A swarm of Gnats

It's been a long time since I worked on spaceship minis, but I finished painting up 30 Gnat starfighters I got from Monday Knight Productions some time ago.

These attack craft will fill out the fighter compliment of my Entomalian fleet for Galactic Knights, Starfleet Wars, Star Navy, and other spaceship games.

These are light fighters, a bit smaller than the Mosquito heavy fighters also used by the insectoid Entomalians. Gnat and Mosquito, of course, are the recognition names assigned to these craft by Terran Transsolar Federation Naval Intelligence. I'm not sure how the Entomalians refer to them.

Interestingly, in Galactic Knights, the Gnat starfighters are kamikaze vessels that destroy themselves as they crash into enemy starships. Guess it's easy for the Bugs to just hatch more pilots.

It's nice to work on spaceships for a change. I'll have to do this more often. I don't need to buy any more starships; I still have some that are unpainted. Should keep me busy.

Entomalian reinforcements

I know, I know ... I already have plenty of spaceship minis.  But when this batch popped up on Ebay at a bargain price, I had to bid.  And now they're mine: four stellar destroyers (Wasp class), two stellar cruisers (Hornet class), one galactic battlecruiser (Scorpion class), and one galactic dreadnought (Mantis class).  Operation Bug Tussle is coming together ...

The Aquarians are here!

Monday Knight Productions has released the final expansion for its Galactic Knights starship combat game, detailing the last of the five factions in that game, the Aquarian Alliance.

According to the publisher's announcement on the  yahoo group, this booklet includes a new type of weapon and nanite armor.  I'm wondering if it also has rules for cloaked ships as well, since that was an aspect of the game's predecessor, Starfleet Wars.

Looking forward to reading this.  If you're interested, you can find the book here.

Back to basics

Because it's been way too long since I've posted about something related to this blog's original focus, here are some spaceship pictures.

These pics come from my 5150: Star Navy demo I ran at last fall's MillenniumCon.

In addition to my usual Starfleet Wars/Galactic Knights minis, this game included ships from the Star Frontiers and Stardate: 3000 miniatures lines.

Look carefully, and you might also spot a Silent Death model or two.

I hope to get a game of Star Navy in this weekend.  I'll let you know how it goes.

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.

Sunday Starships: Avarian SGDN

Wow.  It's been a long time since I started working on the Gryphon-class Super Galactic Dreadnought.  I painted one side of it about a year ago, and never got around to finishing it.  Until today.

My wife commented that this model is too big to be called a miniature.  She also noted that it would make a good murder implement, telling me something like: "I could kill you with this and the police could never match the wound to the weapon."  (We both have a strange sense of humor.)

This starship is the flagship of my Avarian fleet.  While it was designed for Starfleet Wars and revised for Galactic Knights, I also plan on using it as a Class 6 vessel in the starship combat game I co-authored, 5150: Star Navy.

Bonus photo: The seventeen ships that were part of my birthday present, all primed and ready to be painted.

Look for finished versions of some of these ships on this blog (hopefully) next week.

New Arrivals

Ah, times are good!  I passed 2d6 on the post-mission reinforcements table, and here's what I got to augment my fleets:

• Up top, we have the Entomalian task force: a Mantis-class galactic dreadnought escorted by a Mandible-class stellar destroyer leader and a squadron of Wasp-class stellar destroyers.
• In the middle, you can see the Carnivoran Tiger-class galactic dreadnought (right) and Tomcat-class galactic battlecruiser (left) accompanied by a Puma-class stellar destroyer leader and five Cheetah-class stellar destroyers.
• Finally, at the bottom of the picture there's a Leviathan-class galactic dreadnought patrolling with a Tigershark-class stellar destroyer leader.
• Not pictured are the 50 starfighters I also received: 30 Gnats for the Ents and 20 Bobcats for the Carnies.

These are all brand-new minis from the Galactic Knights line by Monday Knight Productions.  They were originally designed for the Starfleet Wars game, and MKP now offers its own rules for the ships, the eponymous Galactic Knights.  I plan on using these models for both of those games, as well as with the new set of rules I co-authored with Ed the THW Guy, the fleet starship combat game 5150: Star Navy.

Speaking of rules, I also picked up a few books to round out my collection: the Entomalian and Carnivoran expansions to Galactic Knights, as well as a reprint of the oringinal MAATAC* sci-fi ground combat game: 

Let me give some kudos to Monday Knight.  They were great about communicating with me regarding my purchase, and they were willing to work with me on the details of my order.  It did take some time to fill my order, but they post this notice on their website, so I knew it going in. All in all, some good customer service from MKP.

Now we wait to see how long it takes me to get all of these painted.  I'm not willing to put any money on when I'll finish, but y'all are welcome to wager amongst yourselves.  Let the betting begin!

