Federation Commander

Bolo_MK_XL · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 1:03 pm Post subject:

Never got into one, but viewed the equivalent of a smash-bash Battletech tourney, where you got to burn, rip off limbs and such when your target took that type of damage --- Plus the winner received the mini as salvage ---

djdood · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 6:32 pm Post subject:

OMG, I'd probably cry like a little girl if one of my minis went under a hammer. If I just threw a slop-coat on it, that would be one thing, but a "real" paintjob? Never.

I was fond of OGRE-Squash, which is similar.
In that one (which was created to be a convention version, with lots of newbies playing), every player makes their "mini" from clay. Then as play progresses, the big OGRE units get parts pinched, pulled, or scooped off. The smaller opposing units get smashed outright. Great fun.

I've also heard of doing things like that with LEGO ships.
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OGOPTIMUS · Captain Joined: 10 Nov 2006 Posts: 980

There's a game much like this that i got to play a year ago. I think it was called Mechaton or something like that. You built a mech out of LEGO parts and then as things were lost in combat you ripped those parts off - shields, guns arms, etc. It was pretty fun, and rather simple.
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Stormsender · Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:19 am Post subject:

I think you could make some descent plasticard minis that are just 2D painted representations. I think you could maybe do some sort of job to get up some bucks to get a couple boxes of minis, I know it gets expesive but it's a trade off even if you bought a mini at a time you could do 1 on 1 missions till you get something figured out.

Davec_24 · Commander Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 596 Location: England

Minis are one of those things that once you've used them, you'll want to keep using them. Sometimes it's necessary to play with counters (like when you haven't enough minis) but it doesn't quite have the visual effect of minis, even though I quite like those 1" counters.

Making 3D minis from 2D plastic sheet is how I started with my minis, although I now tend to make them more 3D by carving them from thicker card (they've become a bit of a modeller's obsession for me now...). The basic 2D card technique is more difficult to do with the Feds, where some tubing is usually required for engines (these aren't too hard to make) and hulls (these are harder because of the curves - it takes patience). The saucer sections actually look fine made from 2D card if you add a piece for the bridge "dome" piece and something underneath to make it look a little thicker - on mine this is another, smaller concentric circle of plastic glued underneath the main piece.

You can easily make Klingon ships from 2D cut-outs of the ship's basic shape by simply bending the "wing" and "engine" sections down by cutting them off then gluing them back on at the right angle. Add another little section for the deckhouse and maybe one for the command area if you can be bothered, and they actually end up looking pretty good. Actually what gave me the idea to do these in the first place was an origami KR my brother made for me when bored at school once - just goes to show even 2D models can go a long way! The other big plus of these is that I can knock out most of these ships for well under 10p a piece, which is probably something like 20-25 cents over there (the exchange rate varies too often to keep exact track of).

Sneaky Scot · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 6:58 pm Post subject:

There seem to be a few games using plastic card miniatures at the moment. One is a Pirates game where you buy packs of ships, press out the components and snap them together. It takes a couple of minutes to assemble an entire battle fleet. There is also a Star Wars game that I get the occasional free sample in SFX magazine where you build Tie Fighters and Y-Wings which can then beat the **** out of each other. Cheap and simple.

However, I don't know if it's cheap and simple in a manufacturing sense, or if ADB think they could generate enough business from it.
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djdood · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:27 pm Post subject:

I saw that new Star Wars one and was pretty impressed. They're pretty spiffy little models. The production for something like that must be spendy though, with a whole lot of custom-made die-cutting tooling.
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Scoutdad · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:34 pm Post subject:

Like the "clicky" base minis used in a few games, the die cut ships have been discussed here before.

the end result is that the minimum print run for each individual ship ends up being more than even the best selling Starline mini (Federation Heavy Cruiser) has sold since it's release... and the cost of doing just the few ships required by the SFB Basic Set / Fed Comm Border boxes would bankrupt ADB.
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Davec_24 · Commander Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 596 Location: England

I think I've seen those pirate ships, they looked pretty cool for something where you punch the parts out of a credit card sized sprue and do a quick "snap-fast" build and that's them done. Also they have the advantage that you can pull bits off (such as the masts) to represent damage in game. As cool as these are, it is probably very costly to set up the print run unless you (as a company) already have your own gear to do this, and so even if these were available they'd not be all that cheap because they would be expensive for ADB to produce and so the price to the buyer would be costly in proportion to this. This would mean they hadn't really fulfilled the purpose for which they were made and so they probably wouldn't sell too well anyway and so would be a waste of time and money. Sad

Jiraiya1969 · Lieutenant JG Joined: 17 May 2007 Posts: 90

Scoutdad · Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 2:57 am Post subject:

Sir Drake · Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 4:10 am Post subject:

Scoutdad, my hat is off to you that is the coolest wat to pack space figs I have ever seen and not exspenive too boot! thanks for the pic. getting the foam around the stand and the ship always had me stumped. One look at that pic and I felt sillyer than I usally do Embarassed

thanks again.

Daniel
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Scoutdad · Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 4:58 am Post subject:

Glad I could help. The plastic boxes run $5.99 each and the foam is $1.88 a sheet and does 2 to 2 1/2 boxes, so each storage box runs me about $7.50.

As a bonus, the tops and bottoms of the bins are contoured to facilitate stacking w/o sliding. I can stack 12 on a folding, 2 wheeled-cart and use one bungee cord to hold them all in place while I transport them.
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thebart · Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 8:22 pm Post subject:

The cheapest way we buy our starships is that my FLGS has a huge selection of individual micro machines on sale ones from the first NCC-1701 enterprise to the Romulan war bird. Its really good. The micro machines go for around $6 each some times he let me purchase three for $12, he's desperate to get rid of them!
But the downside is that i got to go to that store, and its two hour drive away!