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Something a bit more interesting tonight, the Space Fleet assembles.
Painting is still a WIP, but the models are just fantastic and look great even with basic slop'n'go paint.
After being out of the country for a month, then out of house another month it's nice to finally put them together along with my battlefield in a box asteroids and cheap starfield table cloth.
I think the table cloth will look better fully spread out on a large table.
I've been reading up on BFG and I think I have figured out what each ships will 'count' as. Some are easy, Cobra=Cobra, Firestorm=Firestorm, Emperor=Emperor, even the Dominator=Dominator, both have Nova cannons. Others are a bit harder.
I decided the Gothics won't count as Gothics because I want the side thingys to be launch bays. So they'll count as Mars cruisers.
The Imperial Superstar Destroyer probably won't join the game, but it's the closest I could find to Goodwin's awesome ships (and probably inspired them).
Still no idea what I'll do with Mr Huggsly, the ship with a drill in front and 2 massive claws. It's one of the really insane Space Fleet ships and BFG was a lot more 'realistic'. No room for space boats and come up, hug you and drill into your sides. Any ideas?
Ramshakle games, a lot of cool figures I've had my eye on for a long time.
For some odd reason they sent me about 10 extra figures and missed one that actually ordered. Frankly I'm willing to call it even.
Did not realize how big the guy in the back would be. Might have to order some more.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Llamahead wrote: Dunno actually fireships have been used more recently than the American Civil War. Several were used in WW2 the St Nazaire Raid was the most famous and the various manned torpedoes as well
yeah I did some reading up on it, I didn't know about the allies using them in WWII.
I should have remembered the Japanese 'manned torpedoes' after all I've seen them in the flesh both in Kyoto in Tokyo.
And Wikipedia asserts you could consider the Cole bombing as a modern take on the fire ship.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Great service from Ramshakle. The extra figures were freebees they threw in to clear out an extra bin and they're going to send off the missing figure at no extra charge.
Nice clean casts too.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2016/08/09 05:12:05
Nice clean casts and a lot cheaper than 3rd hand ebay ships.
Remember what I said about my transport conversions. yep. Totally pointless. I got 9 transports from Vanguard.
Lots of fun though.
Tankers/fire ships
Light Cruisers
Oh and greebling is done. Now for the painting.
I'm going on the theory that the 'shuttles' are Queen Mary sized intra-system ships that carry cargo and passengers. Huge by normal standards, tiny by BFG standards.
Some can even do short warp jumps, a few light years at best but lose more than half their cargo space for the warp drive, fuel and geller field.
More pipe transports underway, more Space Fleet stuff en route. Tomorrow I might even get to do some painting.
In the meantime I'm trying to figure out what to do for a battleship. The Super Star Destroyer is a bit too jarring (even with a big angel and a skull on it!) and I want something that fits with the rest of the fleet.
If only I had an idea.
What's that you say imaginary Jes Goodwin from 25 years ago?
Can you speak up?
Oh, yes, that certainly might work. But in order to do that I would need two plastic Gothic Battleship, hopefully for just $5.
I'm almost out of the bitz I use for it but every time I thought I was done I found a new use for some other useless bit.
It's been an interesting exercise that reminds me of Legos when I was a kid. I'd make fleets of fighters, battleships and everything in between and one time I set myself the goal of using every last block in my box. I don't know if I'll go quite that far this time, but it's been a fun project, as I bang together each ship I have to think about what this ship does, why it's built like that ('those were the bitz I had' is not an acceptable answer), etc.
Primed them today. Next up I have to open my paints for the first time in a month? Two?
The star fort is also feeling ready, there's still some flat surfaces but I think anything else will make it too busy.
It's the "I spend too much time on ebay supply drop!"
Up top we have Constellation Targeting ships, Galaxy Troop Ship, 2 Goliath Factory Ships, and a Castellion Shield ship from Space Fleet (though actually repurposed from an older line).
Then we have 2 Firestorms, an Emperor, an Iron Clad, a Gothic, an Annihilator and a Dominator.
