A few of my favorite posts

With a few of my favorite starships.

I started this blog because I wanted to see more material about miniature starship gaming. I kept doing it (off-and-on) because I enjoy it. I'm obviously pretty happy with what I post to Super Galactic Dreadnought. Still, there are some posts that I'm especially proud of:

Interview with Starfleet Wars sculptor Scott R. Spicer

In order to learn more about the game and the minis I enjoy, in 2011 I emailed Scott Spicer, who worked with his father Ron Spicer to sculpt the Starfleet Wars models for Superior Models. Scott graciously responded with an essay about the creation of those fantastic sculpts that gave new insight into this line of miniatures.

In-depth examination of Starfleet Wars rules

I took a multi-part, up-close look at the rules that I had originally derided as too complicated. Turns out the game play is pretty elegant, and this review inspired me to run and play several games of Starfleet Wars, including a short-lived campaign.

Release of 5150: Star Navy rulebook

My very own  published starship combat rules, co-authored with Ed Teixeira of Two Hour Wargames. The Star Navy ruleset was the result of playtesting, revision, and more playtesting. I had a blast developing this game with Ed, and I'm really happy with how it came out. 

Running Holmes Basic D&D

I got to play the version of the game that introduced me to roleplaying--Dungeons & Dragons. I DM'd for a group of players who hadn't sat down for some good old-fashioned dungeon crawling for years--or even decades. I got to create and run my very own attempt at a megadungeon. Although it was only a few sessions, it was fun while it lasted.

Those are some of my favorites. Readers, what about you? Any posts on SGDN that really stood out for you?

More anniversary starship pics

As my weeklong celebration of Super Galactic Dreadnought's fifth birthday continues (previous pics here and here), have a look at some more photos of my assembled fleets:

This space station comes from the Battlefleet Gothic line of miniatures.

Another look at the iridescent Entomalian fleet. I still have some more of these to paint.

I like the details in this side view of my Terran Red Fleet.

But the ships look even more impressive from head-on.

I got lots of compliments on the paint job for my Shadow Fleet of ships from Garrison Miniatures.

Here's a detail shot of my Avarian fleet.

And a dramatic overview of the Aquarian starships.

I also have plenty of ships to comprise my Terran White Fleet.

The Capellan Raiders is my only fleet where I didn't do all the paint jobs. The two huge kitbashes (a gift from Don M) and the three Silent Death minis (via eBay) were already painted when I got them.

Here are some one-off paint jobs. I want to use these to run a roleplaying campaign where each character gets a ship.

Finally, the Flying Roadshow. I haven't used these in a game yet. Time to come up with a scenario ...

Hope y'all are enjoying these.

Blogiversary celebration continues

Thanks for all the kind comments on my five-year anniversary post. To continue the festivities, please enjoy some more photos of my various starfleets:

The pride and flagship of my Terran Red Fleet, the Victory-class Super Galactic Dreadnought.

Constellation-class Galactic Attack Carriers and a Formidable-class Galactic Battlecruiser from the White Fleet.

Transports of the Slannish Treasure Fleet (Star Frontiers and Stardate:3000 minis).

A Gryphon-class SGDN with Condor-class DNs and Nest-GACs form the backbone of my Avarian force.

The Carnivorans have their own SGDN, as well as a carrier and other capital ships.

Civilian transports came from the Star Frontiers and Stardate:3000 lines, with a few Citadel models thrown in.

The Aquarians have Stingray-class carriers with a Shark-class battlecruiser up front and a Leviathan dreadnought in back.

The Entomalian ships all have that distinctive insectiod look, including the Hive-class carriers and the Swarm SGDN,

The Flying Roadshow (Star Frontiers minis) is a combination acrobatic troupe and mercenary force.

The Vogon Construction Fleet is another mercenary unit with craft from a variety of sources.

Five years of Super Galactic Dreadnought!

This weekend marked the fifth anniversary of my blog (and like an idiot, I missed the actual anniversary date), which I launched with this blog post. So to celebrate, I amassed all my starfleets and took some photos. The group shot above is a little fuzzy, but I will be posting some detail shots in a weeklong celebration.

Meanwhile, here is a closer look at the fleets of the Five Powers--the original polities in the background for Starfleet Wars, the game and minis line that inspired me as a kid. I also had to share a closeup of my Terran ships, which are my favorite fleet, and the faction I started playing Galactic Knights with.

Thanks for reading Super Galactic Dreadnought, and stay tuned for more starship pics.

Warhammer buildings

Well, it only took three-and-a-half years from the time I purchased the box to assemble the cardboard buildings that came with the fifth edition Warhammer boxed set.

