Here's one for you…

i know everyone is amassing large fleets of ships, but that's going to get a little crowed on a 3' x 3' area.  I know there is no limit to the size, but there is to my arm length.

To my dodgy calculations, I can comfortably reach around 2ft, making the width of an area around 4ft (length not an issue at this width).  So should we consider that a 4' x 4' area is the maximum square space ?  I mean with a 5' x 5' or 6' x 6' table it will be tricky to move the ships at the centre, plus its even more of a stretch for the "you're a little short for a stormtrooper" brigade.

I think that layouts for the Trench Run would look really cool at 4' x 6' or 4' x 8'; given the scale of the DS.

thoughts ?

Best play area so far for larger battles so far for us has been 4x8 with larger ships or objectives traveling the longer direction across the board so many inches a turn for each side.  Getting above that wideth is gets a little hairy on moving minis without knockovers…

No reason we have to confine it to a square - 3x4, 3x6, 4x6, 4x8 all work fine as you scale up the sizes of the battles, or the scenarios.

You can also make for a longer range run by playing from the shorter edges of a 4x6-8 table - this one is particularly good for a larger scale Asteroid escape missino, where the one team sets up in th center, and the other on th 4' edges.

JustinKase said:

Absolutely. I think it works better in a rectangular shape - more space (pun unavoidable…)

Leaving aside point values, are 12 ships (6 ships/side for example) too many in a 3 x 3, or can it handle more without being too messy ?
 

cert13 said:

The 4 x 8 sounds awesome !  Plenty of scope for formation flying/attacks.

Where I play we use a 4' x 8' table and it's perfect. It is plenty of room to throw your movement markers and keep the dice out there and still plenty of room to even keep your pilot cards and tokens out too. I highly recomment this size for anything more than the normal core box set.

I think any size works but like all games it needs to be more than just a blank empty space.  Anything above the 3x3 I would recommend two sets of astroids to break up the area, not just a center few but scattered all around the playing field.  The square lay out makes a more balanced game play for all with the tabels with longer edges favoring the more manuverable ships better while making a formation attack possible.

 I think 3 feet between player sides is a must, but making the board longer for larger games is probably necessary.  I'd say 3x4/5.

 I have a 4x4 mat for my minis and it seems to be working fine

Do not underestimate the fun involved in the chaos of having 10+ ships swarming around on a 3x3 or 4x4 table  its really pumps the stick and move feeling some of the dog fights in the movie give you.