There's also a mystery ship, the one with wings on the left. Anyone recognize it? It came in one of the ebay lots.
Along with the Vanguard ships I more than doubled my BFG collection and there's still some bits and bobs tricking in.
Finding that the little cyber claws from the go-cart servitors fit around the pipes really made this work. Imagine arms the size of the Empire State Building reaching down to tear off damaged chunks of a ship the size of Manhattan.
Probably paint in basic grey with some red.
Work on the rest of the fleet continues, give me a another few days.
Llamahead wrote: Great stuff given what you like if your after another Brexit supply drop Ground Zero Games or Brigade Models might be worth a look both are excellent!
They both have good stuff but then I found out about the old, old, old (like late 70s old) Starfleet Wars (one syllable from a lawsuit!) line.
I now have the entire SF Imperial run. Since I have no interest in the Eldar or Tyranids that would mean the 'spending too much money' phase is complete, now for the 'why doesn't this look as good as the picture oh whatever it's painted OK?' phase.
Which reminds me, any interest in 4 plastic Eldar wraith ships?
Looking at the prices on those mint in box ships made me dig up this.
Old BFG magazine.
First it depressed me because of how cheap I could have gotten them even in 'recent' times.
Then it depressed me because I realized that when this magazine came out Space Fleet was 10 years old. But this magazine is from 2001, 15 years ago. Somehow in 2001, 1991 seemed ancient, but in 2016, 2001 feels like last week.
I'm gonna go take my pills and watch some Matlock now.
"Obvious Tactics" from the early 2000s. One of the text pages has background info on the ships seen.
I like it because it's not just another flying cathedral, it's a practical design that still looks 40k-ish and as far as I know it's the only time GW has shown how IG regiments get to the surface.
As I run out of normal bitz the designs get a little crazier. But that's fine since it forces more innovation from me.
This puppy exists because I am almost out of everything, except the curve pieces. So I made a ship that needed 10 curves to build.
Very happy with this mining ship, I can see it using the twin Melta Torrents to cut an asteroid in half.
You'll notice the little cities this time. I've been looking for a way to make mini city scapes and kept thinking how I wished I had something like those cities in the old Fortress America board game. Yeah if only had something like that...
So I looked on ebay and found nothing LIKE them.
But I did find the actual mini city pieces!
I figure they're some kind of Imperial colony ship. There is of course no reason to put little cities on a colony transport, you can jam the colonists in there just like potatoes or whatever else you're carrying, but that kind of logic has no place in 40k. Colony ships need little flying cities!
The double wide one even has some defensive weapons on the bottom.
But really I'm happiest with this one. It's big, 6 cities and almost 5" long. I had an idea for a floating monestary filled with low-level psykers that constantly flies a circuit around a warp rift. The faith and prayers of the psykers keeping the rift closed.
Either that or just a big colony ship, unarmed and slow, carrying a few million Imperials to their new homes.
And from Ruckdog and the good folks at Modcube I got some BFG dice.
Y'know between the out of print counters, out of print minis, and out of print dice GW is making it awful hard to play BFG! Even the rules are out of print though the Specialist Games PDFs are widely available.
Still gonna try...
2016/10/03 03:07:16
Subject: Farewell to Empire-Eagle One tank carrier page 6
I know this has become a bit of an Oldhammer Blog, so maybe some of you are a bit discouraged to see all this recent stuff from 1991 creeping in. After all 1991 was practically last month right?
Well that ends tonight with the latest supply dump from Galactic Knights/Starfleet Wars!
A space ship line from 1977, distributed by GW in the 80s, it was brought back by Monday Knight a few years back.
In my quest for a suitable battleship for my Space Fleet I got one of their Super Galactic Dreadnaughts
a good 5" of resin. they used to be metal but alas they have strayed from the path of the One True Casting Medium .
Alas the molds are showing their age.
Nothing terrible, I can see this as battle damage on a millennia old ship, but irking.
The metal casts are better.
And they scale well with the Space Fleet Goliath and Dominator ships (the painted ones in the photo).
