Generic Modular Hex Campaign Map W.I.P. Thingie

See! I’m working on stuff. It’s just that none of it is ready for public consumption. Sorry. So here’s something that might be useful for tracking territory in RPG or miniature wargaming campaigns. The map can be whatever scale is necessary. In StS that would be 1 hex = 1 star system. All the hexes are individually numbered so each hex of interest could be described in detail however is convenient for the players. 

I pictured the StS advanced campaign as islands of resources scattered over a sea of black. Players need to win battles to take and defend territory, and these territories are needed to maintain and expand their fleets. There would be resource management, but only to support the war effort, not to needlessly simulate interstellar commerce models. More resources means more ships. The objective would be to destroy your opponents’ ability to wage war by gaining as many resources (star systems) as possible, denying them to the enemy. The fleets would explore, battle over, and hold these resources, which, in turn, are used to both strengthen and expand the fleets, and increase the resources’ values by making improvements in the systems they occupy – space stations to improve logistics, Blink Portals to increase trade, etc.

Boldly Going There. Again.

Above: The contents of "Star Fleet Heavy Cruiser 10504" produced by GAMESCIENCE - still in production!  


May the 4th came and went, and I felt compelled to post something to do with the stars. And wars. And spaceships. And having wars amongst the stars with spaceships. Couldn’t think of anything, though. Yep. Would have been cool. Ah, well. Here are some other things, then. 


Let’s start off with a big “thanks” to all the folks who stopped by and looked around for over 15K worth of pageviews – most of them looking at the Starship Size Comparison post. 


Next, I want to give a long overdue “thank you” to Star Ranger for placing Sunder the Stars on the Web Games Page of one of my favorite websites: Starship Combat News.
 

With the advent of Mongoose Publishing’s A Call to Arms: Star Fleet and WizKid's Star Trek Fleet Captains, and, of course, Majestic Twelve Games’ Starmada, the urge to dust off and rebuild my Star Fleet Battles Federation force (most of which was sold off some 20 years ago) was had. I've always been a Star Trek fan, and SFB was the first starship combat game in the collection. The old paint jobs did not fare well, so the ships would have to be stripped and repainted, as well as mounted upon the currently preferred bases. Despite the availability of newer and larger ships, the original series designs won out for nostalgic reasons and the fact that they could be obtained affordably on secondary markets. 

The original Lou Zocchi starship miniatures – like the one pictured at top - were based on the art from the Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual which fired many imaginations all those decades ago. Welcome to life before George Lucas, kids. The Amarillo Design Bureau still has a well supported line of figures to flesh out the fleet beyond the classic scout, destroyer, heavy cruiser, dreadnought, and tug with cargo pods. Even decals were obtained to streamline detailing. Nothing painted yet, but photos of the ships shall be posted as they are completed. 


And on the subject of Star Trek: here are a few entertaining fan sites that, for some odd reason, are without any miniature wargaming content. (Yes, I know: what were they thinking?) 

Boldly Gone A Star Trek - The Original Series webcomic. Follow the crew's adventures of the U.S.S.Mandela, a Kennedy-class diplomatic vessel that looks suspiciously like a fancy tug.

Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes Based on the original Star Trek animated series, the animated episodes will have the same look and feel that you loved and enjoyed in the 70's, but are being created using 21st century technology. They also have live-action adventures.

And a shout out to Adam at Barking Alien who ran the only Star Trek pencil & paper RPG that mattered to our crew of Starfleet “originals”. I always got to play the token alien on the bridge. Missing ya, man.


Then, finally, there is... 

Sunder the Stars: The Confederation of Friendly Peoples!

In completely unrelated news, the 6th set of fleet sheets for Sunder the Stars is available for download. Naturally, you can use any ships you wish with StS, and this has absolutely nothing to do with anything posted above. Nope. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Zero. 


If you have any entertaining Star Trek fan sites, please post a brief description and a link below!

OLD SKOOL RULES!

Image is by Winchell Chung from page 3 of the Third Edition of OGRE rulebook and copyright © 1977 by Steve Jackson. 


Everything old is new again? Kinda.

