ion cannon and air speeders. The Imperials would annihilate them more often than not. A clone wars ground warfare game would work better since both sides have similar weapons to each other and there are plenty of models to make.