Subtopic	Posts		Updated
	FAQs and similar info	16		08/06 02:53pm
	Archive through February 09, 2012	8		02/09 01:43pm
	Archive through July 17, 2012	8		07/16 07:00pm
	Archive through January 10, 2013	4		11/24 10:55am
	Archive through May 09, 2013	8		05/09 02:07pm
	Archive through March 20, 2014	14		03/20 05:36pm
	Archive through September 13, 2014	6		09/13 06:55pm
	Pre-Doomsday Awards Reconstruction	20		10/29 07:27pm
	Archive through May 20, 2015	6		05/16 04:05pm
	Archive through May 21, 2016	2		05/21 08:53pm

It would have counted for something at the time, but we don't dig that far back trying to find reasons for awards. Too many people did the same thing and it would be wrong to single out one person. If it's something we can reconstruct, that's one thing, if it's something that has to rely on people spontaneously self reporting unconfirmable prior acts, it's just too problematic.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 - 01:43 pm: Edit

We have been meaning to do this for years, and now is as good a time as any.



To get one, you just need to run a game at a convention. One star per convention, no matter how many games you run.

Only conventions, not club meetings.

Only one issued per convention to the senior game master. (In the cases of big conventions with multiple GMs running different games, we'll consider one per each, but we're not going to have a group of friends all claim a bar because they all took turns being GM as they played among themselves.)

It must be a public ticketed event not a private game. You have to have documentation of some kind from the convention showing the game, timeslot, and your name. (We will take your word for ONE prior game/convention you did before, but if you have run events at 11 Gencons you better have the programs listing you and your event for 10 of them.)

If some volunteer wants to go through every captains log listing the judges at every Rated Ace event, we'll take the list and issue the bars.

SFBOL RATs count, but only for a non-playing judge who actually RAN the event, not an honorary judge who just allowed his name to be used while no work was needed.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 - 01:45 pm: Edit

You can get a combat action ribbon for running demos and a GM bar for running regular games, but not both for the same event. (Not sure about the same convention, but we'll see.)

You have to actually have most of the tickets sold and the game actually played. No bar for listing and event but nobody showed up.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - 07:26 pm: Edit

Yes, CL52 awards are on the wall of honor. If you are listed in CL52, you are (supposed to be) on the wall now. If your award from the CL52 list isn't on your page (sub-page) then do email me and I'll check into it. Don't post it here.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 24, 2019 - 02:37 am: Edit

Will McCammon was awarded the Star Fleet Gold Star, the highest award we can give, for his invaluable work creating and guiding the Shapeways project.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 24, 2019 - 02:41 am: Edit

Colonel Chuck Strong has been awarded his second Star Fleet Gold Star for his brilliant leadership of the F&E staff.

As I said at Origins more than once, that kind of performance is what happens when you put a professional military officer in charge.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 24, 2019 - 02:45 am: Edit

Jean Sexton has been awarded the Star Fleet Distinguished Service Cross for years of invaluable service. She becomes the eighth person to receive this rare lifetime achievement award.

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Monday, June 24, 2019 - 02:45 am: Edit

Thank you, SVC.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 24, 2019 - 02:52 am: Edit

We did count up the 2017 Shapeways comments. Due to time limits we will give out ribbons for 2018 and 2019 in CL54.

Sculptors are eligible to comment on ships of another sculptor. If they take time to display the heart of a teacher about their own ship, they can earn a point.

We went through each ship and those who contributed one or more worthwhile comments on that ship got one point. The we totaled the points and looked for the biggest gaps. Those gaps defined the awards. Those with the most points got the Star ribbon, those in the next group got the cross ribbon, the next group got the diamond, those who made the fewest but still valuable comments got the blank ribbon.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 24, 2019 - 02:59 am: Edit

We normally award one Spambot Defense Bar to each person who detected one or more spammers for each Captain's Log.

However, it has been 27 months not six months this time so we broke the reports into 2017A, 2017B, 2018A, 2018B, and 2019A.

I don't know but it's entirely possible that someone earned five bars, and lots won two or three.

And yes, Mike West's last minute report did get a 2019A bar.

Of course you don't get five bars but one bar with five little stars on it.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 24, 2019 - 03:09 am: Edit

I must comment that if someone gets an award for doing a job one year and a lower award for a subsequent year it doesn't mean he did less the second time but that the higher award marked exceptional circumstances. And sometimes if you see someone who over ten years won eight of one medal and two of a higher medal all for doing the same job ten times in a row it means that he over-earned the lower award and eventually the fractions added up to the higher award.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 09:17 am: Edit

Ray Olesen, one of the original Star Fleet Staff, transferred to the Black Fleet a couple of weeks ago. I just got word of this from his loving wife, Lisa. Ray leaves behind two adult children; his son is an Army Reserve Officer. Ray's transfer was sudden and not at all expected.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 02:47 pm: Edit

That is sad news indeed. Ray was one of the great early names in the game.

By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 03:48 pm: Edit

May he sail the stars evermore.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 04:01 pm: Edit

I remember Ray.

