I like!!! I was going to do two drybrush layers in a dark and light grey on top of this, but I really like how this has turned out. The paint process was incredibly simple:
- Basecoat in Skull White spray
- Wash heavily in Asurmen Blue.
Thursday, 14 May 2015
How to paint Babylon 5 Shadow cruisers
A serendipitous outcome! I was working through my proposed step by step process to paint a Shadow cruiser from the Fleet Action line of Babylon 5 miniatures. However after two steps in the process, I arrived at this colour scheme..
I like!!! I was going to do two drybrush layers in a dark and light grey on top of this, but I really like how this has turned out. The paint process was incredibly simple:
I like!!! I was going to do two drybrush layers in a dark and light grey on top of this, but I really like how this has turned out. The paint process was incredibly simple:
Sunday, 10 May 2015
Even more ships of the First Romulan War - ACTA Starfleet
In an earlier post I provided a set of ACTA sheets for ships from the Star Trek Enterprise era. With the benefit of having played a few more ACTA games set in the Star Trek Enterprise era, I have been able to playtest the house-rules I'm developing to cover this early Star Trek period.
So I thought it would be high time to provide an update on the ship states for vessels from this era. Here's how the house-rules and play testing is panning out so far. I haven't done the Andorians as yet as I am waiting on some suitable models to come from Shapeways. I have also split the NX-class into two versions representing the NX-01 before the Xindi Crisis, and the NX-class after the Xindi Crisis in the lead up to the First Romulan War.
Here's how they are looking now.
So I thought it would be high time to provide an update on the ship states for vessels from this era. Here's how the house-rules and play testing is panning out so far. I haven't done the Andorians as yet as I am waiting on some suitable models to come from Shapeways. I have also split the NX-class into two versions representing the NX-01 before the Xindi Crisis, and the NX-class after the Xindi Crisis in the lead up to the First Romulan War.
Here's how they are looking now.
*See the note below concerning Pulsed Phase Cannons
Pulsed Phase Cannons comments: Watching some of the YouTube clips for the Axenar movie and listening to some of the discussions with the writer producer about the different weapon systems used by the Federation during the 4 years war with the Klingons. The writer producer noted that each of the member planets of the Federation made their own Star Fleet ships and crewed them with their own people. As such, weapon systems would reflect what each of the member planets had in circulation at that time. So Star Fleet vessels would have either Phasers (e.g Andorians) or Pulsed Phase Cannons (e.g Earth) as their primary weapon suits and Photon Torpedoes as their heavy weapon. This was due to the fact that the Federation was still in a transition phase of moving to a truly unified Star Fleet. When asked about why they still used Pulsed Phase Cannons, the writer producer noted that these weapons could intercept Klingon Photon Torpedoes. This gave me the idea of adding to the Pulsed Phase Cannon statistics the ability to use Defensive Fire against Photonic & Photon Torpedoes. I haven't play tested this out yet but will give it a shot the next time I get to play an ACTA game. I want them to be able to intercept torpedoes, but not be too effective in this capability. I would assume that the move away from Pulsed Phase Cannons was eventually done by Star Fleet as their shields were markedly improved and Phasers became more powerful, from Phaser 3's to Phaser 2's to Phaser 1's.
Tholian Spinner for ACTA Starfleet
Here's just a few images of my first painted Tholian Spinner patrol cruiser.
This miniature comes from Federation Models and is a perfect fit for the size of mini's I am using for ACTA Starfleet. They are 1000 scale and come in packs of three and are very detailed. I highly recommend them!
This miniature comes from Federation Models and is a perfect fit for the size of mini's I am using for ACTA Starfleet. They are 1000 scale and come in packs of three and are very detailed. I highly recommend them!
Cardassian Fleet for ACTA Starfleet
Here's a few images of my growing Cardassian fleet for ACTA Starfleet.
The Federation Empire game map by Amarillo Design Bureau is a very useful campaign system to use for ACTA Starfleet, with battles fought out using the ACTA Starfleet rules.
On that map, the Cardassia Union is to the "north" (i.e. towards the Galactic Centre) of the Kzinti and to the "north-nor-west" of the Federation. This puts the Cardassians into direct conflict with both and allows for some interesting situations. The concept being that the Cardassian Union originally was an enclave holding out within the Kzinti Hegemony, and later carving out the Union from captured Kzinti territory.
This explains why the Federation didn't encounter the Cardassians until the Next Generation era and why Cardassia is controlled by a military government. The need to survive against the Kzinti's relentless assaults permitting the military to come to dominate their government and explains why they are aggressive to outsiders and in need of a lot of raw materials. It also explains why the Cardassians would subjugate others like the Bajorans and strip mine planets like Bajor. Conflicts between the Cardassians and the Kzinti would be all too common.
The fleet so far consists of miniatures from MicroMachines, Attack Wing, Star Trek - The Official Starships Collection and Studio Bergstrom.
