Klingon Battle-cruiser comparisons

I thought I would post some images of the Klingon battlecruisers I have for ACTA - Star Fleet.

Most of my ACTA - Star Fleet miniatures generally fall into the scale of the Amarillo Design Bureau 2400 series of miniatures. I've found that this range of Star Trek minis aligns fairly well with the ranges from Wiz-kids/Attack Wing, Micro Machines and Matchbox (for ships from the JJ Abrams version of Star Trek).

Mongoose (ADB) D5

 

From left to right: Studio Bergstrom D4, MicroMachines Klingon D7 battlecruiser, Mongoose D5 (Amarillo Design Bureau 2500 series D5), and Wizkids/Attack Wing K't'inga Battlecruiser

Given that the D5 is very close in scale to the K't'inga, I'm going to use the D5 model to represent the ACTASF D7. I have other mini's from Studio Bergstrom that I plan for use for D4, D5 etc.

 

Its a nice fit with the MicroMachines D7 battlecruiser also, but a more detailed miniature in my view.

Deep-Cut Studio Battle Mats and a Moon

I just received via Lithuanian post today two mats that I purchased a few weeks ago by Deep-Cut Studio.

It only took about three weeks from order to delivery here in Australia, so a big nod to Lithuanian postal service. I have to admit, I was more than a little nervous that these may not make it here as I have never ordered anything from Lithuania before.

Deep-Cut Studio make some incredibly scenic mats for use in wargaming. They are a little pricy, but I believe, having received them now, that they are worth the money.

I bought the 4x6 sized 'Stars' and 'Deep Space' mats in synthetic cloth. I can't vouch for their PVC mats, but the synthetic cloth are a little more expensive and definitely well done.

The synthetic cloth mats come folded, where as I understand from watching some reviews on YouTube that the PVC mats come rolled up in a cylinder. The synthetic mat is rugged enough to withstand usual ware and comes backed as you can see in the image below.

My gaming table is larger than the standard 4x6 table, so I have kept the old black bed sheet I have been using in the past for space battles underneath the mats. Below are a few more images of what each mat looks like. Keep in mind that these photos are taken without a flash at night time and so are a little muted.

'Deep Space' themed mat

Klingon battlecruiser (a D5 Mongoose mini) on patrol

Romulan "Snipe" Warbird on patrol on the 'Stars' themed mat

"Nice crater off the starboard side, Captain!"

You can see that the mat is a little small for my table, as I noted above.

A larger view of the 'Stars' themed mat

Making Moons
The moon featured in these images is a polystyrene ball from my wife's craft collection that I pilfered. I simply sprayed it in Chaos Black with Citadel Spray and then wet-brushed it in a dark grey colour and, when dried, dry-brushed it in a lighter grey colour.

The crater on it was simply made by applying Superglue across its surface in the desired shape and letting it dry. SAFETY TIP: superglue and fingers are mortal enemies, so keep them apart from one-another or there will be grief!

To make the molten lava areas, I was serendipitously fortunate enough to have some of the polystyrene react with either the craft glue I used to stick on the base, or with the Citadel Spray, or perhaps it was the original superglue I used to try to attach the base the first time around. Whatever it was, and I suspect it was the fumes off the first brand of superglue I tried for the base (and it failed), it produced a pithing around the polystyrene joints. This provided some nice areas to show hexagonal differential melting on the moon's surface.

To make it look like lava, I simply applied a dark red paint to the pithed area, followed by an orange paint towards the centre of the molten areas, and then finally a yellow paint to its very centre. If I was to do it again, I would probably have left more black basecoat in that area, then applied a heavy brown dry-brush before applying the red-orange-yellow colours. Having been playing a lot of Borderlands 2 - The Pre-sequel lately, the moon Elpis has plenty of examples of this colour scheme that gives a good guide for how to paint molten lava for your moon.

