Entomalian Fleet, Part 4: Galactic Dreadnoughts

Next addition for the Entomalains is a pair of Mantis class Galactic Dreadnoughts. In the original Starfleet Wars background material, the Entomalians were by far the most numerous of the five fleets, but their ships were decidedly inferior, being especially weak in fighter support and defense.

Original stats, Mantis class Galactic Dreadnought:

Power    Max Beam    Max Shield   CIDS Factor    Attack Craft    PW Factor  PW reloads

  208           10               10               50%                  6                    2               10

"New Mantis" GD stats:

Power    Max Beam    Max Shield   CIDS Factor    Attack Craft    PW Factor  PW reloads

  235           11                 13             55%                   6                 2                 10

The original versions were so under gunned, that the slightly improved ratings above were issued subsequently. While still inferior to the Dreadnoughts of the other fleets, they were now at least superior to even the best of the Battlecrusiers. 

This picture shows the highly detailed undersides that these ship models are justly known for. I have used "magic wash" to further bring out some of the details. 

In the background accompanying the newer Galactic Knights rules, the Entomalians use bio/tech hybrid ships with extra tough armor. Their crews will lack initiative, but the individual ships won't otherwise be much inferior to those of the other fleets, if at all. 

Here's the listing for my Starship games from the Historicon PEL:

Thursday, 2PM  T-166   and    Saturday, 7PM S-169 

Galactic Kampaigns - Missions to Accomplish
SciFi; Length: 3 hrs; Hosted by: Peter Anderson; Scale: Other;
Rules: Galactic Knights by Monday Knight productions; No. of Players: 8.
Tasks Forces from four of the Galactic Knights (ex Superior
Starfleet Wars) races (Terran, Avarian, Entomalian and
Carnivoran ) face off in short mini-campaigns, trying to carry out
(or thwart!) their assigned missions, which include Attacking
or Defending a Planet/Space Station, escorting a Convoy, or
Patrolling to repulse enemy raiders. Each fleet has unique
strengths and weaknesses. Kids age 14 and above welcome.

Entomalian Fleet, Part 3: Galactic Battlecruisers

The next few weeks should see quite a few posts with newly painted Starships for my Entomalian and Terran fleets, in preparation for some games that I will be ruining at Historicon in July, using the Galactic knights rules. These are, of course the old (vintage 1970's) Superior Starfleet Wars ships, which were acquired by Monday Knight Productions and re branded as the Galactic Knights range. It is great that they are still in production,as they are wonderful ships indeed, as well as an excellent value! I'll start off the cosmic fly-by with a pair of Entomalian Galactic Battlecruisers (GB).

First up is the Scorpion class GB, one of the ships from the initial release of the Starfleet Wars  line.

Marvelously evocative ship design, plus the usual fine details characteristic of this line. 

Here are the stats from the original Starfleet Wars rules for this Scorpion GB ship class:

Power    Max Beam    Max Shield   CIDS Factor    Attack Craft    PW Factor  PW reloads

   80              6                7                 32%                   0                 2                 8

A view from the opposite side of this asymmetrical model.

View of the underside of the Scorpion class GB.

and another view of the underside, showing the engines. 

Next up is one of the 2nd generation models from this series, the Roach class Galactic Battlecruiser.

To me, this ship looks considerably more heavily armed than the Scorpion class ship  seen earlier.

Here are the Starfleet Wars stats for this Roach class Galactic Battlecruiser: 

Power    Max Beam    Max Shield   CIDS Factor    Attack Craft    PW Factor  PW reloads

56              4                6                 28%                   0                 2                 6

As seen above, the stats for this ship are actually worse than the earlier class... not that it maters much.  

Go figure!

Another view of the underside of the Roach; note the fine detailing once again. I used a coat of "Magic Wash" to bring out the fine details of these models. 

More Entomalian Capital ships to come later this week!

Peter

Egyptian Chariots- Divisions Re and Ptah

It seems like I've been working on these chariots forever, but they are finally done! I think Chariots must be among the most time consuming models to make in our hobby, requiring gluing together of the vehicle, painting it, painting the horses, then assembling it all together, and then finally painting and affixing the crew figures to the cab of the chariot. Still, this website, which gives interesting details regarding the construction of the lightweight Egyptian chariots, states that it took modern German carpenters roughly 600 man hours to manufacture a chariot using methods that the ancients used or may have used.

The first four are by Esssex (28mm):

The Green color identifies them as being from Division Ptah in my scheme. Probably not too historical, but makes it easy to tell the units apart!

The Essex horses are larger than the Old Glory ones; for once the smaller horses are probably more accurate, this being the early centuries of horse breeding! 

Another pair of Chariots from Division Ptah.  I played around with the settings on my aged Nikon Coolpix 800 Digital SLR camera, trying to get the colors more accurate and allow slower shutter speeds; overall, I'm probably better sticking with the standard automatic settings and then re-balancing them!  :-)

In the earlier photo, the colors of the Chariot are right, but the ground cloth is too drab. Here, the ground cloth colors are better but the figures are shifted a bit too far into the green spectrum!

