Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Weird Wars => Topic started by: Macrossmartin on May 09, 2020, 05:52:05 AM
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Greetings, all. After a lengthy hiatus, I have returned! - as a man with a corncob pipe once said. But, I'm not wading ashore from a PT boat, but rather descending from the skies in a flying saucer! :D
Or more accurately, I am working on Saucer War One — a game about descending upon the unsuspecting Earth in flying saucers! It's got a long way to go, but I thought I should share some progress here, and see what people think. Here's the 'elevator pitch' so you can know where I'm coming from:
(https://miniaturemartin.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/sw1-logo-04.jpg)
Saucer War One: Invasion ’52 is a tabletop miniatures game of flying saucer combat, set in the 1950s. Against a background of B-grade Sci-Fi films, Cold War paranoia, Bebop Jazz and Rock n’ Roll, Saucer War One takes you through an alternate history in which alien civilisations challenged Humanity for dominance of the Earth.
Players field squadrons of beautifully detailed, 1/200 scale miniature saucers, maneuvering to bring machine-cannons, missiles, and exotic super-science weapons to bear. But victory is not decided by combat alone; Saucer War One is a fight for the hearts and minds of Earthlings. Can you gain the most believers for your cause, and ultimately triumph?
Right then, that's the commercial out of the way. So, what's this all about?
Well, ages ago I went through a bout with cancer (happily emerging the winner), and while recuperating I enjoyed a chuckle at old UFO documentaries I'd seen in my 70's childhood. It's the comfort of nostalgia, I suppose. But, then my gamer-brain started to take over, and up bubbled those fatal words:
"There's a game in that!"
A couple of years of falling down the rabbit hole that is Ufology, and I have penned a storyline of classic flying saucers fighting in the skies of Earth, complete with Venusians, Moon Nazis, and an Anderson-esque super-secret air force to fight them. 8)
The (evil) plan is to create a line of 1/200 scale model saucers and a ruleset to fight with. With a bit of finger-out-pulling, I should have some free rules, cards, and counters for print 'n play come June-July this year.
But in the meantime, please let me invite you to take a look at my new Miniature Martin blog here:
https://miniaturemartin.com/ (https://miniaturemartin.com/)
I will post updates in this thread regularly, and I hope you will find some stuff of interest as I record my progress. In the meantime, here's a 3-view of a Noordican Biga class saucer that I just finished, so you can get an idea of what the miniatures may look like. (Any resemblance to a Sears Gas Lantern top is purely coincidental.) 8)
(https://miniaturemartin.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/biga-3-view-01.png?w=1024)
Wish me luck, and watch the skies!
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Ooo. The potential has me grinning evilly.
>:D
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Oh neat, I got some reading to do.
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This looks serious!
So plans are for June-July 2020 for an initial release?
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This looks serious!
So plans are for June-July 2020 for an initial release?
Fighting the extraterrestrial hordes that threaten our world is very serious, very serious indeed... o_o
June-July 2020 is my target for the print 'n play version. It will probably be a bit 'alpha' in terms of its completeness, because playtesting is a bit tricky in the current viral climate. :(
If things all go according to plan, I would like to attempt to launch a Kickstarter to fund physical production in July 2021. However, I am determined to get as much of Saucer War One complete as humanly possible well before I ask anyone to pony up. I've been burnt by mismanaged Kickstarters *cough* Robotech Tactics *cough* and I'll be damned before I inflict one on the wargame community myself.
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Sounds like an excellent way to "launch" your project!
What would be your 'average' size for a saucer model in 1/1200th scale, if/when you get to the hardware side of SW-One?
(and thanks for your responses too)
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Sounds like an excellent way to "launch" your project!
What would be your 'average' size for a saucer model in 1/1200th scale, if/when you get to the hardware side of SW-One?
(and thanks for your responses too)
Guessing you meant "1/200th scale" :)
The Biga class in the 3-view illustration will be about 50mm diameter in 1/200th. Saucers will fall into one of 3 broad 'Types': Alpha (the big bruisers of the game, 80 - 120mm dia.), Beta (all-rounders, 60 - 80mm dia.), and Gamma (fighters and scouts, 40 - 60mm dia.) Small enough to maneuver on a wargame table, big enough to have 'presence' and be relatively easy to paint and detail.
