The Flying Roadshow

I finished painting my Star Frontiers scouts and freighter, and I figured out how I'm going to use them in my games--as one of the galaxy's most prestigious precision flying teams, the Galactic Knighthawks!

Comprised of seven stuntships and one support vessel, the Galactic Knighthawks travels from system to system, entertaining locals at airshows, planetary fairs, sporting event halftimes, and trillionaires' birthday parties.

The Knighthawks are one of the top three independent stunt-flying groups in known space.  Their pilots include former military officers, retired probability racers, and freelance corona surfers.

In its century-and-a-half of existence, the Galactic Knighthawks remains one of two acrobatic spacer teams to have employed citizens from all of the Five Powers, and the only group to allow a non-Turing AI to pilot one of its ships on a regular basis.

For Galactic Knights, I can use these guys as targets, obstacles, or objectives.

These ships are also the perfect size for War Rocket as Class Is and a Class II, so next time I play that game I'm bringing the Knighthawks.

As far as painting, I primed white, brushed metallic pearl white, and washed in metallic gunmetal gray.  I then added the color detailing to the smaller ships.

For the freighter/support ship, I didn't add any color.  I think the wash did a decent job bringing out the detail on this spacecraft.

I enjoyed experimenting with metallics, and thought they came out well, even though you might not be able to tell thanks to the glare from the flash.

I'm looking forward to getting these guys on the table!

Under the hood of the new OGRE

The upcoming update of the venerable sci-fi tank combat game OGRE has created quite a bit of excitement in geek circles.  Here's a quick summary of all I've been able to glean about the new version of Steve Jackson Games' iconic wargame:

From the initial announcement of OGRE 6th Edition:

• Retail price: $100
• Rules and units from Ogre and G.E.V., Shockwave, magazine articles, and miniatures
• Three mapboards with 1.5-inch hexes
• Large, full-color counters
• OGRE and building counters are 3-D constructible miniatures
• Only one print run planned at present

From the sixth edition sell sheet:

• Revised and reorganized rules divided into a rulebook, scenario book, and player reference sheet
• Two of the three mapboards are double-sided
• Photo shows what appear to be separate geomorphic terrain tiles for use on top of the maps 
• Fourteen sheets of counters
• Includes OGRE record sheets, dry-erase marker, and two dice
• Vacuum-formed counter tray
• Box weight: 12 pounds

Finally, I've dug up the following additional details that Phil Reed, the company's chief operating officer, has confirmed on SJG's message boards for OGRE/GEV:

• No specific release date other than sometime in the fall. 
• Counters will be 2.5mm chipboard.
• Counters include the Mk III and Mk V, Laser Tower, and LAD. Also Heavy Weapons, Engineers, Militia, Light Howitzers, Mk IV, Mk VIs, Vulcans, Dopps, the Fencer, and the train.
• There are three game boards covering five maps between them: OGRE, GEV, Shockwave, and two from Battlefields.
• Maps and counters will also be available separately.

More details as I uncover them.

Work in Progress: Freighter and scouts

I'm still working on the rest of the Star Frontiers ships I acquired.  The battleship remains bare, but the scouts and freighter are in the process of receiving their paint jobs, as you can see below.

Instead of painting the ships three colors via drybrush, I'm trying a different paint scheme for these guys.  I primered them white, then painted them with pearl metallic white (and metallic gunmetal gray for the canopies).  Here's a closer look at these minis:

I plan to pick out some of the details using different metallics.  Hopefully, I'll finish them up over the weekend and share the results with y'all soon thereafter.

Beanworld army for Hordes of the Things

One of my favorite comic books is the Beanworld series by writer/artist (and former Image Comics exec) Larry Marder.  The series started back in the 1980s, and Dark Horse is publishing it in hardback these days ( Book 1 | Book 2 | Book 3 ). 

"It's not just a place, it's a process!"

It's hard to summarize the concept behind this comic, other than to point you to the BeanWeb and the Beanworld Wiki.  You can also take a look at the Beanworld creator's blog.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of this comic, and felt inspired to create a Hordes of the Things list for the beans' army (of course, I'd have to make the figures myself ...).  Anyhoo, here's the HotT army list for the beans of Beanworld:

Beanworld character      HotT element     points

Mr. Spook                Hero General       4

Beanish                  Hero               4

Professor Garbanzo       Magician           4

Boom’r Band              Warband            2

Spear Fling’n Flank’rs   Shooters           2

Chow Pluk’rs             Spears x 3         6

Pod'l Pool Cuties        Flyers             2

Stronghold: Gran'Ma'Pa

Now, I just need to come up with an opposing army.  Any suggestions?

Completed Star Frontiers ships

I finally got around to painting some of the Star Frontiers ships I acquired via online auction--seven Federation frigates and one Fed destroyer with broken-off engines I had to repair.

Although I already have a pair of destroyers, these frigates are the first of their kind to join my fleet.  With over a half-dozen, they'll make nice transports for games which need cargo vessels.

I drybrushed them metallic black, metallic gunmetal gray, then metallic silver to match my other Star Frontiers minis as well as my Stardate: 3000 ships.  Once I was done, I picked out port/starboard running lights in a bright red/green topped with a little duller version of the same hue.

Still on my to-do list: the Federation scouts and freighter.  I'm planning on going with a different color scheme for them.  I also have the Fed battleship, which I still need to clean (thanks to a little lead rot) and assemble.

Gallery: Asteroid outpost

Last month, I posted photos of some scratchbuilds I was working on: a spaceship and an outpost built into an asteroid.  Yesterday I primed and painted the asteroid with its emplacements.  The tube sticking out is a docking mechanism, or maybe a launch bay for starfighters.

The structure on top is an observatory, or perhaps a sensor cluster, or maybe even a biodome.  It was originally a hex nut I found laying around.

These boxy structures serve as power generators, storage, or living quarters.  They were originally extra bits that came with Citadel's old plastic beaky Space Marines boxed set.

The asteroid itself is a lava rock I found laying in my driveway.  After primering the assembly black, I drybrushed the rock with gray and brown paint.

I used metallic black, gray, and silver on the emplacements, with some metallic sapphire and pearl white for the dome.  I then picked out a couple of points in apple cider followed by true red to serve as warning lights/navigation beacons.

I'm not sure if I'm entirely happy with how it came out, but it should make a fun objective as a civilian scientific observation post, a pirate base, or an alien artifact.

OGRE returns!

It's been a long time coming.

This just in: Steve Jackson Games has announced it will release a new version of the classic sci-fi tank game OGRE later this year.  Although it doesn't include any miniatures, the sixth edition of this venerable wargame does include constructible cardstock OGREs and large (1.5-inch) hex maps.  Good news for fans who have been frustrated in trying to find copies of this long-out-of-print game. 

For tread-head reaction, see the OGRE/GEV message board on the SJG website.  For more details, and pictures of the counters, check out this sell sheet the company put together.

Hat tip: This thread at TMP.