Baker's Dozen: More spaceships and the helicopter receives paint

[Daeothar]

Well, as these things go, I needed a little breather from the RPG campaign I'm running due to an increased workload at, well, work. So another DM stepped in and started a brand new scifi campaign, which he called 'Baker's Dozen'. Something inbetween genuine space opera, hard scifi and anime to be precise, with World of Darkness roleplaying rules, and homemade rules (still WIP) for (space) combat.

Things got off to a cracking start and before I knew it, I found myself working on the spaceship we're all zooming around in. Scratchbuilding it from many 1/72 plane parts, of which I have plenty still lying around, from when I built and painted them without pauze back in highschool. Most of it is F-16, but there is more in there than I could possibly list, and it's only halfway finished...

Why? would you ask, do you need a spaceship model in an RPG? Well, we pretty soon found ourselves in our first space battle, complete with zero-G nuclear explosions and hard vacuum boarding parties. And this was played out on the coffee table, with (if my memory serves me right) several blocks of Lego, some toy cars and (believe it or not) a piece of sausage. Yeah; I know...

That had to change, and fast. So hence the building frenzy. This was not made easier by the fact that the DM had made a 3D render of the ship in some program, so I was pretty much stuck with realizing his creation. It's ending up a somewhat free interpretation, but we're all flexible that way, and the rule-of-cool overrules any rational or OCD fueled argument pretty quickly anyway.

But what is a ship without other ships to interact with eh? We so need something to shoot at!

That's where it became both frantic and interesting (not necessarily in that order). We (the crew) pretty soon captured a gunboat that was involved in an attack on our ship, which is capable of transporting a 10 man squad, but also fits into one of our ship's docking bays. Oh; and it can cloak itself. Of course!

So, I remembered some EM4 fighters I once bought at a whim. 12 pretty well scaled 1 piece models that were once part of the Silent Death game. In fact, I based the size of 'our' ship on their scale. As a concequence though, I had to scale all other ships roughly accordingly. I also ordered 3 more sets (plus a set of the equially cheap mechs/robots), so these can also be used to fight some space combat in a more formal gaming setting (meaning; with a 3rd party ruleset, and not something we make up along the way).

Which meant BIG ships! I scoured the interwebs for some suitably large ships (but also cheap!) and preferably also a space station. I eventually found an old Revell Perry Rhodan Sol ship, which is large (35cm long) and is shaped in such a way, that it could easily double as a space station. In the same deal, I also scored a Space Probe kit from the seventies and an old ERTL Millennium Falcon, which is actually scaled at approx. 1/60 and as such might be the basis for a future Star Wars project. But I digress.

I also found 3 Sith Infiltrator snapfit kits for € 1,50 each, which I immediately picked up. These were destined to become frigates, as they are of a similar size to the PC ship (which fluffs out at approximately 100m long). I left off the stabilisers (those would become a flight of heavy bombers later on), and added some bomb and tank halves from my extensive stock of Hasegawa 1/72 aircraft weapons to change the outline and make them look more like the cruiser they were destined to escort.

Which was next; a Starblazers EDF Cruiser at Hobby Link Japan for about € 4,50 plus P&P. I picked this kit not just because of its looks, but also because of the fact there came two smaller spaceships with it. Yay; more ships!

Of course, with all this shiny plastic congregating, the coffeetable is no longer a viable backdrop anymore. So I found a large scale picture of the Big Dipper on the web (might be Hubble) and had it printed in two 60x60cm parts. Those parts were mounted on 3cm thick isolation foam, and the edges were covered in ducttape for extra protection/strength, as these will have to be transported to the livingroom of choice for our games every time. I plan to cover the back of one of them with a generic sand/dirt/grass theme and the other with a ship's deckplating/grating, so we can use them with the 28mm miniatures we are assembling for close encounters.

Yeah, forgot that; the entire crew (including about 6 NPCs next to our 6 players) are being sourced and prepped as well. Plus a whole range of generic bad guys to, ehm, encounter. The characters are the most fun, but also the most difficult to source. Luckily though, I already have gathered a considerable amount of generic scifi types, quite a lot through the Bazaar here on LAF btw, so some of you might recognize some miniatures that have migrated from one leadpile to the next (mine)...

