25 April 2015

Still Traveling the Stars

I am still around, just had some things in real life happen, one of which resulted in not having a reliable internet access for a bit there.

I have been watching  a lot of older sci-fi shows such as U.F.O, Space 1999, Star Trek (the Original Series),  Buck Rogers, Space Above and Beyond, Battlestar Galactica (Original Series), Firefly, Red Dwarf, Cowboy Bebop, Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato, etc... some of which I have on DVD others borrowed on dvd from the library, others streamed online once I had internet access again.

While I haven't spent much time on my Starship game itself I have been taking notes and doing some work on creating more background fluff for the various factions. I have decided to have any small independent merchant/trader/smuggler ship (such as the Serenity from Flirefly) as a size class 3 ship, with the occasional class 4. Typical Merchant/Trader ships will be Class 4 or Class 5 with the occasional "Super Cargo Transporter" being a Class 6 ship, with a majority of the Hull points being delegated to Cargo holds, though they will have some defensive capabilities such as Shields. Smaller Class 3 and 4 independent Traders may or may not have armament such as Guns or Missiles (these will typically be the smuggler ships).

I am hoping to be posing some more fluff here in the next few months, but wont make any promises.

17 October 2013

Still traveling the Stars

I am still here, haven't been swallowed by a black hole. Been busy with real life and chilling and gaming with some friends.

Also been busy getting everything up to date and that I want on a new laptop. hoping to be getting pics of all my ships here soon, though not making any promises.

09 August 2013

Saturn Mining Company

Saturn Mining Company-

The Saturn Mining Company while a Terran based company it isn't part of the USF, operating as a free trade company.

Originally headquartered in the Sol system on the Saturn moon of Titan and a smaller operations on  various other Saturn Satellites. After Earth and its colonies joined the Star Trade Confederation the company seen its profits increase over 300% in the first two months. When the Floragian War started Saturn mining Company had already moved its Corporate headquarters to the Dyson System, an uninhabited star system comprised of 7 rocky mineral rich Mars sized planets and 3 Gas Giants, Dyson Alpha, Dyson Beta, and Dyson Epsilon.

Due to the wealth of the minerals and gasses in the Dyson System, the Saturn Mining Company soon became the largest Mining corporation in the known sectors. Their wealth did come at a cost, many smaller mining companies hired pirates to attack the Saturn mining Companies ships. Due to the attacks the Saturn Mining Company hired over a dozen free companies to operate as security, eventually buying most of them out, to become a permanent security force.

Currently the Saturn mining Company has three primary mining ship designs for their asteroid Mining operations:

The Rock Hound, a small exploratory ship used to do initial test mining on asteroids

The Hauler a medium sized mining ship that typically operates in groups of 4 or in conjunction with a set of Pick Axe class ships

The Pick Axe , a large mining ship that also doubles as a refinery before mined ore is loaded onto Cargo Freighters.

They also operate a many planetside mines, along with many gas colletion rigs mining gas in the Gas Giants.


Two Rock Hounds approaching asteroids being mined by a Pick Axe  (top right ship)and a Hauler (bottom left ship)


05 July 2013

Pages Update

If you my fellow Bloggers and loyal followers haven't already checked out the Major Factions page. I have added the a couple of the main factions.

I have also posted Admiral Sean Squires to the Historical Figures and Key Players in the Campaign page.

Now for a cool space pic of two galaxies in the process of colliding

Another cool pic, this one is of another collision of galaxies

Finally a pic of Hoags Object, a ring galaxy

03 July 2013

Gaming Mat

Well back a few weeks ago I decided I will need a gaming mat for my Starship Combat to take place, instead of a plain table top. I went and priced some of the options available, both w/ hexes and unhexed.

Ultimately I went the DIY route and purchased a 4-1/4ft by 6ft piece of black vinyl. I then had one of my friends help me paint it via the toothbrush splatter method. I then used red, blue and white spray paints to create a couple nebulas and whatnot. After everything had dried I touched the mat up here and there.

Now on to the pics of the mat by itself and then with some ships and other stuff on it.
The mat before touch-up/detailing

Escape Pod

Zerloon's Casino Docking Bay side

Two Dime Store Plastic ships, one on left was bashed w/ parts from another ship one on the right is stock

Zerloon's Casino, Orbital Thrusters and Zerloons Private Dockign bay

Irregular Miniatures DYE4 Light Cruiser, Natori Class

Mine Cluster

 Space Mine

Irregular Miniatures Generic Fighters

20 June 2013

Squires Class Heavy Cruiser

Well its time for the Final Honorary Mention post from my Zombie Blogs Contest. This one goes to the Winner of the Contest: Sean. He has in addition to the prize of $10 in miniatures from a couple different manufacturers (he chose two of Studio Bergstroms Sing-On Praetor Pocket Destroyers) he also had the opportunity to have a Ship Class (plus a ship), just a ship, a Planet, a Planetary System, or a Starbase/Station named in his honor. He initially picked just a ship, though after talking with him I changed it to a Ship Class.


