Gratuitous Federation & Empire

 And other places. These are resin pieces, 6" diameter, sold by Combat Zone Scenery in the UK, and very nice they are too. Part of their Armada scenery range, they are useful hemispherical planets of various kinds. Here's my attempt at the moon/planetoid/large asteroid one: In any tabletop space combat game the miniatures are going to be wildly out of scale when compared with model planets, but often we need something visual to do the job well. These fit the bill nicely. Jungle planet: I used gloss acrylics for the sea effect. You'll notice a couple of metallic building son the surface - the moon of Endor? In fact, the other two definitely show the Star Wars Armada theme:  Ice planet - aka Hoth. And yes, that is a representation of a dead Tonton at middle right. You can also see a destroyed At-At walker at the top of the photo. The details are fun, but they have to impressionistic. I think this one turned out well, to my surprise. Someone once told me a long time ago not ...

 The various races and rules that have been appearing for Star Fleet Battles  since I originally played it in the 80s and 90s have mostly left me cold. This may simply be because I have not had a chance to play them. In any case, re-absorbing the game is taking enough of my time and energy. However, occasionally something happens in my ongoing Federation and Empire  campaign to change things around a little, and this has happened recently.  I have automated rules for the Andromedans who, unknown two the galactic powers, have finished constructing their network of rapid transit bases. It is now Spring 178 and the Andros are shifting their strategy to probes into the territories of the various empires. Mostly this is intelligence gathering, but they will go for a target of opportunity should it present itself. This has just happened with an Andromedan force raiding its way across Klingon space in the sensitive rear areas on the Hydran Front. The invaders came across an...

 Well, reasonably soon. Moving continents has played havoc with my internet access, but in the meantime I've been playing merrily away. The Coalition has conquered pretty much all of Kzinti space and repeatedly devastated three of the outer planets in their capital system, albeit at the cost of great harm, especially to the Klingons. For reasons unknown to anyone but themselves, they decided it was a good idea to attack the Federation and escalate the entire war. The Lyrans are quietly rebuilding their offensive forces with most of their crippled ships repaired and back on the front lines. It's shaping up to an epic confrontation here between the Red Claw and the majority of the Kzinti navy. The big cats did manage to get some reinforcements through to the Marquis, but even so it might not be enough to save the last Starbase outside their homeworlds. The molasses strategy has been working, although one of the Klingon fleets got a nasty scare when the Federation 3rd Fleet turned...

 This is really a miscellaneous musing, based on my feelings from the games played so far. It's something that has been bubbling under the surface of my mind for a while now, and I suppose it has crystallised with the arrival of the Hydrans in the campaign. Basically, I am somewhat dissatisfied with carrier escorts. What is the point of them? Yes, they carry extra defensive weaponry which can be quite useful in protecting the main ship itself, but that just detracts from the overall offensive combat power of the fleet. Also, and this is what I think has mainly been bugging me, this early in the war the escorts are falling like flies, especially the smaller ones. Why would anybody bother with them? Why would the Klingons, say, have E4E Escorts and then have them uprated with Aegis fire control, when instead they could just stick a couple of F5 Frigates with the carrier instead? My rationale is going to be that there must be a logical reason for having dedicated carrier escorts of th...

 Now that the Hydrans have made their appearance in the campaign, it is worth some thought as to how they play in my solo fast fleet rules. This is because I had no idea how they would work out in practice, simply because their ships are so radically different from anyone else's; consequently, so too is my feel for their overall combat doctrine. It's made even more complicated by the fact that not only do they have three different kinds of ships (fusion, hellbore and command ships that carry both), they also have their fighters. These again are different from what has gone before because they use heavy direct fire weapons instead of drone missiles.  So far I've played with a fusion fleet and a hellbore fleet; it will be interesting to see how things develop as the war progresses, probably with mixed fleets starting to appear as the losses start to bite and tidy formations and organisations become a thing of the past - well, that's what happens when you are fighting for ...

 I bought some of these. They took well over a month to arrive from Canada:  For the Kzinti: ship insignia to the left as you look at them, and ships' names in suitably off-looking script to the right. I've tried them out now on the model I put together as a Kzinti Starbase, and they are rather disappointing. The sheet of Kzinti names comes out very dark, too dark for use, in fact, even though I tried them on a painted stripe of white. The ship insignia are also dark, but those ones are usable. I'll probably paint a little white rectangle on the ships themselves to make the decals 'pop' a bit more. One thing to look out for is that the entire sheet is covered with transfer film, so you need to cut around the individual decals to make sure there isn't too much extra - that can become a bit awkward when you are trying to put them onto a ship panel. This reminds me of older transfer sets like the old Revo medieval ones. Overall verdict: worth getting the insignia s...

 It took eight battles to complete the first major assault on a Starbase in the campaign. Losses are as follows, although I have probably missed some of the details: Lyran ships crippled: an Escort Frigate; four Destroyers; a War Destroyer Leader; three War Destroyers; six Heavy Cruisers; a Battlecruiser; a Battle Tug; and a Scout Tug. Lyran ships destroyed: three Frigates; two Heavy Destroyers; a War Destroyer; four Light Cruisers; a War Cruiser; two War Cruiser Leaders; and a Command Cruiser.  Kzinti ships crippled: an FFK Improved Frigate; a Destroyer; an Escort Light Cruiser; three Light Cruisers; a Fast Battlecruiser; three Battlecruisers; and a Carrier Tug. Kzinti ships destroyed: a Light Cruiser; an Escort Carrier; two Medium Cruisers; a Battlecruiser; and a Command Cruiser. Plus, of course, the Starbase itself (eventually). Another way to look at it is that the Lyrans have had five light ships crippled to two Kzinti; five Lyran medium ships crippled to five Kzinti; six...

 Website of the guy who designed the Vassal module for F&E:  http://www.rindis.com  He Deserves a vote of thanks for that!