Making scratch-built engines for starships

 

I picked up these four beauties from MOAB last weekend. They are the old Battle Fleet Gothic Chaos Cruisers. They were in very good condition with the exception of missing engines. So, I hit on the idea that perhaps I could scratch build some. If you know those sushi soy sauce containers that are shaped like a fish, you will notice that they have red lids that look like exhaust funnels. Perfect for what I was after. I pushed pins through the centre of the lids (be very careful doing this!) to give them some extra support when affixed to the miniature, and then superglued them in place by pushing the pin through the small gaps between the upper and lower halves of the model. Now to paint them :)

UPDATE: Bergstom Studios Axanar Aries class star ship, now with decals

My decals finally arrived! So, here's an update from the previous post on this most excellent of miniatures.

Bergstom Studios Axanar Aries class star ship

 

It's been a while since the last post, and I haven't given the blog much love of late. So, I'd thought I would show off the latest finished miniature. This is from Studio Bergstom and is the 1:3125 scale Aries battleship (i.e. attack cruiser)

I'm still waiting for some decals to arrive in the post and then I'll try to finish it off with some running lights. But otherwise, she is at least ready for the table. I'll post the final, final finished version when I have the decals afixed.

Updated Full Thrust SSD's for Battlestar Galactica (Original Series)

After the shortcomings identified in the recent Full Thrust battle report. The Colonials have gone back to the drawing board. The new design now has a bolstering of the Battlestars hull and armour plating, upgrading some weapon systems, removing several fighters and adding a tone of Point Defence Systems (for a total of 18!). Should be able to stand its ground now against a Cylon Basestar.

The Cylons, for their part, have hacked network systems and learned that a new carrier class ship is on the drawing board. As such, they have updated their design on the Basestar, adding more PDS as well (for a total of 10) in order to face increased long-range fighter groups.

Should prove for a more interesting rematch.

Battle Report - Battlestar Galactica Colonial Proving Grounds - Part 3 (Full Thrust)

 This is part 3. Part 2 can be found here.

TURN 4

Initiative - The Colonials regain the Initiative against the Cylons for this turn.

Rycon launches the last of its Missile Salvos, aiming for where they believe the Cylons will end this turns movement. The Cylons don't have any more Heavy Missiles and so do nothing at this stage.

Missile Salvo launch by Rycon

Both sides move, the Cylons moving as per the scenario rules.

Missile Attack Phase

After movement, Rycon's Missile Salvo ends up being within attack range and so activates its secondary thrusters and sends a swarm of smaller missiles at the Cylon Basestar.

The Cylon's Point Defence Systems take out 2 missiles in the Salvo. However, when the Rycon determines how many missiles actually attacked the Basestar, only 1 missile locked on target. As such, the Cylons manage to destroy the only missile in the salvo that managed to lock on.

Ship Fire Phase

Rycon is able to bring 3x Beam 2's to bear on the Cylon's, whom happen to be at Range 1. The Cylon's however can fire 4x Beam 2's and 2x Beam 4's at Rycon, also at Range 1. This is going to get nasty as Rycon's shield is down and the armour of both Cylon and Colonial ships is all gone.

Lazer beams crack across the intervening void of space, vaporising hull plating on both ships.

Rycon scores 4 hits against the Cylon Basestar, who returns fire for a total of 14 hits on Rycon. Rycon is mercilessly hammered with beam fire. As a result, Rycon has now lost three whole rows of her Hull. This means her Threshold Check is going to be heavily penalised with negatives to the die roll !

Threshold Checks

Rycon has to make her Threshold Checks after such a beating. She looses a System now on a roll of 3+, with a modifier of 2+ for loosing two rows of hull in a single turn. That's pretty nasty stuff. She doesn't fare very well as a result, ending up as a burning hulk that can only manoeuvre at half speed, with all offensive weapons lost. Ugly!

Conclusion - Cylons win!

Final Thoughts - in hindsight, the design of the SSD for the Battlestar was flawed from the beginning. Its hull was too thin (i.e. rows were too short) and thus left itself open to suffering greatly with any Thresholds Check once a few rows of hull were lost.

As a result, the naval architects from Colonial Fleet are brought in to re-watch the simulation before being soundly smacked across the back of the head and sent back out to their drawing boards to redesign the schematics of the Battlestar.

Rycon will rise from the ashes for a rematch once the Naval architects get their collective acts together.

Battle Report - Battlestar Galactica Colonial Proving Grounds - Part 2 (Full Thrust)

 This is part 2. Part 1 can be found here.

TURN 3

Initiative -  the Cylons win the Initiative this turn.

Both Cylons launch the last of their Heavy Missiles, Rycon responds with another Missile Salvo of her own.

Movement Phase - Both ships move and end their turns within the attack range and attack their respective targets.

Both the Cylons and Rycon open up with their Point Defence Systems. The Cylons destroy one missile from the incoming salvo. Rycon scores 2 hits on the Cylon Heavy Missile, destroying it. The number of Salvo missiles hitting the Cylons totals 4, one of which was destroyed by the Cylon PDS. Three missiles strike the Cylon Basestar, causing 10 points of damage to its Hull and consequently a Threshold Check.

Ship Fire Phase - Both vessels are within Range 1 of each other (i.e. under 12 MU). The Cylons are on the boundary of Rycon's Fore Starboard and Aft Starboard arcs. Rycon is to the Cylon's Aft arc. The Cylons are able to lock on both their Beam 4's and four Beam 2's for a total of 16 Beam Dice! Rycon can only respond with 3 of its Beam 2's.

Rycon scores a single hit. The Cylon's, despite their multiple dice rolls, manage to score only 8 hits, even with rerolls.

Rycon looses its first row of hull, causing a Threshold Check also.

Turn 3 comes to an end with both vessels suffering damage.

Threshold Checks - The SSD's show the results at the end of Turn 3

Part 3 of this battle report to follow...