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

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

Zerloon Casino, Luxury Center and Hotel

As part of the contest I ran to pick a name for my primary faction the second and third place winners would receive Honorary mention here and either a ship or starbase/space station named after them. Third place winner Zerloon wanted a station named after him so I decided to have it as an old asteroid mine turned casino. Just beware the Fluff below for the station is a draft and may not represent the final version.

 Zerloon Casin, Luxury Center and Hotel

Initially opened on an mined out asteroid by Commandant (Honorary) Lorenzo Zerloon as a place for the systems miners to go to gamble and relax, the Casino only took up a small portion of the asteroids interior. The remaining area was used by the Commandant as storage, As time progressed and more miners visited the Casino the Commandant realized he needed to expand his operations.

The first major addition was the Luxury Center, consisting of the brothel/massage parlor and some small holosuites. Word of the Casino reached the heads of the Mining companies, especially since 80% of all the miners spent their off time at the Casino. It was about this time that the Commadant was starting his next expansion, a Hotel. When J.R. Remington, owner of the Ouroborus Mining Consortium, head of the Casino, he approached the Commandant with a proposal to turn the Casino into a Luxury Resort.

The Commandant entered into a partnership with Remington. Remington would own 25% of the Casino and run the daily operations. Through the partnership the Asteroid housing the Casino was towed into orbit around the planet Resulan. Remington then had the Casino, hotel and Luxury Center gutted. Over the next 4 months The Commandant and Remington worked tirelessly going over the plans and supervising the construction of the New Casino, Luxury Center and Hotel. It was also during this time that the Commandant installed the "backdoor" his personal hanger bay on the asteroid, where its rumored that the Commandant has "flushed" certain individuals that have crossed him into space.

Upon the Grand Reopening the Casino floor expanded to 300 times the size it was. The Luxury Center also had new state of the art Holosuites, shops, parks, and restaurants put in, the most popular being the Planet View restaurant, giving its diners a beautiful view of Resulan while they eat. The Commandant also put in 2 hotels for his guests, the luxurious 5 star Remington, and the Miners Glory, a 3 star hotel catering more towards the miners of the system and their families. 



Now onto some pics of the Casino

 

Zeloon Casino- Yes it has been painted a Metallic Purple, I am thinking that in universe fluff a metallic purple metal will be a higher valued ore then gold, and that the Casino was painted using faux paint similar to how you see some Casinos using faux gold paint for some of the interior and exterior features.

 

 The Docking Bay for the planetary shuttles (on the right) along with the Planet View Restaurant (to the left of the docking bay)

 

The "rear" of the Casino, note the dark spot between the Orbital thrusters, this is Commandant Zerloon's private hanger.

Unfortunately the flash on the camera washed out a lot of the details. The Red Tower and Yellow Tower both house VIP and High Roller suites. The blue tower (the tallest one) houses The Commandant, and Remington's offices along with other offices and suites. The Teal and Green towers (short skinny ones) are both part of the staff housing. The Silver Tower above the Docking Bay is the sensor and communications array along with the shield generators. I am basically done, I may go back and do some touch up painting and adding some new details via paint.

Next up will either be the second place winners Honorary Mention or the Winners mention and background fluff, if I don't post a pic or two of my fleet so far.

Edit 13JUNE2013: some minor revising to fluff

United Star Federation

Well the voting over on my other blog has finished. The winning name for my Primary Faction is The United Star Federation.


The United Star Federation was founded in the 2234, 75 years after the Terrans  (mankind) first met its first extraterrestrial race, the Dyphlans (Pronounced Die-Flan) when a Dyphlan geological survey ship came into orbit above the Europa Colony, requesting assistance in repairs to the ship. Reginald Roberts the Colony Governor is credited with welcoming the Dyphlans and opening up the ground work that later became the United Star Force.

The Dyphlans helped mankind with the development of Faster Then Light Drives and introduced them to the Star Trade Confederation, a loose trade alliance of 5 races, the Dyphlans, the Akkaram (pronounced Ak-aah-ram, the Volem (pronounced Vol-Em, the Cethlo (pronounced Seth-Lo), and the Jorgo (pronounced Jore-Go). The Star Alliance began trading with mankind.

In 2225 the Floragian (pronounced Flora-Gi-An) Empire after years of harassing the outposts and trade centers of the various races of the Star Trade Confederation sent an attack fleet to destroy the Unity Trade Station at the edge of the Sol System. By this time Unity had become the major trade center for both the Star Trade Confederation and other non allied races. With the destruction of Unity Trade Station the Star Trade Confederation and the various races who lost individuals in the Unity attack joined together to attack the Floragian Empire. The Floragian War, as it later became known, lasted 8 years with heavy loses on both sided before a Terran ship was able to slip past the Floragian defense line and launch an attack that destroyed the Floragian Shipyards and the ships docked there for repairs. Thus ending the war.

The Floragian Treaty signing in 2233 lead to the founding of the United Star Federation less then a year later, with the Floragians, the Star Confederation and 27 other races all joining. The USF is the governing branch, with its capitol on the Terran homeworld of Earth. While Earth is the official Capitol most of the government is located on Apideas Prime, only the President and his Cabinet residing on Earth. The Military Branch of the USF is the United Star Navy.

Knowing that they may be other Races out there that may be hostile towards the USF, the USN is tasked with defending the USF and taking the fight to those who threaten it, in addition to exploration of the galaxy and making contact with new races. The USN has proven while they wish to remain peaceful and treat new raced with diplomacy, they won't hesitate to fight if it comes down to it.


Edit 16JUNE2013: Changed the Faction name to United Star Federation from United Star Force after it was pointed out by a fried that United Star Force sounded more like a Military government, and if they were why would they have the United Star navy as part of their operations. United Star Federation sounded a lot friendlier and less militaristic.