Talisman: back in print and looking good with its 8th expansion in the works. 

Wiz War: back in print and looking sexier than ever. Hopefully, there’ll be a 5 & 6 player expansion really, REALLY soon. Hint-hint.

Merchant of Venus: in the works and being given the Fantasy Flight Games treatment.

OGRE: had an initial minimum goal of USD$20,000 on Kickstarter and has, as the scribbling of this post, accumulated over USD$627,000. Steve Jackson will be re-releasing OGRE in a new edition and there will be a dedicated OGRE Line Editor to not only develop and expand the boardgame, but also a new edition of the OGRE miniatures rules AND put the miniatures back into production. There are now plans for a video game! I mean, I like Munchkin as much as the next guy, but, see: WE WERE RIGHT! And, best of all, we’re getting the option to buy the latest edition of OGRE in a pocket box edition – but not until the summer of 2013. Now that’s how to indulge in nostalgia without the need to clear-cut a rainforest.

UPDATE! The Kickstarter project has closed at $923,680. Once again: WE WERE RIGHT!

Dungeon: Wizards of the Coast (the current owner of Dungeons & Dragons) jumps on the re-releasing old games for fun and profit band wagon and has announced this venerable TSR boardgame of dungeon crawling will be hitting the shelves at the end of 2012!

Some of these games are more than 30 years old. Why are they being brought back? It’s rather simple, really: money. That’s it, kids. Someone honestly believes that there’s profit to be generated by giving these classic games a facelift and making them available to nostalgic oldsters and kiddies who have heard the stories but never had the chance to play. 

There are going to be some differences with the new editions: usually capped at 4 players instead of the traditional 6, classic art and design will be replaced with modern, marketable graphics, South America and a major chunk of Africa will have their forests eradicated to produce all that cardboard, etc. And the rules will be tinkered with, which may not be THAT bad, as game mechanics have evolved over the years and there were plenty of suggestions on how to circumvent shortcomings of the original releases or simply better ways of accomplishing things. 

Will I purchase the USD$100+ 6th Edition OGRE? Hells no! I will be buying the updated miniatures rules, the re-released miniatures and the pocket box version of OGRE 6th Edition. And a t-shirt or two.  So, yes, it’s still a win. Dungeon and Merchant of Venus are also on "The List".

Over all, I’m supportive of this trend, and look forward to see what other titles will be brought back from the dead. 

What classic, out of print game(s) would you like to see re-released?

Sorry, folks.

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Due to medical issues, I will not be attending Cold Wars this year, and, as a result, the two scheduled games of SUNDER THE STARS will not be played. My apologies.

Sunder the Stars - Printable Paper Asteroid Fields!

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Sunder the Stars - Asteroid Fields Sheet No. 1 is now available on the Sunder the Stars Downloads Page. There are 16 hexes with the rules on each hex. They are all for 2-inch hex mats. As it's a JPG file, it can be scaled to taste. No, not the one up there. The one HERE! Just scroll all the way down to the bottom.

Unlike the previous terrain items, this one is printer friendly. Head to your local art store, office supply big-box, or scrap-booking shop and find some paper or card stock you like. I just used a couple sheets of lightish gray. Then just print the jpg on you paper in grayscale and cut out the hexes any way you wish - individually or in groups.

Asteroid fields in StS hinder attacks and, though they don't actually slow you down, they will try to kill you if you attempt to zip through. All attacks that trace a line through a hex/2" of an asteroid field are at -2 AV. And, yes, this is cumulative. Double the movement point costs for all maneuvers or get attacked by an AV 3 chunk of space rock you were too much of a rush to notice. And that's per maneuver executed - move, turn, roll, etc. Do not roll an attack D6 with that AV3, the total attack is just AV3. Roll defense as normal.

And that ends the free, printable terrain for Sunder the Stars for the moment.

Sunder the Stars - Printable Paper Gas Clouds!

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Sunder the Stars - Gas Clouds Sheet No. 1 is now available on the Sunder the Stars Downloads Page. There are 16 hexes with the rules on each hex. They are all for 2-inch hex mats. As it's a JPG file, it can be scaled to taste. No, not the one up there. The one HERE!