The Storm on the Horizon - A Call To Arms Star Fleet Battle Report

Columbia under attack by TheFirstFleet

Scenario Background

Conducting a routine survey in Sector 3715 Earth Starfleet ship Columbia (NX-02) is charting an asteroid field in a previously uncharted star system when it receives some unwelcome visitors...

 

 

 

Set-up

This scenario is loosely based on the Star Fleet Battles scenario The Mighty Hood goes down.

• Open space non-floating map.
• The Romulan deployment zone is in the top right corner of the table. The Starfleet deployment zone just outside the asteroid field on the other side of the table (see set up photo).
• An asteroid field stretches across the map. Density is randomly determined and extends 2 inches (2.45cm) beyond the outer asteroids in the field.
• Not expecting any danger, the Columbia does not have its photonic torpedoes armed and so will take one turn to arm them after the Romulans appear.

 

Special Rules

• The Columbia must escape by exiting the left side of the table. Exiting any other table side, once the Romulans reveal themselves, will result in a loss for the Starfleet player. However Columbia cannot attempt to escape until the Romulans reveal themselves by decloaking.
• If Columbia exits the table edge opposite to where it begins the scenario before the Romulans reveal themselves, then Columbia is deemed to have outpaced the Romulans and they loose their chance to take her out, loosing the scenario.
• The Romulans will not pursue the Columbia once it has left the system.
• The Romulans begin the game cloaked and have the Initiative. All weapons are fully loaded.
• Columbia has the Pulsed Phase Cannon upgrade on all its Phase Cannons, and the extra F/S & F/P Photonic Torpedo tubes are operational giving it 2AD for both the F/S & F/P Photonic Tubes (see post here).

 

House Rule - Slow Reload

This house rule redefines the Reload rule as meaning that a weapon takes one turn to reload (re-energise etc) rather than requiring a Special Action. So in effect, the weapon becomes a Slow Reloading type of weapon rather than requiring a Special Action to load up the weapon. So in this scenario, the Reload rule indicates slow reloading. Slow Reloading means that the weapon can only be fired every other turn. So if you fire the weapon on Turn 2, you can't fire it again until Turn 4. The new version 1.2 of ACTA Star Fleet fixes the original Reload rule to be basically what I am using above. However as I'm still using the version 1 rules and haven't finished reading the version 1.2 rules yet, the Reload rule being used for this scenario is as defined above.

 

 

TURN 1

 

Romulans have the initiative. Asteroid Field is determined to be of Density 8.

 

Movement Phase

Columbia continues on its rout scanning the asteroid field, unaware of the presence of the Romulans.

 

 

Romulans cloaked...

 

 

...move to intercept Columbia, weapons hot!

 

Attack Phase

No action at this time.

 

End Phase

No action at this time.

 

TURN 2

Columbia has the initiative.

 

Movement Phase

The Romulans disengage their cloaks...

...and are spotted by Columbia.

Columbia's scans of the Romulans reveal that their weapons are charged. Columbia's captain orders a turn to port and an escape through the asteroid field before the Romulans get into weapons range and cut them off.

The Columbia enters the asteroid field but elects to move no more than a total of 8 inches this turn. Checking for the effects of the asteroid density of 8, the Columbia rolls a total of 3 for its Crew Quality check. Having a crew quality of 4, the result is a 7. The result is a fail on the Crew Quality check for Columbia. Having moved a total of 8 inches this turn, Columbia receives a total of 8 attacks from impacts from asteroid debris. Rolling the attacks, and applying the results, a total of 7 hits are scored to Columbia's polarised hull plating shields!
 

Attack Phase

No action at this time.

 

End Phase

Columbia commences loading their torpedoes in anticipation of a fight.

 

TURN 3

Romulans gain the initiative.

 

Movement Phase

Columbia moves only 4 inches this turn in an attempt to reduce the damage from any asteroid debris impact. The crew quality check results in a pass and Columbia avoids any serious impacts.

