Starfighter

[dijit]

Cue Star Wars theme
Well, having discovered the lovely and very very cheap starfighters from EM4, I decided I had to do something with them. Here's the first few flights from two fleets done:

The Harlequins - a rogue fleet, known for their bright colours and daring raids.


Elements of 301 and 207 squadrons of the Amman Defence Force - here seen escorting a bulk freighter and an armed merchant.

So far these are the only ones I've got painted (though 4 heavy fighters/bombers are the painting table). They're for the Silent Death ruleset, which seems to be the best starfighter ruleset out there, though its pretty old now, seems to be getting minority priority in the way of any support and has some of the things I dislike in games — lots of different sorts of dice (D4, D6, D8, and D10) and lots of paper work. I'm going to give it a try, and I'm also giving writing my own a shot, but it's really just notes at the moment. So any other suggestions for a decent ruleset to try will be received gladly!

[TheMightyFlip]

I bought a set of those plastics a while ago to see what they were like, and they are great little sculpts, thought never got around to painting them or using them for anything...6mm maybe? hhmm.

[cheetor]

I quite like the look of your larger, non EM4 ships too, although the photo is a little small to make out all of the details.

I would love to find a decent space battle system that suits my game group.

6mm maybe? hhmm.

I used some of them as far, far cheaper alternatives to Epic 40K Thunderbolts and Marauders here.

They are lovely little models and fantastically priced.

[dijit]

I used some of them as far, far cheaper alternatives to Epic 40K Thunderbolts and Marauders here.

They are lovely little models and fantastically priced.

Very nicely painted Cheetor. It's exactly the whole ruleset thing that's the difficult part.

[Dr. The Viking]

Wow! This looks splentastic. Come to Hammel and play this friday evening!

And I've even seen them in real life. That also looked fantastic.     

!

[Whiskyrat]

Nice PJ - I have a couple of boxes of these on my "to do" pile. 

They're for the Silent Death ruleset, which seems to be the best starfighter ruleset out there, though its pretty old now, seems to be getting minority priority in the way of any support and has some of the things I dislike in games — lots of different sorts of dice (D4, D6, D8, and D10) and lots of paper work. I'm going to give it a try, and I'm also giving writing my own a shot, but it's really just notes at the moment. So any other suggestions for a decent ruleset to try will be received gladly!

Try Full Thrust - it's free, easy enough to get to grips with and if you want to expand your fleets there are a few fan conversions - Star Trek, Star Wars, BSG and B5 - FWIW, the Babylon Project (RPG of B5 Universe) leverages FT rules.

LINK to GZG Downloads - you can even pick up SG and DS while you are there. 

[dijit]

Wow! This looks splentastic. Come to Hammel and play this friday evening!

And I've even seen them in real life. That also looked fantastic.    

!

Would love to, but unfortunately I've got Samuel watching duty.

Nice PJ - I have a couple of boxes of these on my "to do" pile. 

Try Full Thrust - it's free, easy enough to get to grips with and if you want to expand your fleets there are a few fan conversions - Star Trek, Star Wars, BSG and B5 - FWIW, the Babylon Project (RPG of B5 Universe) leverages FT rules.

LINK to GZG Downloads - you can even pick up SG and DS while you are there. 

Thanks I've looked at Full Thrust and Tac Ship, but they all seem to involve rather alot of bookkeeping, which I'm not a great fan of. Also as the rules are designed for fleet games rather than more cinematic starfighter games, they just didn't 'feel' quite right.

There is also these rules, by the same guy behind FT I think:
http://www.sfsfw.org/a/03/tacship.php
not had chance to try them out though yet, but they've not really gripped me.

[Tacgnol]

There's this set of rules. I've never played a starfighter game before so I don't have any real experience to base an opinion on but these look decent for a quick skirmish, and the options for randomised equipment and pilot quirks are pretty cool.

http://lkraz.tripod.com/Sfury.html

[dijit]

There's this set of rules. I've never played a starfighter game before so I don't have any real experience to base an opinion on but these look decent for a quick skirmish, and the options for randomised equipment and pilot quirks are pretty cool.

http://lkraz.tripod.com/Sfury.html

Thanks those look quite interesting, I'll have to give them a good looking at.
Duncan

[Gluteus Maximus]

I like the way you've done those dijit. Lovely!

[revford]

Great stuff, lovely colours on the Harlequins too.

I'm also sick with jealously over that hex starfield, it looks great. 

[dijit]

I'm also sick with jealously over that hex starfield, it looks great. 

Thanks, the mat is from Hotz Artworks, and is probably the thing that has set me back the most.

[kidterminal]

Those are great fighters. I've been looking at the EM4 star fighters to use with the Lightning Strike rules I picked up recently, but I couldn't find any good examples of them. Now you've done a me a great service with these great pictures! Thanks a bunch!

Rob

[dijit]

Those are great fighters. I've been looking at the EM4 star fighters to use with the Lightning Strike rules I picked up recently, but I couldn't find any good examples of them. Now you've done a me a great service with these great pictures! Thanks a bunch!

Rob

Lightning strike rules? Where have you found them? Do they look any good?

[kidterminal]

Lightning Strike is DreamPod 9's Not Gundam grand scale fleet rules. You build fleets of capitol ships, fighters and Mecha. It's a great system for simulating these anime show. Each type, capitol ship, fighter and Mecha has their own set of rules, which makes them “feel” different in play. The rules are easy to play yet contain enough detail to make it interesting. I bought them at a local game store but you can get them direct from DreamPod 9 here: http://store.dp9.com/index.php?cPath=55_36

DreamPod 9's other mecha games are Heavy Gear and Gear Kreig. If you order the 1st edition books you'll get nice card counters so you can play games before you collect the miniatures. 

Rob