International Star Wars Day...

be with you...

With my friends Joe, Greg, and Roger staging a series of games with the Galactic Knights rules and ships (ex Superior Starfleet Wars range), recalled I had some as yet still unfinished items from that range. Three Terran HAVOC Transport ships, the enormous Nest space station for the Entomalians

My order from back in 2014(!) indicates I got 1 bulk Pack of Light station sections (5), 1 Bulk Pack of Heavy Station sections (5), 2 bulk Packs of end sections (10), 1 Bulk Pack of Triple splice station sections (5), 1 General Section with heavy weapons pod. Checking the Monday Knights Productions website, the prices for these parts remain essentially unchanged 9 years later! The peices can be combined in many different ways. The problem is that they never came out for rules for these items in the Galactic Knights framework. Digging them out at least caused me to prime the lot of them after the photo was taken!

I have a number of other rules sets to try out for my Sci-Fi naval miniatures , if I ever have the time and energy to do so! 

ADD: Primed the pieces and did some test configurations...

Hard  to get contrast with white on back. but this is a single section space station with light weapons (and 3 heavy weapon pods!).

The same with a heavy weapons section

A three ring station - one each light heavy and Very heavy weapons sections with "Y" weap[on interlocks

6 section station with 3 each heavy and light weapons sections. 3 "Y" links and 3 heavy weapons pods. 

 

Galactic Knights: Space Station!

In honor of International Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you!), it seems a good time to post this small space station I did from the Galactic Knight (ex Superior Star Fleet Wars) range.

The modular model;s are quite nice,and easily assembled.

I chose a color scheme consistent with that of my Terran ships.

The folks at MKP are supposedly working on Space Station rules to go with the other rules modules in Galactic Knights. 

Hopefully that supplement will also include rules for the Galactic Transports that lack them at present (most races), and also rules for generic freighters/tankers for use in Convoy type scenarios. 

I liked the Space Station well enough that I went a bit into Deep Space buying parts for more larger installations.

and more parts...

and more!

One of theses rings forms the core of the Station at the head of this post

But they can be linked together with the junctions above to make stations with multiple rings

Looking a bit like our diagrams of  polycyclic carbon compounds!

Then there's this kind of cool piece

that takes an extra heavy weapons platform

sort of like a Death Star!

Resin cast Havocs, which are the Entomalian version of the Galactic Transport.

Will tells me they w\ere having trouble casting them well in metal, hence the use of Resin.

"I feel a strange disthurbance in the Fourth..."

Historicon Loot

I'll conclude my post Historicon series with a short "show and tell" of my purchases, which this year included no troops whatsoever! I started to sit down at the booth to order some Perry metals (Napoleonic) but was pressed for time and didn't have my list on me, so after a brief perusal of the catalog I gave up and decided to do it all mail order! Thus, no budget busting purchases this year. The Empress approved of that!  :-)

It rapidly became apparent that I needed a lot more D10's for my Galactic Knights games; Will of Monday Knight Productions ran out and got the first bag for me, which I later purchased from him, and then I went back and got some more dice (seen in the second bag) in the Dealer Hall before I headed out Sunday morning. By the way, MKP also just came out with some nice decals for use with the Galactic Knights ships, one set for each fleet, and available in white, black, blue, green, and red!

I only made it to two of the Flea Market sessions, but I found a number of  useful second hand Ospreys at good prices on Sunday AM. This one should be useful for some additional inspiration for an actual Egyptian vs. Canaanites game next year.

With Waterloo in the plans for next year, the utility of this volume is obvious!

While I have other Napoleonic flag references, the chance to pick up all three of these volumes at a very attractive price was not to be passed over!

I picked up these two volumes for "In Her Majesty's Name" from Lon at the Brigade Games booth, as several of the Hartford area guys are planning some action using these rules (see Joe's Landshark faction, for example). Just need some pulp inspiration to go with the everyday Portuguese Colonials that would form the backbone minions of the Company!

I picked up a few minor items at Sgt Major Miniatures; I pretty much ran out of Vallejo Bronze between the Egyptians and the Entomalian ships, and I want to try to Vallejo red and Yellow to see if they have better coverage  than my normal craft paints when applied over dark colors, especially dark blue. I've had a hard time getting decent red sable brushes lately, hence the above purchase of some Army Painter brushes (which can also be ordered from Sgt Major above).The brushes have "names" - the white brushes with triangular handles seen here are from their 'Wargamer' range and are called (from larger to smaller) Character, Detail, and Psycho, LOL, instead of using the normal brush sizes, which is mildly annoying. They will be put to the test soon!

