Monday 30 September 2013

Star Wars Silent Death

ok, so as the fleet scale idea kind of fizzled away, discovering the rules for Star Wars Silent Death online was at least something and as great a game as X-wing looks, it also looks damned expensive for what you get, so this became X-wing on a budget... free rules was a good start...

(past the following into the address line)
http://replay.web.archive.org/20060913232852/http://www.wizards.com/starwars/downloads/SW_Silent_Death.pdf

of course, me being me, scale is still a problem... so going back to my rough equivalents:
the Falcon is a little under 3 X-wings long and a rebel transport is roughly 3 Falcon's long.
an X-wing is 3/4's the length of a Y-wing
an A-wing is 3/4's the length of an X-wing
not too fussed about the B-wing, it's longer than a Y, but will be in a different plane anyway, so is more easily fudged.

An obvious cheap source for fighters is Studio Bergstrom's 1 inch fighters, nice clean casts that fit together quite nicely, actually cheaper than the bendy Micro Machine stuff on eBay.
 
Deagostini Falcon, Bergstrom X-wings, Titanium Falcon

first problem, a 3 inch ish Falcon - so far the Titanium is perfect for length (ignore the absence of key components, had dismantled it to see about tarting it up), but is a fat one, and is in fact fatter than the larger Deagostini 3.5 inch Falcon, the raised corridor sections that lead to the lateral docking rings stand far too high and just look silly - so high in fact that there is a massive flat area on the end with no detail, that the docking rings themselves just can't hide. As it's diecast (both are), that's a pig to try and fix. The Deagostini Falcon on the other hand is a lovely little model, very trim and looks like it could outrun just about anything.... but is technically too large for the Bergstrom rebel fighters...
bizarrely, this has now taken me back to that picture of the Action Fleet Blockade Runner, pity they go for so much nowadays.

Deagostini Falcon, Bergstrom TIE, X-wing, Y-wing, A-wing and TIE bomber, Mircomachines TIE bomber, Micromachines plastic Falcon (2 inches).

now, in my mind the TIE's look great with the bigger Falcon. The Y-wing is too small for the X-wing, the A-wing works with the X-wing ok, but just looks  better with the much smaller MM Falcon. the MM TIE bomber is a good match for the Bergstrom TIES and that will become a TIE boarding craft I think.


now I think I can just about ignore the slightly undersized X-wings, I've seen online that the Starship Battles Y's are good against the Bergstrom X's. I'd kind of prefer a slightly larger A-wing against the Falcon (because lets face it, I'm using that one regardless - it's just such a nice model).

The transport is the ERTL/MPC Hoth base one, 9 inches long and again perfect for either of the two diecast Falcon's. The Hoth base Falcon is 5 inches and would probably work really with Micromachine fighters (as everything is roughly 2 inches long in that range, the X-wing would work really well). I'd already started tarting that up, but may end up eBaying it.

so, any one got a SSB A-wing that they put a length to?

Down the line, I'm going to need to acquire something for the Empire - Slave 1 is always a fun option, but also need some objectives - shuttles or cargo ships are a good one...


Star Wars fleet scales

ok, bit of a phantom post this one, this is just to give my next post a bit more context and to get the information posted... a while back I had a hankering for some fleet scale Star Wars action and started researching what was available. This lot is kind of a summary of those notes:

roughly, not exactly, but roughly...

so, an Imperial Shuttle is roughly the same length as Slave 1, both are roughly 4/5 the length of the Falcon
the Falcon could be roughly either a quarter or half the size of a Rebel Transport (depending on the website you read)
a Rebel Transport should be roughly half the size of a Blockade Runner
a Blockade Runner should be roughly half the size of the Nebulon B, and should be a tenth of the size of a Star Destroyer
a Nebulon B should be roughly a quarter the size of an MC80, roughly a fifth the size of a Star Destroyer and roughly half the size of an Interdictor
an MC80 should be slightly smaller than a Star Destroyer

I'm not concerned with fighters, because they'll be way out and I have an idea there anyway... nor is the Viscount Defender or SSD Executor viable on a table...
The overall goal being this - a (what I now believe to be a Titanium) Falcon with an Action Fleet Blockade Runner - different ranges, but work together:
 

I ended up with the following list of ships and scales:

