Played it and with some knowledge of the rules under our belt this game also took us an hour or so, but was great fun. The "beer&pretzel"-game attitude was really there. We thoroughly enjoyed playing X-wing and still without all kinds of pilots, extra rules, damage cards and whatnot, all the possibilities to open up the game are there. With the simple game and simple rules as of yet we already had great fun, took in the feel of dog-fighting in a star wars setting and are ready for more!
Looking up some sample space mats I thought it easy to make one myself. First accessory for our game here! Order me 5 metres of black felt (synthetic: made from recycled PET-bottles, good for the environment!). I cut of 1,5m (1m wide) with a fabric "pizza"-cutter my wife has lying around. This gives a nice straight line I must say. Took out the airbrush and went away with spraying the stars as white dots, small and big. Then sprayed some nebula by making white "clouds" random with white paint over all the stars.The stars keep shining through at this stage. Switched to blue paint and added it to the white nebula. Mostly at the edges of my nebulae as a refraction look and feel. Also sprayed some of the white stars blue since some indeed have different colors! Finish this all of with red in the airbrush. Other edges of nebula clouds are now sprayed and some stars are made red. The trick is to randomize as much as possible and to keep "dark" patches as well. A star field has a lot of dark matter and space and since the ships will be flying through this it mustn't be too crowded.
Looking up some sample space mats I thought it easy to make one myself. First accessory for our game here! Order me 5 metres of black felt (synthetic: made from recycled PET-bottles, good for the environment!). I cut of 1,5m (1m wide) with a fabric "pizza"-cutter my wife has lying around. This gives a nice straight line I must say. Took out the airbrush and went away with spraying the stars as white dots, small and big. Then sprayed some nebula by making white "clouds" random with white paint over all the stars.The stars keep shining through at this stage. Switched to blue paint and added it to the white nebula. Mostly at the edges of my nebulae as a refraction look and feel. Also sprayed some of the white stars blue since some indeed have different colors! Finish this all of with red in the airbrush. Other edges of nebula clouds are now sprayed and some stars are made red. The trick is to randomize as much as possible and to keep "dark" patches as well. A star field has a lot of dark matter and space and since the ships will be flying through this it mustn't be too crowded.