Star Wars - Wilson Graphic Battle Mat

I recently became the proud parent of a Wilson Graphic Battle Mat to use for Star Wars X-Wing, Star Trek Attack Wing, and the soon to be released Star Wars Armada.  These high quality mats are printed on heavy duty canvas and available through Etsy.  Wilson Graphic's has nine different space themed battle mats available for purchase.  The one I ended up getting was called Blue Tempest.

Wilson Graphics ships you your battle mat rolled up in a poster tube, which makes for a nice carrying case and works great for storage.  Because it is rolled up the edges will want to curl in on you but after a few minutes of weighting down the corners it is no longer a problem.  

The mat is is printed a high quality canvas, is smooth and has exquisite detail.  I love the blue nebula look of the Blue Tempest mat.  The mat is 3'x3' which is perfect for X-Wing games.

Models slide across these canvas mats with ease, which is nice.  Previously I used a felt space mat and often model bases would get hung up on the felt fibers. 

These mats rock in at $60, which is a little more than felt mats, but well worth it for the high quality and level of detail, which felt mats cannot achieve.  If you are looking for one space mat for X-Wing, Attack Wing, Star Wars Armada, or Firestorm Armada games, definitely check out Wilson Graphics.  They travel easily and are a must have if you play space games.

Id like to see Wilson Graphics give you the option to add hexes to the mat and do game matts for World War II and World War I games like Check Your Six.  These games would also require a hex mat. 

If you have kids, a wife, or girl friend make sure you checkout the huge selection of wall decals in their Etsy store.  I have some of their sweet tank decals which include a M4 Sherman, T-34, and Panzer IV.

Read More

Star Trek Attack Wing AAR: The Balance of Power - Search, Rescue, Destroy

"Contact has been lost with our Science Vessel studying geological rock formation in the Dio System.  Yesterday we received a garbled message from the ships captain indicating that something had gone wrong with the ships systems and they were abandoning the ship.  We are not really sure what is going on so we are sending you and an escort to investigate.  Find the survivors and try to figure out what happened."

Star Fleet Command

"YOU FOOL! I DON'T CARE THAT YOU WERE VICTORIOUS OVER THE ENEMIES OF THE EMPIRE!  OR THAT YOU SECURED THOSE CRYSTALS! YOU LEFT EVIDENCE OF OUR ENCOURAGE INTO FEDERATION SPACE BEHIND!  WHEN STAR FLEET FINDS OUT, WHICH THEY WILL, THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY! ...  The High Command is sending you back to Dio VII to cover up evidence of our presence, frame the Romulans, and kill and survivors on the planet surface.  If you lucky when you return their will be no punishment."

-Klingon High Command

Mission: 

Federation - Try to assess what happened to the science vessel and rescue the crew stranded on the planet surface.  

Klingons - Destroy any evidence of the battle with the Romulans and kill the federation survivors. 

If you have not see game one of this narrative campaign and want to know what happened previously click the link below.

Star Trek Attack Wing AAR: The Balance of Power - Investigation Dio VII

The following is recording from the bridge of the Enterprise.

"Sir scanners are picking up a lot of debris, far to much to be from just one ship.  It looks like there was a battle here." (Helm)

"Ensign continue your scans, have you located any survivors yet?" (Capt)

"Yes there is a rescue beacon coming from the near side of the planet" (Helm)

"Comm.  Dispatch the Miranda to the planet..." (Capt.)