But enough jibberjabber again (I've been known to rant); on to the pictures!

First our character ship. Yes; the ship is also a character, as the onboard AI is one of the NPCs. It's called the Friendly Contact, as we thought that name might cause some hapless controller to overlook us on his radar screen, giving us an edge when things get hairy (which they tend to do). There is supposed to go a large smiley on the top (very friendly), and since none of the players (me included) thought empathy was a relevant skill, it was also decided that the ship should have a slogan on the back: 'We feel for nobody!' (slight reference to Spaceballs there  )



Accompanying it, are the aforementioned shuttle (an old Eldar Falcon from the Space Marine game) and some EV suits, which are also used (one of them IS a character btw, as he's a robot, but more on that in a minute). These are Epic scale stand-ins, but I might simply debase them and use these with some small alterations.

Here is FC again, with one of the 'Sith' frigates. Three of those will be finished eventually, but two are done right now.



And this is FC again, with the large cruiser and some of the Silent Death fighters:



Here they are again, from another angle:



Next up is a flight of the EM4 fighters; one quarter of my standing force now:



Followed by the bombers I made from the Sith Infiltrator wings, plus some plastic rod and strip and halves of some ZUNI pods. The actual fronts of those pods are the tailpipes of these bombers now and the cockpits are the fronts 1/72 scale racks for Mk82 bombs. This all fit together amazingly well!  The bomb racks reminded me of Pterodactyls for some reason, so that's going to be their name. They are accompanied by the two extra craft I got with the cruiser, and two more are to follow.



Almost rounding up, here we see good old Friendly Contact nearing a large space station. And boy, is it large! I started greebling up one side of it, but soon decided to stop that, as the scale did not require it, and this is not Star Wars. If anything, the aesthetics more lean towards anime, which usually is all about clean lines anyway (just look at the cruiser again!). So, I only had to base it. And it being so dang huge, the base plus rod have to be very sturdy and stable indeed. So far, the rod is perfect, but the base is too light and small (it already toppled over once, crashing into the cruiser and breaking off two of its antennae  ). So I will alter it soon.



And finally, the playing boards. One of them had the audacity to start bulging in the middle, so I might have to take the picture off and reapply it... To do is a couple of layers of protective varnish and a couple of layers of matte varnsih to take the sheen back off again. They're very light though. In fact, I think they're lighter than the space station!





Ok; this is getting pretty long, so I will just leave you with some pictures of the 28mm minis Ihave so far. At a later date, I will list all the characters and their minis. And probably some more opposition as well...

1st: my own character, Batsu, who is an ex-militairy hacker. Based on an Infinity mini:



2nd is Weyland the Smith, a former human cyborg, who managed to save his essence in a machine after his flesh and blood body was destroyed. He's about 3.5m tall and an engineering genius. Based on a mini I bought here on LAF. Probably a Metal Gear mecha:



Some ever present slaves of the corporation/administration/warlord. Again bought here at LAF, they're Heresy Customs Officers:



From the same buy; some battlesuits and a gang form the Rezolution game. Both will be generic opponents and should die a lot in-game...





And finally, the beginning of some futuristic scenery, as nobody wants to play on a huge plain field without any form of cover:



Well, that was a lot to begin with, but I've been at this stuff on and off for a couple of weeks now. So it is about time for some paint, I'd say!

[James Holloway]

Gorgeous! I like the ships and the playing board in particular. I have just been bitten by the spaceship combat bug myself and am definitely making a few notes. 

[The Voivod]

Sweet model for Wayland,dude.
Hadn't seen that one yet.
I've primed my model.
See if I can get it painted in the coming week.

You start painting the Friendly Contact.

[Elbows]

Love it.  Are you using that old Epic Falcon as an actual ship or is it just shown for scale?  Very cool project, very character-ful if you get my meaning.  Dig it!

[Mason]

You certainly know how to open up a thread with a bang.

Some great scratchbuilding there.
Looking forward to seeing this come together.