*Multifunctional Armed and Armored Tactical Attack Computer

Modular space station

Another painting project: some space station modules from Monday Knight Productions.  Again, these aren't for me, but for Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy. 

 

Like with all the Galactic Knights (formerly Starfleet Wars) minis line, there's tons of detail on the top and bottom of each unit. 

 

 

Notice the dense amounts of detail on these miniatures.  They make very nice space stations, either alone or linked to other modules.

Completed fighters

Here's a flight of Terran Comet light starfighters from Monday Knight Productions.  They're not in my usual Terran scheme because I painted them for Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy, to match the painted spaceships he acquired some time ago.

They're mounted on some "Flare" fighter bases, also from MKP.  Frankly, I'm not impressed with these stands--you can see pitting and even holes in the surfaces of the bases in these photos.  I prefer my own stands made from nails, wooden discs, and steel fender washers.

I don't know how close the paint job on these fighters will resemble that of Ed's Terran fleet (we'll have to wait until they're side-by-side), but I think they look fine for tabletop gaming.

Sunday Starships: Avarian work in progress

On the painting table I have the Avarian Gryphon-class super galactic dreadnought.  As you can see, the bottom of this ship is super-detailed.

Because this ship is so massive, I haven't secured it to a stand yet.  And because I don't have it based, I only have the underside painted so far; I want to make sure the paint is dry before I flip it over and and paint the topside--I don't want my new paint job to wear off while I'm working on it?  Anyone else have a multi-stage project they're working on this weekend?

Ed's new toys

These models aren't mine, but because of the great detailing on these ships, I had to share photos of these starship minis that Ed the THW Guy picked up from a TMP member.  These are Terran (above) and Avarian starships (below) from Monday Knight Productions.

The former owner did a fantastic job picking out the details on these ships.  There were several more starships, as well as fighter minis, that Ed purchased, but I didn't take photos of those.  Still, these pics will give you an idea of the craftsmanship involved.

Sunday Starships: Terran capital ships

I painted the last of my Terran capital ships: a Constellation-class galactic attack carrier and a Formidable-class galactic battlecruiser from the Starfleet Wars (now Galactic Knights) line of miniature starships. 

I painted these ships to match the rest of my Red Fleet, since my White Fleet already has two carriers and a battlecruiser.

Now that these ships are done, I just need to prime and paint the remaining stellar destroyers and starbombers.  Then my fleet will be complete!

As a bonus, here's another batch of Terran Comet starfighters--this time painted in the White Fleet color scheme.

I still have a whole bunch of fighters to redo in the proper colors, but at least they're all painted.  Once I get everything done the way I want, I'll post some group shots.  Enjoy your Sunday!

Sunday Starships: Primed directive

I had hoped to start slapping paint on that Avarian super galactic dreadnought, but I just wasn't feeling painterly.  Instead, I got out the spray cans and primed.

From the Starfleet Wars/Galactic Knights line, here are the last of my Terran capital ships, a galactic battlecruiser and galactic attack carrier, surrounded by the last of my unpainted starfighters (although I have a whole bunch of attack craft from ebay that need to have their paint jobs replaced with my own).

I also picked up another can of gray, so I could finish the Star Frontiers battleship and destroyer and their Stardate: 3000 escorts after my other can crapped out on me.  I'm looking forward to painting these guys as part of the same civilian(?) fleet. 

I didn't get a chance to prime everything, however.  These half-dozen starbombers are almost the last of my SfW/GK Terran fleet.  I have a quartet of Terran destroyers to put on stands, and then I'll have my entire Terran fleet (or both of them, since they're painted in two different schemes) completed and ready for battle.

Of course, this means I've been neglected my fantasy figure painting, as you can see from the poor unfinished Reaper kobold at the upper right of the above photo.  But I paint what the mood strikes me to, and lately it's been spaceships.

Has anyone else ever let stuff sit half-completed for a long time while you tear through a number of other projects?  Seems like I do that a lot.

Sunday Starships: Swarm size comparison

I rediscovered my Entomalian Swarm-class super galactic dreadnought, which had been obscured by a box of Warhammer skeletons.  This big ship is the model I ordered from Monday Knight Productions several years back.  Here you can see the SGDN next to a pair of Superior Models-era Hornet-class stellar cruisers and a Louse-class star armored pursuit ship, which I recently stripped of their previous paint jobs.  The pewter casting of the capital ship is a lot brighter than the lead escorts next to it.

I need to get these painted so I can devise a scenario to use for them.  I've already thought of a title: Operation Bug Tussle.  Now that I remember I have a super galactic dreadnought for the bugs, it's going into the scenario.