FGU Space Opera Roleplaying Game

Another blast from the past today.  Back in the early 80s I first discovered Fantasy Games Unlimited’s Space Opera science fiction role-playing game. A few friends and I sat down and tried to make characters.  It wasn’t hard so much as somewhat tedious.  Trying to figure all the pre-requisite skills for your Armsman became a chore when you wanted to get gaming.   We reverted back to using Traveller for character generation.

However, I really liked the background of Space Opera – a mish-mash of science fiction staples of the time. There was the United Federation of Planets (obviously from Star Trek) but with a completely different style. There were Robert Heinlein’s Bugs from Starship Troopers. Hell, the Federation Marines were even called CAP troopers. The associated Sci-Fi Miniatures Wargame was called Space Marines (again long before Games Workshop tried to claim ownership of the term).   The Federation’s biggest enemy was the Azuriach Imperium, an evil totalitarian racist state that actually farmed and cooked intelligent aliens – Space Turkey.  I ended up doing what all good GMs do – I ran a Traveller game set in a Space Opera inspired setting. Converted lots of the ships over to Traveller versions and still have the paper deckplans.

In a few years, there were a whole heap of material published. There were about half a dozen Sector Modules published. These covered most of the major power centres of the official Space Opera setting. My favourite is still the first – The Terran Sector.  Each sector encompassed a 200LY Cube. As much as I liked Traveller I really preferred the FTL used in Space Opera. It presented space in three dimensions as opposed to Traveller’s two dimensional hex-based star mapping system.

All you needed was a ruler and a slide-rule/calculator (or your head if you were into that sort of thing) and you could determine distance between stars in Light Years on the map.

Starship construction rules, like pretty much everything in this game, probably worked better if you were the guy who wrote the game.  Even looking at the official starship designs it was obvious that the authors fudged the rules something chronic. I have tried to retro-engineer some of the designs and they almost always don’t add up.

I have collected every bit of official material published by FGU and sanctioned by them for this game. That even includes the Star Sector modules for a lost colony of humans who are enslaved and in rebellion against a race that look and sound like Klingons!  There are lots of published adventures as well to give you a feel for the setting.

If you like retro sci-fi I cannot recommend this game enough. If nothing else you will get a good laugh and have some fun reading through the various books. Originals are still available pretty cheaply from time to time from places like Noble Knight Games and of course from eBay. DrivethruRPG also sells PDF copies of most of the material – often at quite a discount.

UPDATE: I just found out on TMP that FGU are still in operation. Who knew? Here is a link to their site where you can still get product directly from the publishers themselves.

UPDATE 2: I have or am going to convert some of the ships from this game to Traveller versions with electronic versions of my paper deck plans. Keep an eye out for them.

Time Life Old West Series

When I was at school in the late 70s my school library had this entire set – well at least what was published up to that point. Published by Time Life Books, the series consisted of twenty-seven volumes that were released between 1973 and 1980. Each book covered a specific topic relating to the history and settlement of the West – The Cowboys, The Great Chiefs, etc. They were covered in a faux-tooled leather binding that I thought really captured the period.  The entire series is listed here (from Wikipedia):

I found this advert for this series on Youtube.

Jump forward thirty years and I had become interested in Wild West Skirmish gaming. I had seen the odd one or ten of these books in second hand bookshops over the years and the thought that it would be nice to have the whole set had crossed my mind. Well one day I was browsing an internet auction site and saw the whole set for sale. I probably paid too much, but bid on and won the auction. One delivery man with a hernia later, I was in possession of my own set.

These are not mine but an internet pic I found. Mine are in better nick.

I cannot recommend these books enough as a resource. Now I am pretty sure that you wont learn anything that you didn’t already know but just for pure reading pleasure they are a treat.  Reading The Townsmen gave me heaps of ideas for structures for my own burgeoning Wild West town. If you get a chance to read these – please do. You wont be disappointed.