Rear view of these Essex Chariots - one w/ Prince, one regular. 

The arrangement used to yoke the horses to the chariot is somewhat different in these models form that used in the Old Glory ones later. 

A pair of Old Glory Chariots from Division Re (yellow distinctive color). 

Rear view; the purple accents are probably again a bit over the top!

Bronze scale armor for these horses!

A final Old Glory Chariot from Divison Re; this one will pair with the Pharaoh's chariot, hence the white horses. 

Contrast the color balance in this shot....

with this one. Again, the colors of the figures are better here, and the ground cloth is better above!

A shot looking down from atop a  Palm tree at the passing Chariot.

All seven new chariots in line - added to the nine I already have done, that makes 16 chariots total!

Ready to trample some Cananites and Sea Peoples in our Historicon game in July!  

Here's a link to a really fascinating and well done NOVA episode reconstructing 2 Egyptian chariots, and testing them out, including shooting from the maneuvering chariot. Well worth the 52 minutes to understand the sophistication of the design! There are some other short (5 minutes or less) links there about composite bows, other Egyptian weapons, and Egyptian leather scale armor, also well worth the a short viewing!

Finally, taking advantage of the ongoing clearance of Essex Miniatures at Wargames, Inc, I picked up figures for another Light Infantry unit, slingers this time, and also 2 more MI archers and a few High Command figures. I don't need them for my Historicon games, so they won't get painted until much later this year!

Peter

A Wolf in Sheep's clothing?

As I've mentioned before, we tend to use farm and woodland anumals as markers in our games. In bwteen other oprojects, I did some new aditions from the models I aqyuired from Mega Miniatures before they sold off their molds abiout 2years ago.

First and especuially for Bob W., some especially toothsome sheep. 

I dio thjem in a variety of wool colors, for all your pre industrial knitting and weavuing needs!

Some lambs in the mix as well.

A litte; closer up; the camera makes the white look "whiter" than it actually is.

The sheep seem tio sense a threatening scent on the air....

as a pack of wolves approach form the edge of the forrest!

The MM Wolf Pack" had a nice variety - 3 running, one siting, one howling at the moon... or something. 

Also useful for Retreat from Moscow, North American Frontier, etc games!  We got to see an  American Arctic Grey Wolf up close a few year ago when a Wolf conservation group brought one to The Institute for American Indian Studies, less than 10 minutes drive away in neighboring Washington, CT. They are imnpressively large creatures!

International Star Wars Day

In celebetration therof:

and in ttribute to Mack (Desert Scribe) as well!

 (Just primed my new Terran and Entomalian starships in preparation for my Galactic Knight games at Historicon in July)

"Elementals, my dear Watson!"

I seem to be on a bit of a Fantasy kick at present; this will likely be the last post in that area for a while, though! I brought a few extra figures to the Hostile Realms game a week ago, in case any of the Mages in the battle tried to summon an Elemental. The concepts of basic elements that together make up the cosmos ()not in the modern chemical sense) is found in many ancient cultures, including those of Ancient Greece. Commonly, these are Earth, Air, Fire and Water. To these a 5th element, aether, signifying the unseen, is often added. There is a quite interesting discussion of the concept of Elements in ancient religions, philosophy, and alchemy in this wikipedia article; to that we might add the practice of Magic as well.

This is an Earth Elemental, of course. I tried to suggest garnets for the eyes. 

This set of figures dates back to the 1970's easily; I recall seeing them at the old MFCA wargames convention in Chester, PA, and I just had to have them! 

Not much mistaking this as anything but an Air Elemental, either!

I'm not sure which company made these; perhaps Grenadier?

This towering inferno is a Fire Elemental, obviously. 

In Hostile Realms, most armies can include Elementals of one type (only) in their army, if desired. 

I think this Water Elemental might be my favorite...

A lot of character in all of these models.!

Detail of the back of the Elemental.

Well hello!  Who invited you, and how do we send you back to the hellish place from whence you came?

In Hostile Realms, if a Wizard attempts to cast a spell and flubs his roll by rolling a "1", AND the opponent rolls his maximum possible score, a Casting Catastrophe occurs. This actually happened when Greg's Orcish Shaman (the class is called "inepts", because, well,  they generally are!) did exactly that. There are a variety of possible outcomes, including gating in a lesser or greater demon (which them attacks!). The most powerful spells (Level 4) go awry if the caster rolls a "1", regardless of what the opposed roll is. 

This fellow came with me in case such a misfortune might occur. In Greg's case, the results was just draining the Shaman of all magical ability Still, in keeping with the Elemental theme, This Balrog might represent the 5th element, aether, or perhaps Magic itself!

Elementals, my dear Watson!

Peter