The Rise and Fall and Resurrection

As many of you know who read my blog post I am very keen on Space Genre Gaming with almost all of my post focused on this subject.  Upon my return to scene I was trying to catch-up on the news of the my gaming interests.  While going through the latest news, forum posts, and looking at what gaming conventions this year an interesting thought came across my mind.

2017 saw the rise and fall of two great gaming lines and now 2018 will hopefully see their resurrection. The first victim being Firestorm Armada by Spartan Games and the second being Dropfleet Commander by Hawk Wargames.

Each of their demises was sudden and tragic because new gamers are being drawn into each system. I myself have a large investment in Firestorm Armada and I backed the Dropfleet Commander Kickstarter at the highest pledge I could at the time. Each universe has a great back story and even more potential.

However all is not lost, first we heard that Spartan Games struck a deal with Warcradle for several of their games including Firestorm Armada and recently TTCombat entered into an agreement with Hawk Wargames for the Dropfleet/Dropzone Commander games.

While we have not seen anything new from Warcradle regarding Firestorm Armada miniatures. However their online presences has been changing constantly.  Warcradle has updated the Spartan Games websites and moved over the existing form or started a new one on their website, https://community.warcradle.com/forum/28-firestorm-armada/. I have not determine this for sure as of late. I may have missed a forum posting while quickly browsing all of the content.

I just saw, albeit late, that TTCombat is already working to bring the new ships of Dropfleet Commander to market.  For example they are now offering the Remnant Centurion Cruiser as limited time offer, 4 February 2018, on their website and then it will only be available at shows that TTCombat Attends. This is an amazing way for TTCombat to show their support for the game and its gamer following.

Remnant Centurion Cruiser

I have begun to turn my frown of disappointment upside down with all of these exciting changes going on with two of my favorite games.  I just now have to get Dropfleet Commander miniatures battle ready.

DropFleet Commander Kickstarter

The DropFleet Commander Kickstarter is finally underway.  Within 24 hours the kickstarter was fully funded and exceeded the expectations of Hawk Wargames.  Within the first hour all admiral level pledges were taken so they opened up an additional 50 which were taken in 1 hour after announcement.  The was sad to say I was not able to pledge at the Admiral level :( unfortunately.

Andy Chambers and David Lewis bring us an exciting ship to ship combat game set in the back drop of Drop Zone Commander. I am a PHR player so I will be waiting in excitement for this fleet to be revealed.  I am super impressed by the miniature pictures that have been posted on the KickStarter site.  I can't wait to see they have in store.

The Kickstarter is focuses primarily on getting the two player starter set into production, which includes a UCM and Scourge Fleet.

Overwhelmed in Projects

I have a bad habit of starting a new project when one is not completely finished.  Then starting another one when that one is not completely finished. Then Then starting another one when that one is not completely finished to the point when I have 6 to 10 building and painting projects going at the same time.  The main striff I have this weekend is that I have plenty of time, but the weather is not cooperating.  It is raining cats and dogs outside and the humidty in my house is way high.  No painting for me.

First up, I have decided a few months ago (8 to be exact) that I need a little Imperial Domination going on in my gaming circles.  So I started putting together an Imperial Task Force that could be played in several gaming systems i.e. Firestorm Armada, Babylon 5 ACTA, Full Thrust and Colonial Battlefleet.  At the moment I am trying to paint 10 Stands of Tie Interceptors (30 Individual Fighters), 3 Imperial Dreadnaughts, 1 Interdictor cruiser, 6 Carrack Cruisers, 3 Light Star Destroyers and a Carrier.

 

As you can clearly see from the above pictures I have not even completed 50% of the project, :(
I am slugging along, after prepping the Tie Fighters almost 5 weeks ago I have not at least painted one squadron, albeit not very well.  I suppose I will get better at the paint scheme I am shooting for in the next 9 stands of fighters.  I will include a more in-depth dive on this task force later.

On to major project number two (2).  I decided that I needed a Hiigaran fleet to add to the mix.  Tim from Fate Amenable to Change modeled and produces this line of ships that look great.  I am trying to build this fleet to be playable with the Firestorm Armada rules.  Right now I have enough ships to complete 2 patrol fleets complete with 4 frigates, 3 cruisers, 1 battleships and several stands of fighters.  This project has been on-going for several months too.

Having a lot of ships to play multiple game systems means that I have to be a bit picky on what flight stands that I use.  Having each of my ships permanently mounted to a flight stand takes up a lot of room and limits my transport ability.  Therefore I have chosen now to use the CorSec Engineering flight stand system.  This was done after 2 other failed attempts to use one common flight stand system with all of my miniatures.  As you can see I am trying to convert my miniatures to this standard and have enough flight stands to accommodate multiple gam systems.  Right now I am working on my fighter stands.

So my daughter loves the Dindrenzi and decided she needed another cruiser, frigate and corvette group to go with her current ships for our upcoming campaign to use as reinforcements.

More projects stalled on the shelf at the moment.....

Battlefield debris and Objective projects are still ongoing, here is one of my largest attempts.  I received a defective Aquan Battleship that I am converting to a burning hulk.

Last but not least, I have found that I love the DropZone Commander game.  I play tested at a local gaming store and had to have some.  Therefore I bought the two-player starter and a PHR small set.  AAARRRRGGGG!!!  I have not had a chance to work on it for more than 6 months.  Oh well, time will tell.