I liked these many wagon variants so much that I bought 4 different ones!  Just what I need to run my Klagenfurt 1809 scenario in the future...

All of these are from the quite extensive 28mm "Wagons Ho!" range by Blue Moon/Old Glory. Check them out!  The OG Army card discount applies to these, too!

Another picture of me at Tim's Latema Nek WW1 game. I think I'm smiling because I haven't yet figured out that Tim will be drafting me to command those darned Khaki clad Rhodesians!  :-)   Now Jared's going to have me play in a Russian Civil War game (with FoB2), and in 15mm no less. You stretch the rules once, and before you know it , whoops, there goes the neighborhood, LOL!

The above picture came from Gabriel's Historicon 2014  blog post, which has many more excellent photos. He is a MUCH better photographer than I will ever be! 

See some of you next year at Historicon 2015!

Peter

Galactic Knights at Historicon #4: Defending the Phoenix

This was the last of the four scenarios I ran using the Galactic Knights rules, and was played out on Saturday night. It featured the Entomalians ATTACKing a Terran held planet, defended by a Space Station and supporting ships.

Entomalian Ships - played by 

Squadron 1: Dreadnought, Attack Carrier, Battle Cruiser

Squadron 2: Battle Cruiser, 2 Cruisers

Squadron 3:  Destroyer Leader, 2 Destroyers

Squadron 4: Destroyer Leader, 2 Destroyers

Terran Ships - played by Trond

Squadron 1: Dreadnought, 2 Cruisers

Squadron 2:Attack Carrier, 2 Destroyers

Squadron 3: Destroyer Leader, 2 Destroyers

Space Station Phoenix

Background

The Terrans have a mining colony on resource rich epsilon-Fermi, near the border of Entomalian space. The Entomalians plan to seize the outpost for their own use, and as a stepping stone to a broader invasion of Terran space. 

Set Up

I used a playing area 5 feet wide by 6 feet deep. The Phoenix starts 12" (6 hexes) onto the table on the middle of the North side. The remaining Terran ships also start up to 12"/6 hexes onto the table at locations of the owning player's choosing, with an initial Drift of up to 1/4 of the Thrust of the slowest ship. The Space Station cannot move but can rotate its facing as much as desired during the Move phase of the turn. 

Carnivoran Squadron 1 starts up to 12" (6 hexes) onto the table anywhere along the Northern edge, with an initial drift pf up to 1/4 the thrust of the ship with the lowest thrust in the fleet. 

The Entomalians enter anywhere along the Southern table edge, up to 12' (6 hexes) on, with an initial drift up to 1/2 of the thrust of the slowest ship in the fleet. 

Victory Conditions

The Entomalians must destroy the Phoenix. (the Phoenix is roughly equivalent to a Dreadnought in armament, with some additional weaponry, etc as it does not need either engines or Jump drive. 

The Entomalians closed on the Phoenix as quickly as possible, in order to bring their Grav guns to bear. These shorter range weapons ignore the Terran shields. The Entomalian ships lack shields of any kind, but are heavily armored, and take more critical hist than average to destroy, so they are very tough in combat!. 

"Scramble all fighters!"

The Terran warships have maneuvered their way to the rear of several of the Entomalians; their armor is weaker and no weapons bear directly to the rear.

This achieved some success, but the weight of the Entomalian firepower, especially once their Grav weapons came in range, proved to be too much for the Phoenix which was destroyed, although at a heavy cost to the bugs. 

Here is the control sheet for the Phoenix as of the next to last turn before its destruction. I used the template in the Files section of the Galactic Knights Yahoo group. Rotating the station would have given it a bit more life by presenting a fresh armor zone to the majority of the attackers! If I were ti run the scenario again, I'd probably make it even a bit stronger, basing the design upon that of a Galactic Dreadnought, or perhaps even a Super Galactic Dreadnought (in the later case with some decreased escort forces)!

