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Recommendations on a Space mat?

 
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Evil Goatee
Ensign


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 25

PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:56 am    Post subject: Recommendations on a Space mat? Reply with quote

Hello guys. I was thinking of getting one big table mat for my games. I've seen one at the usual hobby store I frequent. I think its a Chessex one that is plain black with white hex lines and numbers.

I was wondering. Do you really need the numbers? I would like to play on a "clean" surface without numbers if I can. I don't suspect I'll be playing games where we have to stop for the day and write down our positions. Can you guys recommend any online stores that sell a good space mat with hexes (without numbers on them)?

I've browsed a bit and the only one I've seen come close to what I'm looking for is this one:


http://www.hotzmats.com/mat_1-deep_space.html

But it says its made of felt. Uhm...isn't that not so good? Confused So used to seeing vinyl.
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Kang
Fleet Captain


Joined: 23 Sep 2007
Posts: 1976
Location: Devon, UK

PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 11:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That looks really good. Even though I'm in the UK, I'd consider buying one of those. Thanks for that!
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Sir Drake
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 25 Mar 2008
Posts: 84
Location: Sacramento

PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Might want to try hexless play. Just buy two and a half yards of black felt from a fabric store for about 12 dollars and you have a 60 inch x 60 inch play area. You can add sprinkles from craft pants to add a starfield if you want, but that is optional. Down load the turn gauges from the Commanders Circle and play.
The Sacramento campiagn has been hexless for about 6 months now and we love it. It does take a little getting used to but we think the benifits out way any down side( it isn't quite as precise has a hex field and you need to work out a few odds and ends that the rules arn't clear on). But man it looks cool and it is so nice not to have to worry about side slips any more!
Or get both, I think the felt is so cheap it is worth a try. Add a little time to make the gauges and learn the way the rules work and bam. Any way just my to cents cause you are looking for a play top not trying to be pushy.

Daniel


JUst looked at what you where thinking of buying and I guess the bottom side would be blank so make my post cinda moot. LOL

BTW the felt is a fine playing top it holds up better than you might think after 6 months ours looks as good as new.
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atomic
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 31 Oct 2008
Posts: 50
Location: Memphis

PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 5:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have the plain black mat from Monday Knight Productions. It is 4'x6' with an un-numbered 1.5" hex grid on it. I'm very pleased with it. I've only played a couple of games on it, but it was great (no more "space quakes " when somebody bumps the map board.)

We played the Stasis Box scenario last night on the mat. Ideally, I will make asteroid counters out of styrofoam, but I didn't have time. We used poker chips for the asteroids and marked the bombs and stasis boxes on the poker chips with the dry earse markers we use on our ship cards. Worked really well.


Last edited by atomic on Sat Jan 24, 2009 12:11 am; edited 1 time in total
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jmt
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 08 Oct 2006
Posts: 394
Location: Plano, TX

PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have 2 of the Hotz mats w/ 2" hexes. Placing these side by side gives a close approximation of the standard 3x4 board (same number of hexes). The larger hexes means its easier to have multiple ships in a hex. They work great for convention and demo games.
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malleman
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 12 Jan 2008
Posts: 307
Location: Lafayette, LA

PostPosted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 2:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like Atomic, we use felt maps from Monday Knight Productions . Got two of them for dirt cheap. I painted my own stars and nebulas. I think the maps came out nicely. We haven't had any problems with the felt.

Atomic--for astroids try crunched up aluminum foil. Spray them black and then spay them grey. Real easy and quick.
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Scoutdad
Commodore


Joined: 09 Oct 2006
Posts: 4754
Location: Middle Tennessee

PostPosted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 8:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I also have two of the 6 foot by 4 foot star mats (one w/ hexes and 1 w/o). We use them for 95% of our games, just because we don't like "starquakes". I've had them for many years and never had a problem with rips / tears / or scuffs.
In fact, the only time we don't use them is when we're at one of our FLGS's demo'ing Fed Comm. [It's a good idea to only demo what comes in the game... that prevents a ton of disppointment later on when someone buys the game, opens the box... and doesn't find a felt mat or painted miniatures...]

Atomic:
Two more ideas for asteroids:
I took an old sponge, ripped chunks off of it and them sprayed it with a 1:1 mixture of Elmers Glue and Water. Once dry, it was spray painted black and dry-brushed grey. You can see pictures of them in the Tholinas section of the website in the link below.
I also have a couple of Jindarian ships that were made from old "grill stones" from our last gas grill.
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Kang
Fleet Captain


Joined: 23 Sep 2007
Posts: 1976
Location: Devon, UK

PostPosted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Scoutdad wrote:
I also have a couple of Jindarian ships that were made from old "grill stones" from our last gas grill.

You can always throw them at your opponents when they win.....
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Scoutdad
Commodore


Joined: 09 Oct 2006
Posts: 4754
Location: Middle Tennessee

PostPosted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 10:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shocked

Very Happy I like that!
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PallidaMors
Commander


Joined: 24 Oct 2007
Posts: 478
Location: Seattle, Wa

PostPosted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The black felt is a great alternative as sir drake mentioned above, you can personlaize it and the felt keeps the ships tight to the board. Smile

we have pictures of it in action on the federation campiang thread

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