New Game On The Horizon - Ganesha Games "Star Eagles"

Hello all,

Long time no post, but something pretty amazing came across my sensors, that I just had to share.

Ganesha Games, famous for its "Song of" titles among others, is working on a new fighter combat that tickles me right in the childhood. Clearly rooted in the classic scifi space fighter combat genre of the 70s and 80s this game promises to bring something fun and fast to the tabletop.

At the core of the game will be a rule book and a set of miniatures for their stock universe. The ships, representing the ConStar (Earth and its Colonies) and the S'Sekai aliens will be professionally produced from 3D printed renders and then turned into highly detailed resin models.

The images below show some of the designs that have been revealed for both the ConStar and S'Sekai. Both forces will have a variety of light, medium and heavy fighters. Larger ships have been hinted at as well and words such as "gunboat" and "corvette" have been bandied around.

If the beautiful miniatures are not enough, the system has some pretty awesome goals in mind. Besides providing a system that plays up to around 12 a side with fast play and details, Ganesha is going to provide a full construction system for the game that will allow you to add new or customized fighters to the game or build your favorite universe from TV and movies. What's more, I have confirmed that the stock ships from their built-in universe are made using the construction system, so we will not have a game where you creations will never measure up to the ships that came with the game. This is also extremely useful if you are trying to design variants or your own ships to fit into the universe.

Not much has been revealed about the mechanics, but two sample mock-ups for potential craft have been revealed. While not finalized designs or format, you can see that there is the possibility for a wide variety of design elements, even in a simple format. You can also see the difference in design philosophy between S'Sekai and ConStar. 

Ganesha Games will be pushing this game through a Kickstarter that is slated to hit the scene in March or April. I'll be posting more news as it becomes available, as well as my on thoughts on what is revealed. If you would like to follow along on your own, you can join the Facebook group devoted to the game here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/GGStarEagle/

New Wood Parts Means New Ships

I haven't been working on this project much as sculpting is taking hat time I have, but I was at the 

craft store with my wife and decided to wander past the wood craft section. Frustratingly, they seem to have changed their supplier and in doing so also changed what items they carry. I'm sure they have market reasons for this, but it has meant that it is harder to find more of the parts I started the project with. What I have found are some new shapes that were not out before. 

I picked up some packs of shapes that looked like they would fit in with the project. Some of the resulting hull shapes are shown below. 

These ship hulls are made up of two pieces and form a nice shape. I have them sitting on the flat end as the disk at the top is slightly rounded on one side. The bulk would be consistent with some sort of light cruiser. regardless of which direction I orient them they will have ample space for bow weapons.

The next two examples make use of different sized spools. I had initially avoided spool shapes because they were just too straight, but they are a great way to create a large area for greeblies and weapons systems. The one on the left is definitely another light cruiser while the one on the right is closer in size to what I have been building as destroyers, maybe even a little smaller. The right-hand example makes use of one of the plastic dome beads I had been using as turrets to break the flat ended spool shape. Both have rounded tail ends so they are sitting on handy model parts for the purposes of the picture.

Scratchbuilding Spaceships - The Enemy Appears

A bit of an update on the spaceship project.

I recently received my exploratory order fromhttp://www.ravenstarstudio.com

These ships are from his Retro range's Earth fleet. I like the style of the ships and their sleek, supersonic age lines. The counter the powerful but bulky looking ships,of my scratch built fleet.

I have them arranged here in a general approximation of equivalency. I was not able to order all of the ships from Ravenstar's Retro Earth range, so there are some gaps.

Scratchbuilding Spaceships - Out of Control Designs

It seems the more I go on with this project, the more ship designs I come up with. As of the writing of this update, I have designed no less than ten (10) different styles of ship ranging from battleship down to frigates and escorts.

I have yet to fully detail any of the designs and have only duplicated one of them. The techniques used in their construction have been evolving as I go on and gain confidence with the materials I have at hand and what works and doesn't.

Scratchbuilding Spaceships - Group shot and parts

Here is a pic of the six different classes of ship I have developed for my fleet so far. I like how things are shaping up.

The second and third pics show a ship before any paint or detailing and a sampling of the materials I use to build them.



Scratchbuilding Spaceships - Happy Accidents and Unwanted Decisions

  

While designing a cruiser as shown in the first picture, the rear part of the hull came off. Unexpectedly, it looked rather nice that way.

Without the rear section, the cruiser looks a lot like a smaller version of the battleship (also pictured). So, now I have to decide if I want to reattach the rear section or keep it as it is.

Scratchbuilding Spaceships - The Big Ships

The project continues...

After a couple of setbacks involving an unfamiliar brand of spray paint, I lost a couple of completed ship models. A light cruiser I had modeled up was trashed but will work for a wreck. The battleship, a brand new design for me, was toast beyond salvage. 

I have now rebuilt the battleship as well as a dreadnought design. After getting a handle on the new paint, I managed to get it work rather nicely for the models and so I now have all the ships in their red fleet color. Detailing remains but I have decide on whether these will be human or alien vessels and what sorts of markings they need.

  

Scratchbuilding Spaceships - On to Larger Vessels.