 

Attack Phase

Only one Romulan warbird is in range of Columbia with its F/P Plasma F. However as Columbia is at extreme range it would be a wasted shot for the Romulan captain. The Romulan captain holds fire until in a better range.

 

End Phase

Columbia finishes loading its torpedoes.

 

TURN 4

Columbia gains the initiative.
 

 

Movement Phase
 

Moving to intercept Columbia, the captain on Romulan Warbird 3 enters the asteroid field at full movement of 12 inches hoping to avoid impacting any asteroid debris and get ahead of Columbia, cutting off her escape.

The crew quality check for Warbird 3 results in a success, with no damage being suffered by the Romulans.

Meanwhile, Warbirds 1 & 2 chase Columbia...

...hoping to either shepherd her towards the third Warbird or to catch her in the asteroid field and pummel her.

Columbia's captain, sensing the danger as the Warbirds close in, orders "All Power to Engines" electing to forgo any energy to fire torpedoes this turn.

Checking for asteroid collision, Columbia's crew quality check is a roll of 5! Phew, with a total Crew Quality Check of 9 against the asteroid density of 8, Columbia powers through the asteroid belt exits without incident, thus gaining good distance between it and the Romulans.

 

Attack Phase

Columbia's movement puts them out of range of the Warbirds and in the clear of the asteroid field. So no combat occurs this turn either.

 

End Phase

No action at this time.

 

TURN 5

Columbia gains the initiative.
 

 

Movement Phase

Romulan Warbird 3 heads at full movement pace of 12 inches (successfully passing her crew quality check to avoid asteroid debris) in an attempt to close the distance to Columbia and attempt to disable her before she can escape.

Warbirds 1 & 2 entre the asteroid field at full movement pace of 12 inches (also surviving their crew quality checks for the asteroid field) in an attempt to catch Columbia.

Columbia's captain orders "Maximum Warp Now" moving only six inches straight ahead, ready to jump to Warp 5 at the end of the turn and escape the Romulans who can only reach Warp 4.3 at top speed.
 

Attack Phase

The Romulans have yet to open fire on Columbia. Columbia's captain, wishing not to start the shooting, holds fire until provoked. So although Columbia has the initiative, the captain elects to not fire this turn.

The Romulan Warbird 3 opens fire with both forward plasma F's and both forward disruptors. The plasma's miss their target due to asteroid debris interference. However the Warbirds disruptors are on target, hitting Columbia. The disruptors Multihit 2 quality deals 4 more points of damage to Columbia's polarised hull plating, leaving it with only 1 more point of shielding.

 

End Phase

Columbia makes it escape to Warp 5 intact, leaving the Romulans behind.

Escape!

Final Thoughts
This was an interesting scenario to play. The key for the Columbia was to escape as soon as possible. The Romulans could have surrounded her before decloaking but revealed themselves too early to properly spring their trap. The asteroid field proved to be a crucial addition to the scenario, making it the best place to obstruct the Romulans but also proving potentially lethal if crew quality checks failed. I suspect that any denser a field would prove fatal to moving too quickly through the asteroids.

Now over Easter...

So over the Easter break, what did I manage to achieve?

Well apart form going to my church on Good Friday and visiting a friends church on Easter Sunday, remembering Jesus death, burial and resurrection, and eating a little too much chocolate, I did manage to get stuck a little into the painting backlog of miniatures on my painting table. Having four days off work inspired me to try to catch up. Still got a long way to go with my ACTA miniatures, as you can see from my motivational poster that reminds me to get off my backside and to finish this lot!

I did also get to play my second ever game of A Call To Arms Star Fleet, which I'll post separately.

With the 3,500 point a side Warmaster battle finally concluded (a monster battle report that I will try to write up soon'ish) I've decided to put aside my Warmaster painting for the moment to catch up on my ACTA mini's and get some battles happening for the First Romulan War campaign.

So its back to the painting table.... and also back to work  :(