And, they're the same scale as Wings of Glory WW2 and Blood Red Skies, so lots of potential for transplanting them into 'foo fighter' encounters over the Reich! :D
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Sharp idea to have them matching those air combat lines (in scales).
I think it was Projekt Poppy which made a series of 1/144th scale German Wunder Flugzeug models - always thought that would be a fun diversion from the strictly historical air combat gaming.
Your featured saucer on your blog is referencing on that lineage a bit, eh?
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Sharp idea to have them matching those air combat lines (in scales).
I think it was Projekt Poppy which made a series of 1/144th scale German Wunder Flugzeug models - always thought that would be a fun diversion from the strictly historical air combat gaming.
Your featured saucer on your blog is referencing on that lineage a bit, eh?
Ahh, but is it? The often-seen (on the internet) Haunebu wunderwaffe saucer didn't show up until a magazine article in 1954. Keep that in mind as I reveal the true origins of that amazing machine!
Here's the 'secret' document supposedly revealing the Haunebu type II.:
(https://miniaturemartin.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/haunebu-2-document.jpg)
Be aware that no providence for this document has ever been unearthed.
Now here's the Venusian flying saucer that contactee George Adamski claimed he photographed at Desert Center California, in November 1952:
(https://coolinterestingstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/D21E560B-F4BC-4421-A6A0-26D9EA655BE8.jpeg)
and lastly, here's a gas pressure lantern that was available all over the States in the '40s through the Sears and Roebuck catalogue:
(https://tgmarshfacultynoctrl.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/prewayl46sbluegraynotbrooklurewiersum.jpg?w=700)
You seeing what I'm seeing...? ;)
Adamski probably faked the picture to help support his story of meeting a Venusian, scratchbuilding his 'saucer' from an old lantern, three small lightbulbs, and a pot lid. The photo (and others) appeared in Flying Saucers Have Landed written by WW2 RAF fighter pilot and electric music pioneer Desmond Leslie, in 1953.
Around this time, various ex-Nazi scientists such as Viktor Schauberger started claiming the flying saucers everyone was seeing were their inventions, stolen by the Americans and Russians. Articles appeared in Der Spiegel and other magazines, and by the 60's a lot of people were connecting UFOs with Nazis, and the Vril and Thule Societies. (You'll see those crazy gangs show up later in Saucer War One!)
It's a fascinating topic, and when you dive into it there are some amazing examples of how real Ufology and UFO mythology have evolved side-by-side. But you have to go in with a slightly cynical view, to keep your brain from exploding. lol
However, in the world of Saucer War One this isn't mythology or the product of fast-talking, new-age, con-men. It's all real. The Venusians. The Nazi saucers. The ancient aliens. The abductions. All of it. Perhaps the only question we should ask is: Are we sure that isn't the universe we're really living in...? o_o
But how we get from there to other High Strangeness like Georgio Tsoukalos's hair, I just don't know... :o
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e7/65/2a/e7652a4aab46f4f4eeef6d591fc8327a.jpg)
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As you say, oooooo.....there definitely is a game in that. I immediately thought of how the RAF would respond in the early 1950s to an alien saucer invasion in the skies above London - lots of potential for lovely early post war jets - Meteors and Vampires vs. Saucers! Or were you thinking only of the USAF or the Russians, or just having saucer v saucer combat?
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As you say, oooooo.....there definitely is a game in that. I immediately thought of how the RAF would respond in the early 1950s to an alien saucer invasion in the skies above London - lots of potential for lovely early post war jets - Meteors and Vampires vs. Saucers! Or were you thinking only of the USAF or the Russians, or just having saucer v saucer combat?
Interestingly, I've just been reading about a Vampire intercept of a UFO in 1956 over Bedford. Solid targets seen on two ground radars and by the Vampire, with eyewitnesses on the ground. What was it they saw...?? ???
Saucer War One's primary focus is Saucer vs Saucer combat, but players can also take conventional aircraft. These are usually there to perform a task specific to a scenario (called a Case File) such as extracting an Agent off the ground, for example. However, the belligerents in Saucer War One rarely use conventional combat aircraft.