Ship Sanitation Specialist Crewman Sean Squires was serving aboard the USN Ship Greater Destiny, during a stand off against an Anakonzli (pronounced An-A-kon-zel-e) Dreadnaught. Crewman Squires ended up tripping over his untied laces, While trying to catch his balance he grabbed the Trash Disposal lever, jettisoning 1-1/2 tons of trash towards the enemy ship.

Due to a fluke in the enemy ships sensors, it didn't detect the trashball. The ball of trash ended up impacting the enemy ship and clogging the plasma exhaust vent, causing the plasma to back up in the ships system, causing a catastrophic explosion obliterating the ship and its crew. In order to try and cover up his incompetence Crewman Squires claimed that he launched the trash on purpose figuring that it was worth a shot, if it was detected they could claim that it was the automated trash disposal system that jettisoned the ball. His captain believed him, and put his name in for promotion.

The USN promoted him to tactical Fleet Commander of the 73rd Fleet. It was there that they realized he wasn't the tactical genius they were lead to believe when he lost 4 ships due to collisions during a routine rescue operation. the USN quickly "Promoted" him to the rank of Admiral and gave him a desk job, in which he had no true authority. 50 years later most members of the USN had forgotten that Admiral Squires was the cause of the accident of the 73rd Fleet, naming the first ship in the new line of Heavy Cruiser after him, the USNS-10275, The Admiral Squires, the first of 12 Squires Class Heavy Cruiser. The Admiral Squires has served with distinction as a Escort ship for the USF's Merchant Fleet, fending off numerous pirate raids and at least one Anakonzli battleship and 3 Destroyers.

Heres the Squires Class Heavy Cruiser:




The Squires Class Heavy Cruiser is an Amarillo Design Bureau/Mongoose Publishing Federation Light Cruiser/Texas-Class Light Cruiser from the Starline 2500 Line (model # MGP-31001). As with most my ships I am going for more of a minimalistic look, though I do still have some more of the ships details I plan on painting, and since I don't plan on playing in the Star Trek Universe I am not worried if the colors or markings are correct.

5150: Star Navy stats:
Admiral Squires
Class 4
Heavy Cruiser
Thrust 3
Hull Points 8
Shield 2
Guns 3
Missile 2
Hanger N/A
Anti-Aircraft 1
Cargo Bay 2 (For use with the Damage Control to the Disco Lounge and Whats in the Box? Cargo for Starships noncritical damage tables by Colgar6, these have no true game value other then for laughs)

To see what exactly Sean won in addition to the Ships Class being named after his check out his blog here http://seanswgcorner.blogspot.com/2013/06/what-i-won-from-doug.html

17 June 2013

Spanky's Haul

Well its time for the next Honorable Mention post from my Zombie Blog's contest. This one goes to the Second Place Winner PapaSpanky. He chose to have a ship named after him. I have chosen to make it a merchant ship.

Spanky's Haul

Spanky's Haul started life as Yamamoto MF-1235 Multi-Purpose Merchant Carrier named the Silver N' Gold, in an ore hauler configuration owned by Jack Reynoldson, a contractor for the Jupiter Mining Consortium. Jack was a heavy drinker and a compulsive gambler. During one of his heavy drinking binges while he was gambling he bet the Silver N' Gold, and unfortunately he lost. The winner of the Port was a small time merchant that went by the name PapaSpanky, never giving his real name. Upon taking possession of the Silver N' Gold, PapaSpanky had the ship refitted for use as a Merchant Freighter, he also renamed it Spanky's Haul. Since acquiring the ship PapaSpanky's has been able to expand his merchant trade, while still piloting Spanky's Haul himself he has added 4 more Merchant Freighters to his fleet.

Heres the ship I am using for now as Spanky's Haul, its an Irregular Miniatures Independent Merchant Ship.

The ship is actually a gray color, while the gray you see in the pics is actually silver.


5150: Star Navy Stats

Spanky's Haul
Class 4
Merchant Freighter
Thrust 3
Hull Points 8
Shields 2
Guns 1
Cargo Bays 5 official, 3 secret which are used for smuggling goods, and each only have 1/4 the capacity of the other bays