Millenium Falcon Fine Molds  1/144
Slave 1 Anigrand  1/144
Millenium Falcon Anigrand 1/144
Imperial Shuttle Anigrand 1/144
Imperial Landing Craft Anigrand 1/144
Slave 1 Action Fleet 1/149
Imperial Shuttle Action Fleet 1/153
Millenium Falcon Action Fleet 1/199
Imperial Shuttle Hallmark Ornament 1/247
Slave 1 Tomy 1/327
Rebel Transport Micromachine Playset 1/338
Millenium Falcon Titanium 1/340 ish
Imperial Shuttle FToys 1/350
Slave 1 FToys 1/350
Rebel Transport Airfix/AMT diorama 1/375
Imperial Shuttle Titanium 1/381
Imperial Landing Craft Micromachine 1/386
Imperial Landing Craft Titanium 1/494
Imperial Shuttle Starship Battles 1/571
Imperial Shuttle Micromachine Playset 1/632
Imperial Shuttle Micromachine 1/634
Millenium Falcon Micromachine 1/717
Republic Cruiser/Corellian Gunship Action Fleet 1/747
Blockade Runner Action Fleet 1/833
Imperial Landing Craft Micromachine Playset 1/437
Millenium Falcon Tomy 1/470
Slave 1 Starship Battles 1/484
Slave 1 Micromachine 1/490
Imperial Landing Craft Titanium 1/494
Rebel Transport Titanium 1/938
Nebulon B Arvey Model Products 1/1000
Blockade Runner De Agostini 1/1402
Rebel Transport Micromachine 1/1475
Rebel Transport Starship Battles 1/1475
Blockade Runner Titanium 1/1500
Millenium Falcon Studio Bergstrom 1/2000 ish
Nebulon B Anigrand 1/2096
Blockade Runner Odyssey Slipways (Tantive IV) 1/2256
Rebel Cruiser/Corellian Gunship Odyssey Slipways 1/2256
Star Destroyer Anigrand (Avenger) 1/2256 as an Imperial class
MC80 (Liberty) Anigrand 1/2256
Blockade Runner Starship Battles 1/2361
Nebulon B Scale Solutions 1/2400
Blockade Runner Micromachine 1/2578
Nebulon B Titanium 1/2633
Blockade Runner Anigrand 1/2740
Star Destroyer MPC/AMT 1/4222 as an Imperial Class
Nebulon B Arvey Model Products 1/4222
Blockade Runner 1/4222
Nebulon B Starship Battles 1/4255
Nebulon B Micromachine 1/4650
Blockade Runner Hallmark Ornament 1/6508
Rebel Assualt Frigate Starship Battles 1/7865
MC80 (Home One) Starship Battles 1/9172
Rebel Assault Frigate A Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Rebel Assault Frigate B Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Carrack-class Cruiser Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Blockade Runner Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Carrier Corvette Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Republic Cruiser/Corellian Gunship Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
CR20 Transport Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Rebel Fleet Carrier Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Imperial Escort Carrier Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Interdictor Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Lancer-class Frigate Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Star Destroyer Odyssey Slipways (Enforcer) 1/10000 as a ?
MC80 Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
MC80a Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
MC80b Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Nebulon B Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Nebulon B2 Odyssey Slipways 1/10000
Star Destroyer Odyssey Slipways 1/10000 as a Victory Class
Dreadnaught Odyssey Slipways (Old Republic Hvy Cruiser) 1/10000
MC80 (Liberty)  Starship Battles 1/11199
Star Destroyer Hallmark Ornament 1/12121 as Imperial Class
Star Destroyer Starship Battles 1/14418 as Imperial Class
Star Destroyer Studio Bergstrom (Ascendancy) 1/14545 as Imperial Class
Star Destroyer De Agostini 1/14679 as Imperial Class
Star Destroyer FToys 1/15000 as Imperial Class
MC80 Home One Micromachine 1/16369
MC80 Liberty  Micromachine 1/17050
Interdictor Studio Bergstrom 1/17142
Carrack-class Cruiser Studio Bergstrom (Cunning) 1/19444
Dreadnaught Studio Bergstrom (Dread) 1/20000
Star Destroyer Studio Bergstrom (Inquisitor) 1/20000 as Imperial Class
Star Destroyer Studio Bergstrom (Vanguard) 1/20000 as Victory Class
MC80 Studio Bergstrom 1/23333
MC80a Studio Bergstrom (MC85) 1/23333
Star Destroyer Studio Bergstrom (Vanquisher) 1/25714 as Victory Class
Super Star Destroyer Odyssey Slipways 1/50000
Star Destroyer Odyssey Slipways 1/50000
Dreadnaught Odyssey Slipways 1/50000
Interdictor Odyssey Slipways 1/50000
Star Destroyer Micromachine 1/239294 as Imperial Class

and, for completeness sake, could still do with scales for:
Millenium Falcon Starship Battles
Republic Cruiser/Corellian Gunship Starship Battles
Slave 1 Titanium
Imperial Interdictor Starship Battles

Hope that's all of some use to someone out there...

Tuesday 10 September 2013

panelling WIP

ok, not the best pics, and a very messy WIP (g/s mainly and some black paint as I realised I had some overhangs that would only prove trickier down the line) 

Upstairs view of the hall - upstairs window still to be cut out in case you were wondering:


And the downstairs main hall, the little laser cut panels don't half show up some hinky angles. The Tudor panesl are a very cool new product from Fenris - but even the slightest out right angle is visible, so that's been fiddled and hidden as best as I can. Final paint job should hide all of that:


Also, a couple of doors have been shifted slightly to allow for the panels to fit nicely, annoying, but minor - although I hadn't really considered the panels back when I did the basic build, so still a learning curve...


Fireplace is scratch built after all, as are the stairs and bannisters (toothpicks and Empire Knight heads for the panther heads), hatch in the back has a ring courtesy of some Empire bit I forget, need to do the render in there. Still pondering stone for the outer lower walls...