Shaky Isles

New Zealand is also known as The Shaky Isles. It is living up to it’s name today. We have had a swarm of earthquakes all day. Just had a 6.9 rumble through. The house was rocking and rolling.  It was shallow – only 19km. Fortunately it was centered at sea. Here’s hoping the damage is not bad. I cannot get hold of home at the Woolshed. Phones are out.  Lots of aftershocks.

Here is a link to the Geonet info about the quake. http://geonet.co.nz/quakes/region/newzealand/2013p543824

UPDATE: Got hold of my son back at home – everything seems OK. He will get up on the roof tomorrow to check the chimney.  He went over to the Woolshed and said all the cabinets holding my models were still attached to the walls. He said the water in the swimming pool was sloshing right out of the pool.

UPDATE 2: Another aftershock just jolted the house. There have been a few hundred small quakes since yesterday I think. Some people will be getting motion sickness 🙂

40K Tech-Marine and Servitors

I painted these guys a few years ago.  Like all my Games Workshop Space Marines, these chaps have been painted but have never seen combat. I have never actually had a game of Warhammer 40K. Perhaps one day I should rectify that. Tech-Marines have some special rules that allow them to fix damaged vehicles and get them back in the game.

The Tech Marines with his Bolt gun and Axe-thingy.

A rear view showing his Powered Swiss-Army Multi-Tool that he uses to fix damaged vehicles.

Here are his two Tech-Servitors. They are a fusion of human and spanner.

To protect the Tech Marine cover is provided by these Gun-Servitors.  I am not sure of the exact rules around these guys but they seem a pretty cheap option for some heavy weapon support.

The entire squad together.

Spanish Napoleonic La Reina Regiment

My first Spanish Line regiment is ready to march to the sound of the guns – or run away from them – as the case may be.  These models are 28mm Elite Miniatures. These were cast up by Nathan Vinson at Elite Miniatures Australia.  I really like the Elite Miniatures line of figures. They have a sense of movement about them that I find most modern ranges do not have. Don’t get me wrong – I love Front Rank, Perry and so forth and have plenty of them – but they all seem somewhat wooden when compared to these guys. Sure the detail is not as crisp, and the faces are a bit wonky, but in a mass they work really well.

I think that everyone who has a Spanish army in the early uniform goes for one of the regiments with the purple facings. Who doesn’t like purple. I had a jar of Citadel Lich Purple sitting in my paint collection for nearly twenty years and it has hardly been used – until now. Took a bit of thinning and stirring but that purchase finally vindicated itself.  This battalion is painted as the La Reina Regiment.The flags are from the Captain Miniatures website. I guess it is a bit of cheek to use them on another manufacturer’s miniatures but as much as I like Captain Miniatures – they are pretty expensive. I might make it up to them by getting some of their Brunswick ‘Owls’ at some stage.

Once again I bases on 40x50mm bases. Originally I did this to keep my plastic figures totally within the boundaries of their bases but decided, for the sake of uniformity, to base all my Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese line infantry this way.

The grenadiers bearskins are a challenge and one that I don’t think I won, but I guess they will have to do.

I have no idea of Spanish units carried one or two flags per battalion, but I seem to have over-ordered standard bearers so all my line regiments will be carrying two flags.

Bretonnian Henge

This terrain piece was another joint effort between one of my children and I for a school project. At the time my daughter was about eight and was doing a module on Stonehenge.  She wanted me to help her make a model that she could show off at school. They had just visited New Zealand’s own Stonehenge to see a replica henge and she was all inspired.  I think the chances of her and I cooperating on any projects like this now are pretty slim so this model is rather special to me.

Once again we used insulation foam and a base of MDF.  Now we could have made an exact replica of the real Stonehenge, but I persuaded her that a representative ruined henge would be just as good – and I got a decent piece of table top terrain for Warhammer Fantasy battles.

The stone effect on the blocks was produced by the simple expedient of putting the foam onto the concrete path and standing on it.  Seemed to work. Of course, my daughter had to add her very own touch and while her brother was watching TV she sneaked up and snipped off a lock of his hair and used to to make some of the grass tufts we used. Needless to say, he was not happy.

Knights and a Bretonnian Damsel riding through the henge.

