WOW!   I like the look….but have neither the time nor resources to pull that off.

I would like to also make people aware of a place where I have seen some great mats.  Monday Night Productions.  They sell some awesome starfield mats that my first games of Xwing were played on….yesterday.   Here is their link…if you would care to see.

 http://www.mondayknight.com/Index-Mats.html

thanks for the compliments!

It worked out about £30 all in and about 5 hours of work … probably could have been cheaper if I hadnt sprayed 2 small test boards. On the plus side I still have materials left over (enough to make another 3x3 board..)

Seems far more sensible than spending some ridiculous amount on a felt mat…

only thing I need to figure out is what spray I can use to seal over the paint (though it shows no signs of flaking etc currently). Some kind of varnish which wont make the board too wet when applied (so theres no chance of colour blending!

Baphomet69 said:

I sent in an inquiry if he could just do double sided  3 X 3 mats with the two space patterns on each side. It seems like something like that would become quite popular for this game.

The only thing that worries me is that 3X3 is the "suggested" game size, so dropping a lot of time/effort/money into 3X3 mats and then having the standard become something larger seems a possibility, especially once wave 2 comes out and squads probably jump up to 150 points.

AlKusanagi said:

I had already ordered and received a '6 x '4 from him before FFG came out with the '3 x '3 info, but now I'm thinking about getting one of the MKG mats to have both.

He will indeed make 3X3 mats, and I ordered a double sided one with the two space prints for $35.

Here is the space mat I have been working on.

I just drew my new play mat In my cam software. Can't wait for my 3x3x38 aluminum sheet to get here . I'll post pics when it's done :)

 I went to a local craft store and bought a 3x3 black felt mat and some white fabric paint.

just have to figure out how to get some stars on the mat without making a mess.  :)

total cost of materials was $5.

Xnath said:

I used a toothbrush to flick tiny star effects. just make sure you let the drips come off first, or you will get big ugly drips occasionaly.

see above for photos of the effect i achieved with it (complete with the big accidental drops!)

above all, test your method on something else first. I went through 3 test boards to ensure I had the correct technique, and some of them turned out ugly!

Holy crap, wouldya look at this!

Like the Death Star Trench Run?

 how did you find the quality of the MKP star mat? on other forums I have heard that the quality is low.

What is better quality do you think hotz felt mat vs MKP star mat?

 I bought the MKG star mat and it is functional but some of the stars are blobby and the mat is not perfectly cut 3x3.  It arrived within a week of ordering.  

I have some stuff from Hotzmats and his work is far better quality. He however has major customer service issues though. It took three months to get my product. He also ignored three emails I sent for information.  I've heard of delivery times ranging from 5 weeks to over 6 months.  So if you are patient and willing to be treated like your business isn't important then go with Hotz. Eric really needs to hire some help, he could easily quadruple his sales if he could deliver on a timely basis. 

Airborne Engineer said:

I had the exact same problem you did with Hotz on my last order, 3-4 months to get my order and only 1 email from him thats why I am wondering if MKP is a better option.

 I have an old Geohex that I used to use for Aerotech. I'll try to post some pics later.

Skeleton key have just released a simple trench run, cheap and cheerful.  Shame there are no turrets though.

http://skeletonkeygames.rpgnow.com/product/106202/Warscapes%3A-Star-Base-Trench-Run