Making bases

 

Integral metal base on the Kallistra fighter group on the left - homemade mdf and cocktail stick bases middle and right (40mm round).

Space Battles: A Spacefarers Guide can be used with any spaceship models you happen to have. Models don't need to be based, although many ranges come complete with display bases of one kind or other. When it came to putting the game together, I decided to re-base the models I already had in order to make them more stable and give them a consistent appearance for photography. As you can see from the header photo, I opted for 40mm bases and either one or three models per stand. The three-model stands are used for flights of interceptors, purely for the look of the thing, as there is no strict requirement to have more than one model per 'piece'. Very large models, such as stace stations and some of the bigger, and heavier, battleships are mounted onto 60mm bases for extra stability, but the bases are all made the same way regardles of size. 

In this post I'm going to run through how I make these bases, using a batch of interceptor models as an example. 

These are the models I'm going to base up. I made these as part of a range of spaceships for Citadel Miniatures in the early 1980s, but as far as I know none of the 'interceptor' sizes ships were ever released. I had a few spins off the moulds at the time, so these castings have waited more than forty years to be painted. There is nothing as patient as old lead. 

I've cleaned the models up ready, drilled suitable-sized holes on their undersides, and divided them into flights of three. The dark colour of the castings is superficial oxidation and won't matter once painted.

These are the 40mm mdf rounds I'm going to use for the bases. The example at the front is a base I've already made into a template by drilling holes in the necessary positions for both a single or triple stand.

The uprights are made from ordinary cocktail sticks, which will be pushed through the drilled holes and fixed with superglue. 

Using the template as a guide I drill through the bases using a pin vice and a small bit. Needless to say, you can use an electric or small hand drill if you prefer, I just happen to have a pin vice handy, so thta's what I use. 

The holes need to be just big enough to provide a tight fit for the cocktail sticks. 

Everything ready to make up the base. 

The first thing to do is trim the cocktail sticks down to size. About half a stick usually does the job, which means I can get six uprights out of three cocktail sticks. 

I repoint the ends that will fit into the holes on the models' undesides. This makes them a reasonable push fit, although I will, of course, superglue them into place. 

A dab of superglue secures the cocktail sticks into the models. Because the wood is quite soft it's quite easy to push fit the pieces together, ensuring a nice snug fit. These models were cast with small holes to take a 'wire' type stand. I enlarged the holes and made then deeper using a drill bit slightly smaller than the cocktail stick. Metal spaceship models like these usually come pre-drilled, but if there's enough metal to go at it's worth making the holes deeper for extra stability. 

Pushed through and glued.

Now with the cocktail stick ends cut back with a pair of side cutters. 

Repeat as necessary. 

Getting there. 

And undercoated, ready to take paint. I find with these small ships it's easier to prepare the bases and then paint the piece as a whole. For one thing, it makes the models easier to handle and saves time. 

Bigger ships are all done pretty much the same way, mounting the models into the centre of the base. For very large or heavy models where the cocktail stick is not quite sturdy enough, I use a wooden meat skewer instead, and a correspondingly larger drill. For the largest models, such as a space station, I also use a large base size, for the sake of stability. However, the same basic idea works equally well for any base size, and it's generally a much more stable solution for gaming purposes than plastic 'flying' bases for example. 

A look at the core mechanics

 

The core elements of the game in play. Ordinary playing cards are used for the game's mechanics and tokens employed to record damage. Debris and hazards are represented with suitable markers. 

Space Battles: A Spacefarers Guide is a set of rules for playing space battles using model spaceships, written by me, published by Wombat Wargames and  available from Amazon. The book includes the basic rules of play, advanced rules for expanding the game further, ships stats for spacecraft, scenarios, a set of campaign rules for playing sequential games, and special abilities which can be incorporated into campaigns or used independently. There is also a background section describing the author's 'known space' game setting, for which a range of spaceships is available from Ral Partha Europe (R.P.E.). The game can, however, be played with any models, and within any setting. 

The core mechanics of the game are driven by ordinary playing cards, two packs are required, one pack for each side. No dice are needed to play the game. Movement and range determination is calculated using a gridded mat thirteen by thirteen spaces - although the game can also be played using a larger area if players so wish.

The game is played in alternating turns, each player taking a turn with each of their ships one after the other. Ships may activate automatically, by the turn of a card, or not at all, depending upon their damage status. Damage is inflicted to four separate ship functions: propulsion, armaments, shields and systems corresponding to the four card suits. Attacks are made by drawing cards and assembling an attacking hand, whilst any hits scored can be deflected with cards drawn from a shield hand. Any damage suffered is recorded using a token marked with the relevant suit. 