Galactic Knights at Historicon #3: Attack on Squirrel Harbor

This was the first of the two scenarios for Galactic Knights that I ran at Historicon on Saturday night at 7PM. Ross played the Avarians, while Paul played the Carnivorans. Will from Monday Knight Productions dropped by from the Dealer area towards the end of the game to hang out, watch some of the game play, and hand out some cards good for a 15% discount for purchases from MKP until the end of this year. Good deal, especially if you're looking to build up several fleets!

Scenario #3:   The Attack on Squirrel Harbor

Carnivoran Ships

Squadron 1: Destroyer Leader, 2 Destroyers

Squadron 2: Destroyer Leader,  2 Destroyers

Squadron 3: Batle Cruiser. 2 Cruisers

Squadron 4: dreadnought, Galactic dreadnought, Attack Carrier

At the Starbase: 4 "Cub" class Galactic Transports*

(I used two for the game at the convention, but four Transports would be better)

Avarian Ships

Squadron 1: Dreadnought, Attack Carrier, Battlecruiser

Squadron 2: Destroyer Leader. 2 Destroyers

Squadron 3: Destroyer Leader. 2 Destroyers

Background

A battalion of Carnivoran Marines, with their accompanying Transports, has been sent to Squirrel Harbor. The Avarians have learned of this, and have become convinced they are the spearhead of an invasion force destined for their outpost at Flyway. The Avarian United Worlds dispatch Admiral Fleetwing with orders to launch a swift attack of Squirrel Harbor, destroy the transports, and get out before suffering excessive damage. The Carnivorans are suspected to have overall force superiority in the area, but it is hoped that the sudden attack will catch the Kitties napping, and allow the mission to succeed without excessive Avarian losses. The Tweeties are fortunate to find the Transports docked, and many of the Marine off ship drinking at some of the less reputable establishments at the station. 

Set Up

I used a playing area 5 feet wide by 6 feet deep. The four Carnivoran Transports start in different hexes, all adjacent to the Squirrel Harbor station, (which is 4 hexes from the Northern table edge and 15 hexes from the Eastern table edge) , and is otherwise ignored for the purposes of the game - it has no offensive weaponry). There is a wormhole (jump point) at the far Northeastern hex of the table. 

Carnivoran Squadron 1 starts up to 12" (6 hexes) onto the table anywhere along the Northern edge, with an initial drift pf up to 1/4 the thrust of the ship with the lowest thrust in the fleet. 

The Avarians enter anywhere along the Southern table edge, up to 12' (6 hexes) on, with an initial drift up to 1/2 of the thrust of the slowest ship in the fleet. 

The Transports have an initial drift of zero. They power up and may move starting on the second turn. At the end of each Turn, the Carnivoran player rolls a D4; If the roll is less than or equal to that of the current turn, the next Carnivoran Military Squadron is placed at a random location along the Northern Table edge, with an initial drift of up to 1/2 the thrust of the ship with the lowest thrust in the Squadron.

Victory Conditions

There is a warp point/wormhole at the far Northeastern corner of the table. The Carnivoran objective is to exit as many of their Transports off the table via the jump point as possible. Moving a ship to the warp point hex is sufficient, as long as it has an intact hyperdrive! The Avarian Objectove is to destroy at least three of the iransports without losing more warships than the Carnivorabns in the process.

As art of thwe preparation for my Historicon games, I made these drift markwers for a better look and feel. This is the Avarian version.

I printed out the markers from the files available on the Galactic Knights Yahoo Group, and then cut them out.

I then took 40mm round Masonite bases and spay painted them black on both sides (Spray one side first, allow to dry over night, then flip over and spray the other sides.)

The cut out paper markers were then glued to 40mm round masonite bases using white glue, and sprayed with flat clear acrylic fixative.

On the reverse side of the markers, I uisd the stick end of cotton tip applicators (plentiful in my medical office - clean ones!)

The Carnivoran Transports begin running the gauntlet towards the Jump Point and safety!



Carnivoran reinforcements intervene. The Transports have maneuvered and Thrusted to be in position so that the DRIFT at the start of the next turn alone will allow them to escape to safety...  if they survive the firpower of the opposing fleet!

Unfortunately, my camera ran out of memory once again by late Saturday night, so i didn't get any more pictures of the game. The Avarians concentrated their firepower of the Carnivoran military ships the first 2-3 Turns, but by turn 4 they had overwhelming firepower bearing on the lightly protected Marines. The last Transport went down on the last shot by the last ship of the game - a rousing finish!

