Handmade 15mm Scout.

A number of years ago using 1/8" plywood, some index card, wood glue, clear tape and some paint I made my very own Scout Courier.

The Scout Courier as it is today.  The figures are from an old Citadel line.

I wanted it to be as close as possible to the floor plans seen in Traders and Gunboats.  So many measurements were made.  At the time I had no experience in making scratch built models so my attempts at exterior detail are somewhat lacking.

Rear view showing the three exterior hatches and two engine ports.

I also made the three interior decks out of plywood and index card for the walls.

Cargo hold.

As you can see the walls are in need of a major update.

The figures show just how cramped life aboard this ship would be.

And now the gallery top deck.

I guess the access to the turret would be right in front of the aft hatch.  Of course the decks do not fit inside the closed ship, too tall.   Argh!

I hope to replace the interior walls with something better looking, just not sure what.  It needs to be thin and strong.  

At some point I will be attempting a Far Trader also with interior detail.

A small act of piracy.

    In keeping with games run at TravellerCon-USA 2014 I ran a space combat game using some of the Classic Traveller ship minis from RAFM.  A couple of Full Thrust Islamic cruisers converted into Vargr Corsairs and two Studio Bergstrom fighters used as Rampart fighters.  We used the GURPS Traveller Starship combat rules.

The pirate forces.

 The Lab ship is the objective for the pirates.

Bottom to top: Gazelle class close escort,
 S-class scout,
 Subsidized merchant,
 Vargr corsair and a second Vargr corsair.

The rescue forces.

Left to right: 2 Rampart fighters,
a Patrol cruiser,
Far Trader merchant with a rescue team on board,
a second Patrol cruiser.

    The scenario, research ship Sagan a 400 ton Lab ship has gone silent.  Local authorities have dispatched a small rescue team, the pirates have sent in a small force to retrieve valuable equipment/data from the lab ship.  Victory conditions: the pirates must dock the Subsidized merchant with the Lab ship for 3 turns then escape.  The rescue team must stop them.

    

Final turn.  Oh the humaniti!
The Subsidized merchant is off the board to represent it being docked with the Lab ship.

    End of battle, the Subsidized merchant had docked with the Lab ship and had suffered about 50% damage.

the Close Escort had taken minimal damage,

both Vargr corsairs undamaged,

the Scout 50% damaged,

 both fighter pilots dead,

 the Far Trader obliterated by 2 Particle beam hits at close range,

  the first Patrol cruiser 30% damage,

the second Patrol cruiser minimal.

    We ran out of time this being a Sunday convention game so we called it a pirate victory.  Assessment: the Close Escort was king of the battle with it's heavy armor and array of weapons the rescue team was no match for it.  The fighters did prove to be elusive keeping themselves just out of full damage range.  .   

Cost analysis of risk vs gain.

The place - - TravellerCon/USA 2014.

 The expense - Vargr mercenaries. 

The risk - A Bwap settlement bordering the Ten Thousand Worlds attacked by K'kree forces.

The gain -  A world of our own to live in peace.  

At TravellerCon/USA 2014 I ran a skirmish between the K'kree and some Bwap bureaucrats with their Vargr mercenary allies.  The story behind the battle is simply the Bwap had a small satellite office complex on a world bordering the Thousand Worlds of the  K'kree during the Long Night.  One of the fanatical K'kree families learned of this threat and decided to remove it.  

Bwap office complex.

Upon arriving in system the K'kree space forces were met with Vargr forces.  Unable to directly bomb the settlement the K'kree commander was able to land one of his troop carriers near the Bwaps. 

K'kree forces ready to attack.

The K'kree charged the settlement looking to free the world of G'nack (Bwaps and Vargr).  At one point during the fighting the Bwaps were able to request (using much paperwork) one of the Vargr ships to blast a section of the settlement killing nine of the K'kree invaders.  This seemed to unnerve the K'kree and they soon fled the field of battle leaving the Bwaps in peace.

The K'kree decimated and broken flee in disarray.

 The rule set used is one of my own design I call it Bill's System or BS for short.  It's designed for four or more people to play.  Minimal rules, fast play.  This scenario was set up for 10 participants.  We ended up with for.  If you would like a copy I can email you a PDF copy.  I did design it with Traveller in mind.  

Apartment for rent - Must be Bwap.

Well here is the first building painted and with an asphalt roof.  I used textured alabaster paint on the sides and painters tape to simulate the windows and doors.  On the roof I used a flat black primer the glued model railroad coal and iron for the cover.

