Klingons on the starboard bow, starboard bow.....

So last night received a visit from a wargaming compatriot and we settled down to play a game of 'Star Trek; Attack Fleet', over tea and biscuits. This was a new acquisition for my wargaming comrade so the first game was really about getting to grip with the rules.

The basic set comes with three models, an Enterprise, a Klingon warship and a Romulan Warbird I believe. So after a brief discussion it was decided, since I have the larger forehead, I would play the Klingons, and my opponent the Federation. He does have a passing resemblance to Captain Kirk, as played by William Shatner not Chris Pine, but more Bill Shatner in his TJ Hooker days.

Stardate 2371.56

The USS Frustration, under the command Captain Alain 'Snippy' Michaels is on routine patrol along the border with the Klingon Empire. The Federation ship is patrolling that part of space known as the Fetid Brown Nebula, an unusual space anomaly. Suddenly red alert is sounding through out the ship. On the view screen appeared the IKS K'Plunk, under the command of the feared and ruthless Captain G'Kram. Let battle commence....

IKS K'Plunk

USS Frustration

Both Captains manoeuvred quickly towards each other, eager to bring weapons to bear.

The K'plunk attempts evasive manoeuvres! The Frustration locks on phasers! Both ships receive damage in this opening exchange.

Now that's up close and personal! Captain G'Kram believes in taking the fight to the enemy.  Captain 'Snippy' Michaels is clearly worried since his ship is jinking hard. But all his fancy Starfleet Academy flying does not save the Frustration. 

Read'em and weep!

The Klingon phasers tear through the enemy ships shields and hit the hull. Some fast thinking is needed by both Captains.

Cartain G'Kram performs a gut wrenching manoeuvre, to bring his warship about and onto the tail of the Federation ship, but at a price. The crew are unable to perform any other actions and with the engines screaming the Klingons will need to reduce speed to avoid catastrophe. The USS Frustration can still bite back with its rear firing weapons. 

The Federation begin to pull away. Both craft continue to trade fire with the Klingons having the better of it. Captain Michaels attempts some extreme evasive manoeuvring to avoid destruction.

But the distance between the two begins too shorten again. 

G'Kram can smell blood. Today is a good day to die!

The Frustration begins to make ground. But despite it's attempts to outrun it's opponent, the end is predictable.

Gotcha!

For his victory Captain G'Kram is awarded the order of the Viscount!

After this we played two further games. A re-match which saw a Federation victory, G'Kram was sent to Sto-vo-kor. Then a battle between the Cardassians and Romulans. I was Romulan which resulted in another victory for me..hurrah!!

Overall this was a great little game. we managed to play three rounds in about two hours. Not only the ships but the captains and crews have different abilities. After moving you then decide actions; cloak, evasive manoevres, lock on phasers and few more. These may add to your defence or attack ability. All ships can perform one action and then one or more actions depending on crew cards. But some cards are one use only. The captain with lower initiative moves first after both players have plotted moves, but the captain with higher initiative fires first. So its Move, Actions, Fire, Bookkeeping, i.e. remove tokens if necessary. Moving is done by the use of different length move sticks, variable based on speed, turn ability for each ship. Damage is worked out by rolling attack dice, and your opponent rolling defence dice. Ships have hit points and once the total is reached the ship is destroyed.

A somewhat abridged version of the rules, but gives an idea. Its using the mechanisms I first encountered in Wings of War and I guess is used in the popular X-wing (?). (I have not played X-wing). Look forward to some further games.

Thats it for now more to follow.....  

'You're one ugly motherf****r!'

The Predator!

This lovely sculpt is from heresyminiatures. I've been dipping in and out of the Heresy site for a while, viewed their models at Salute but even though I saw quite a few models I liked (check out the demons) never made a purchase since it was a case of 'what am I going to use it for?'. Then about two weeks ago whilst browsing saw this sculpt called a 'Hurn'. The rest is history so to speak.

This is the first model I've bought for a while which I have assembled and painted straight away (which I think speaks volumes). The figure is a multi-part kit. The body is one, but the arms are in three pieces. The arms are sculpted to the elbow and then you have the choice of either having the arm mounted blades extended or retracted. The forearm weapon mounts are are a one piece casting. The hands are separate, and you have the option of either the clenched fist (as I have used) or the right hand holding the extended spear. One of the hand options is holding a small tube which I think allows you to cut down the 'retracted' spear and mount the ends onto the hand.

The plasma gun mounted on his back also comes in three parts. The upright, swivel mount and the gun itself. The swivel mount had to be pinned to the metal arm, which was fiddly but not to difficult. (I had to use a small piece of a staple, it was all I could find at the time). When ordering you have a choice of base size options and I went for the 40mm round lipped display base. I'm glad I did the model is bigger then what I thought it would be. Next was to paint it. I had decided that I would base any colour scheme on the movie alien, but what colours to use was the issue?

The colour scheme is based (loosely) on the Predator from the the second film, the one with Danny Glover. I searched on various sites which revealed that there is no generic colour scheme, each film has added its own twist/slant/variation to the original Predator.I must admit I had not actually noticed the difference in the various movies. I also read on a couple of sites that the original colour scheme was based on a banana skin! The yellowish colour and black spots. So I decided that as long as it looked menacing, I was free to paint it how ever I liked. I had considered purchasing a sculpted resin base, like the type made by Fenris and available from hasslefreeminiatures or Fenris's own e-bay shop. But I decided against this, maybe next time?

The last photo is a comparison to give an idea of the size of the model next to a 28mm scaled human. In this case a Delta Force operative from the grippingbeast range. Who are you going to put your money on?

Overall a great model and I'm pleased with the result. I will be purchasing more of the Heresy models. I just need to find a set of rules to use the thing in.

Hopefully another variant of the Hurn will be produced, a helmeted version would be good and some Xenomorphs to battle against?