UVS Stargrave - Diminutive Robot 28 /02/2024

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Thanks to Nick and the crew for getting my Stargrave Nickstarter package together so quickly.

Here is the book with William Killian for scale.

More photographs including sprues here:
https://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/2021/04/stargrave-first-photographs.html

More to follow.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Crew sprue

Weapons on the sprue:

• 5 Carbines
• 6 Pistols
• 1 Staple Gun (Space 1999 style laser pistol)
• 2 Shotguns

Mercenaries sprue

• 2 Pistols
• 2 Pistols (possibly carbines),
• 4 Carbines
• 5 Carbines or Shotguns
• 2 Grenade Launchers
• 2 Rapid Fire
• 1 Missile Launcher

Troopers sprue


Pistol (or carbine), carbine, possible shotgun, carbine, carbine, carbine,possible shotgun, carbine.
Rapid fire, missile launcher and ammunition.
Carbine, pistol.

• 1 Pistol
• 1 Pistol (or carbine)
• 6 Carbine
• 2 Shotgun or Carbine
• 1 rapid Fire
• 1 Missile launcher

More detailed sprue photographs of the weapons here:
https://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/2021/04/stargrave-weapons.html

[pauld]

Actually the crew sprue looks good for unarmed civilians/bystanders to add moving scatter to a game.  3 or 4 on a larger base wandering around and getting in the way.  I might have to buy me a box.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

So first one assembled.

Decided on 30mm lipped bases (to match existing not "A Galaxy Far etc" figures).

This face has a slight Gerry Anderson look to it.

There are some slight mould lines - this photograph shows one I missed on the arm.


And some comparisons.
I used an existing lipped base with an infill (originally intended for a Knight Models Legion of Doom figure) so the top is not flush but stands a bit proud.
William Killian (of course).


A very unfinished Anvil Industries PMC with Jungle Fighter head.


Classic Plastic Space Marine


It will be a while before I get round to painting this.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

"Classic" plastic Space Marine?  Without a proper beaky helmet and studs on the left shoulder pad?  I think not.  That Johnny-come-lately late-90s fig might as well be Primaris when it comes to "classic" cred. 

Nice to see some good sprue shots and a parts breakdown, though.  Bodies look a bit more static stance-wise than I thought.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

"Classic" plastic Space Marine?  Without a proper beaky helmet and studs on the left shoulder pad?  I think not. 

Like these?

When I based them, I was going through a "slotta bases are evil" phase. The circular bases were punched out from plastic card using a sharpened piece of conduit. After I lost access to a belt sander, I started cutting square bases.

William Killian for scale:

They are mainly the original blue plastic figures, though I know there are probably some of the flesh coloured ones as well. If you peer at the photograph above, you can see the blue plastic where one (of two) of them has had the rocket launcher removed for use with the third and fourth generation Ultramarines. I have not started to cannibalise them for the mark six heads - I still have a few RTB-01 sprues with heads left. though none of them are blue sprues.

Ultra Vanilla Wombles are the one true Womble:

The top left five are Forge World.
The two bottom right are the only ones built using RTB-01 torsos, perched on the second generation plastic multi-pose Mk7 Marine legs (the second generation original torsos had fixed heads).
That was posted in 2012.
https://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/2012/12/work-in-glacial-progress.html
Not much has happened to them since then (see post title).

And now back to Stargrave...

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Yeah, that's the good stuff.  Proper beaky wombles. 

Still got about three of them left on the sprues in green plastic.  Saving them for when I'm feeling nostalgic.

[aliensurfer]

Back when 40k was affordable. I still have great memories of going to the Plaza GW store with my late dad and coming home with £100 of blisters, when IG were 5 for £2.50 

[Philhelm]

Back when 40k was affordable. I still have great memories of going to the Plaza GW store with my late dad and coming home with £100 of blisters, when IG were 5 for £2.50 

Aside from Blood Bowl, GW finally priced me out for the most part.  $40 for a single hero model, or slightly less for twenty Stargrave models?  Not to mention that each new GW model tries to outdo itself as far as being as highly breakable as possible.

[snitcythedog]

Back when 40k was affordable. I still have great memories of going to the Plaza GW store with my late dad and coming home with £100 of blisters, when IG were 5 for £2.50 

Same here and that was back when their games were actually fun to play.  Now you need the main rules, army rules and two or three other books to find each and every special rule for each model. 

[Storm Wolf]

Same here and that was back when their games were actually fun to play.  Now you need the main rules, army rules and two or three other books to find each and every special rule for each model.

Hell yeah, I want to like it, but how many special bloody rules and exceptions can one person look at and remember.

Playing 40K 9th is like playing a game of "Fizzbin" if you know your Star Trek

[Karadek]

Aside from Blood Bowl, GW finally priced me out for the most part.  $40 for a single hero model, or slightly less for twenty Stargrave models?  Not to mention that each new GW model tries to outdo itself as far as being as highly breakable as possible.

Ain't this the damn truth? I have no idea how people get into the GW hobby nowadays. It's just so expensive.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Moving on...

So most members of your crew cost credits, Runners and Recruits are however free (but probably not worth learning their names).

Runners are unarmoured, but being unencumbered move faster.

For consistency, three of them have the revolver arm (one each are supplied per sprue).

That one looks like a Cold Weather version of a United Federation of Planets away team kit.

The fourth Runner is from a second sprue.


Recruits are lightly armoured and again are armed with a pistol.


The choice of left arm is rather limited.


These are the bodies from one sprue.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

So next up, a Pathfinder.

The Pathfinder is former military and kept his high-tech Carbine (from the Trooper' sprue). An axe from the Frostgrave Barbarians sprue provided the Hand Weapon. The grenades are from the Mercenaries sprue. The body is the Crew body with the chest plate.



The head is from Anvil, their necks are wider and deeper than the Stargrave one, but nothing a 3mm drill could not handle.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Though I have not yet built sufficient figures for a crew (let alone paint anything) I decided to build some opponents.

Though there are no current crew or pirates using shotguns, I thought they would be suitable for a security guard.

The shotgun will dissuade any ruffians, and the light armour will give him reason to stand his ground.


Built from the Crew body with the shoulder straps, a Crew shotgun and a Mercenary light helmet, he will be standing guard outside a bank or storage facility


Not sure if a Hand Weapon would be a good idea.