Cardassian Galor I class ship data card for ACTA Star Fleet

Along with my playing around with developing ship data cards for Federation ships of the Next Generation era, I have also been developing some Cardassian ship data cards.

Galor I class Frigate

This was because of a scenario set early in the Cardassian War with the Federation. I'll get around to posting a battle report on that game sometime in the future, but for now I thought I would show off the odd Cardi ship in among the mix of Fed's I have been posting about.

So here is the Galor I class.

The miniature is an Attack Wing Galor. I am using Studio Bergstrom's version of a Galor as a Galor II and the MicroMachines Galor as a Galor III as each is bigger than the previous. These different sizes provide a chance to use them as Frigates, Light Cruisers and Heavy Cruisers.

Once I get the Galor II's painted, I'll show off these three sizes together.

10mm Ogre Mammoth Riders by Black Gate Miniatures now live on Kickstarter

Black Gate Miniatures are back with a new Kickstarter!

Concept art

This one continues the development of their 10mm Ogre Kingdoms line with the inclusion of Mammoth Riders. The Kickstarter can be found here.

More concept art

Funded within the first two hours, the Kickstarter is now well into its stretch goals. Some of the current stretch goals include Ogre Chieftains, an Ogre Shaman both on Mammoths and also on foot. Still yet to be unlocked are the Yeti's. Which I can't wait to see.

Test miniature with no tusks

So if you are keen to build yourself a 10mm Ogre Kingdom's army for Warmaster, get on over to the 10mm Ogre Mammoth Riders kickstarter and dive in.

Only 19 days to go!

Ogres Forever!

Studio Bergstrom & Woomera Shipyards - Federation Arrow class Fast Response Ship

Studio Bergstrom have added a range of FASA Star Trek style miniatures designed by Woomera Shipyards. There are only three miniatures in the range so far, but more are in the design and molding phase. I purchased three of the Arrow class Scout miniatures to see what they were like, as the range currently only has an image of the 3D designed ship. Well here she is...

Arrow class Fast Response Ship

The quality of the miniature is up to Bergstrom's usual excellent standard. The design is great, the detail fantastic. This is a really well designed miniature. It comes with a hole in the base to attach a flying stand and the nacelles are separate but easy to glue in with superglue.

The Arrow's nice sleek design

The Arrow class is a nice, sleek miniature that really looks like its a fast ship. Woomera's designs are looking really nice and I can't wait to see the next few miniatures to come along.

Detail underneath

Detail of saucer reveals two decks

So, how does the Arrow compare to other miniatures? Very well. Its an ideal size for a scout ship. The miniature would fit with the ADB 2400 scale miniatures line and the Attack Wing scale miniatures (except for the stupidly small original Enterprise, what the heck was that all about making that miniature smaller than a pin!!!). Anyway, here are some comparison pictures for reference.

Size comparison

Above you can see the Arrow class compared to a MicroMachines USS Enterprise refit, an ADB 2400 scale Federation Destroyer and a Hot Wheels JJ Abrams USS Enterprise repainted.

The Scout and Destroyer together

And above is a closer look at the Arrow class and the ADB 2400 scale Destroyer of the Hermes, Saladin, Larson (and its been given another name somewhere also!) class.

So, my conclusion is that it looks great and definitely a nice addition to the fleet.

Now that's a Big Ship! The Klingon B10 Dreadnought

The B10 under escort from the shipyards after a final coat of paint

The scourge of all those who defy the Klingon Empire is finally painted. Here is my take on the Klingon B10.

D7's escort the newly built B10 from its secret construction facility

If you are familiar with Star Fleet Battles / Federation Commander / A Call To Arms - Star Fleet universe then you will be familiar with the largest ship of the Klingon Empire, the B10 Dreadnought or Battleship. Believed to be the largest ship ever built for its time (i.e. the General War period before the Star Trek Motion Picture era) the Klingon's had envisioned building four of these monsters. However they proved expensive and difficult to engineer.

Four nacelle mounted beast!

I wasn't a great fan of the B10 miniatures I had seen floating around. Amarillo Design Bureau have a version in 2400 scale but I don't like the look of it. I have seen some other options for contenders on Shapeways but was still not impressed. However I had an old Mongoose ACTA-Star Fleet 2500 scale Klingon C8 Dreadnought miniature (try saying THAT three times fast!) floating around and some spare engines. So I decided to glue the spare nacelles to the secondary hull and voila, Bob's your Uncle!

