Saturday 17 August 2019

Studio Bergstrom Shuttles - The Condor Battle Shuttle


Another addition to my Star Fleet vessels, these are the Studio Bergstrom Condor Battle Shuttles (available here), shown next to an Amarillo Design Bureau Federation Destroyer (which you can get here).


I'm going to use them as long range shuttles not unlike the Runabouts from DS9.


Yet another very nice miniature from Bergstrom and they paint up well.


I just base coated them black, then wet brushed white paint over them. I then washed them in black ink. Once dry, I dry brushed them in white paint. I then chose appropriate colours for the warp nacelles and impulse engines, plus some decoration. Simple!



Sunday 11 August 2019

Eaglemoss K7 Starbase for ACTA Star Fleet


Years ago I purchased off eBay an Eaglemoss DS-9 star base (you can find it back if you troll through the links for Star Trek ACTA). I purchased it in order to use for A Call To Arms Star Fleet. The miniature is smaller than the Attack Wing version but certainly fits the scale of MicroMachins, 1:3788 (ADB 2400) and 1:3125 (ADB 2500) scale miniatures. So taking a punt, I purchased the K7 star base for the same purpose.


And yes, it fits to scale. Technically a Base Station for fans of ADB's Star Fleet Battles, this is big enough to be a star base in my view and I'm going to stat it up accordingly for A Call To Arms.


As you can see above the station fits well with ADB's 2400 series Federation Destroyer (a scale of 1:3788) set on the base supplied with the miniature.


It also fits well with the Studio Bergstrom & Woomera Shipyards 1:3125 scale Coventry Class ship (mounted on the base from Studio Bergstrom).


I really like this miniature. Its got a good level of detail and is well constructed yet light weight enough to not be a brick on the gaming table.



I like the hanger bay at the base of the structure. Its a good size for shuttles and small cargo vessels.



The saucer detail is on both sides and the central core has extra details as well.




Now this gives me an idea for an ACTA scenario.

Saturday 10 August 2019

Studio Bergstrom & Woomera Shipyards Coventry (Miranda) Class


Just finished painting up a Woomera Shipyards Coventry Class ship. This baby is available through Studio Bergstrom under the Woomera Shipyards tab. You can find it here.


This baby is an Original Series version of the Miranda Class before the Motion Picture refit upgrades. This one is 1:3125 scale and is a very nice sculpt.







Now to figure out some stat blocks for A Call To Arms Star Fleet!

Monday 5 August 2019

Otherworld Miniatures Huge Spider no. II

Huuuuuugggggeeeeee!

I recently painted up the excellent Otherworld Miniatures Huge Spider No. II. You can find the beasty here.

Big enough to scare the poop even out of an Orc!

She is an excellent miniature in my opinion. She was a pain to put together, mostly because my SuperGlue didn't! Once it finally did glue (after several legs fell off because said glue didn't...cheap Chinese crap!) the miniature looked suitably impressive to scare the arachnophobes of my RPG group.

Here she is next to a 32mm tall Reaper Miniatures Orc

She was meant for a Boss Fight in our RPG gaming session on the weekend just gone and so I was desperate to finish her off ready to spring her on the Lads as they searched the caverns they were exploring. The Boss Fight ended up being a bit of a once sided affair as the Lads miraculously managed to stun her for two combat rounds and then proceeded to beat the crap out of her with all sorts of pointy things. Damn thing took something like three weeks to glue and paint and it lasted less that 20 minutes on the table during our gaming session. :(

Ooh, webby

Thankfully I had the real boss still up my sleeve. That was a Wraith that gave them some grief and a Boss Fight that lasted close to an hour of playing time. Sweet! They survived though.

A hapless victim's remains adorn the base along with the spider's offspring

The miniature doesn't come with a base and so I bought off eBay a 90mm round base to glue it on. The spider webs on the base are cotton wool pulled thin and then glued by my finger dabbed in PVA glue. I lightly dabbed the wool in areas in order to glue it to the base but left other parts of the wool untouched. This anchored the wool but kept if "fluffy" in other areas.