[dijit]

Lovely stuff. I always love seeing starfighters and scale spaceships.
Where was the space station from?
Duncan

[Daeothar]

Cheers guys; once I get caught up in the momentum, I find it hard to stop every now and then and take some pictures. So that's why my project threads usually open with a bang. Of course the hardest part is keeping that momentum, but I don't feel like slowing doen just yet...

Next up; one of the NPC crew members, Krollo. He's a half-ork (yes; apparently some Shadowrun is in the mix too) and one of the cargo handlers on the Friendly Contact. He also doubles as muscle on the security team. He's got only one hobby; weaponry! When it is time to reach out and touch the baddies, his only disappointment is usually that he is unable to bring all his favourite toys along. Still; his strength gives him ample opportunity to lug around much more hardware than he would need...



Made from the legs of a GW tankcommander, a Cadian torso with the eagle shorn off, Catachan arms and some plasticard to bulk him out; under the soles of the feet, between the torso and legs and between the arms and torso. The head is from the original GW Imperial Guard; I just added the fangs with some putty.

The gun is a standard Cadian lasgun with the barrel shortened and the energy clip replaced with an aftermarket drum magazine. Assorted extra equipment, a handgun and a 'This-Is-A-Knife' are strapped to his belt, from various sources.

I am contemplating also giving him a backpack. It would fit his weapon-hoarding character, but I like the fact his torso-armour is visible form the back. On the other hand; it does not even protect the kidneys, so it might be better off being covered after all. What do you think?

Where was the space station from?

It's a Revell kit of the Space Ship Sol, from the Perry Rhodan series, which is hugely popular in Germany, but quite unknown outside of Germany. I was lucky enough to have owned a small stack of translated mags as a kid, but an enterprizing cousin borrowed them from me and then sold them...

Anyhow; in the fluff, it's supposed to be an 8km long generation ship, but I thought it'd look equally good as an orbital space station. So I mounted it at an angle (it did not come with any form of stand), and as you can see, it's pretty huge. 35cm to be exact...

It can still be found on Ebay with regularity, but prices are starting to mount. I was lucky to pick this one up, together with a Space Probe space station from the seventies and the aforementioned Millennium Falcon, which will both be used eventually for only €60,- in total  on Marktplaats, a local Dutch version of Ebay.



As a parting piccie, here is one of the (many) renders of the Friendly Contact, as designed by our industrious DM (this one pretty low-res, but he has more in the pipeline, which are nicely skinned etc). As you can see, his version is more boxy, but I'm trying to capture the general lines set out by him.

[Mason]

Loving Krollo.
A great bit of kit-bashing and conversion.
I would go with the backpack as it would give him even more bulk.
Nice work!
 

Nice selection of kits there, too.
Gotta get me a Falcon one day.
 

It certainly seems that your group put a lot of effort into your roleplaying as that render is rather spiffing!

[Daeothar]

Cheers Mason 

It certainly seems that your group put a lot of effort into your roleplaying as that render is rather spiffing!

You have no idea... One of our group has designed the (all of a sudden not so friendly) Smiley which will go on the back of the ship. And apparently, we now even have a Facebook page!  As I dont facebook, I haven't seen it yet, but we are taking involvement and nerding-out to whole new levels with this campaign now... 

[Mason]

Cheers Mason 

You have no idea... One of our group has designed the (all of a sudden not so friendly) Smiley which will go on the back of the ship. And apparently, we now even have a Facebook page!  As I dont facebook, I haven't seen it yet, but we are taking involvement and nerding-out to whole new levels with this campaign now... 

I sympathise with the facebook thing.
Not into any of that kind of witchery myself either.

You seem to take a completely different course with roleplaying than I do, where I try to keep things to a minimum so I can wing my way around things....

One of my mates ran a campaign where he went really deeply into it and prepared all manner of props.
I thoroughly enjoyed playing in it, I must admit, but he did have difficulty if we ever strayed from a fairly linear path.

Each to their own, I suppose....

Saying that does not stop me admiring your efforts, though!
 

[Daeothar]

Well, you know about my Interbellum pulp campaign, so you know I can get a bit prop-crazy...

