Some Space Fleets

It has been a while since I posted anything. So here are a few pictures.
The first shows some of my FT fleets.

The red ships are (old) New Swabian League from GZG, the blue ones are GW Imperials, the white are Federation ships from ADB. The bronze are Tholians also from ADB. The green ships are Savasku from GZG and there is also a small squadron of ADB klingons and ADB Seltorians.

The second shot shows my complete Federation Fleet. (well, we all know that "complete" means "for now" - there are whole classes of ship I am yet to acquire).
From left to right:
6 Battleships
3 Dreadnoughts (light batleships)
6 Battlecruisers
6 Heavy Cruisers (Constitution class)
3 Strike Cruisers & 3 Fast Cruisers
3 Destroyers & 3 Light Destroyers
3 Fast Destroyers & 3 Scouts
6 "old" Light Cruisers
6 Frigates
3 Battle-Frigates

Now to paint some more Klingons...

The FT stats for all of the Federation ships are scattered throughout this blog. Look for the Star Trek tags.

Star Trek Variant Ships

Here are a few more Federation ships. These are all variants on existing classes of ships.

This is the plasma armed variant of the standard dreadnought.

Here is the plasma armed battle cruiser.

 

  

Here is the photon armed battle cruiser.

 

And this is the phaser armed battle cruiser.

 

 

The Command Cruiser is based on the standard Heavy Cruiser, but has a little extra mass to accomodate a flag bridge.

This is the scout variant of the destroyer with some weaponry replaced by superior sensors and an area jammer.

The fast variant of the destroyer has slightly less weaponry, but extra manoeuvrability.

 

 



Full Thrust Training Scenario

This scenario is designed to help players understand how inertia works and how manoeuvre orders are plotted.

Playing Area

The scenario is played on a standard 6x4ft playing surface. The map is fixed, not floating.
Six drones, or markers, are placed on the table: three on one side and three on the other. Each drone is placed nine inches from the table edge in two columns, one on the left and one on the right. The drones on the right column are placed 8, 30 and 52 inches from the base edge, while those on the left are placed 19, 41 and 63 inches from the base.

Forces

The player controls a single ship of any desired class.

Deployment

The ship is placed at one end of the table exactly in the centre. It begins with a velocity of zero, a facing of 12 and a bearing of 12.

Objective

Destroy all of the target drones in the shortest amount of time.

Special Rules

Only beam weapons and pulse torpedoes may be used to fire on the drones. Regardless of the class of weapon, the maximum range is 12 inches. So, a class 3 beam weapon will still use 3 fire dice, but it can only be fired within 12” of the drone.
Drones only have 1 hull point, so a single hit is enough to destroy one.

Variations

A number of variations are possible such as, using different ships, randomising the location of the drones, have the drones move, give them more than one hull point, or even have them fire back. You can also place terrain such as asteroids or planets on the table to make movement even more difficult.

Example Play

The inertia (or vector) movement option in Full Thrust can be a little confusing to use at first, so this scenario can be used to practice how it works.

In essence, each ship has 3 attributes that affect its movement: facing, bearing and velocity. The facing is the direction the ship is actually pointing, while the bearing is the direction in which it is moving and the velocity is how fast it is moving in that direction.
Ships also have a thrust rating. This is basically movement points. Up to half of the thrust may be spent on manoeuvres, such as turning, and the reminder (up to the maximum thrust rating) may be spent on acceleration in the direction the ship is facing.
Once a ship starts to move, it will continue to move in that direction at the same speed unless it applies acceleration (or thrust) to change movement. That is, ships will obey Newton’s first law of motion: a body moving at a constant velocity will continue to move at that velocity unless acted upon by an external force.
So, let’s work through an example…
In the above scenario, the ship starts with a speed of zero. I am using a Federation Battle Frigate which has a thrust of 6. In turn one, I plot the following manoeuvre orders: Face 2, Thrust 5.
What this means is the ship turns to face direction 2 o’clock (costing one thrust point) and accelerates 5 inches in that direction (using the remaining 5 thrust points). In this instance, we can just move the ship to the new location 5 inches away in direction 2 and we know that its new facing is 2, velocity is 5 and bearing is 5. But now the ship is moving, it gets more interesting.

As it happens, the ship is now within 12” of drone 1, so it takes a shot. At this range and direction, the ship has 5 beam dice and it scores a hit so destroys the first drone.