The Keldon class starships in the left foreground are Attack Wing and the one just behind the two Attack Wind mini's is a MicroMachines mini. I'm going to use the smaller Attack Wing model for a destroyer class, and the larger MicroMachines as the actual Keldon Heavy Cruiser.
The Hideki class Escorts in the forground are from Studio Bergstrom and are excellent models. The Galor class Cruisers in the background are MicroMachines.
In the foreground here are the Attack Wing Hideki models which are smaller and a different shape to the Studio Bergstrom mini's. So I am going to use these Attack Wing mini's as a Hador class Gunboat (i.e. a pseudo-fighter from the Star Fleet Battles days). The Attack Wing mini's come linked together in a group of three and make a perfect pseudo-fighter gunboat group.
The big Galor on the right in both of the above images is from the Star Trek Official Starships Collection. I haven't yet based this model but it is going to take on the role of my Cardassian Dreadnought class vessel.
Sandwiched between these two MicroMachines minis is the Attack Wing Keldon. This image shows the scale difference between the two and demonstrates the Attack Wing model making a good proxy for a Destroyer. The concept would be that the expanded secondary hull on the back of the model is a variable pod. The pod could be swapped out to a different pod depending upon the need, e.g. troop transport, military cargo or weapons/extra power pod. So there will eventually be a few variants in the ACTA stats for Cardassian Destroyers to reflect this.
Above - a battle group comprising Gunboats (pseudo-fighters), Escorts and a Destroyer.
A closer look at the difference in size between the Hideki versions from Attack Wing (left) and Studio Bergstrom (right). A good match for Gunboat verses Escort sized vessels.
Finally the Hideki from Studio Bergstrom again shown from a couple of different angels.
Now all I have to do is make the houserule ACTA stats for these ships. More on that in a future post.
The Federation Empire game map by Amarillo Design Bureau is a very useful campaign system to use for ACTA Starfleet, with battles fought out using the ACTA Starfleet rules.
On that map, the Cardassia Union is to the "north" (i.e. towards the Galactic Centre) of the Kzinti and to the "north-nor-west" of the Federation. This puts the Cardassians into direct conflict with both and allows for some interesting situations. The concept being that the Cardassian Union originally was an enclave holding out within the Kzinti Hegemony, and later carving out the Union from captured Kzinti territory.
This explains why the Federation didn't encounter the Cardassians until the Next Generation era and why Cardassia is controlled by a military government. The need to survive against the Kzinti's relentless assaults permitting the military to come to dominate their government and explains why they are aggressive to outsiders and in need of a lot of raw materials. It also explains why the Cardassians would subjugate others like the Bajorans and strip mine planets like Bajor. Conflicts between the Cardassians and the Kzinti would be all too common.
The fleet so far consists of miniatures from MicroMachines, Attack Wing, Star Trek - The Official Starships Collection and Studio Bergstrom.
The Keldon class starships in the left foreground are Attack Wing and the one just behind the two Attack Wind mini's is a MicroMachines mini. I'm going to use the smaller Attack Wing model for a destroyer class, and the larger MicroMachines as the actual Keldon Heavy Cruiser.
The Hideki class Escorts in the forground are from Studio Bergstrom and are excellent models. The Galor class Cruisers in the background are MicroMachines.
In the foreground here are the Attack Wing Hideki models which are smaller and a different shape to the Studio Bergstrom mini's. So I am going to use these Attack Wing mini's as a Hador class Gunboat (i.e. a pseudo-fighter from the Star Fleet Battles days). The Attack Wing mini's come linked together in a group of three and make a perfect pseudo-fighter gunboat group.
The big Galor on the right in both of the above images is from the Star Trek Official Starships Collection. I haven't yet based this model but it is going to take on the role of my Cardassian Dreadnought class vessel.
Sandwiched between these two MicroMachines minis is the Attack Wing Keldon. This image shows the scale difference between the two and demonstrates the Attack Wing model making a good proxy for a Destroyer. The concept would be that the expanded secondary hull on the back of the model is a variable pod. The pod could be swapped out to a different pod depending upon the need, e.g. troop transport, military cargo or weapons/extra power pod. So there will eventually be a few variants in the ACTA stats for Cardassian Destroyers to reflect this.
Above - a battle group comprising Gunboats (pseudo-fighters), Escorts and a Destroyer.
A closer look at the difference in size between the Hideki versions from Attack Wing (left) and Studio Bergstrom (right). A good match for Gunboat verses Escort sized vessels.
Finally the Hideki from Studio Bergstrom again shown from a couple of different angels.
Now all I have to do is make the houserule ACTA stats for these ships. More on that in a future post.
Saturday, 2 May 2015
Kickstarter Projects that you may want to support
I've just backed two Kickstarter projects that I thought I would highlight.