My prayers.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 05:13 pm: Edit

Ray was used in one of our "Die in Place" games (his name and background were used to create the platoon leader which added a bit of reality to the role playing). His platoon was on our left flank when an (unexpected) enemy mechanized assault debauched onto that flank. Ray called for permission to withdraw, and after a couple of seconds review, I refused, which angered the game master (SVC) who throught I was just being a (to put it politely) putz. I explained why I had no choice but to make the call I made. I had known the flank was threatened since we set up, but there had been enough going on that I had never given the orders to obstacle the gap, and that meant Iranian armored vehicles were going to begin driving into our rear. The company team had to fall back on its final fortifications, and that meant time had to be purchased for the majority to do so and the mortars to be brought into the perimeter and, the list goes on. A mistake had been made (SVC had unintentionally kept me occupied, and while I could tell him I would have issued an order, the fact was I did not, and things like this happen, so I dealt with it, mistakes on the battlefield are redeemed in the only currency that truly matters; Blood. Not by "God coming down and making things all better." I knew Ray, and hated the order I had to give, but it was the order that would be given in real life if the position were to have any chance of holding. A platoon had to be sacrificed to buy time.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 08:24 pm: Edit

There us a scene in a Coyle novel about an mech infantry company commander that is sent to screen the flank and she asks "how long do I hold before I can withdraw?" And she is told "I don't think you are going to be able to withdraw..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Coyle

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 08:30 pm: Edit

Sad news. Sorry to hear that.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 07, 2021 - 05:52 pm: Edit

Belated thanks (and a commendation, somebody remind me to put it in CL55) to Lar Bergen for doing so bloody much work to sift this stuff out so many years ago.

I am planning to issue a nice medal to Ryan Opel for cleaning those ancient WARBOOK archives so I didn't have to. Petrick and I are debating which medal to give him.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Tuesday, June 08, 2021 - 04:42 am: Edit

Wow Thanks!!

I cannot wait to see you all in person. I have not been to a gaming event since (StratCon Sattelite) the year after last Origins.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 - 03:26 pm: Edit

Art Trotman has been awarded the Bronze Star for 2019 and 2020 and the Silver Star for 2021. He has been transferred to the Black Fleet.

By Kent Ing (Kenting) on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 - 04:10 pm: Edit

Art will be missed. I didn’t know him very well but he always had that passion for the game and especially the minis… he loved his Klingon minis.

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 - 04:11 pm: Edit

Wow. That's disappointing news.

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 - 04:33 pm: Edit

A loss to the community. Art's passion for the games was obvious.

By Gregg Henry (Labyr) on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 - 10:08 pm: Edit

Art was always a cunning Klingon and a wonderful human being. He never ceased to surprise me with his bold strategies and clever scenarios. He was also really fun to chat with and had a great sense of humor. He will be missed.

By Sebastian Palozzi (Sebastian) on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - 06:07 am: Edit

It is with great sorrow that we announce the passing of Art Trotman.

Art was a good friend to all the members of Battlegroup Toronto. He was one of the founding members of Battlegroup Toronto and was a dedicated Star Fleet Universe player for many years.

Art's real passion was Federation Commander but before the release of FC he was an avid SFB player and his passion and skills for that game never deserted him. I remember sitting down to play a SFB game with Art, many, many years after he had dedicated all his gaming energy to Fed Comm, and as we rolled out damage on his beloved D7 he would call out the hits on the DAC from memory.

Art's contributions to FC were impressive. He had many, many scenarios published for the game and they all had a certain Art Trotman flair; the story was the thing, balance was a problem for mathematicians, these are scenarios for captains ready to fight to the death no matter the odds.

One of Art's favourite things about the SFU was the miniatures. His collection filled his apartment and he opened his apartment to all of us. He knew each ship intimately and would relate the history of each one with great enthusiasm: who painted it, where he got it, what he thought of the ship; Art knew his starships. Once, having just met him, I was sitting at his gaming table, surrounded by hundreds of miniatures and Art decided to test his new gaming friend; he asked me to please pass him the WYN GBS. He smiled and watched me scan the fleets of ships all around me. He needed to know where I stood on the starship knowledge spectrum. I passed him the wrong mini. It was a very educational night.

More than devotion to any game, however, Art Trotman was devoted to his friends. It wasn't easy for Art to get to gaming sessions but if he wasn't completely incapacitated he would brave snow, rain, flights of stairs, the vagaries of Toronto cross-town traffic, to be with his friends, to have a slice of pizza and argue about stuff like Star Trek (favourite episodes), comic books (Thor or Hulk), religion or food (he made grandiose claims for his lasagna).

All gamers know that strange, wonderful, thing that happens when a handful of people get together to roll dice and push around starships. We sit down at the table and then after what seems like a few minutes you look up at the clock and three hours have zipped by in the company of our friends and our imaginations. Art was a big part of that atmosphere for us and Battlegroup Toronto will feel his loss.

We are awaiting the announcement of a memorial service for Art, and will provide the details once they become available.

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - 06:38 am: Edit

I didn't know Art, but that was very well said Sebastian. My condolences to his friends and family.

By Paul Cordeiro (Ogoptimus) on Friday, November 05, 2021 - 01:20 am: Edit

I didn't know Art that well, and lost touch with him many years ago. But I do remember his passion for the game, his love of scenarios/campaigns/storytelling and miniatures.

I'm sorry to hear of his passing. Thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.