Battle report: Friendly Fire Friday

So I had Friday off and wanted some PEW! PEW! PEW! action.  Luckily for me, ckutalik, the proprietor of the Hill Cantons blog and campaign, also had some free time that afternoon, so I invited him over for some starship combat.  Since he wanted a respite from working on his new project, he was happy for a momentary change of pace.



Entomolians accelerate to attack speed.



It was ckutalik's first time playing Galactic Knights (if I recall correctly, it was his first time playing any starship combat game), so I decided to keep it simple and give both sides the same forces.  We each took four starships: a cruiser, one destroyer leader, and a pair of destroyers.  Although I used Entomolians for my ships and ckutalik used Carnivorans for his vessels, we both used the stats for the Terran ships (the cruisers carried missiles only, none of the ships carried fighters).  No fancy scenario, just a general meeting engagement around a planet.  We started in opposite corners of the map, with the world between us.



Carnivorans maneuver in response.

 Thanks to the planet occupying several hexes in the middle of the board, maneuver became an important part of the game.  If it had just been empty space, we would have just lined up our forces and met in the middle, like when my friends and I played Warhammer back in the day.  Instead, I was able to capitalize on my opponent's mistake and keep the planet between us until I had local advantage.  He was also suprised by the speed at which ships can cross the map in this game.


Targets acquired!

 I won't get into a turn-by-turn recap, but I will say the game involved a lot of acceleration and deceleration, and turning back around, as the next two photos demonstrate.  We traded missile salvos, but I was able to shoot down all of his each time.  Because ckutalik made the mistake of separating his forces, I was able to get a couple of missiles through against his isolated destroyer leader, destroying one of its engines.  That, combined with its position on the other side of the planet, took it out of the game.



The fleets exchange fire as they drift past one another.

We traded plasma fire, and each fleet took out the engine of the other's destroyer and chewed up the armor on each other's cruiser.  By the time ckutalik had to leave and we ended the game, we each still had all our ships on the board--but one of my DDs would drift off in the next turn, and one of his was dead in the water motionless in space.  However, we both still had our CAs and DLs on the map, battered as they were, so I called it a draw.
 

The next turn saw them drifting apart, still exchanging fire.

ckutalik said he enjoyed the game and wants to play again, so it looks like we have another convert to starship gaming.  We even talked about the possibility of an ongoing campaign, where each player starts with a small ship and has a chance to capture or purchase larger craft as the game proceeds.  Not a bad way to start the weekend.

Unfinished business

Like most wargamers, I end up buying more miniatures than I ever end up painting.  As an incentive to myself, I'm going to share a list of all the bare metal (and plastic) in my storage bins.  Hopefully this will get me to complete some of these figures by the end of the year.

Hordes of the Things

 In addition to my unpainted Citadel skeletons (metal and plastic) from WFB and Imperial Army from 40K I need to paint up to expand my existing HotT armies, I have a number of dwarves from a variety of manufacturers I need to complete for my United Dwarven Nations army.  Then, I need to paint the opposing army, composed of Warlord orcs and goblins, along with a Dark Heaven half-orc, all from Reaper.  Oh, and since I knocked over my container and broke all my 40K minis off their bases--again--I need to rebase all the completed figures for my 40K army.

OGRE Miniatures

I still have dozens of armored vehicles and a handful of infantry I need to get painted or finish basing.  I haven't played this game in quite some time, so it's pretty low priority.

Starfleet Wars/Galactic Knights

This is where I feel most intimidated.  A couple of years ago, I went on an ebay buying frenzy and ended up with a ton of stuff.  I'm proud that I got as much painted as I did, but I still have quite a ways to go.  Here's a breakdown by classification of all my unfinished spaceship minis:

• FIGHTERS: I've got 286 SfW/GK fighters, less than half of them painted and based.  Unfortunately, most of the paint jobs were already on these minis when I acquired them secondhand, and I need to strip and repaint them in the appropriate fleet colors.  I also have 15 fighters originally for Stardate: 3000 in need of basing and painting.
• STAR BOMBERS: I have four star bombers (almost completely) painted and two primered.  That leaves 19 more vessels pigment-free and waiting for me get them ready for the table (seven Avarian, three Carnivore, three Entomalian, and six more Terran).
• ARMORED PURSUIT SHIPS: My three Carnivore and two Entomalian APSs are already painted; that just leaves the half-dozen Terran craft, which are primered in gray (as opposed to my usual black).
• DESTROYERS: One dozen of my DDs are already painted.  I just need to finish four more Terran ships, in both red and white markings to complete this ship class.
• DESTROYER LEADERS: Just one Terran DL I need to paint in OpFor markings to join my other Terran destroyer leader in the standard color scheme and the lone Avarian DL, already painted.
• CRUISERS: Two more Avarian, two more Entomalian, and one more Terran need paint jobs to join the twelve cruisers that I already finished.
• BATTLECRUISERS: Another pair of Avarian BCs, along with two Ents and a Terran, are still unpainted, compared to the six completed battlecruisers.  Oh, and I need to fix the one I broke.
• CARRIERS: I just have a single Avarian attack carrier, one Entomalian, and two Terrans left out of eleven total.
• DREADNOUGHTS: Only one more DN, an Avarian, left.  The other Avarian and the Terran dreadnoughts are already painted.
• GALACTIC DREADNOUGHTS: I only have one GDN, and it doesn't even have primer on it.
• SUPER GALACTIC DREADNOUGHTS: I own five of these, but none of them are ready for the table: the Terran SGDN is primered, I need to trade one of my two Entomalians for an Aquarian, I need to paint my Avarian, and I need to strip my Carnivoran before I can paint it.
• OTHER: I have five additional Stardate: 3000 pursuit ships (these are small scouts, interceptors, and assault craft that are too big to use as fighters but too tiny to use as star bombers--maybe they'll be shuttles or scenario objectives) and an unassembled Cepheus-class attack carrier that looks to be a pain in the ass to put together.  I also have a space station from Battlfleet Gothic that will be easy to assemble and paint but I just haven't gotten around to yet.  Then there are my ideas for a scratchbuild asteroid outpost using spare bits and a rock I found in the driveway and a scratchbuilt agri-ship along the lines of Silent Running, and who knows what else ...

