Space Mats?

cheapest option, get down your local fabric warehouse, buy a small roll of black felt, or other heavy cloth, then spray on nebulae, starfields etc. simple, cheap.. a lot cheaper than the rubber space mats and unique too.
 
I concur with this suggestion. I got a piece of felt cut to size for about £7. Then my (then) 5 year old daughter and I attacked it with white paint to create a star field. We even turned a spillage into the Madelaine nebula :D . There are some beautiful mats out there but all are out of my price range, and the homemade variety has lasted five odd years and is still going strong today. I'll post a pic later.
 
I have to concur.
I have two really nice star mats from my SFB/Fed Comm events. But when I was planning the recent NashCon tourney, I realized I needed enough mats for 4 to 6 simultaneous games/demos.

I went to the fabric store, bought some black felt and with a little help from the Wal-mart paint section, I soon had six 4 foot x 4 foot mats, one 4 foot x 6 foot mat, and even a massive 4 foot x 8 foot Battle of Kh'rtis Rock mat. And had enough felt left over to make dust clouds... asteroid fields... comets... etc. for all 8 mats.
 
Thanks - I saw the Hotz mats and think they might be a bit pricey - the "length of black cloth splattered with paint" sounds about right, and might be a fun family project to boot!
 
climbingamountain said:
Thanks - I saw the Hotz mats and think they might be a bit pricey - the "length of black cloth splattered with paint" sounds about right, and might be a fun family project to boot!

and as scoutdad said, if you have a bit more than you need, that can be cut and painted seperately so you have variable terrain too.
 
We currently use a Hotz mat; not the most expensive or most inexpensive. Plain black felt map maybe with some paint would be the cheapest route.

Here is an idea we have been toying with:

Building frame for space board using 2"x2", the cover/playing field would be a single sheet of polished and airbrushed plastic. Drill tons of micro sized holes in board and fit with fiber optic lighting to give a real star field effect. Rotating color wheel could be rigged up also to have the color of the fiber optic change and swirl. We already use half-spherical planets and stars on rotating bases to give a rotational effect.
 
http://www.mondayknight.com/Index-Mats.html

I've used a Monday Knight Productions (MKP) mat for the last 12+ years and while not totally cheap, it certainly holds up.

http://www.hotzmats.com/1_mat_postage.html

Generally a bit pricier, Hotz Mats are very nice but if the one you order is not in stock, they can be a bit slow.

http://corseceng.com/fabric-mats/

Corsec seems very pricey but gorgeous. I use their stands/mounting system and their service is excellent.

http://terrainmat.com/GalaticMat1.1.html

I have Terrain Mat seascape mats that I really like. They can be pricey as well but unlike Hotz in Canada and MKP and Corsec in the US, Terrain Mat is UK based.

http://www.theterrainguy.com/femasksesphe.html

Sells MKP terrain mats but sometimes at a better price. Also US based.
 
I've got two of the MKP starmat... one with 2" hexes and one blank.
They've seen a lot of use over the years and have held up well.
 
I just use the backside of the Citadel Battlemat by Games Workshop. It is black fabric that you could spatter stars onto if you wanted and the front side could be used for other games that require green flock. It is very cheap compared to the competition ($33) and the quality is excellent.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod2060001
 
climbingamountain said:
Well, we already have the Citadel Battlemat, which we use for Warmachine (and we did use for 40k until we lost the rulebook).

wouldn't worry about that, it's due a new rulebook in the next 15 seconds anyway, ooh, there it is, oh , wait, another one is due tomorow. . .
 
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