New to FC - Questions & Minis

Bolo_MK_XL · Post by **Bolo_MK_XL** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 4:25 am

Have some Orions in Metallic Green, some in Steel other in Aluminum ---

count_zero99uk · Post by **count_zero99uk** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:44 am

So far my feds are White Grey (Vallejo) and im planning on doing my klingons German Camo Green (Vallejo).

I just like the green klingons better.

As for the rest of space, ill probly just go of the box tops, but for some reason i thought gorn ships would be green/brown from the lizards skin type thingy.

Like has been said if everything was cannon and grey i think id slipped into an old TV

On the main I dont think there is a paint police going round

Do Pink Feds, and Yellow Klingons, and have the Romulans fly in in there Lilac Hawks with Purple Wings on there bellys.

Zero.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 2:23 pm

count_zero99uk wrote: On the main I dont think there is a paint police going round ... Do Pink Feds, and Yellow Klingons, and have the Romulans fly in in there Lilac Hawks with Purple Wings on there bellys.
Zero.

Funny you should mention Lilac Hawks with Purple Wings...

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 2:31 pm

count_zero99uk wrote: On the main I dont think there is a paint police going round ...
Zero.

And it's a good thing, too...

[pounding on door]
Police: "Mr. Thomas, Open the door please."
Tony: "Why should I?"
Police: "We understand you're hiding a fleet of Rythym 'n Blue Hydrans as well as several non-canon Orions. W have a warant to search the premises."
waiting...
Police: "Mr. Thomas?"
waiting...
Police: "Mr. Thomas?"
waiting...
Police: "Mr. Thomas?"
[door crashing in!]
Police: "Mr. Thomas! Set down the pearlescent paint and step away from the sink and no one has to get hurt."
Tony: "Never! You can't tell me what to paint... You got no right to....
[zaaaap!]
Tony: "Argh! Don't taz me, bro!"
Police: [sigh] "These so-called Artists! They never learn. white & grey - that's all you need to paint everything."

Evil Goatee · Post by **Evil Goatee** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:08 am

Scoutdad wrote: Tony: "Argh! Don't taz me, bro!"
Police: [sigh] "These so-called Artists! They never learn. white & grey - that's all you need to paint everything."

Funny.

Well, just so you guys know, I ask about canon and background histories not because I'm afraid to get called out by fellow forum members or other players at the local store. I'm just one of those guys that really gets into the background of the settings. I like the feeling when the minis are painted in such a way that fits the universe. Or at least how I feel the setting is suppose to be like. Some how, it turns up the geek immersion more for me. I don't hold others to it though. Its just for me.

Sure, I'll try to get close to the TOS color scheme. However, you can tell from my previous posts I don't mind bending those rules a little. I predict, as I continue to paint different ships from different factions, I'll get even more loose with the "canon".

Anyways, got a couple of questions for you guys. I was at a hobby store just recently. Bought myself a Romulan Firehawk mini. I didn't have the card for it in my collection, so I also bought the Fed Com Booster Pack #12 "Romulan 4th Star Legion". The pictures on the cover seem to match the mini I was buying. I go home and open up the blister and I see two sets of warp engines for the top of the ship. One set matches the longer engines that are on the bottom already. The second set is a pair fused together that are smaller. Now, looking at the cards from Booster Pack #12, I see that there's a Fasthawk and a Firehawk version.

Question One is: Which is the Firehawk and which is the Fasthawk?

Next question is about the Romulan Warbird. I have a Star Fleet blister that has a Warbird and a Snipe in it. I also have the Fed Com Squardron Box #9 "Romulans". In there, there's a mini that is exactly like the Star Fleet mini Warbird. Then there's another similar silhouette ship that looks like a Snipe, but it isn't because its slightly bigger. Although not as big as the War Eagle ( or is it a Warbird). In the Romulan Border set, I got cards for something called a Battlehawk and the War Eagle Cruiser. Then, in the Booster Pack #12 "Romulan 4th Star Legion", it has cards for a Snipe and a King Eagle Cruiser.