Unlike the previous terrain items, this one is printer friendly. Head to your local art store, office supply big-box, or scrap-booking shop and find some paper or card stock you like. Maybe some sort of tie-dye, swirly pattern. Then just print the jpg on you paper in grayscale and cut out the hexes any way you wish - individually or in groups.

Gas clouds in StS do not hinder movement, but they do interfere with combat. All attacks that trace a line through a hex/2" of a gas cloud are at -1 AV. And, yes, this is cumulative.

More free, printable terrain for Sunder the Stars to come!

Sunder the Stars - More Printable Paper Planets!

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Sunder the Stars - Color Planet Sheet No. 2 is now available on the Sunder the Stars Downloads Page. A ringed planet, 4 asteroids of different sizes, a rogue moon, and a comet. They are all for 2-inch hex mats. As it's a JPG file, it can be scaled to taste. No, not the one up there. The one HERE! Just print and cut out.

The rings surrounding the planet may be purely ornamental, or count as gas clouds, dust clouds, or rings of asteroids - whatever the scenario requires! The red arrows on the asteroids and rogue moon show which direction they're moving. Ships may not move through or occupy the same hex/space as the comet nucleus (see rules), though, unless the scenario states otherwise, the tail is the same as a dust cloud. The red triangle in the upper right-hand corner is to be cut out and used to show what direction the comet is moving.

More free, printable terrain for Sunder the Stars to come!

Sunder the Stars - Printable Paper Planets!

Click on image for bigger picture!

Sunder the Stars - Color Planet Sheet No. 1 is now available on the Sunder the Stars Downloads Page. A total of 6 different planets to hide behind tactically screen your fleet. The planets are for 2-inch hex mats. As it's a JPG file, it can be scaled to taste. No, not the one up there. The one HERE! Just print and cut out.

Planets in StS block line of sight, so most attacks may not travel through any hex/space occupied by a planet. The exception is a drone (Dr) attack, which can use a friendly vessel as a forward observer for an indirect attack and only counts the terrain modifiers for the target ship's hex/space.

More free, printable terrain for Sunder the Stars to come!

Clans of the Great Hunt Ship Cards!

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12K pageviews! Thank you, all!

Clans of the Great Hunt fleet cards are now available on the Sunder the Stars Downloads Page. A total of 18 different ship designs to build your fleet.

Clan ships are different from the rest of the fleets so far as all their weapons are forward facing. Good luck getting behind them, though, as they sacrificed a little bit of firepower on their larger ships for added speed. The lowest MP in their navy is 6.

Clans of the Great Hunt Fleet: DONE!*

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This fleet was the last project finished in 2011.

1 Scout
6 Frigates
6 Destroyers
3 Medium Cruisers
1 Heavy Cruiser
1 Battle Cruiser
1 Battleship
2 Carriers
1 Dreadnought
1 Megadreadnought

That's 23 ships! All cast in lovely METAL!

And, yes, one player could command this entire fleet in a game of SUNDER THE STARS against other players with similarly sized fleets, though I usually use 17 ship fleets when I run StS at conventions. The fleet sheets for this faction should be on the StS site next week or the following. UPDATE: the fleet cards are up! -> http://ravenfeastsmeadhall.blogspot.com/2012/01/clans-of-great-hunt-ship-cards.html

Painting: Primed white, base color of vermillion red, then then a 1:2 black ink to water wash, followed by a drybrushing of vermillion red, and the details picked out with bright silver, bronze and metallic blue. The engine flares were white, a 1:2 blue ink wash and a light drybrush of white. The bases were primed black, and painted black, with the identification information in white. The entire figure was sealed with polyurethane clear gloss varnish, then a spray of clear matte.

The miniatures are from the Carnivoran Republic Star Forces, part of the Galactic Knights range produced by Monday Knight Productions.

The bases are 40mm square, 1/8" thick, beveled masonite from Renaissance Ink drilled and mounted with 1/8" brass rods.

Next project? Heck if I know!


* As much as any fleet is ever done.