The first is the excellent 10mm German Landsknecht Arquebusiers (Handgunners) by Warmonger Miniatures. These are great proxies for my Warmaster Empire Army
I backed Warmonger's original project for the 10mm German Landsknechte with Zweihänder (Great Swords) a while back and his models are fantastic. The Kickstarter also was completed without a hitch and he kept everyone who backed him well informed on the projects progress. So I wholeheartedly endorse supporting this one as well. With only eight days left, its already fully backed.
I posted some images of the original Kickstarter mini's in an previous post here. So if your after some of the greatswords or pike, head over to Warmonger Miniatures and get some.
When I first got into wargaming back in my teens, just after the Earth had cooled, some of the first miniatures I purchased were the excellent goblins from Ral Partha. These were really nicely made goblin imps and were useful also for role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.
Well, I received an email from Iron Wind Metals the other day alerting me, and no doubt many others, to the exciting news that Iron Wind are running a Kickstarter to bring these beasties and others in this series back to life! This is great news as its really hard to get more than the odd one or two of the imp's I like at a time showing up on ebay.
Ral Partha's Chaos Wars on Kickstater is fully funded and only has about two weeks left to run. These minatures are 25mm in size (mostly) for the average human or elf figure. But they're compatible for 15mm through to 28mm with some models being useful for up to 55mm figures.
Now I'm normally a 10mm mini man and so you would think that these aren't any use to my games. Well some miniatures, especially amongst the goblin imps, are sculpted in a way that they work well as 12mm sized orcs. So they can add flavour to any Warmaster Orc army. Many of the creatures are also great for Warmaster too. In addition, one of the reasons I went to 10mm was the lack of really nicely sculpted fantasy setting miniatures in 15mm. Below are some more images of the two sets they are releasing now.
Plans are to greatly expand this not just with this Kickstarter but with additional mini's over time, bringing life back into these classics of the wargaming culture.
As Iron Wind Metals state in their Kickstarter details:
A Long Term Project As this project continues to the planned completion, over 550 out of production miniatures will be re-released. Another 1200+ classic miniatures from Iron Wind's current ranges will be included in the Chaos Wars range.
As we proceed forward, these and more classic miniatures (both out of production, and never before released) will continue to be released, and new miniatures sculpted to be compatible with the old, may be created.
Fantastic news!
Warmonger Miniatures 10mm German Landsknecht Handgunners
The first is the excellent 10mm German Landsknecht Arquebusiers (Handgunners) by Warmonger Miniatures. These are great proxies for my Warmaster Empire Army
I backed Warmonger's original project for the 10mm German Landsknechte with Zweihänder (Great Swords) a while back and his models are fantastic. The Kickstarter also was completed without a hitch and he kept everyone who backed him well informed on the projects progress. So I wholeheartedly endorse supporting this one as well. With only eight days left, its already fully backed.
I posted some images of the original Kickstarter mini's in an previous post here. So if your after some of the greatswords or pike, head over to Warmonger Miniatures and get some.
Ral Partha's Chaos Wars by Iron Wind Metals Company
When I first got into wargaming back in my teens, just after the Earth had cooled, some of the first miniatures I purchased were the excellent goblins from Ral Partha. These were really nicely made goblin imps and were useful also for role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.
Well, I received an email from Iron Wind Metals the other day alerting me, and no doubt many others, to the exciting news that Iron Wind are running a Kickstarter to bring these beasties and others in this series back to life! This is great news as its really hard to get more than the odd one or two of the imp's I like at a time showing up on ebay.
Ral Partha's Chaos Wars on Kickstater is fully funded and only has about two weeks left to run. These minatures are 25mm in size (mostly) for the average human or elf figure. But they're compatible for 15mm through to 28mm with some models being useful for up to 55mm figures.
Now I'm normally a 10mm mini man and so you would think that these aren't any use to my games. Well some miniatures, especially amongst the goblin imps, are sculpted in a way that they work well as 12mm sized orcs. So they can add flavour to any Warmaster Orc army. Many of the creatures are also great for Warmaster too. In addition, one of the reasons I went to 10mm was the lack of really nicely sculpted fantasy setting miniatures in 15mm. Below are some more images of the two sets they are releasing now.
Plans are to greatly expand this not just with this Kickstarter but with additional mini's over time, bringing life back into these classics of the wargaming culture.
As Iron Wind Metals state in their Kickstarter details:
A Long Term Project As this project continues to the planned completion, over 550 out of production miniatures will be re-released. Another 1200+ classic miniatures from Iron Wind's current ranges will be included in the Chaos Wars range.
As we proceed forward, these and more classic miniatures (both out of production, and never before released) will continue to be released, and new miniatures sculpted to be compatible with the old, may be created.
Fantastic news!
Sunday, 12 April 2015
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).
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.
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.
Thursday, 9 April 2015
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.
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.
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.
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