Now we plot movement for turn 2. We are heading in the wrong direction to close on drone 2, so the best thing to do is change facing and accelerate towards the second drone. We plot face 10 and thrust 5.
To work out the ship’s new position, we first determine where its inertia will carry it. From the last turn, the ship has a bearing of 2 and a velocity of 5, so first place a marker at that location: 5 inches from the ship in direction 2 o’clock (red die). From that point, we then apply the manoeuvre orders, which were to thrust 5 in direction 10. So we measure that and place a second marker there: 5 inches from the first marker at 10 o’clock (blue die). Then we work out the ship’s new facing, bearing and velocity.

 

The facing is whatever the last facing order was, in this case 10 o’clock. The velocity is the distance from where the ship is now (ie where it ended its last turn) to where the second (blue) marker is. In this case 4 inches, and the bearing is the direction from where the ship is to where that second marker is. In this case 12 o’clock. So we are left with the new information that the ship is facing 10, bearing 12 and moving at speed 4.
Now we plot the movement for turn 3. As the ship is roughly heading in the right direction, we plot just a thrust of 6 (its maximum). This means the ship will move 4 inches in direction 12, then 6 inches in direction 10 (the direction it is still facing). Resulting in a total distance of 8 on a bearing of 11: F10, B11, V8.
For turn 4, we asses we are moving in the right direction, but may need to turn slightly to make sure all weapons can fire, so we simply plot F9. This means the ship continues to move 8 inches towards 12 o’clock, but finishes facing 9 o’clock. It is now within range and facing the right direction, so it shoots and scores a hit on drone 2.
The subsequent movement plots are as follows, and the diagram shows the approximate path of the ship:

Turn 5: F4, T5: resulting in F4, B11, V4.
Turn 6: F3, T5: resulting in F3, B1, V4.
Turn 7: T6: resulting in F3, B2, V9 just out of range of drone 3.
Turn 8: F9, T4, F3: resulting in F3, B1, V6 and scoring a hit on drone 3.
Turn 9: F7, T7: resulting in F7, B1, V1.
Turn 10: F11, T5: resulting in F11, B11, V5.
Turn 11: F9, T4: resulting in F9, B10, V8 and ending just in range of drone 4, destroying it.
Rather than go onto drone 5, because we are heading towards drone 6, I elect to continue and plot the following:
Turn 12: F12, T5: resulting in F12, B11, V12, but just out of range of the drone.
Turn 13: F4, T5: resulting in F4, B11, V7. We are in range of the drone, but not facing it so we can only roll 3 beam dice, but we manage a hit.
Turn 14: T6: resulting in F4, B1, V3
Turn 15: T6: resulting in F4, B3, V7
Turn 16: T4: resulting in F4, B3, V10, but we are in range and destroy the last drone (drone 5).

Some More Star Trek Ships

I recently created a few more Full Thrust ship templates for some Star Trek Federation ships. This completes all the basic ship classes for "classic" Trek.

Once again, the ship classes match those from the Star Trek background, not the classes used in FT. The points value is that based on FT Fleet Book 2.

First comes the basic Destroyer and the Dreadnought or light Battleship. Both of these ships are equipped with a science lab capability in line with the basic Cruiser and the pre-war dual role of combat vessel and exploration platform.

The next two ships are built entirely as war ships for service during the war. They are Battle Cruiser and the Mars class Battleship.

Brickvention 2014

A couple of weeks ago we went  to the Lego convention. Here are some pics.

Little Wars

At the eleventh hour we finally managed to play a game of "Little Wars" to commemorate the 100th anniversary. It was planned for earlier in the year, but unexpected events caused a delay.

The battle was played with simplified rules and used nerf guns to replace the spring loaded cannon. Thanks to the Ascot Vale Trugo Club for hosting the event.

The states of Bluedonia and Greyland are perpetually at war. No one knows when hostilities started or why. This particular battle was fought around the village of Wellsville. Both sides believed it was of vital strategic importance, however the whiskey distillery may have had something to do with its significance. The Bluedonian forces were commanded by Generals Quinn (the elder) and Quinn (the younger) while the Greyland forces were commanded by Generals Robson and Hinchcliffe

 

General Quinn (the elder) formed his infantry into two flying columns and raced directly towards the town, with his limbered artillery following behind as quickly as possible. General Quinn (the younger) adopted a more leisurely approach on the eastern flank maintaining contact between his infantry, cavalry and artillery throughout the early march.

Advancing from the north, with the wind behind them, the Bluedonian army deployed their guns to provide support to the assaulting infantry. The troops under command of General Robson formed column of march and headed straight for the village, while those under General Hinchcliffe deployed into reinforced line as they approached and attempted to engage the enemy at long range.