....now I'm like......wtf?

Question Two is: Which ship is what? What card do I use for which model? Is the Warbird ancient War Eagle the same thing? If so, do I use the Eagle Cruiser for that mini? Or the King Eagle Cruiser? Or are they both the same and one is just 37 points more in value? Is the tiny small bird in the Star Fleet blister called Snipe....obviously used with the Snipe card from Booster Pack #12? And the slightly larger than the Snipe ship (but not as large as the Eagle) us the Battlehawk card?

Yes, these are noob questions I realize ... but you do understand my confusion right? Maybe....

Bolo_MK_XL · Post by **Bolo_MK_XL** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 2:42 pm

Which is the Firehawk and which is the Fasthawk?

The Firehawk and Fasthawk use the same separate engines --- Fasthawk just has less heavy weapons (no real external difference) ---
The fused engines are for a Royalhawk, which replaces the engine mounted S Torps with a single R Torp ---

On the other issue: The Snipe is a Frigate and Battlehawk series are Light Cruisers --- making the Hawk the bigger mini ---

If you don't have the exact mini, using a different one to fill in is ok also, long as everyone knows what it represents ---

Only Noob question is one not asked -----

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 2:57 pm

Evil Goatee wrote: Question One is: Which is the Firehawk and which is the Fasthawk?

The FastHawk is just the fast version of the Firehawk. There is no external difference.
The multiple sets of engines allow you to construct either a FireHawk or a RoyalHawk.
The two separate engines produce a FireHawk with a Plasma-S launcher in eac of the upper engine nacelles.
The combined engines (with the box-like structure) produces a RoyalHawk (ship card B13).

Next question is about the Romulan Warbird. I have a Star Fleet blister that has a Warbird and a Snipe in it. I also have the Fed Com Squardron Box #9 "Romulans". In there, there's a mini that is exactly like the Star Fleet mini Warbird. Then there's another similar silhouette ship that looks like a Snipe, but it isn't because its slightly bigger. Although not as big as the War Eagle ( or is it a Warbird). In the Romulan Border set, I got cards for something called a Battlehawk and the War Eagle Cruiser. Then, in the Booster Pack #12 "Romulan 4th Star Legion", it has cards for a Snipe and a King Eagle Cruiser.

....now I'm like......wtf?

Question Two is: Which ship is what? What card do I use for which model? Is the Warbird ancient War Eagle the same thing? If so, do I use the Eagle Cruiser for that mini? Or the King Eagle Cruiser? Or are they both the same and one is just 37 points more in value? Is the tiny small bird in the Star Fleet blister called Snipe....obviously used with the Snipe card from Booster Pack #12? And the slightly larger than the Snipe ship (but not as large as the Eagle) us the Battlehawk card?

The smallest mini is the Snipe...
The next largest is the Battle Hawk...
The largest is the War Bird...
Now for the history lesson:
The Romulans were the last race in the SFU to achieve warp technology.
The War Bird was a sublight ship. It was basically a vehicle wrapped around a single weapon... the Plasma-R.
One warp technology was available, the War Bird had warp engines added and became the War Eagle.
The King Eagle is an upgraded version of the War Eagle.
So, you'd use the same miniature for all three ships (although there's not must reason to have a sublight ship in Fed Comm / SFB)

Yes, these are noob questions I realize ... but you do understand my confusion right? Maybe....

I hope my info cleared things up a bit.

Evil Goatee · Post by **Evil Goatee** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:46 am

Thanks guys! That totally clears things up. And thanks Scoutdad for the Warbird history. I'm so glad the Fed Com community here is so helpful. When I started buying up minis, I had in mind a plan to have my group of gamer friends play Fed Com. I was gonna supply each of us with a Cruiser class (ships of point values 140-160). I had my heart set on playing the Romulan Warbird from TOS. Then when I got the Romulan Border set, I noticed the ship was not in the point range of all the other minis I was going to be painting up.

However, now that I have stats for the King Eagle.....good times have come back and I plan on getting behind the wheel of that ship. Hopefully not while under the influence of Romulan ale.