Monday 9 September 2013

Frothers Charity Thingy - now with added Tanks...

sigh... Tank Girl...
Here we go again in another shameless attempt to raise as much money for Charity as possible
Description
The Next Frothers Charity Thingy

Most of you will know how this works by now but, those who don’t, here’s what it’s all about…

Every year(ish) we try and raise a few bob for Charities; specifically Cancer Research and the MS Society...

We do this by producing some very special miniatures and you do this by making a donation direct to the charities via two dedicated Just Giving pages. But, more of that later.

We’re extremely pleased that this time, in addition to our ‘usual suspects’ we’ve recruited a few new ones

Cast & Crew:

Miniature sculpting genius (read that as you will) Kev White of Hasslefree Miniatures needs no introduction (although he does regularly need a stepladder if anyone has a spare). Friend to the Gurkhas and all round top bloke.

http://www.hfminis.co.uk/

Ian ‘Geronimo’ Brumby of Fenris Games and Cthulu Wars is also back again and this time we’ve let him off basing duties so he can make something bigger, much bigger assuming the tentacles don’t get him first…..

Jo ‘Snuurg’ Brumby is also back for a second year on creature duties – we’re really grateful both the guys are finding time to help us especially with how busy they are – stars, the pair of them.

http://www.fenrisgames.com/home.html

Steve ‘Relic’ Blunt is another who’s a glutton for punishment – he’s a relative newcomer to the putty pushing lark but, as anyone who saw last year’s Aquila knows, he’s a bit handy

http://paintsplats.blogspot.co.uk/

And where would we be without a mould maker and caster? Nowhere, that’s where. Luckily they don’t come much better than Pete Brown. He makes a lousy cup of coffee but, thankfully, he’s much better with rubber and white metal.

http://cart.themouldmaker.com/

The Mystery Frother – once again we’re incredibly thankful to the assistance of the MF who has, most generously, offered to subsidise the postage – without his help this project would be almost impossible to run.

And joining up for the first time we welcome aboard

Nigel Higgins, a man who had enough sense to get out of the gaming industry but still, thankfully, retains several odd habits like supporting West Ham and searching for ghosts. He’s also a master of cutting up and sticking little bits of plasticard together so we’ve put him in charge of the fiddly bits.

Offering advice and assistance to Nigel and Ian is Ian Crouch; a danger to Kentish wildlife and a man once described as ‘looking like a psychopathic Russian hitman’. Personally I think that’s a bit hard on psychopathic Russian hitmen.

Last, but by no means, least, we’re incredibly grateful to top artist and all round good egg, Rufus Dayglo for the artwork for this years’ postcard. Ruf is possibly best known for his work drawing the Nesquik Rabbit (ducks and runs for cover) as well as 2000AD, DC Comics, Tank Girl and many, many others.

http://rufusdayglo.blogspot.co.uk/


We thought long and hard about the subject for this years’ Charity Thingy (no we didn’t) – trying to find a character that accurately sums up what Frothers is all about; loud, anarchic, foul-mouthed, probably a bit smelly and having an unhealthy interest in animals, guns and armoured vehicles. It could only be the one, and only…

TANK GIRL :)

Last time we raised £9,000 for the 2 charities – this time we want to raise a lot more.

To aid this…

Kev will be sculpting Tankie
Steve will be sculpting Booga
Jo will be sculpting Camp Koala
Ian (assisted by Nige & the other Ian) will be sculpting the Tank. Yes, you heard that right, the Tank!

Tank Girl, Booga & Camp Koala will be cast in white metal and limited to 200 casting initially and each Tank Girl miniature will be accompanied by an exclusive Rufus Dayglo postcard.

The Tank will be cast in resin and will be available in much more limited numbers.

So how do I get one?

Simple make a donation to one (or both) of the charities via the Just Giving pages:

Cancer Research:

MS Society:
http://www.justgiving.com/TheNextFrothe ... ityThingy2
http://www.justgiving.com/TheNextFrothe ... ityThingy1

And then, AND THIS IS IMPORTANT, send us an e-mail to charitymini@gmail.com including:

1) Your Name
2) The address you want the mini(s) sent to
3) Your Just Giving donation reference number

If you don’t do this we don’t know where to send them!

How much of money should I donate?

All of it, of course! Seriously, we want to raise as much as is possible.

Suggested donations are:
Tank Girl £20
TG, Booga & Camp Koala £35
TG, Booga, Camp Koala and the Tank £70

When will I get them?

We’re hoping to have the sculpts ready to show by Dec 1 and going off for casting as soon as possible afterwards – veterans will know that this doesn’t always go to plan; everyone involved is doing this in their spare time for nothing – no individual or company makes anything out of this so please be patient and we’ll try (for once) to get everything out to you as soon as humanly possible.

Cheers, and many thanks,

Dags

Tank Girl was created by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewitt – without them this wouldn't be happening


sadly, all the tanks are now allocated, but that shouldn't stop anyone...