When other peoples' combat aircraft show up at a fight it is bad news for everybody, because all sides in Saucer War One are eager to keep their secret war exactly that — secret! Fortunately, evading or outrunning mere jets is child's play for an Element 115 powered gravitic drive. Even the best jet interceptors the US and USSR can throw into the skies are plodding slowpokes compared to Saucers.
But, as history (maybe) shows, every now and again a fighter jockey gets lucky, bounces a Saucer, gets off a shot, and down into somebody's backyard it goes. Then you have a Saucer Down mission to get the thing back before the local military show up and grab it for themselves! (ANTIC call this type of mission MAGICSHOW; Now you see it — Now you don't.) ;)
Such interfering jets can be taken as a random event that shows up in the game to throw a spanner in the works. But in theory, you could fight a game in which a bunch of jets take on a handful of Saucers; there will be stats and Data Discs for such aircraft. However, you'd need a lot of fighters to go dancing with even one Saucer!
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Aha, so it seems we're uncovering some vital evidence of 'Saucer War One', and now in real time ......
"Data Discs for such aircraft"
Data Discs? Care to forward any evidence of this??? ;) :-*
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Aha, so it seems we're uncovering some vital evidence of 'Saucer War One', and now in real time ......
"Data Discs for such aircraft"
Data Discs? Care to forward any evidence of this??? ;) :-*
I can neither confirm nor deny that this may or may not be an example of a Data Disc...
(https://scontent.fadl5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/95678353_3047396675317098_1000593703405879296_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_sid=1480c5&_nc_ohc=grw7j2HjQ3wAX8otBq_&_nc_ht=scontent.fadl5-1.fna&oh=6c6a2016c3f38d0fd14622dcd4fdb8d3&oe=5EDD1783)
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BRILLIANT!!! :o
And what do they say....."oh go ahead, take my money!"
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I read more of your blog and think it sounds great. I live in Vegas so I am sure that there are a few people in town that might be interested in it here.
This has a kind of X-com UFO defense feel to it, and I like that idea. I was wanting to play some pulp 1950s Jets vs Nazi UFOs in space. With ground missions in Antarctica, Moon bases, also on Mars and Venus. But I think this will scratch the Air Combat segment of the monstrosity I was planning for the future.
Also I like the ideas you are pushing out so far, looking forward to seeing the Monarians and Earth Defense Forces have going one.
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Sounds really interesting.
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I read more of your blog and think it sounds great. I live in Vegas so I am sure that there are a few people in town that might be interested in it here.
This has a kind of X-com UFO defense feel to it, and I like that idea. I was wanting to play some pulp 1950s Jets vs Nazi UFOs in space. With ground missions in Antarctica, Moon bases, also on Mars and Venus. But I think this will scratch the Air Combat segment of the monstrosity I was planning for the future.
Also I like the ideas you are pushing out so far, looking forward to seeing the Monarians and Earth Defense Forces have going one.
Thank you, Commissar!
Las Vegas! Home of secret, unmarked airliners to Area 51, George Knapp and Bob Lazar. UFO central! :)
I'd like to come visit your hometown and Nevada when travel restrictions are lifted. Maybe Saucer War One could have a launch party at the Little A'le Inn!
You might like to know that I've mapped out future expansions that take Saucer War One to all the settings you listed. I am also now pondering the idea of a 'pre-war' supplement set in 1945. We shall see...
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I think the backstory to your game has to answer a couple of questions that have always bothered me about extra-terrestrials and alien life forms. First, if you're in a super flying machine capable of landing anywhere on earth, why do you always, but always, choose the deserts around Las Vegas (or a variety of rural areas in nowheresville, USA?). And if you're an advanced life form, why do you principally molest cows when you get there? Enquiring minds want to know!
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Believe it or not, Leadboy, I have addressed these and other peculiarities of saucer behaviour, but you'll have to wait for SW1 to be released before full disclosure! :-X
In truth though, there have been reports from capitals and big cities throughout the history of UFO's; the Washington Flap of 1952 (which opens the ball in the SW1 Invasion '52 Campaign) is an example. The rash of sightings over Mexico City - seen by literally hundreds of thousands of people - is another.