And for the record; those props are there because I love using them, and usually, they're the things I use to steer the players when it suits me, and I can be flexible about where and when I introduce them. I'm very wary of creating props tied to a specific location, waiting for the group to find them, because I'm all too aware of a group's tendency to firmly tangent away from any well prepared clues!

And the minis and terrain is all carefully designed to be as generic as possible, so they can be used whenever a similar mini is required. Prime example is of course the set of roads I made for car chase situations.

So; Fallschirmjäger in Interbellum can pop up anywhere in the world, due to their airborne nature, which makes them versatile enemies. The same goes for a large bunch of (Voivod; scroll away NOW!) AT-43 Red Block troopers, which will function as generic SciFi troops. Be it friendly or hostile. And I have the FAGs (Futuristic Asian Gang) for that purpose as well, next to the Patrolling Mechanized Suits (PMS) and the COPs (Customs Officer Patrol).

All of those can (and will) be used repeatedly, thus minimizing the amount of minis that need to be painted.

The fighters and other ships for instance are also a careful first step into space combat games such as Silent Death, so they might well see lots of use there as well...

[Mason]

So it is just part of a much bigger 'CUNNING PLAN' !!!

I am beginning to see the light.
 

[chromedog]

Your mecha/cyborg guy looks more like a Jovian Chronicles mecha than a Heavy gear one (although they are both done by the same company and share the same influences on design).

[tomogui]

How can this thread not have a million views and comments?! I think it's just wonderful.

Love all the kitbashed and repurposed spaceships, especially the EDF battleship. I am keen to see how the 28mm skirmish side of this works out too. A fantastic project.

[Daeothar]

Right, out of the trenches and back into space again (for now at least... )

The campaign progresses, and we (the PC group) have just nicked some valuable stuff from a very, very rich industrial, and now need to escape the planet. The Friendly Contact is in geosynchronous orbit above us, but we will need to shake off swarms of scrambled fighters and approaching heavier stuff before dashing out of the atmosphere towards the ship.

The group is now traveling in a cloaking-capable attack-shuttle we captured after some mercs tried to board us earlier. Patched up and with some personal touches added, the sturdy VTOL transport is serving us well so far.

For the dirtside action, we used 28mm miniatures, so the shuttle, now dubbed the Indecent Proposal, had to be the right size. I chose to use a free papercraft template, as we needed it fast, and even my cashflow has its limits...

Here's the link, should you wonder:  http://www.toposolitario.com/workshop/chickenhawk.html

It's a great model, and I plan to make an ultimate version later out of plasticard, at approximately 140% of its current size, complete with interior. This one, I gave moving engine pods by attaching them to a round balsa rod, which I cut holes for in the already built wings and fuselage. The engines are now connected and swivel down for landings. Looks and works great!

The turret is an after-market addition, and comes from another free papercraft template of his, I believe an armoured, wheeled scout vehicle. And since his templates are all made in several different skins, it's easy to mix and match.

I also added the Friendly Contact smiley to the roof, and the craft's name to the nose, complete with appropriately vulgar hand gestures



But since we now need to flee those fighters, and 1) none of our houses are large enough to accomodate an aerial/space furball with dozens of fighters (plus; outside is too cold right now) and 2) I'm not nuts enough (yet) to build and paint all those fighters in 28mm scale, I had to build the IP in a more forgiving scale.

So I made a copy of the shuttle out of pieces of sprue and plasticard at the same scale (approximately) as the Silent Death/EM4 fighters I planned on using. I do have some pictures of it unpainted, but for now, you'll have to settle for one with its grey undercoat on...



And finally, the opposition.

I decided to make these guys as versatile as possible again, so my take is that they're mercenary fighter units, selling their services to corporations, which is a win/win situation for both sides; the mercs do what they're good at and make money, and the corporations cut down on overhead and don't lose their own people and assets when things go radardish up.

First up, Blue Squadron:



Second is Red Squadron:



And finally Green Squadron, still WIP:



Green has some heavier assets with them too, in the form of two light frigates. ALso both still WIP:



So, next step is to get those green guys finished, come up with some more original names for those squadrons and get the IP painted as well. Then we'll see to the Friendly Contact again, which still requires its building to be finished before painting...