Federation Commander

Only on the NCL Mark,for the likes of the CF I used Codex Grey,which to be honest is far too dark. I'm going to have to repaint the Auroran CA and one of the FF's to the blue/grey colour of the rest of the fleet. They were the first two ships that I painted for this fleet,and I thought that the darker grey would suit them,but the Astronomicon Grey is far the better colour.

Oh, I thought you'd painted the CA darker because you'd said it was an Armoured Cruiser. I got that wrong then!

The Astronomicon Grey is certainly a nice look for the FRA, I agree.

Mark

I finally got around to building the Auroran FFE,to differentiate between my FF's and this one,she's been built to resemble an Alpha Pol.













A comparrison shot of the two FF's

Cool stuff! I hope you don't quit making new ships after this.

Don't worry mate,I'm not finished yet.

I've still to finish painting and basing my fighters,but here's the Auroran CVS loadout with escorts.

I love it!

Fighter group now painted and based.

Comparative size difference between the main classes of cruisers in the Auroran Navy,from light cruiser up to Battlecruiser,including the new 2500 OCL,which will be the full production model of the BC.

That pic really shows how the miniatures for the Terran cruisers have evolved from one 2-00 series to another. (Not counting the Iron Crown mini re-purposed to serve as the Terran National Guard WCA, of course.)

If you were going to be getting more than one 2500-series CL to use as a BC, would you go as far as to try and convert two of them into a second DN?

I'm afraid not Gary,that was the one and only DN that I'm building for the FRA. I can't ever envisage a time where you would need to field more than just the one,certainly not in Omega anyway. Even during the Andromedan invasion,DN's would most likely be sent out to cover different sectors and it's unlikely that there would be two,let alone more ,working together.

Sounds fair; the one you have is impressive enough at any rate!


So, have you had a chance to use any of your Auroran ships on the tabletop?

cool auroran fleet, great job on painting them

Interesting take on the Aurora FF. The SSD doesn't suggest cutting the aft hull section down the middle to make it wider. It does inspire me to think about an upgraded POL design of some sort.

It is do-able looking at the deck plans I'm working on, but then you're left with much more space than you need for what's on the SSD. Giving up one Cargo box frees up 10x10 meters on Decks 7 & 8. The second dorsal Phaser uses part of that space on Deck 8. The Mess Hall and Galley on Deck 7 would slid forward, making room to move the Emergency Bridge and Battery room down from Deck 5, freeing up that area for the second APR/AWR directly below the one on Deck 4.

For the twin Light-Photons and three forward Ph-1's, what I would do is take out the Phasers on Deck 4 and put the Photons there, and then put the Phasers down on Deck 6 where the single Photon is on the POL. The center one would have the L/R arcs blocked by the side ones, thus is only FA arc.

Oh, yeah, converting the POL deck plans to the A-FF will be very do-able.

It should be noted that the "offical" FF still has the same hull outline as the POL; or, at least, has been shown as such. (Here's the art which Rick Smith did up for the playtest FC Ship Card.)

Well, with the caveat that the layout may now end up being closer to the way in which the new Starline 2500 take on the POL is, as opposed to the older POL-ish design shown there.

It's interesting to read your thoughts based on the deck plans; I look forward to seeing those in print once they are ready.

Have you had a chance to think about the arrangements needed to make the scout and escort frigates work?

The scout is easy -- replace the dorsal Ph-1s with Scout Sensors. The escort will take a bit of thought.