Game play is pacey and the core mechanics easy to learn, with much of the subtlety of the game coming from the puzzle-like nature of the scenarios and the relationship between the different ship types. Aside from placing tokens to indicate damage suffered, there is no need to record the status of the ships. In most cases, ships are destroyed once they take three damage markers to any individual ship function. In the case of the largest 'massive' ships - battleships for instance - the first marker to each function is always ignored, which means they can sustain a certain amount of damage without any ill effects, and it takes four damage to a function to destroy them. Conversely, 'light' spacecraft - interceptors for example - are destroyed if they suffer two damage markers to any function. 

Ships from my collection. These are old Citadel models that I designed in the early 1980s. I like to give models a sturdy base, but this is not necessary to play the game, any bases can be used or none. I also like to arrange the inteceptor types into a flight of three, because it looks good, but this is entirely optional and makes no difference in play. 

Aside from the smallest ships, which may be smashed to atoms without endangering other craft, any destroyed spacecraft are reduced to debris, which is represented by a debris marker. Designs for debris markers, damage tokens, and hazards are included in the book and can be copied. A downloadable version will also be available on the Wombat Wargames website, for which see the link on the side bar. For debris, the author favours the pin markers sold by Warlord Games for the Bolt Action and Beyond the Gates of Antares games - the red 'explosion' markers in the photgraph at the top of this post. Debris drifts over the gaming area and can inflict damage on ships that encounter it. 

The scenarios all have specific objectives, which determine how long the games last and how each side can achieve victory. Of these, the 'fleet action' scenario is a general engagement, which is fought until one side is reduced to half strength. Further scenarios are in preparation, and will be included in the Shadows of Centralis magazine from Wombat Wargames, alongside further articles about the game, the setting, new ship types and whatever news and new material we can squeeze in. 

Citadel Star Cruisers

The Space Battles game can be played with any collection of models, so long as they can be divided into the four categories of small, medium, large and massive. During the development of the game a huge variety of models were used, most of them pieces I've had for decades, some going back to the mid 1970s. During the process of putting the game together, I took plenty of photos, some of which are included in the rulebook, but many of which didn't quite make the cut. I thought I 'd share some of these on the blog, starting with these models from the Citadel Star Cruisers range. 

This model was described at the time as a Bismark class Battle Cruiser - a cruiser sized ship in terms of Space Battles. The paint job is very much a case of pile on the washes for a grubby space-industrial look. Probably inspired by the appearance of the run-down Nostromo in Alien, which was quite a new take on spacecraft at the time. 

This one rejoices under the name of the John F Kennedy class Cruiser. In Space Battles I used these as destroyers. It has the same low-tech design ethos as the Bismark, and it has received the same kind of paint treatment. 

This pair of ships are Stateside class Scout Cruisers. I used these as destroyers in the Space Battles game. I don't remember why I gave these a different paint job to the previous ships. They must have been painted at the same time. I've rebased the models onto round MDF bases, drilled for a cocktail-stick stand. These stands are really sturdy, and even quite large and heavy models can be mounted this way without any danger of falling over. 

These are ships on the stands that I put them on at the time. I don't remember where these came from, but they are something like acrylic bases with wire stands. It doesn't matter at all whether ships have stands or not for the Space Battles game, but it does lend the models a certain dignity! 

That's all I have - or all that has survived intact - of the Star Cruisers range ships. The range itself was fairly extensive, and included a number of  rather interesting organic spaceships, some of which were later re-released as 'Tyrannid' ships to support the Spacefleet game. 

Coming Soon!

Over at the Space Battles Orbital HQ we're just giving the rocket boosters a polish in preparation for the launch of my new game Space Battles - A Spacefarers Guide! 

Space Battles is a fast-paced game of classic space opera in which space dreadnoughts clash around distant stars. Humans and aliens strive for dominance amongst the fiercely contested hyperspace routes. At the boundaries of known space lurk the Devourers... a mysterious existential threat to all life in the galaxy!

The game is a diceless system - all actions are resolved using playing cards and damage recorded using simple tokens. The game is played over a gridded board - no dice, no recording and no measuring!

You can use any spaceship models to play the game, new or old, it does not matter. The book is illustrated with plenty of examples from the author's own collection, including a new range of ships from Wombat Wargames to be marketed via Ral Partha Europe (RPE). 

Space Battles will be published by Wombat Wargames later this year. Watch the skies! 

Space Battles... coming soon!