Here you can see the results, pictured with the commander from the Nightmare Legion for scale. These aren't diorama models, but they will do nicely for wargames.

In addition to the tower, there is a large house or inn as well as a small shed. I would like to find some more old Warhammer scenery like this, but this type of thing is relatively rare and expensive on eBay.

The buildings were relatively straightforward to assemble--just punch out each die-cut section and use some white glue to fasten it. I also used scotch tape on the inside to ensure the pieces stayed together. Pro tip: line the edges of each piece with an appropriately colored permanent marker to make it look less like paper and more like a building.

These three structures will make a nice area to fight over or around once I have some Oldhammer forces to put on the table. They will also go well as terrain for Song of Blades and Heroes games, or even Book of War.

Marlinko, man

The latest installment in the Hill Cantons canon arrived in my mailbox this week: Fever-Dreaming Marlinko. I've had the PDF for awhile, but I like my games in print, not just pixels. This product, the result of a stretch goal from the Slumbering Ursine Dunes kickstarter, describes the city of Marlinko (nee Marlankh--you can still see a couple of serial numbers that didn't get filed off), which served as an adventuring base for our tabletop group of adventurers.

It's chock-full of adventure hooks, colorful nonplayer characters, numerous cultural references, and great art--including the front cover pictured up top and this city map on the back cover. So go check out Fever-Dreaming Marlinko, and tell 'em Mandamus sent you!

Stopping the Ogre AAR

Last weekend I took along my portable Ogre setup to an out-of-town family gathering. Defending the command post against my brother's Mark III, I managed to stop the Ogre before it could destroy the CP! It was a rare victory for me as the defender.

My setup was different from my usual: no howitzers, just six GEVs, three heavy tanks, and a trio of missile tanks. I had the heavies and four hovercraft to the south, The rest of the armor and my infantry, grouped in squads of two, was further back.

My brother drove the Markk III straight for the target, and I sent my fast movers in to take out his weapons. Some good shooting destroyed the cybertank's main and one secondary batter early on. And because he refused to take the bait and kept heading toward the command post, my GEVs were able to scoot out of range behind him.

Some of my armor did get too close and ended up crushed beneath the treads, but my GEVs and missile tanks were able to bombard the Ogre's treads and slow it down, enabling the infantry to pace the monstrous robot tank.

In the end, I stripped the treads and weapons while the Ogre was well short of the command post. I feel good now that I have another victory against the Mark III. Now it's time to start mastering the Mark V defense ...

Scatter terrain for Zombieville

I picked up some scatter terrain for my brother's All Things Zombie work-in-progress. These are all from Reaper Minis' Bones line. Here you see them with some Heroscape minatures for scale.

The shipping containers and dumpsters are all made from hard plastic. I just gave them a coat of spaypainted color, and they look pretty good next to Agent Smith (or is that Agent Coulson?). The only problem is that the dumpsters are a lot bigger than they are in real life--almost as high as the shipping containers.

This weapons locker is also made from hard plastic and just took a coat of spraypaint. It looks even better now that I painted some black details onto it.

These wooden crates were made of the softer Bones material. I painted them a tan color with a brush, then drybrushed a lighter shade of tan, followed by an ivory white. The Bones terrain offerings are pretty cool, and I recommend them for your modern and sci-fi gaming.

Portable OGRE

OGRE Designer's Edition is a pain to transport because of its size. OGRE Pocket Edition is a pain to manipulate because of its size. My solution: The deluxe-sized classic cardboard counters from SJG, played on my old Deluxe Ogre and Deluxe GEV maps, with the rules from those editions for reference.

A plastic Plano model 3750 storage box has enough room for all of the components, although I couldn't give every counter type its own compartment--you can see the Ogres and buildings all jumbled up in their respective spaces. But it makes it easy to quickly set up your forces when you want to play a game.

These counters are substantial enough not to get blown around by a sneeze and big enough to pick up and move without much effort, unlike with the microgame. However, I also came up with a system to make it easier to set up and break down the counters for the Pocket Edition.

Instead of sorting through a jumble of chits in a plastic bag, I put each type of counter into a separate compartment in a pill container from Walgreen's. Note that I have two of them, one for the black counters and one for the white (I have counters from two copies of Pocket Ogre, in case I want to play a large battle on a tiny map). The pill containers fit with the map and rulebook inside a plastic videocassette box that an Ogre miniatures set was sold in.

Simple to transport, and simple to put away. Although I enjoy playing the big boardgame--or even larger games using Ogre miniatures--I like having ultra-portable versions to take on vacation. Anyone else make their own Travel Ogre set?