Going Olde School: Federation Commander

[DV8]

In that shot you can see him slowly turning to starboard at the end of Turn 2. On turn three my plasma torpedoes are finally fully armed and ready to go, and he is close. I'm stoked as this is my turn for payback.

However, he knows it's coming and diverts all power to engines, maxing out his speed and pouring excess power into extra movement to get as far away from my plasma torp as he can get.

He does successfully outrun it by the end of the turn but it was a hoot watching him sweating bullets about the middle of the turn.

At the end of the turn you can see how much distance he's put between me and him...and my plasma torpedo.

That weapon scares the snot out of me.  Had we played on a fixed map I would have been crushed by that weapon.

"He's dead Jim"

[Staggerwing]

Btw, you avatar scares the crap out of me.

I know.  It's freaking me out so much that I might have to change it.

"Time for Teletubbies bye-bye..."

If that's the Tubbies then I'm afraid of what Nunu the Vacuum Cleaner would look like... some kind of cyborg tyrranid? :o

[mirth]

Thanks for the game pics and comments guys. It looks like a lot of fun. Even unpainted, the Constitution Class Heavy Cruiser looks good.

[LongBlade]

Thanks for the game pics and comments guys. It looks like a lot of fun. Even unpainted, the Constitution Class Heavy Cruiser looks good.

It's so small I'm thinking of just putting another layer of primer - this time white - on it and be done. No sense in breaking out the airbrush for such a small job.

The War Bird was supposed to have the starting stages of a feather pattern on it, but my hands weren't up to the task. I intend to revisit it at some point, with a gold outline and purple feathers. But for now, it doesn't look too bad.

The mini is made by Lou Zocchi's outfit and the window ports aren't evenly spaced or even the same size, so they don't look so snappy. Even so I cannot express how fun it is to push some TOS ships around a map. It is mad fun.

[LongBlade]

That weapon scares the snot out of me.  Had we played on a fixed map I would have been crushed by that weapon.

"He's dead Jim"

I don't know. Playing the Romulans is going to require a decent wargaming brain. There is a lot of forethought, planning, and bluff required to get them at the right spot and the right time. The fact that it takes three turns to fully arm them means that it's behind the curve in terms of either Federation or Klingon ships. The cloaking device is also something I'll need to figure out how to use optimally. I took quite a beating from DV8 before it came online. Although I scared him off, he certainly got the better of that exchange. A fixed map probably wouldn't give me too much room to stay back until the plasma torp comes online.

Also curious is the map itself. If you play with cardboard cutouts the map hexes are less than half the size; the minis map has larger hexes and therefore is smaller. That in itself changes the game if we're using a "fixed" map. So we'll need to come up with some understanding as to what we mean by "fixed."

Regardless of these minor issues the game is a blast. I can't wait to get the rules nailed and get more folks involved. We've already got at least two more guys at the LGS interested, and I suspect more will get there with some momentum.

[mirth]

I like the colors you picked for the War Bird, LB. I'd love to see it with the feather pattern. Your little battle immediately made me think of the "Balance of Terror" ST episode. That's one of my all time favorites.

[LongBlade]

I like the colors you picked for the War Bird, LB. I'd love to see it with the feather pattern. Your little battle immediately made me think of the "Balance of Terror" ST episode. That's one of my all time favorites.

Romulan tactics are clearly designed for head-to-head engagements. In addition to shields they also boast some frontal armor. Catching any ship head-on with the plasma torp at reasonably close range is ideal. They track targets and can chase them. They're fast and very powerful at close range. I just need to figure out how to convince DV8 he wants to charge into me directly on Turn 3.

[mirth]

Those tactics will probably work best when you have multiple ships where you can used uncloaked ships to draw the Feds into a position that the cloaked ships can take advantage of.

[LongBlade]

Those tactics will probably work best when you have multiple ships where you can used uncloaked ships to draw the Feds into a position that the cloaked ships can take advantage of.

We tried a game of multiple ships yesterday. DV8 had two against my one Romulan Dreadnought. Point value was close enough (I had 10 points more).

The problem is that it is another order of complexity taking care of the status of two ships, and when they start switching places on the map he inadvertently lost track of them. It might help if we had unique minis (he was using cardboard counters for ships). I can easily see how that could happen and can see how easily I could do it. We're just going to need to be diligent as we do it. Hopefully we'll get better with practice. Considering I'm dyslexic, I suspect it will be a lifelong challenge not to mix them up...

[DV8]

That weapon scares the snot out of me.  Had we played on a fixed map I would have been crushed by that weapon.

"He's dead Jim"

Also curious is the map itself. If you play with cardboard cutouts the map hexes are less than half the size; the minis map has larger hexes and therefore is smaller. That in itself changes the game if we're using a "fixed" map. So we'll need to come up with some understanding as to what we mean by "fixed."

I was reading a few of the scenarios and they have provisions for the different map sizes so they are effectively the same size map either way.  You just use more of the larger hex map panels to make a defined map.

[LongBlade]

That's what I was thinking we should do.

[LongBlade]

I like the colors you picked for the War Bird, LB. I'd love to see it with the feather pattern.

OK, my first attempt at getting a feather pattern. Considering this ship is about the size of a Quarter I'm thinking it's not too bad, though I wish I had more artistic talent.

The top of the ship (I think I'm going to go back and touch up the gold outline just a bit):



The bottom of the ship:

[mirth]

Very cool! That is sure to strike terror in the heart of your Federation opponents. Thanks for posting the pics.

[TheCommandTent]

That looks awesome LB!

[LongBlade]

That looks awesome LB!

You guys are too kind. I think it needs to be more uniform.

I was sitting around last night contemplating how to get a more uniform appearance and I think I may have figure it out. I'm thinking of sanding down a toothpick at an angle. That should give me a nice oblong print that is consistent. A brush doesn't lay down paint uniformly. I also want to add a bit more color for depth. So this is still a bit of a work in progress. But I think I may be on to something.