Sunday Starships: Entomalians

This week I present my the Entomalians* from the Galactic Knights line of minis by Monday Knight Productions (originally the Starfleet Wars collection from Superior Models).

Since the Ents are an insectoid race, I painted them in a manner meant to evoke the iridescent shells of beetles.

This collection of vessels isn't nearly as numerous as my Terran fleet.  The bug fleet has the following spaceships:

• Hive-class galactic attack carriers (2)
• Roach-class galactic battlecruiser
• Scorpion-class galactic battlecruiser
• Hornet-class stellar cruisers (3)
• Wasp-class stellar destroyer
• Louse-class star armored pursuit ships (2)
• Sting-class starbombers (3)

I have almost all of my Entomalians painted--the only bare bug ship is a Swarm-class super galactic dreadnought.  I actually have two of these models, but I'd like to trade the second Swarm for an Aquarian Typhoon-class SGDN, the only version of this ship type I don't have.

I also want to get a few more destroyers and a Mandible-class destroyer leader, as well as a Mantis-class galactic dreadnought, but that's further down the road--probably when I pick up the Entomalian expansion for Galactic Knights.

*Although Galactic Knights spells it "Entomolian", I'm going with the original spelling from Starfleet Wars.

Getting your game on

Snakes!  Why'd it have to be snakes?  (from a D&D game a few months back)

I've mentioned before that I'm a participant in the Hill Cantons campaign, and I'm looking forward to this week's session.  I enjoy playing a non-computer version of D&D and riffing off the ideas of the other players and ckutalik, our DM.  To me, this creative synergy is what makes RPGs fun--the idea that pretty much anything you can come up with might have a chance to work, as opposed to straightforward wargames (which I also enjoy) that have a rule for everything.

The HC crew tends to meet once every two to four weeks for an afternoon of gaming.  It'd be great if we could play more often, but real life and geography make it difficult to stick to a more set schedule.

Speaking of wargaming, I also used to be a regular attendee of the Lone Star Historical Miniatures (San Antonio chapter) game nights at Dragon's Lair, but work and distance have conspired to keep me away for several months.  I joined LSHM to get back into gaming after a 10- or 15-year hiatus.

Currently, I get some of my gaming fix painting and blogging, but it's nice to actually sit down at a table and roll some dice against an opponent or the GM. 

I'd like to hear from y'all--how often are you able to game?  When was the last time you played a wargame or RPG with other gamers?

When Worlds Collide

(or: Starfleet Wars meets D&D)

I've posted before about a campaign game involving starships and space battles, but what about adopting the Five Powers setting to another string of linked combats: a role-playing game?

While Traveller seems like the obvious choice, I think it would be fun to stat up the various starfaring species for Dungeons & Dragons.

In fact, you could derive an entire setting from the SfW background, basing the characters on already-existing classes from the B/X version of the game:

• Terrans: 12" move; no special abilities; use fighter experience table
• Entomalians: 9" move; two weapon attacks per round (they have four arms) + paralyzing stinger; vulnerable to smoke/poison gas; use elf experience table
• Carnivorans: 12" move; +1 strength, +2 constitution; use dwarf experience table
• Aquarians: 12" move (18" in water); amphibious; use magic-user experience table
• Avarians: 15" move; +1 dexterity; use cleric experience table

Since this is a sci-fi mod, all characters are considered proficient with all weapons and armor.  To resolve spaceship combat at the individual character level (e.g., starfighter vs. starfighter), just use that character's to-hit number.

I envision exploring a world that was the scene of a massive battle decades ago; battered starship hulks litter the world, waiting for adventures to recover valuable technology (or plain ol' loot) from within ancient wrecks guarded by unsleeping automated defenses or now occupied by strange creatures from this or other worlds--a high-tech dungeon crawl. 

Would such a world be worth exploring?  What about importing some of the Five Powers to a traditional D&D setting?  I will explore that idea a little more in the coming days.

Gratuitous fleet photo

Just because.

Happy Independence Day

In honor of our nation's birthday, the Terran Red Fleet performs a flyby, followed by the Terran White Fleet and the Aquarian Blue Fleet.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

How the hell did I miss this one?

For some reason I had War Games Con taking place in August, but it actually takes place in Austin this weekend.  According to the schedule, it's all tournaments for games I don't play (Warhammer, Flames of War, Warmachine, etc.), but I still like to list all the Texas game conventions I can.  If anyone ends up going, let me know how it was.

Sunday Starships: Terrans

I've been remiss on posting lately; maybe it's the slower pace of summer; perhaps it's the example of all the other bloggers' light posting; or it might be the fact that I'm just plain lazy.  Anyhoo, I haven't posted any group shots of my painted starships lately, so I thought I'd share some with you.  Today it's the Terrans from the Galactic Knights line of minis by Monday Knight Productions (originally the Starfleet Wars collection from Superior Models).

Since these are my favorite designs, reminiscent of the Imperials from the Star Wars movies, I ended up with more of these than just about any other faction of the Five Powers.  I have enough, in fact, to paint my ships in two different color schemes.  The Red Fleet consists of the following vessels:

• Victory-class super galactic dreadnought (flagship)
• Valiant-class galactic dreadnought
• Invincible-class dreadnought
• Constellation-class galactic attack carrier
• Formidable-class galactic battlecruiser
• Ranger-class stellar cruisers (3)
• Samurai-class stellar destroyer leader
• Swiftsure-class stellar destroyers (8)
• Dauntless-class stellar armored pursuit ships (2)

The smaller White Fleet consists of:

Constellation-class galactic attack carriers (2)

Formidable-class galactic battlecruiser

Ranger-class stellar cruisers (2)

Samurai-class stellar destroyer leader

Swiftsure-class stellar destroyers (4)

In addition, I have a half-dozen Terran starbombers painted in nonregulation color schemes.  Of course, I haven't listed the unpainted Terran ships I own: six more starbombers, four stellar armored pursuit ships, four destroyers, a battlecruiser, and a carrier.  No telling when I'll get those painted.