Photos from a couple of games...

[gambler1650]

Thought y'all might like to see miniatures in action on a new map a buddy and I put together:

My friend's miniatures are generally more complete... (Klingons with just base color are mine.. though I really like the Base Color I ended up with, the Kzinti and Hydrans - also just base coated are mine, the Fed CC and Gorn CA/BC - more completely painted but not yet decaled are mine... the completed Klingons and Lyran are his).

The map is actually a somewhat famous image a friend (not the gaming buddy) of mine took awhile back... with the Hubble. No lie, she's an astrophysicist who sometimes gets to point the big scopes for her research. The image has appeared in numerous books and was even the cover of a calendar awhile back that I saw in some chain bookstore.

Robert


Just a 'staged' picture of some miniatures we'd painted, on the new map.



The good guys in a mixed fleet battle we fought as the first use of the map. The Kzinti is kind of hiding behind the Feds... By far my favorite picture of my Fed CA.. The Fed CL was painted by my friend.



The bad guys.... (not because of their race but because of their player... ie, not me!)



In the middle of the game... The USS Carolina ended up a hulk after this pass... Both Klingons damaged but not crippled, the USS Excalibur with minor damage, and the Kzinti and Lyran came out unscathed. Final result was in favor of the bad guys...



Another angle of the mayhem...


A lizard (Gorn CA+) vs cat (Kzinti BC - Y175 refit) fight... very ahistorical, though it's generated a seed idea for a possible scenario. I'm the Gorn. This is after the first battle pass, both with shield damage and no internals... him with more, but my plasma has been used up and is two turns away from being fully recovered.. one turn if I fast load.


Another angle... The combination of position and map makes it look like the Kzinti is a Mauler.


Gorn close up... Yup, I went with green.. Next Gorn I'll try a silver-green look...

[schoon9953]

Great game mat!

...and good pics - thanks.

[Steve Cole]

Please email those to Jean for facebook!

[gambler1650]

Actually, these photos are some I posted myself on Facebook.. Not an issue is it? I'll send these along to Jean in the next day or so.

Robert

[Mike]

You know what might be cool? A clear plastic sheet with a hex grid that could be placed over various space pics. This way maps could be refreshed periodically.

It might be the same cost to simply print the hex grid on space pictures...I don't know.

[djdood]

Looks like the links to the images failed (hopefully only temporarily).

[Drew Klenotic]

Can you tell us a little more about how you made the map? (What you did, where you printed it, etc?)

Been looking for something like that since I went to Megahex (I used to love the color map they had for the 1/2in counters and missed not having it on MH).

[gambler1650]

I think the cost would be the same to make a clear hex map and individual pictures. Actually a bit more because you'd have to print one extra map total (the hex map).

It was pretty simple... I used PowerPoint. Went into Page Setup and set the page size to what I wanted (I forget the exact dimensions, but I kept the plotter size in mind at the local print shop). Found the highest resolution version of the image I wanted, dropped it into power point and resized to fit the slide. Then I created a hex map over top of it. There are probably easier ways, but I dropped one hex from the premade shapes onto the map, resized it, changed the line color and made the interior transparent, and then copied it, moved it to line up, grouped the two hexes together, copied the group, moved it to line up, wash, rinse and repeat.. once the hex groups got big enough I could copy whole lines at once, and then groups of lines, and it made things go quickly.

After having it printed, the friend laminated it.. It was probably a two person job, as you can see from some of the wrinkles. Half of the map is really smooth, the other half not so much, so we'll likely reprint it and take our time on laminating it properly.

[gambler1650]

New game in progress... Started as a classic Plasma Ballet (me with a Romulan King Eagle and a Sparrowhawk-A, opponent with a Gorn CC and an HDD). Each side got a random reinforcement, Kzinti MCC for my opponent and a D5C for me. He's taken the worst of the battle but only has a handful of internals on his CC so far.



All models painted by my opponent.

[Steve Cole]

Again, please send such beautiful photos to Jean for ADB's facebook page. No problem if you also put them on your page.

[gambler1650]

Will do... She's already got a batch she's been doling out.

Pointed this site to the guy responsible for the painting of most of the minis, hopefully he'll get a couple of great shots of his two Lyrans soon (he has a better lens and lighting conditions).

[gambler1650]

From a home grown scenario we're testing.. Part of a Fed CVA group trying to recover sensitive equipment and personnel from a top secret research base. Ships are in multiple stages of paint jobs...

(The Fed CVA is merely primed, the Fed DDE needs decals, and the C9 is just base coated). All ships except the CVA and C9 were painted by my friend, Peter Landry.

The fighter represents a flight of 6 F-14s. And yes, the shuttles are all Fed (in spite of having a Romulan or Gorn paint job).