Infamously, there's also the 'Phoenix City lights' in 1997 which have yet to be genuinely explained.
But as for the lone saucers settling onto lonely desert roads before incredulous farmhands? Maybe Douglas Adams can guide our search for the truth...
"Teasers are usually rich kids with nothing to do. They cruise around looking for planets which haven't made interstellar contact yet and buzz them.
They find some isolated spot with very few people around, then land right by some poor soul whom no one's ever going to believe and then strut up and down in front of him wearing silly antennae on their heads and making 'beep beep' noises.
Rather childish really."
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Very good! I shall form part of the queue for SW1....
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Greetings, Adventurers! I hope everyone is safe and well today, and doing plenty of hobby stuff.
I have a couple of new articles on the Miniature Martin Blog for you; one is about the Data Disc, and its components, and the other...
Well, that's something I'm a bit excited about and this picture might be a hint... :-*
(https://miniaturemartin.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/biga-3d-01.jpg?w=1024)
Come over to the blog and see what's happening!
https://miniaturemartin.com/blog/ (https://miniaturemartin.com/blog/)
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Believe it or not, Leadboy, I have addressed these and other peculiarities of saucer behaviour, but you'll have to wait for SW1 to be released before full disclosure! :-X
In truth though, there have been reports from capitals and big cities throughout the history of UFO's; the Washington Flap of 1952 (which opens the ball in the SW1 Invasion '52 Campaign) is an example. The rash of sightings over Mexico City - seen by literally hundreds of thousands of people - is another.
Infamously, there's also the 'Phoenix City lights' in 1997 which have yet to be genuinely explained.
But as for the lone saucers settling onto lonely desert roads before incredulous farmhands? Maybe Douglas Adams can guide our search for the truth...
"Teasers are usually rich kids with nothing to do. They cruise around looking for planets which haven't made interstellar contact yet and buzz them.
They find some isolated spot with very few people around, then land right by some poor soul whom no one's ever going to believe and then strut up and down in front of him wearing silly antennae on their heads and making 'beep beep' noises.
Rather childish really."
Does that mean that Whitley Strieber`s probing :o ahem, was the equivalent of college kids cow-tipping????? o_o lol lol lol
Nice ldea watching with interest
Glen
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Martin, exciting recent update from your blog!
The Connection rule mechanics sounded interesting, but I was wondering how these are done....are these [smaller] discs kept 'off-board', and then associated (placed) alongside each saucer's individual data disc?
Connection Ring (from Martin's blog page)
This orange circle has a number of what we call Connector Points around its rim. The Connector Points are: Crew; Special; Hardpoint 1 and Hardpoint 2. At each of these Connectors are placed an associated, smaller Disc;
The Crew Disc aligns with the Crew Connector Point.
‘Special’ things like Equipment Discs, and the Discs of Assets being transported, connect to the Special Connector.
And finally, at each Hardpoint a Weapon Disc can be placed.
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Martin, exciting recent update from your blog!
The Connection rule mechanics sounded interesting, but I was wondering how these are done....are these [smaller] discs kept 'off-board', and then associated (placed) alongside each saucer's individual data disc?
Good question. All will be revealed in a post next week, but essentially The Data Disc is the central element of a Saucer's 'Dashboard' which you keep on the table but outside the play area. Abutting the Data Disc are the smaller Crew, Equipment, etc. Discs. Each of these has its own points value and information.
This allows you to mix-and-match the way you fit out a Saucer as you see fit, without re-calculating numbers or writing out stat sheets.
As the Saucer takes damage or chews through ammo, the discs are rotated to indicate the changes. It's easier to show the concept than tell... but you'll have to wait for next week! (No, I'm not being a tease; I have not finished the illustrations for the article yet!) lol
And Glen? That's a terrible mental image you're generating there!! :o
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Good question. All will be revealed in a post next week, but essentially The Data Disc is the central element of a Saucer's 'Dashboard' which you keep on the table but outside the play area. Abutting the Data Disc are the smaller Crew, Equipment, etc. Discs. Each of these has its own points value and information.