The not-Star Destroyers (Samurai Destroyer Leader) have a bit of flash but I've seen much worse.
I can see the not-Star Destroyer line becoming a chaos fleet, with the Star Destroyers as Cruisers and the smaller ships as escorts.
The best part, since Starfleet Wars was distributed by GW I have ruled that these count as Space Fleet models
Also I should note great service from Monday Knight, good communication. Shipping was delayed because they needed to cast up some items but I think it only came to a week's delay.
They also have the space stations from the old line, they're not listed on the site but they will cast them up for you if you ask. I think they are around $30.
Just a small update, painting on the transport fleet.
(not even close to all of them!)
I'm going for something like the trucks I see everyday in India, safety orange but dusty and dirty. The next step is lather them in black and brown ink and see what comes out.
I should do some logos or something but I know my hand is not up to the job...
The space dock also got a first coat.
As did the "Super Galactic Dreadnought"
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/10/10 17:09:55
2016/10/15 05:40:56
Subject: Re:Farewell to Empire-Eagle One tank carrier page 6
Now to slather them with brown and black ink and call it done.
And we're approaching the end of the era with the arrival of my Ultimate Space Fleet Supply Drop.
STILL IN ORIGINAL PACKAGING! The air in there is from the last century!
And check out the original price tags
Won't mention what I paid
OK technically it's not my last Space Fleet shipment, I have another in the mail, but with the arrival of the Thunderbolts I have the complete Imperial Fleet.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/10/15 05:48:44
2016/10/16 11:13:50
Subject: Re:Farewell to Empire-Ultimate Space Fleet page 6
So yeah, I opened them. The ancient air from the last millennium doesn''t seem to be infected with any ancient diseases.
So far.
The final formation assembles!
I already have two of the Emperor Captial Ships assembled 'stock' so I decided on some conversion for this one.
It will be an Inquisition black ship. I may replace the angel with something a bit smaller, but I love the pose on it.
I'd forgotten how nice it is to work with lead. One clip and the tower was off. One swipe of the file and the base was smooth. Even the glue seems to hold better.
Lead
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/10/16 11:15:53
2016/10/22 18:06:00
Subject: Re:Farewell to Empire-Ultimate Space Fleet page 6
It's the weekend and I got some painting done so once more the fleet assembles...
First off I got my post-Ultimate shipment. 3 more SF Firestorms (yay!) and 2 'Moscow Strike Cruisers' from GW's pre-Rogue Trader Star Cruisers line. Hurray for the super obscure!
Meanwhile the main fleet:
this is just the Space Fleet stuff, some of the other stuff I'm put up like the pipe ships, the Orks and dime store ships were left out.
The Imperial navy half of the house
And a couple of 'family shots' of the Space Fleet dagger shaped cruisers.
Then some of the more traditional Cathedral ships
And the 'Super Galactic Dreadnought' from Galactic Knights. Still needs a base and lots of ink.
Finally the Rogue Trader Fleet, this is where I parked the Space Fleet ships GW cannibalized from their Star Cruisers line. I'm also adding some Galactic Knights ships since they fit in pretty well.
Lots of domes. Someone obviously got a bulk deal on ball bearings when sculpting this.
Still to do... paint the latest arrivals, and lots and lots of ink. Then back to the orks and the Tau...
2016/10/23 16:19:04
Subject: Farewell to Empire-Ultimate Space Fleet page 6
Small update today Space Fleet and Galactic Knights ships.
The green ships will become a chaos force for BFG.
Someone asked about size, the not-Star Destroyer is 2 3/4"
I don't know if you can make it out but the 'armored pursuit ships' are just covered in turrets, like every flat surface, so perfect for Chaos or Orks.
3 more Space Fleet Firestorms, the Philippe, the Formosa and the 9th Dragon. Yeah all need work.
And the space port is coming along too.
2016/11/03 16:42:41
Subject: Re:Farewell to Empire-Ultimate Space Fleet page 6
One True Casting Medium 