Despite dozens of volleys of roundshot, the Bluedonians stoically marched at double time directly for the village and narrowly beat the Greylanders to the prize. They quickly deployed into firing lines ready to see off the greycoats. However, the plan almost fell apart as the first casualty of the day was actually caused by the Bluedonian artillery which inadvertently fired into their own infantry as they deployed.

All was not lost, however, as the Bluedonian infantry levelled their muskets and put forth a withering fire into the Greylander column.

It was at that moment that one of those curious events of war occurred, for General Hinchliffe’s wife, Hazel, arrived and briefly took charge of Robson’s battery. It is believed she had come looking for her husband to remind him to be on the lookout for good quality curtains that she could sew into a ball gown. Spying a particularly nice purple velvet through her binoculars, she sited one of the guns herself to deter the blue-bellies from ransacking the house where it hung. In a remarkable piece of shooting, she scored a direct hit on the Bluedonian soldier about to enter the building, and, satisfied with her work, she left again to sit under a tree and knit.

Not to be outdone, General Robson suggested his wife also take charge of the guns, but that proved a less successful stratagem.

Meanwhile, the remnants of the Greylander infantry sought shelter at the edge of the village. By this stage, the infantry under General Quinn (the younger) had also arrived on the southern edge of the town and immediately charged the easternmost Greyland infantry regiment, killing many and driving the rest off in an humiliating rout.

Honour was briefly restored when the Greyland cavalry squadron that had been protecting the flank gallantly charged the disorganised Bluedonian infantry, as they rifled through the discarded packs, running them down, but dispersing as they did so. Rumour has it that they were in fact racing for the nearby cat-house and the Bluedonians were merely in the way.

While they attempted to return musket fire, the remaining Greyland regiment was too weak to cause significant casualties and penetrate the village. The supporting regiments continued to fire as they closed, but the protection offered by the village buildings was enough to minimise Bluedonian casualties.

Threatened with the imminent arrival of the Bluedonian artillery and having effectively lost their entire east flank, the Greyland Generals offered their swords.

 

A truce was called, and terms discussed over a friendly game of trugo.

Roland Aesteban

 “The enforcers are coming!” The message flashed through the under-slum like lightening. Roland stepped into the passage way. Underworlders were running in all directions, clearing the signs of anything illegal. Any vice you care to name, and some you might not, could be found in these vast secret worlds below decks. Yet Roland knew there was good here too. Born on one of the enormous void ships, he grew up amongst these people. Their only real crime was eking a living as best they could. He could see some of them taking up hidden positions. For every one he could see, there would be two more he couldn’t. If the enforcers wanted trouble they would get it.

The huge airtight door slowly opened to reveal ten men in arbites uniforms. Their leader announced “we are looking for Roland Aesteban”. For a moment panic struck him, but he quickly recovered. He had done nothing wrong recently, certainly nothing likely to require a full squad of men to come looking for him. This was something more.

He stepped towards them. “What is the trouble officers?”

From the centre of the group, a previously hidden man in a dark blue robe spoke. “Are you Roland Aesteban?”

Roland stopped. He surreptitiously glanced to his side to reassure himself his comrades were still there. Could this be a setup? Had one of the rival clans turned him in for something? “And if I am?” he replied.

“Stop wasting my time boy. If you are not Roland Aesteban take me to him immediately.” The tone was not one of menace, but of impatience. This was no enforcer.

“Yes, I am Roland.”

The robed man stepped from amongst the enforcers. “I am Lucien. I have been sent to deliver this to you.” He handed Roland a data slate. “Well read it boy”. After a moment he added “You can read can’t you?”

“Yes, I can read thank you” Roland grumbled as he activated the slate.

The council of the noble house of Aesteban has selected you to inherit a recently relinquished Imperial Warrant of Trade. You are to accompany the bearer immediately. Your ship awaits you. Congratulations Lord Captain.

“Do you accept?” Lucien pushed.

“And if I don’t?”

“If you accept, come with me now. If not...” Lucien shrugged.

Thoughts raced through his mind. His mother had always told him there were related to the mighty house of Aesteban, and he had read a great deal about their history in what archives he could find. Obviously, this was a chance to escape this life, but to what? Yet, he had no real ties here. He had lived on countless ships and space stations and both his parents had died many years ago on some other ship. Life was often short in the underworld.

 “You have five minutes to collect your belongings and make your farewells. I can wait no longer than that.”

“I will only need one”, he said, turning and re-entering his hab. He grabbed a small bag, threw in a data slate, a knife and the few thrones had had stashed away. As he turned to leave, his neighbour Jak entered. “What is going on? Is everything ok?”

“Yep. It’s just time to move on again. Sell whatever you can here and keep the credits.” He walked out and did not look back.