Sunday Starships: additional Entomalians

I finish painting the last (but one) of my Starfleet Wars/Galactic Knights miniatures.  Just one super galactic dreadnought to go, along with several dozen starfighters, and I'll have all my minis from this line completed.

We have a New Mantis-class galactic dreadnought, a Mandible-class stellar destroyer leader, and five Wasp-class stellar destroyers.

These models add some much-needed numbers to my Entomalian fleet, one of the smaller of my forces.  Don't worry; I'll probably buy some more at a later date.

These are some of my favorite designs to paint, since I get to use a variety of metallic colors for that iridescent look. 

Like all my other models, I can use these ships for 5150: Star Navy as well as all the other starship combat games I like to play.  Since they have an organic, insectoid design, the Ent vessels might work as Bug cocoon ships for Star Navy.  I'll have to get them on the table and see. 

Coming soon ...

As seen on The Miniatures Page, 5150: Fighter Command is in the pipe, five by five.  I've had a look at the rules, and I think you'll like what's in there.

Been distracted

Sorry you haven't heard much from me lately.  I've taken a little break from tabletop gaming and been spending time playing a scenario for Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures, an old computer game from back in the day.

This software is actually a game design engine, based on the old SSI "Gold Box" games that were the first official Dungeons & Dragons games for the PC.  There's a decent-sized fan community, and hundreds of adventures have been created since UA was released 20 years ago (including a couple by yours truly).  The designs range from your standard homemade fantasy adventures, through adaptations of classic TSR modules, to modded games that stretch the software to present Old West, sci-fi, and superhero games.

Anyway, the other day I was bored, so I decided to fire up UA.  I downloaded an adventure and created a party, and it's been sucking up my time ever since.  So if posting is sparse for awhile, this is the reason why.

Some more Star Navy battle reports

Over at the Starship Combat News forums, a gamer by the handle of Remus was kind enough to post some reports of battles that he ran using a modified version of the 5150: Star Navy rules:

• Romulans vs. Dominion
• Klingons vs. Cardassians

I'm not up on the Next Gen/DS9 background, but it sounds like Remus had a good time using Star Navy to play out these battles in the Trek setting.  If you're interested, you can find his conversion rules in this thread on Star Ranger.

As I said on the message board, it's great to see gamers take something I helped create and then expand on it for their further enjoyment.  Can't wait to read more battle reports, so if y'all come across some new ones, please let me know.

Look what I got!

Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy sent me three author's copies of 5150: Star Navy, and they got here yesterday.  It's my first professional wargame publication, and I'm still pretty thrilled about the whole thing.

Sure, I have all the rules on my computer, but I enjoy the tactile sensation of flipping through a hardcopy.  It's also more convenient to thumb through the physical book for reference than to alt-tab back and forth between the existing rules and the Star Navy expansion I'm working on.

A whole new world

I picked up another Styrofoam hemisphere to paint as a planet for my spaceship games.  With the 40% off coupon, just six bucks from Hobby Lobby.  You can see it with a Tomcat-class battlecruiser for scale.

As you can see, it's much larger than the other celestial objects I already have (12" vs. 8" vs. 4").  I plan on painting this newest half-dome as a gas giant, even though a gas giant at the same scale as a terrestrial world would fill the whole room.

It will add some tactical depth to my spaceship games, as it blocks line of sight and provides a nice hiding place for entire fleets.  Look for it in a batrep someday in the not too far off future.

Sunday Starships: Los Carnívorosos

For your viewing pleasure, the Carnivoran starships from my birthday batch of miniatures are finished and ready for action.  The two big ships are the Tomcat-class galactic battlecruiser (left) and the Tiger-class galactic dreadnought (right)--both will function as Class 5 ships for Star Navy. 

The escorts are a flight of five Cheetah-class stellar destroyers, led by a Puma-class stellar destroyer leader.  In addition to their traditional roles in Starfleet Wars and Galactic Knights, these escort ships will serve as Class 3 vessels in my games of 5150: Star Navy. 

 

 

 

I'm happy to add these ships to my Carnivoran fleet.  Until now, the Carnies were one of my smaller fleets, with just a handful of vessels, the largest being a galactic battlecruiser and a galactic attack carrier.

 

 

 

With these ships finished, I just have six Entomalian escorts and a single Ento capital ship, and I'm done with painting all my birthday minis--except for the 50 starfighters.  Time to start basing ....  Of course, I just remembered I have a Carnivoran super galactic dreadnought that needs to be stripped and repainted.  One more thing for the to-do list.