So in my side project to create my own scratchbuilt retro 70's style space fleet, I have started from smallest, working my way up to larger designs. After designing a frigate and two destroyer class vessels, I now venture into the bigger ships - a light cruiser.

This one was a bit more involved as I found myself challenged by the larger open spaces and a need to fit heavier weapons to the design. This design incorporates a substantial bow missile launchers, two medium cannons on separate turrets and four light cannons mounted primarily for defensive purposes.

Scratchbuilding Spaceships - Duplication is Key

Successful duplication of a design. The destroyers on the left look virtually identical.

Scratchbuilt Spaceships - Today's Build

An alternate destroyer class vessel. This type sacrifices the bow missile launchers for advanced sensors but add two additional light turrets.

I posted this one in the raw because some folks were asking to see some of these before any paint goes on. As you can see. Very basic techniques and materials. Nothing special.

Scratchbuilt Spaceships - First Details

Dived right in on a couple of the smaller ships today, I decided to work on two different types because I wanted to play around with more detailing techniques.

I considered adding more details to them but too much detailing was destroying their rounded shapes which is a key element of their design style. So in this case, less is more and I will likely add some additional detail with painting.

The two I worked on here are a frigate and a destroyers. The frigate is equipped with a twin turret (taken from a Mechwarrior Clix tank) and bow-mounted missile tubes (plastic canvas). The Destroyer is equipped with two single gun turrets (cut sprue and plastic rod) and bow-mounted missiles. Engins are off-cuts from plastic tubes and pearler beads.

It appears that I am going to have to live with a few machining marks on the wood pieces. Five coats of primer, two coats of varnish, and another of black spray paint still leaves some visible tool marks. I can live with this. I still having the final painting to do over this all.

Scratchbuilding Old School Ships - Organizing Designs

I decided to take a clearer picture of the basic hull forms for my scratch built spaceships. I also placed them on a ruled grid so you can get a better idea of their relative sizes. In examining these beginning designs I have decided that the equal the following vessel classes -

LEFT COLUMN (TOP TO BOTTOM)

Light Cruiser

Light Cruiser

Frigate

Frigate

Destroyer

Destroyer

RIGHT COLUMN (TOP TO BOTTOM)

Dreadnought

Battleship

Battlecruiser

I know these are conventional wet navy ship types and some are archaic, by today's standard but they are also commonly used scifi tropes and seem fitting with the retro style spaceship designs I am going for.

There are some ship type missing from this arrangement and I feel I'll need to fill these in but I do not want to bury myself under a bunch of bare hulls too early on. I still want to add a cruiser design that is somewhere between the battlecruiser and the light cruisers. I also want a proper carrier and perhaps some sort of gunboats.

Figuring Out Scratch Built Fleets

So, my initial brainstormed ship shapes are done. I tried to think in terms of conventional ship classes from Battleships down to escorts.

I now need to decide how I want to detail these. This is a tricky step as I have to find details bits that can be replicated. Beads and bits of sprue are the normal route for these sorts of things. 

I also need to decide what period details I want. Do I want large dish sensors or spheres? Antennae?

Scratchbuilding Old School Scifi Ships

Growing up there were a lot of spaceship designs in art, movies, comics and TV that seemed to hold a certain attachment to the science of science fiction. They were often simple shapes and uncluttered by greeblies and panels. This was not, of course, all of the designs of the age, but it was a very distinct demographic of the design work of the 70's and early 80's. Star Wars and the designs informed by it seemed to bury this simple design aesthetic as we moved on into Battlestar Galactica, Aliens and their "clones". But I never forgot these designs.

Recently, I happened upon some scratch built models on the blog Tempests in a Teapot  and it all came flooding back.

These ships miniatures were lovingly scratch built to represent the ships from a strategy board game called "Imperium". I had this game as a kid and, while it was a bit over my head at the age I owned it, I recall adoring the evocative ship silhouettes on those cardboard counters. Imperial ships were round and imposing, looking to be full of menace and power, while the opposing force was made of sleek ships that looked like the Cold War era supersonic designs - all delta wings and conical noses. 

I was inspired by this find and my love of these old designs along with others I had seen in Traveller and Battletech's expanded universe of dropships and jumpships and even the designs of Steve Galacci's "Erma Felna EDF" that appears in the Albedo Anthropomorphics (http://leadpeople.blogspot.com/2009/09/albedo-anthropomorphics-spacecraft.html) anthology comic of hte 80's. 

With a ready supply of collected junk and hobby craft supplies, I set to putting together some shapes that looked right as ships of differing classes. This is just the beginning. The next step is to find detail bits that I have in enough abundance to replicate across multiple models. If parts fall short, then I will fall back on the time honored idea of class variations.

-Eli

First Go At Armada

Let The Wookiee Win

Yesterday I had a chance to try out the new Star Wars Armada game. I have missed out on most of the "clicky" miniatures games but the subject of this one was too cool to not try. I have always wanted to play fleet battles in the Star Wars universe. While this is not the first game to be made for this or the only to have done it all along, it is the first one that I have heard my local gamers get excited about.