A view from the front.  Figures are 15mm old Citadel shown for scale.

Roof detail.

Back of the building.  The divit is from the wind blowing some newspaper
onto the paint right after spraying.

And now the last side of the building.

I will be using this building as an apartment building for the well to do.  I have two more buildings to go and of course this was the simplest.

Carnivores unite!

 The first picture is of the Bwap office workers.  I believe that the miniatures are from Laserburn and originally called "Froogs".  I use them as Bwaps due to their amphibian heads.  

Bwaps ready for action.

In the picture are 6 regular squads of 9 figures, one of which is armed with a heavy weapon.  The central stand with 3 figures is the command squad.  Also we have 2 groups of grav bikes just for fun.  In the background are three buildings waiting to be painted.  Left to right are the communications building, a large office complex and an apartment building.

The next picture is of the Vargr mercenaries hired by the Bwaps.  These are old Martian Metal figures.  Also in the picture is a 6 legged tank I know not its origin but for now it's a Bwap tank.  As you can see even the bureaucratic Bwap casn bring some big guns to a fight.

4 squads of Vargr ready to fight.

Everyone say G'nack.

I have finished with the Insane K'kree.  After much deliberation I decided on a utility color scheme instead of camouflage, since the K'kree are all about bombing from a safe distance.  So I figure camouflage would be an alien concept to them.  That's my logic and I'm sticking with it.

The profile shot.

Tot the left.

Now run free!

Here as promised the whole 100 ready to make vegans of us all.  By the way I will be using all these fine young K'kree at two upcoming conventions, the first will be NOWScon (Northern Ohio Wargaming Society) in Sheffield Lake, OH in September and the second will be Travellercon/USA 2014 in Lancaster, PA. in October..

Next post will display their foes.

The regulars are done!

Well here are the last of the regular K'kree.  This is the command group of the force.  When I get the final 10 painted I will have the entire force pictured together.  I still have not decided the paint scheme for the insane K'kree in their battlesuits.  Not sure if I want to go camouflaged or some utility color.  I am open to suggestions.

Nice profile shot, not a mug shot.

Not a good view for us meat lovers.

Our command group off to boss somebody around.

Three quarter (horse) done.

Here is the third and last group of 25 to be painted.  The next group will be the command group of 15.  I'm not sure if the word squad would be correct for the K'kree.  I will be working on the next group this week.  I still haven't decided on the paint scheme for the 10 insane warriors in battle dress just yet.

Profile shot.  Sorry about the glare.

Once again running toward you.

And now running away.

A mighty rumble was heard. . .

I have finished the next 25 K'kree warriors.  Here they are resplendent in their blue helmets, ready to remove all carnivores from their path.

The whole 2nd group of 25 looking for trouble.

Close up 

Coming at ya.

Running away.

The main problem I had painting these fine young vegans, was with the priming.  At first glance they looked fine, but as I started to look more closely almost every one had what I would call the silver butt syndrome.  I am not nor do I pretend to be a xenobiologist but I will warn anyone using a spray primer to be on the lookout for signs of this time consuming ailment. While not fatal or even debilitating it did add to my painting time.

Here is the first 25 K'kree all painted, dry-brushed, a little black washed guns and flocked.

I used a spray dull coat lacquer, no shine and a better protection than an acrylic dull coat.  

Here is how I plan on setting up the units,

3 units of 25 regular K'kree soldiers,

1 unit of 15 as the command group,

and last 10 "insane" K'kree in battle dress.

I still need to build the APC to transport this fine herd into battle. 

The K'kree are coming.

First Blog.  I am an avid Traveller player/referee.  I own most of the different versions of Traveller, not Traveller 5 just yet.  We recently ended a 20+ year campaign after the party decided they had enough credits to finally retire.  It was somewhere in the excess of 40 million credits.  But that is a tale for another time.

  Over the past few decades I have managed to build up 100 K'kree figures, and I have decided to paint them.  I am not an expert painter.  These are the first pictures of my in progress pictures.  The scheme I will be using for the 100 is simple.  Per published Traveller books the K'kree have a mostly black fur.  So first I painted them flat black.  Then I used a dark flesh on their jackets with a regular flesh dry brushed to bring out the detail.  

The first group of 25 K'kree with flak jackets painted.

The same group with helmets and guns painted

    For the helmets I used a flat red.  I will be using a dark blue to give the black bodies some subtle highlighting.  I will post more pictures as more painting gets done.