The business end of the B10

Given that the scale I am using for ACTA - Star Fleet is the Attack Wing / MicroMachines / ADB 2400 scale the miniature fits right in as a behemoth of a beast. Here's some more photo's of her.

The side only the Klingon's get to see

Tremble in fear all those who oppose the Empire!

A nice result in the end. Pretty happy with this.

Black Gate Miniatures - 10mm Ogre Kingdoms Kickstarter Reward has arrived!

Its a bit remiss of me but I have had these lads for about a month now but haven't posted about it. My bad!

If you troll this blog you will remember that I backed the 10mm Ogre Kingdoms Kickstarter. Well the lads arrived and here are a few shots of them compared to the GW Ogres from Warmaster.

Black Gate Armoured Warriors

I backed the reward that gave me two Armoured Warrior units, two normal Warrior units and four Ogre Cannoneer units.

Close up of the command trumpeter

Ogre Warriors, close-up of the Chief

Ogre Warriors

Ogre Cannoneers

If you are after some for yourself, you can get them from Black Gate Miniatures web store.

Cardassian Hideki class ship data card for ACTA Star Fleet

It would be remiss of me to post ship data cards for The Next Generation era of Federation star ships and not post about their nemesis as well. In this case that nemesis will be the ships of the Cardassian Union. So to open up the Cardassian Union, here is the Hideki class corvette.

Attack Wing squadron

These Hideki are from Studio Bergstrom and are just the right size to fit with Attack Wing. A good sculpt and very cheap. I highly recommend them.

Cardassians in ACTA Star Fleet

Below is my take on the Cardassian Union for the A Call To Arms - Star Fleet universe.

Cardassian Initiative: +1

 

The Cardassian Union is an empire hostile to the Federation, Klingon and Kzinti. Its government comprises a military dictatorship with the entire focus in society centred on family and service to the state. Located on the galactic core side of the Kzinti Hegemony (NE of Kzinti territory when viewed from above the galactic plane) it was natural that the Cardassians and Kzinti would become hated enemies.

The Kzin had always claimed the territory of the Cardassian Union as its own and for many years the Cardassian Union comprised little more than its home system and a few neighbouring systems. The General War provided the Cardassians with the chance to drive the Kzin from space they claimed as rightfully Cardassian. In the wake of the General War Kzin forces were highly depleted and pulled back to their core worlds to regroup and rebuilt their Hegemony. The Cardassians saw their chance and took it, expanding to fill the void. This period of Cardassian expansion brought them into contact with the Federation for the first time.

 
Unlike Federation starships, Cardassian vessels are functional and built with combat in mind. They use a funnelled version of the Kzin disruptor as their primary weapons. Known as Spiral Wave Disruptors these weapons fire a constant pulsating particle stream. Cardassian ships also carry the Disruptor Wave Cannon. A heavy weapon based on the Spiral Wave Disruptor and the standard ship mounted heavy disruptor cannons. Smaller Cardassian vessels carry photon torpedoes in lieu of the bulkier and power hungry Disruptor Wave Cannon however.

Federation / Cardassian relations were strained from the onset with the Cardassians not trusting Federation attempts to open dialogue and trade. The Setlik III Massacrer destroyed any hope of the Federation having cordial relations with their Cardassian neighbours. In 2347 the Cardassian Union attacked the Setlik III colony killing all but a small number of the colonists. This incident precipitated the Federation – Cardassian War, also known as the Cardassian or Border Wars. This conflict saw many small engagements and several larger fleet actions over the period 2347 to 2367. Finally in 2367 a truce was enforced to end the hostilities. The result of the conflict saw neither side gain an advantage in territory.

 
The Federation, marred by the General War, lacked the political will power to strike hard against the Cardassians early on in the war and bring a swift end to the conflict. Though technologically superior at the time the pacifist nature of the Federation Council saw too much interference by politicians in Star Fleet operations. Many opportunities were squandered by the Federation, much to the frustration of Star Fleet admirals. Finally, when the Cardassian Union could no longer afford to maintain the conflict, envoys from Cardassia approached the Federation Council to discuss ending the conflict. A truce was agreed upon in 2367 and a border established between the two powers. Sadly, many Federation colonies ended up on the wrong side of the border after the treaty. This led to an armed resistance by the colonists known as the Marquis. Isolated incidents continued along the border right up until the Dominion War.