My opponent, who has a few games under his belt, let me choose Empire or Rebel, I decided to go with a Victory star destroyer and several squads of TIE Fighters. Before we played, he gave me a run down on the rules and explained all the components and indulged my questions about how the theme of the universe and the ships being portrayed had been translated into rules.

I think it is worth noting that, as a Star Wars fan, I am mostly satisfied with the rules interpretations of the universe and the ships so far. It is a big deal that the ships in the game are able, within the rules, to perform as expected from the fiction. X-wings fight like X-wings and TIEs like TIEs. 

The fight itself was a pretty straight forward head to head. Two small Rebel ships and X-wings versus my own Victory and TIEs. The learning curve was minimal. The game is so well put together with everything clearly laid out and with everything having its own piece when it needs to. Orders, stats, even measuring are optimized (the movement tool is inspired). 

What this meant is that in no time I was barreling forward with my star destroyer, making a few course corrections and maneuvering my fighters around to harass the Rebel ships and engage their fighters. Combat is neat and clean and I never found myself at a loss for figuring out where I stood. 

There were a few points that took some getting used to but these mostly centered around the range bands and the special dice for these bands as well as getting used to plotting command in advance and working through those. I don't think I made enough use of the ability to hold orders for a later time but I also do not feel I had too many situations come up in this learning game where this was needed.

By the end of the game I was a convert. I had won, but just barely and only technically speaking. The game ran out of turns with me in a leading position but it was clear that my capital ship was a wreck and the two fresh fighter squadrons would be able to finish me with their next round of bombing runs.

Now I just bide my time and let the inventory of available models flesh out a bit before diving in. I know my budget for this game will be limited, even if the components are pretty reasonably priced, and I do not want to make an early purchase that I will regret when something new comes out. A little patience never hurts and I doubt my frugal hesitation will hurt the prospects of this game with its juggernaut appeal.

Take care,

-Eli

Fleet Scale Mecha Project - Scaling

Just a really quick update on the project. I snapped this pic really quick this morning with my phone and did some quick editing. It's not a detail shot, but it shows the scale of these mecha along side of some of Ground Zero Games fighter miniatures. I think they scale up nicely and should provide suitable representation of mecha on a space battles table without dwarfing most of the ships on the board.

-Eli



Fleet Scale Mecha Project

Hey everyone!

So, if you frequent TMP or Starship Combat News, you may have already seen this, but I figured it was worth posting here for the fine folk of the blogosphere.

It has always surprised me that with all the fleet scale spaceship minis out there, and even some based on anime series, nothing has ever been done to create a solid line of fleet scaled mecha. I know Ground Zero Games made one and there are lots of micro-scale infantry that can be fudged into the role, but that still left a huge hole for purpose made, space action, fleet scale mecha. So I decided to make some.

          

Pictures displayed at about 200% actual size.

As you can see above, these are really early WIP pictures, but the basics are there and at an average of 6mm tall, there really isn't too much room for detail that won't end up lost under paint. The order of the day was the main features - cockpits, heads, shoulder,s arms, kneels, feet, hands, guns. More less details can be added by clever painting, but these should paint of nice and easy. 

I have about twelve of these going right now. Each is a different design from standard to heavy. Variations such as aerodynamic torsos, square or round armor are also in the works. I didn't sculpt any with the shields that are seen a lot in anime as I figure those are easy enough to add, for the serious fan, using bits of plastic or thick paper card.

So, what makes these different than using a converted soldier mini or something? Mainly it's the posing and the fact that they are going to be cast baseless so they can be mounted on flight stands. I have tried to make them look like they are operating in space. Because most of them will be mounted on flight stands in formations, I did try to keep the poses neutral, taking inspiration from anime I have seen and know of. Some have been posed a bit more aggressively or dynamically but these are intended as elites or characters.

The really cool part is that once they are done, I even have a green light to send them to 15mm.co.uk to get them molded and cast. This will be exciting and hopefully there will be a lot of happy mecha freaks out there who can now throw mecha onto their spaceship tables instead of fighters or converted army men.

Thanks for reading,

-Eli

Recycling With Attitude!

Skimmer support from mint containers

That's what Leland calls it.

Who's Leland? He's only one of the most inspiring kitbashing modellers I've seen in a while. A self-proclaimed turbo-recycler, he loves to work with recycled materials and bits procurred from just about anywhere you can think of to create works of functional art in the form of models for his wargames tables. Whether it is spaceships, robots, tanks or VSF contraptions, there seems to be no limit to what this man can pull together out of a pile of "junk".

      40K proxy vehicle.                              Silent Death escort ship from deoderant container.

The cool thing, and part of the reason fo this post, is that he's decided to make his creations available to folks like you and I. He's opened a site called Grayhawk Studios where he will be offering various one of a kind and limited edition models of his own making. None of these are mass-produced models but individual models built, painted and detailed by his own talented hand, one by one. Most of his work has been for starfighter or 28mm scale games, but much to my joy he's decided to venture into 15mm.

             





                          Was a children's toy.                                            Microwave dinner plates?

He also keeps a blog of his own personal works, some of which have ended up on his retail site. Check them out and tell him what you think!

-Eli