There you have it.  Of course, I can't foresee getting all my spaceship minis on the table in a single game (at least one that's playable in less than a weekend), but it would be nice to have them all painted whenever I need a certain ship type for a game.  Of course, designing such a scenario would be challenging, and I do like designing scenarios.  Hmmm ....

Tékumel and star travel

I'm not very familiar with the world of Tékumel, the setting for the role-playing game Empire of the Petal Throne, but some of the followers of this blog are (I'm talking to you, Chris).  It's for these readers that I mention a new blog called Ix.

Although very new and focused primarily on roleplaying, I thought it interesting that the blog's author, The Drune, has dedicated a couple of posts to Tékumel's sci-fi background.  Although EPT is a fantasy game, the world of Tékumel was settled by interstellar travellers, including Terrans.  The Drune examines Humanspace Empires in one post, and applies that knowledge to map Humanspace (pictured above) in another post.

The setting of Tékumel has some 60,000(!) years of backstory.  Although starship combat isn't something you usually see while playing Empire of the Petal Throne, with sixty millennia of history, I bet there's room in there somewhere for space battles between the Five Powers ....

New planet discovered

I'm proud to announce that a fellow gamer has followed my planet-making tutorial and created his own world for use in starship combat games.  Starship Combat News member Sting52jb has posted photos of his project in this thread at the SCN forums.

And he's not stopping with just one, like I did; Sting52jb says he plans to make six planets, each a different type, for use as campaign objectives.  Not only that, but he's working on orbital installations such as satellites, shipyards, and space colonies.  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of his terrain and his campaign rules, once he completes them.

I have to say, it's very flattering to see someone else do a project I posted about.  I'm thrilled my blog can inspire others in their own gaming.  If anyone else uses something I posted about for their own wargaming project, please let me know, and I will be happy to blog about it here.

Happy New Year!

As our planet begins another journey around its primary, and the Dreadnought launches its traditional January 1 fighter flyby, I wish you all a prosperous and safe 2011.

2010: The Year I Made Contact

This Wasp-class destroyer was one of the ships I painted this year.

As I coast through the last few hours of the year, I've been thinking about what I accomplished gaming-wise in 2010. Among the highlights:

• I started this blog.
• I ran a starship game at a wargaming convention.
• I painted a few spaceships.
• I painted a planet for spaceship games.
• I painted some more spaceships.
• I tried out War Rocket.
• I played lots of Hordes of the Things.
• I played some Galactic Knights.

I didn't get to play as much as I wanted to (I never do), but sll in all, it was a pretty good year for me when it comes to wargaming.

What's in store for 2011?  More wargaming, of course.  I want to run a convention game again, at Millennium Con next fall and at Chimaera Con in the spring.  And, of course, more painting of this never-shrinking pile of lead. 

What are your gaming plans for the next twelve months?  Feel free to let me know in the comments, and I'll see you next year.

Unknown vessels approaching

ALERT: Scanners detecting incoming bogeys.  Two unidentified craft, approaching at .6 c, unfamiliar design:

I took this photo without a flash and heavily manipulated it.

Tonight I painted up a couple of Silent Death minis that I had acquired sometime back.  SD is a game of space fighter combat, so these figures are meant to represent individual attack craft.  Since they're about 1&7/8 inches (46mm) long--about the size of a Starfleet Wars/Galactic Knights destroyer--they can also serve as larger ships in other starship combat games.

They're not blurry when I have the flash on.

These models by RAFM are part of the Night Brood faction (whatever that is); this particular design is known as the Muskellunge (whatever that is).  I like the lines on these ships.  The insectoid design means I could use them as new Entomalian designs.  These ships could also serve as civilian luxury yachts, racers, cargo ships, pirates, or even a new alien species.

The Violeta.

The Goldie.

Since I'm not sure how I'll end up using these ships, I didn't paint them in the colors of any of the Five Powers.  Instead, I had a little fun, ending up with bright gold and electric purple effects for these craft.  I'm looking forward to getting these gals on the table, once I figure out their role.