I used a Reaper Miniatures Spider Swarm and half a Kings of War Skeleton to decorate the base.







She will now join my Chaos Wars and Kings of War armies as a monster for the Goblins. She may still make an appearance in a future role playing session where she may yet get her revenge.

Saturday 3 August 2019

DWMG Battle Report - Epilogue, Destiny of the Daleks - FINAL EPISODE

Final Episode

Episode 5 can be found here.


FINAL TURN


CURRENT SITUATION - Things are down to the wire. All the Movellans need to win this scenario is to get just two of their models up the ramp of the Dalek Saucer. But the more Movellans who can make it, the better. If the Movellans can even just get one model on-board they can send a message to their fleet telling them what transpired in regards to Davros.

The Daleks have lost their two guards at the Dalek ship and so are now in a battle against time to prevent it being taken by the Movellans. Who wins the Initiative is now critical to which side will win.

The Daleks are in striking distance of wasting the Movellens...

...but the Movellans are in striking distance of taking over the Dalek ship!


INITIATIVE - The Initiative roll comes up in favour of the Movellans!

Nooooooooooooooooo!

The Movellans still have eleven models on the table. This permits six models to be able to activate during the Movellan Activation of the turn. However, with the Commander (Leader 2) and two Sub-Commanders (Leader 1) an additional four models can be activated this turn. That's all the Movellans near the Saucer! In addition, as Movellans can Run (i.e. use both activation's to move) they can cover a lot of ground.

Unit West, led by the female Sub-Commander activate first. They run for the entrance ramp to the ship and make it up the ramp! That makes two Movellans now on-board the Dalek Saucer.

Safe!

Next the Southern Unit Sub-Commander activates. He and two others of his team then run for the ramp, reaching it and boarding the ship.

Safe also!

Next, the last member of Unit South activates and runs for the entrance ramp. It also makes the ramp and escapes.

Made it!

Next the NW Commander and two of his team also make it to the entrance ramp. They round the destroyed Dalek and charge up the entrance ramp as the sounds of the Saucers engines being fired up fill their ears.

Safe!

The last two Movellans each then activate and run for the entrance ramp as engine thrust begins to stir up dust around them.

Safe as well

Made it!

With that, the last Movellan seals the entrance and retracts the ramp. The Dalek Saucer is now powering up its engines for lift-off.

So long suckers!

As the Dalek Saucer lifts off one lone Movellan sightlessly looks on. Having not activated for nearly the entire game, it was deemed by the Movellan player to have run out of power. Clearly it didn't recharge its power pack before the Movellan ship, with the escaped humans and the captive Davros, left Skaro.

Everybody sing: "All. By. My. Self!"

The Daleks are not impressed.

Bugger!

With the loss of their ship the Black Dalek orders a sweep of the area and then a return to the excavation site base where the original Dalek team found Davros. There they will utilize the Dalek command center to contact their fleet and alert them to their predicament and order a rescue.

In searching the area the Daleks discover the deactivated Movellan. Its memory chips will prove invaluable to the Daleks in discovering just what happened to Davros and the original Dalek team (and may provide for a future encounter between these two adversaries).

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall - this was a fun, fast paced game even though it was played on a larger table. Had the table been 4x4ft there may have been a lot more shooting and the Movellans may have been caught by the Dalek pincer move.

The balance was certainly tipped in the Movellans favour as they were able to run across the table.

In hind-sight, the Dalek player should have put at least one more Dalek at the entrance ramp to their ship. This would have slowed down the Movellans for another turn or two and put them on the defensive in my view.

Odd numbers of models meant that one Movellan and one Dalek during the game got left behind for much of the game. Only the loss of the Silver Daleks meant that the Dalek from the extraction team was able to be activate and catch up somewhat.

That said, having odd numbers added to the tension of the game as models were getting left behind and rather than giving them a chance to catch up, going for the primary goal in order to win the game became more important. It also added to the narrative of the game.

The Doctor Who Miniatures Game is an excellent rules system and plays well whether the Doctor is in the game or not. Highly recommended and still available online through the Wayback Machine web search function.