Star Blazers for Starfire!

Two Great Things that Go Great Together!

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...and no, it isn't chocolate and peanut butter...!

It's been a while since I worked on this project - Classic Starfire 2e [box edition] rules [CLICK] with the Star Blazers miniatures [CLICK]. It was first conceived because the official Star Blazers Fleet Battle System miniature game [CLICK] was one of the few that had small, appealing, inexpensive models that were easy to acquire.  Then I got sidetracked by "Real Life" and other gaming projects.  But now I'm working to bang out this project, which should be a quick one [should...!].

Minis were cleaned and filed previously, but I decided to wash them again as they'd been sitting in baggies for a few years.

Above, the four larger ships and 36 little ones all scrubbed down.

The weather being perfect, it was easy to give the ships primer coats.  Not only is grey the official color for the larger ships, but it will be easy to match in my collection.  The little ships are all white, mostly because as small ships I plan to make them as bright as possible, even exaggerating colors to the lighter spectrum.

And with the miniatures on the way, it was time to consider the pernicious question of Basing, and a good mat or backdrop to play on.  

For Basing, I decided to run with square 3mm clear bases, drill holes for piano wire to hold the miniatures.  My main thought was that they'd look good on any backdrop and the 90 angles would be convenient for Turns / Fire Angles in the miniatures version of Solar Starfire. A quick look at A-zon and it showed Litko does sell there so I included the Bases in an order with some other things:

While I'm looking for a good hex grid [to be faithful to the original Classic game] I was tempted into buying a couple of space wall tapestries, from a suggestion in the TMP forums [click].  At $9 for a large one, I couldn't resist giving them a try:

...and they are free returns at A-zon if I don't like them.

Finally, I couldn't resist the free download from Starfire Design [CLICK] since it game in both hex and open-table / miniature versions, and it is short, a similar draw to the original 1979 game I still own.

Plan is to finish the miniatures, give Classic 2e/box and the new version a try, and see what plays best.

Stay tuned!