"Captain! You may want to look at this? Sensors have found what appears to be a disabled ship.  Readings indicate its Klingon." (Helm)

"Sir it is definitely Klingon." (Tactical)

"Bring it up on the display" (Capt)

"Wow, I have never seen a Klingon ship like that before." (Helm)

"Calm down ensign, its harmless.  Any power rea..." (Capt)

BOOOOOM!!! (major explosion)

"SHIT SIR! It just exploded." (Helm)

"I can see that ensign, I don't think we are alone. Comm?  Status check on the rescue effort." (Capt)

"Sir they are beaming the last of the survivors aboard the Miranda now" (Comm)

"Thank you comm.  Lieutenant shields up.  Lets find out what we are dealing with here." (Capt)

"Comm, notify the other ships to fire a full spread of phasers.  My guess is we are dealing with a cloaked ship." (Capt)

PEW! PEW! (phaser fire)

"SIR A KLINGON WAR SHIP JUST DE-CLOAKED! IT IS CHARGING WEAPONS AND FIRING ON THE MIRANDA!" (Tactical)

"With there shields down they'll be sitting ducks." (Helm)

"Too late sir..." (Tactical)

BOOM!!! (Major explosion)

"Sir we have lost contact with the Miranda" (Comm)

"Ensign, come about.  We are not letting this Klingon get our of Federation space alive."  (Capt)

"Sir the Klingon ship fled to the dark side of the planet." (Helm)

"The follow her ensign" (Capt)

"Sir direct hit, shields at 25%" (Tactical)

"Sir I am picking up new readings... its another ship and its firing." (Tactical)

BOOM! (Small explosion)

"Direct hit sire.  Shields down" (Tactical)

"Lieutenant, return fire." (Capt)

BOOM! (Small explosion)

"We hit their engines sir" (Tactical)

"Helm continue to pursuit, Lieutenant, lock on and fire photon torpedos!" (Capt)

BOOOOM! (Large explosion)

"We destroyed her sir." (Tactical)

"It appears the other Klingon ship is fleeing." (Helm)

"Klingons don't flee ensign, bring us about." (Capt)

"Sir we have taken a direct his to our engines, we are losing power." (Tactical)

"Engineering, I need more power" (Capt)

"Sir there is nothing left to give, she's ruptured the warp core" (Engineering)

"Our escort is coming about and trying to engage the target, but it will be a few minutes" (Comm)

"Sir enemy ship has locked on to us." (Tactical)

"I can bring her about fast enough sir." (Helm)

"There are hull breaches, on decks ten, nine, seven, and four."

"Auxiliary power is failing" (Helm)

"Medical reports an overwhelming number of casualties streaming into sick bay" (Comm)

"Give the Order to evacuate" (Capt)

"Sir they are firing torpedos." (Tactical)

BOOM! (Large explosion. Recording ends)

The remaining federation ship then continued its pursuit of the Klingon vessel.

After locking on to the Klingon ship it fired a full spread of phasers, destroying the Klingon.

Federation Summary

After arriving in the system we came under attack from an unknown number of Klingon War Ships.  The Miranda and most of the survivors from the science team were killed.  However one of the lead scientist managed to survive.  The Enterprise suffered significant damage to its engines and hull and the crew were forced to abandon the ship.  About 40% of the crew survived including most of the senior officers.  She will likely take months to repair.  In total two Klingon ships were destroyed.  We still don't know what they were doing so deep in Federation space."

Klingon Report
Contact with the task force sent to Dio was lost.  The listening post picked up signs of a large battle.  It is safe to assume they will not be returning.  Notify the Chancellor that he can expect a visit from the Federation Ambassador before the end of the day.

Read More

Star Trek Attack Wing AAR: The Balance of Power - Investigating Dio VII

"Admiral...the away te... ound something during their sca....... the surface.  Its...ower readings were li...thing I have ever seen.  The team brou.... back... urface.  When we began our scans on board .... surge... systems failure.... out the ship.  The warp core began ov.....oading.  Engineering is not able to hold it together.... escape pods and shuttles .... to the surface.............."

This transmission was picked up by a Klingon listening station on the fourth moon of Dio VII two hours ago.  Intelligence reports indicate the Federation has be studying unique geological formations in the system and may have stumbled across a substance of significant power.  You have been ordered to penetrate Federation space and recover any information or evidence of this substance.

- Klingon High command

The Klingons are all riled up over a Federation exploration team in the Dio system.  Reports indicate the Federation recently lost a ship near Dio VII.  The cause of the explosion is not yet known, but it has the Klingons attention.  Assemble a task force and go to the Dio system, what ever the Federation has stumbled upon must not fall into the hands of the Klingons.