This Bretonnian henge has two large trilithons – visible in this shot.

Bretonnian Knights Errant riding through the shrine to the Old Gods.

A large fallen column lies broken.

Another shot of same.

An overhead shot showing the alter stone in the centre of the henge. Tracks wend their way amongst the ruins of the monument.

The Damsel can draw power from the ancient magic of the stones. Well that is the theory. I haven’t played Warhammer for a while.

As a final note – the current state of the Bretonnian Henge is not good. It has fallen into even more ruin. A pesky possum got into the Woolshed and knocked it off the shelf it was stored on and it was somewhat damaged. Well, it was flattened really. All the bits are there so I will repair it. As to the fate of the possum…well possum fur goes for NZ$140 per kilogram at the moment.

Bretonnian Castle

Years ago when my boy was at primary school they were doing a module on castles. They had to build a castle, so we worked on this project together. The wobbly lines of masonry I blame on my ten year old son.  Pictures of this castle have previously appeared on the Round Table of Bretonnia forum.

We used the castle in the Bretonnian army book for inspiration and as a template – including the damaged wall, that should have seen the keep collapse. No apologies for stealing their ideas.  The castle was made from high density insulation foam, card, pollyfilla and bark. It is mounted on a piece of mdf board.

This picture shows pretty much the entire front of the castle, including a dry moat and drawbridge.

The Gate Tower.

A close-up of a knight at the Gate Tower.

A close-up of the damaged keep.

A shot along the rear wall.

An overhead shot of the interior of the castle.

Here we have a Bretonnian friar at the main entrance to the Keep.

Here are some archers defending the keep.

Overhead shot of the Gate Tower.

The Lady of the Castle rides forth.

 

 

 

 

Beasts and Barbarians – Unlabelled World Map

I had a request to post an unlabelled version of my Beasts and Barbarians role-playing game map. Well, here you go.

The original map and my expanded version of the game world can be found in this post.

https://woolshedwargamer.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/beasts-and-barbarians-roleplaying-game/

Monday Music: The Dam Buster’s March

Continuing with great war movie theme music, I present the Dam Busters March.  This was composed by composer Eric Coates (1886-1967).

I somehow think that when Sir Peter releases The Dam Busters this military march won’t feature – although it may be a nice homage as Guy Gibson’s PC-dog, Trigger, farewells his master.

And talking of homages.  When I lived in the UK in the late 1980s this advert appeared on English television. I thought it was funny then and still do. The Dam Busters Association gave it their blessing apparently, after a consideration from the brewery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVSBtivbUs4

Interestingly enough, here in New Zealand in the early 90s there was an advert for Sudafed (an anti- congestion drug) that used the Dambusters theme. The RSA (Returned Services Association) moaned like crazy and it was withdrawn. I couldn’t get my head around that, especially after the actual guys who were on the raid who were alive at the time gave the green light to the Carling ad. Shrug.

There was a board game released based on the Dam Buster raid and I remember playing it once or twice back in the early 90s.   A bit of research shows that it was released about the same time. I thought it was older.  It was quite a bit of fun to play if I remember correctly. You had to gather your crew and for 617 Squadron and of course, destroy the dams.  It used a board and a card driven system – that is about all I recall of it.

43rd Monmouthshire Light Infantry – 28mm Victrix

My latest battalion for the British Army of the Peninsular War. The 43rd (Monmouthshire) Light Infantry were part of the famous Light Division under General Crauford.

These are 28mm Victrix hard plastic multi-part miniatures. While I enjoyed the assembly and the actual painting, I have not enjoyed plastic figures as much as I thought I would.  I have another two battalions on the go and once they are finished I won’t be going plastic again – unless I have absolutely no choice.  I am pretty careful and I managed to break three bayonets that I just could not glue back on, necessitating the removal and replacement of whole muskets and arms.  I have a crap load of these guys – like seven boxes, so I guess I will have spares for a long time.

Anyway – on with the battalion.  The flags are GMB – rushed to me in about a week from the UK to NZ.  The eagle-eyed amongst you may spot a couple of Perry bodies and backpacks.