Although I hear that Romulan ships are hard to play for newbies. That's okay ... I don't mind getting thrashed around until I learn it.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:08 am

Heh... Romulan shipsare hard for us experienced guys to play... even w/o the Roumulan Ale.

Just ask my son, Plasmaboy!

Evil Goatee · Post by **Evil Goatee** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:34 pm

Scoutdad wrote:
As far as Orions go: I don't think there is a "Canon" to break.
I have half a dozen or so painted with Flames...
Some painted "basic black"...
and even one that matches my first car...
The next fleet box will be the Blue Raiders and will be painted in the MTSU colors...
My Orion DN, OTOH will be painted in a deep indigo blue with an even deeper wash and some electri blue highlights. The end result I'm shooting for will be a recreation of a next sky.

So have fun and paint away.

junior wrote:I would assume that an Orion ship could be painted however the ship's owner wanted. Each owner is going to have his or her own ideas about how the ship should be decorated. One captain might like his ship to be heavily marked up, whereas another might prefer a simple pristine white.

Well, seems like Orion ships are a fun place to experiment. So, I took a break from the Klingons and did this Orion Pirate Raider.

Actually, I'm not totally sure that it's a Pirate Raider I painted up. You guys will again have to help me identify a ship/mini. On the Star Fleet Orion Fleet Box I bought it lists a Battlecruiser, Heavy Cruiser, Raider, Salvage Cruiser, and Light Raider. I assume I painted the Raider.

By the way, what are the hex shaped things with criss cross lines over them? The things seen on most Orion ship wings. What are those? What do they do?

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 1:13 pm

Evil Goatee wrote: By the way, what are the hex shaped things with criss cross lines over them? The things seen on most Orion ship wings. What are those? What do they do?

Those are the Orions sensor arrays.

Rick Smith · Post by **Rick Smith** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:18 pm

That Orion ship looks fantastic. Great shading, highlighting and detailing. Probably my favorite I've seen so far. What colors did you use for this one?

Evil Goatee · Post by **Evil Goatee** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:38 am

Rick Smith wrote:That Orion ship looks fantastic. Great shading, highlighting and detailing. Probably my favorite I've seen so far. What colors did you use for this one?

Thanks Rick.

I use a lot of different paints from various brands. For the Orion ship, the dark blue is "Fenris Grey" from Games Workshop's foundation paint series. The grey areas are "Codex Grey" from GW's regular paint series. The skull like design is half mix of a khaki tan from Reaper (forgot the exact name) and GW's "Bleached Bone".

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:40 am

I'll agree- nicely done. I like the highlighting and the abstract skull design is very cool.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:41 am

Evil Goatee wrote:Actually, I'm not totally sure that it's a Pirate Raider I painted up. You guys will again have to help me identify a ship/mini. On the Star Fleet Orion Fleet Box I bought it lists a Battlecruiser, Heavy Cruiser, Raider, Salvage Cruiser, and Light Raider. I assume I painted the Raider.

Let's see ...

The Battlecruiser and Heavy Cruiser should each have three engines. The Battlecruiser will be the larger of the two. (Alternatively, it will have three little phaser bumps per side at the front of the ship, and the Heavy will only have two per side. Depends on whether it is really a Battlecruiser or a Heavy Battlecruiser. Yes, there is a difference ...)

The Salvage Cruiser will have its two engines mounted on its wings. So it will likely be the widest of the set of ships.

The ship you are showing is the Raider Cruiser. It is a highly maneuverable light cruiser. It is the biggest "independent raider" cruiser used prior to the General War period. (The Battle Raider fills that slot during the General War. The Battle Raider will have the same basic hull form, but will be slightly larger and probably fatter.)

The Light Raider is the smallest ship in your set. It is probably the most common raider ship in the overall setting. It follows the Raider Cruiser's general hull form, but is smaller and skinnier.

BTW, that paint job is fantastic. I occasionally fiddle with plastic models (miniatures are just too small for me to work), and I couldn't dream of getting that type of finish on them! It is beautiful.