Galactic Knights at Historicon #2: Raiders from the Lost Rocks

This was the second of the two Galactic Knights games I ran at Historicon on Thursday afternoon. This one pitted the Carnivorans against the Entomalians in a more free form engagement. The Carnivorans are HUNTing some pesky Entomalians. Grant played the Carnivorans, and Tod the Entomalians.

Scenario #2:   Raiders from the Lost Rocks, or "Bad Will Hunting"

Carnivoran Ships

Squadron 1: Cruiser, 2 Destroyer Leaders

Squadron 2: Destroyer, Starbomber, Armored Pursuit Ship

Squadron 3: Destroyer. Starbomber, Armored Pursuit Ship

Squadron 4: Destroyer. Starbomber, Armored Pursuit Ship

Entomalian Ships

Squadron 1: Destroyer, Starbomber, Armored Pursuit Ship

Squadron 2: Destroyer. Starbomber, Armored Pursuit Ship

Squadron 3: Destroyer. Starbomber, Armored Pursuit Ship

Squadron 4: Cruiser, 2 Destroyer Leaders

Background

A nest of Entomalians have been hiding out in an Asteroid Field known locally as "The Lost Rocks". From there, they have been raiding Carnivoran shipping and colonies. Thus far, efforts to track them down have failed. This will change, today! Lesser Claw Grahlis has been dispatched with a task force, and ordered clean out this hornet's nest of Bugs!

Set Up

I used a playing area 5 feet wide by 6 feet deep. There is no DRIFT phase the first turn (only). Will tells me this is a house rule they use for all of their Galactic Knights games, and it makes sense to me - we are essentially picking up the action immediately following the DRIFT phase of the first turn. 

All four of the Carnivoran squadrons enter up to 12" (6 hexes) onto the table anywhere along the Southern edge, with an initial drift of up to 1/2 of the thrust of the slowest ship in the fleet. 

Then Entomalian Squadrons 1, 2, and 3 are deployed randomly, by squadron, on the opposite half of the table, with random facings by squadron (they are surprised by appearance the Carnivoran reprisal force). They start with an initial drift of up to 1/4 of the thrust of the slowest ship in the fleet, in the direction of their facing. 

Deploy six Asteroids randomly on the table. Do not place any in a hex with a ship! Determine the direction of each Asteroid's Drift individually by rolling a D6 for each one, and the magnitude of their Drift by rolling a D4 for each Asteroid. The Asteroids drift in the Drift phase, but AFTER the ships do so. If an Asteroid contacts a ship (or vice versa), it does D4 critical hits to the ship. Asteroids cannot be destroyed. They DO block fire!

After the set up is complete, the Entomalians then designate any location along the three edges on their half of the playing area for their 4th Squadron to enter, along with a facing and an initial Drift (up to 1/2 that of the slowest ship in the Squadron). The 4th Squadron may appear any turn after the Second (The player must decide and write down the above before play starts).

Victory Conditions

The Carnivorans must destroy or drive off all of the Entomalian ships.

The Carnivorans blaze across the Lost Rocks, trying to close with and defeat the Entomalians in detail. The Carnivorans have the Red DRIFT markers. 

The Entomalians struggle to concentrate their forces. Note the scattered green DRIFT markers. DRIFT is a key feature of the movement and maneuver rules in Galactic Knights. 

The fleets close, with the Entomalians still suffering the residual effects of surprise. That one Carnivoran ship had better watch out for the Asteroid on its tail, though!

Entomalian Squadron 4 enters the fray! A Carnivoran Star Bomber and an Entomalian Armored Pursuit Ship are seen venting plasma; their crews are taking to the Life Pods!

Close up of the action

As the action continues, the high DRIFT of some of the Carnivoran ships carries them past the heart of the action, as one of their Destroyers goes critical. 

An Entomalian Destroyer and another Armored Pursuit ship are breaking up. Note the Escape Pods at the site of previously destroyed ships!

Close up of the Action.

At this point, the Entomalians conceded the day, and the Bugs scurried off to safety as best they could. The Kitties are victorious! Lesser Claw Grahlis' status with clans of the Carnivoran Republic is rising...