-Romulan Intelligence

Klingon Task Force baH

IKS Maht-h'a

Capt. Martok

Crew - Alexander

IKS Koraga

Klingon Captain

Photon Torpedos 

Advanced Weapons System

IKS Negh'Vat

Capt Warf

Advanced Weapons System

Photon Torpedos

Romulan Task Force Prime

IRW Valdor

Capt. Denatra

Photon Torpedos

Tactical Officer

Romulan Officer

IRW Khazara

Capt. Toreth

All Forward Disrupter Banks

Polarized Hull Plating

Plasma Torpedos

Crew- Selok

Crew- Centurian

Crew- Varel

Mission:

Recover as much evidence as you can regarding the destruction of the Federation science vessel and what ever it was they were studying.  As an action ships could lower their shields and use a tractor beam to recover an piece of the destroyed science vessel. 

(Note: After long hours of editing photos with effects I was told the phasers were incorrectly emanating from the wrong parts of some of the ships.  I apologies to anyone who may be offended by this.)

The Klingon ships from Task for ba'H approach Dio VII and find what remains of the Federation science vessel.  Debris floats aimlessly around the planet's orbit.  A scan of the area shows several strong energy readings as well as intact portions of the the ships computers.  Capt. Martok orders his ships to move forward and recover what they can before the Federation finds out their in the area.

Martok's ship recovers a part of the ships computer logs.  This information will need to be taken back to the Klingon High command and studied.

Unbeknownst to Martok and his task force, the Romulans are recovering items from the science vessel on the opposite side of the planet.

The recovery effort continues, and the Koraga finds some small pieces of the strange material the Federation was studying. 

Martok's ship picks up some strange energy readings and he recalls the other two ships.

Suddenly a Romulan ship de-cloaks and rakes Martok's ships with phaser and disrupter fire. 

Martok orders his ships to engage, but their attacks fail to penetrate the Khazara's shields.

As the Khazara comes about, the Koraga scores a direct hit with its photon torpedos.

As the Klingons start to come about they pick up new readings on their sensors.  The Romulan ship is not alone.  He brought friends and they are looking for a fight.  

Martok finds himself the target of a second Romulan attack, but his cunning moves evade the attack. 

Martok comes about and fires on the Romulan ship.

As the Romulan ship flees the Koraga unleashes a full spread of photon torpedos.

The Romulan ship explodes.

Then the first Romulan ship reappears and lets lose a spread of his own torpedos.

The torpedos find their mark and destroy the Maht-H'A.

Capt. Warf returns fire, burning holes in the Khazara and breaching its hull.

The Koraga comes about, but its shots miss.

The Koraga and the Romulan ship nearly collide with each other.  Then the Romulan ships cloaks and disappears.

It suddenly appears again and rakes the Negh'Var. 

The cunning Selok prevents Warf and his crew from firing on the Khazara. 

But the ever tactical Warf comes about and drills the Khazara with phaser fire.

The Captain of the Koraga then takes aim and finishes of the Romulan scum.

After the battle ends the Negh'Var and the Koraga scan the area for Klingon survivors.   Their sensors pick up a small energy reading and find that Martok and some of his crew managed to escape the Maht-H'A before it was destroyed.  Once on the survivors are brought on board Warf orders the Koraga to follow him back to Klingon space.  They have found a small amount of the strange material and some Federation reports, but what does it mean for the Empire?

...Romulan Transmission...

"Sir its like nothing I have ever seen.  If these readings are correct this substance could change the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant.  Romulus could once again reclaim is rightful place at the top of its enemies.  The Klingons have also secured some of the substance, they will certainly try to prevent others from unlocking its potential.  Capt. Toreth decided to engage the Klingons. Their flag ship has been destroyed, but we are taking heavy casualties.  The Valdor was disabled, these Klingons are more cunning than expected. We should have......"

...Transmission Lost...

Read More