Boring, but necessary

They're not nearly as exciting as new miniatures, but I grabbed a whole bunch of Litko 60mm square wooden bases from Great Hall Games the last time I was in Austin.  If you look close, you can see that the store even has its logo printed on the back of the manufacturer's label.  It seems that we often get in a buying frenzy regarding minis, but then we have to go back later to get additional materials in order to game with the figures.

Hordes of the Things requires all its minis to be based on stands of the same width (60mm for the 28mm figures I game with).  Certain elements require a 60x60 base, and my new armies require a lot of those.  I've been running short on that size of stand for some time, and I have a whole bunch of Bretonnian and Lizardman figures (as well as my fire army expansion) to base for HotT. 

Buying these Litko bases from the manufacturer can take weeks, so I decide to stock up when I saw them in the game store.  Now, once I get some fantasy minis painted, I will have something to mount them on.

What I played last weekend

A refight of a portion of the Battle of Gettysburg, using the Johnny Reb rules.  We had a great setup for the game, as you can see.

I teamed up with our host, Joe, to lead a part of the Yankee force.  Johnny and Marc played the Rebels.

Some bad luck on our part (one of my unit's charges petered out just short of an artillery battery) led to a minor victory for the Confederates.  An enjoyable Saturday afternoon.

Sunday Starships: Swarm in the sky

My third painted super galactic dreadnought is now on its stand.  I refer, of course, to the Entomalian Swarm-class starship.

Like the other models of its type, this SGDN dwarfs other ships from its faction.  Here you can see it next to a Hornet-class stellar cruiser.

In addition to use as a flagship in the original Starfleet Wars and its successor, Galactic Knights, this super galactic dreadnought will make a fine Class 6 ship in 5150: Star Navy.

I like the way this monster starship looms over other craft on the table.  If you meet one of these in battle and don't have one of your own, you should run!

I still have one more super galactic dreadnought to get flying, but I need to strip its current paint job, prime it, then apply my own color scheme.  Hang on, Carnivorans, your reinforcement is on its way.

Blitzkrieg Commander batrep

Last weekend, Joe hosted a game of Blitzkrieg Commander at his place.  He supplied the table, terrain, and 15mm toys.

The scenario was the Germans stumbling across a Russian force attempting to build a bridge over the Dnieper River to bring across an armored force. 

I took the Germans, with the goal of stopping work on the bridge.  But instead of stopping the bridge-building, I got distracted by Germans in the woods.

 

Grant played the Russians, who already had infantry forces on my side of the river.  In addition to the forces on the table, both sides had reinforcements that would come in after awhile.

I had some armor, but it didn't really do too well assaulting some dug-in infantry (machine guns and mortars).  The mortars ended up eliminating that armored force.

And once the bridge was complete, the communists could start bringing over all the tanks they wanted, covered by artillery emplacements on the other side of the river.

The German reinforcements finally made it onto the board, but it was too late, with Russian tanks rolling across the bridge.

Aided by their artillery, they quickly eliminated the German tanks as they made their way to the west.

Fun game, and once again, don't get distracted and lose sight of your objective.  Less learned, I hope.

The Gryphon takes wing

My painted Gryphon-class super galactic dreadnought is now mounted on its oversize base, ready to lead the Avarian fleet into battle.

Shown here with a stellar destroyer for comparison purposes, this SGDN also sports a triple-post base because of its mass.

Just like with my Terran super galactic dreadnought, you can fit the smaller ship underneath the larger one, like a chick under the wing of a larger bird.

As with all my other ships, this model will see duty in games of Starfleet Wars, Galactic Knights, and of course 5150: Star Navy.

Next up is the Entomalian SGDN, the Swarm.  After that, I have a Carnivoran super that needs to be stripped, primed and painted.  But not today.

Victory flies again

I affixed my Terran Victory-class super galactic dreadnought to its triple-nail base, and it's nice to have it permanently mounted.  Before, I would either place it directly on the playing surface or use a temporary stand that made the ship hard to move.

As you can see, the SGDN dwarfs the stellar destroyer now.  The longer nails on the big stand enable smaller ships to pass right under the larger vessel.

The Victory looks great on the table next to other starships in the Terran Red Fleet.  Of course, it will also serve as a Gaea Prime Dreadnought for 5150: Star Navy.

Two more super galactic dreadnoughts to base, and plenty of models to paint: My fleets continue to expand.  Now to get them all on the table...