This allows you to mix-and-match the way you fit out a Saucer as you see fit, without re-calculating numbers or writing out stat sheets.
As the Saucer takes damage or chews through ammo, the discs are rotated to indicate the changes. It's easier to show the concept than tell... but you'll have to wait for next week! (No, I'm not being a tease; I have not finished the illustrations for the article yet!) lol
And Glen? That's a terrible mental image you're generating there!! :o
Sorry lol, I blame lockdown and the penalties of having an imagination o_o lol lol lol lol
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How are we all today, Adventurists? :) I hope you're making inroads through your lead / plastic / resin mountains... unlike me... >:(
Meantime though, Saucer War One continues to take shape, with a new design article on the Miniature Martin blog.
https://miniaturemartin.com/2020/05/22/they-rode-the-flying-saucers/
(https://miniaturemartin.com/2020/05/22/they-rode-the-flying-saucers/)
This time, it's about how Saucer Crews survive the incredible G-Forces of hyper-speed combat, and how we record their fates on Crew Discs. Come and take a look!
(https://miniaturemartin.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/crew-disc-01.jpg?w=1024)
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Hello all!
There's another new article on the Miniature Martin Blog: This time, we're looking at the Trigger Cards, which provide the means to randomise results in Saucer War One.
https://miniaturemartin.com/2020/05/30/triggered-random-events-in-sw1/ (https://miniaturemartin.com/2020/05/30/triggered-random-events-in-sw1/)
"Why not just use dice?!?" I hear you exclaim. Well, come take a read, and see what you think of my reasoning.
(https://miniaturemartin.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/trigger-cards-preview-02.jpg?w=1024)
Also — why are there no retro sci-fi images of hot guys in goldfish bowl helmets? ???
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A new saucer revealed? Boris and Natasha have done well! Here's an exclusive look at the first ANTIC saucer to be made public. (Project Blue Book will insist it is just swamp gas.) ::)
(https://scontent.fadl4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/102720047_136075234755925_651801281903460352_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_sid=8024bb&_nc_ohc=iQQQBIPxcacAX9H8B7G&_nc_ht=scontent.fadl4-1.fna&oh=e0aa51658e6d6f39579fc4b12673082c&oe=5EFF7A43)
https://miniaturemartin.com/2020/06/05/know-your-flying-saucers-the-silvercat/
Take a look at the article to discover the real-life inspiration of the Silvercat, and download a bigger version of the blueprints.
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A recently revealed table of organisation showing ANTIC's order of battle on the eve of war! (Don't tell them I showed you this!) :o
(https://miniaturemartin.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/antic-oob-02-1.jpg)
I have to admit, I love doing this sort of stuff; it adds a sense of reality for me (or at least, the suspension of disbelief), it sparked a few questions that needed answers, (like "Who's running this joint?"), and helps me imagine the forces at my disposal as a wargamer. I'm already working on special rules for the all-black painted Joker Squadron!
Also, creating the table was a lot of fun, especially researching the personalities at the top of the ANTIC tree. Who else knew that Dowding attended several lectures by Ufologists and contactees in the early 1950's? As did Lord Mountbatten, and other notables of British society? Could it be they knew things the rest of us were not privy to? The plot thickens...
Chinese-American WW2 WASP pilot and nuclear scientist Maggie Gee was always on my recruiter's list as the head of ANTIC's R&D department, but I stumbled upon the amazing Virginia Hall. This peerless spy was the bane of the Nazis in occupied France, and she did amazing things to thwart them, in spite of having only one leg! She was neglected by the CIA after the war, and assigned to a mundane desk job. I could not resist imagining that job being merely a cover for her real, world-saving role...
And I had to have Keith Park there as Dowding's tactical genius, because who else would you want leading your air defence against a deadly enemy from afar? :D
The hidden CAPER bases from which the saucers fly are all areas that had unusual UFO activity at some time. (Although I suspect Coffin Bay here in South Australia was chosen because of the oysters...)
More in the article on the Miniature Martin blog!
https://miniaturemartin.com/2020/06/13/saucer-war-one-faction-sketch-1-antic/ (https://miniaturemartin.com/2020/06/13/saucer-war-one-faction-sketch-1-antic/)