CONVERTING 2300AD STAR CRUISER SPACESHIPS TO WILEY GAMES "STARFIGHTER" FLEET ACTION RULES

One of the more recent releases from Wiley Games is their "Starfighter" rule book. This is mainly designed for space fighters, but also includes rules for large ship actions. There are some YouTube videos for the game. 

I decided to convert the ships from the Game Designers Workshop board game "Star Cruiser". While out of print the game is available from WargameVault or DriveThruRPG as a PDF file. Star Cruiser is a very hard science space combat rule system. There are quite a few similarities to the ship combats and weapon systems in David Weber's Honor Harrington series. Although, the FTL drives are different as are the story backgrounds. In addition to the background history the game includes a good variety of ships for the different protagonists in the setting. There is also a ship design manual if you want to design your own ships. The process of designing a ship is very extensive with items like the power plant, life support, crew accommodations, weapons, sensors, etc. Fortunately, someone made an excel spread sheet where all you have to do is plug in the various items and just add as many hull sections as are needed to hold all the internal components and have space on the outer hull for the sensors, weapons, and other surface mounts. I used it to design a ship similar to the later designs of the HonorVerse. Most ships in the game could only launch one or two missiles per turn. The one I designed could launch 36 at once. 

I have designed my own background setting, "human space", for the space and ground combat games I have played. There are several posts on this blog with photos of the various ships, etc. These can be viewed by clicking on the labels for this post. The main human factions are the Panthari Imperium, The Domain, and the Federated Worlds or Federation. There are also a few dozen independent human worlds and some alien races. One of the alien races is aggressive xenophobes known as the "Blue Meenees" for their skin color and their high pitched screeching communications. Little is known about them other than the general direction their ships seem to be coming from. 

In order to convert the Star Cruiser ships I needed to divide most of the weapons and some other items by six to determine how many of each to place on a ship for StarFighters. Shields and armor ratings were only divided by three. Others systems like scanners, life support, crew accomadations, powerplant volume, etc. were ignored. Movement rates were adjusted to match the Star Cruiser values. This meant that ships moved a bit slower than the StarFighter rule book. I also made a slight modification to the ion cannon statistics and the lasers. This involved a bit of mathematical calculations. In the rules Ion cannons take of two spaces, cause two units of damage, can only be fired every other turn, and have a range of 2/3 the lasers. Since the caused equal damage as a medium laser the calculation was half the availability multiplied by two-thirds of the range resulting in a value of one-third the number of spaces that a medium laser would occupy. Since a medium laser occupies two spaces this would be two-thirds of a space on the ship. By increasing the damage from two to three an Ion cannon would occupy a full hull space, have two thirds the range, and only be available every other turn. This makes them more effective for the game, though ships equipped with them have to get closer than those with lasers. The rules for lasers were also modified to have them function as both an offensive weapon to attack other ships with and as point defense systems to destroy attacking enemy fighters and missiles. In theory ion cannons could also be used as a point defense system. However, if they have been used offensively previusly then they cannot do so and if they are used as a point defense then they would not be able to fire offensively. If a ship is being attacked by enemy fighters or missiles each point defense weapon that can fire into the arc that the attackers are in may engage one target defensively during the enemy attack. Firing arcs were also changed to a full 180 degrees from the 45 degrees in the rules. Firing arcs being determined from the cener post of the ship's mounting stand. 

The following are the statistics for the ships of the various factions. IC is ion cannon, L is light laser, ML is medium laser, M is missile, FB is a fighter bay, S is shield, A is armor, ATC is Advanced Tactical Computer (aids in targeting), RB is repair bot. Laser and Ion cannon firing arcs are denoted by F for forward, P for port, and S for starboard. Damage is the number of damage hits the ship can sustain (40% of hull spaces). If there is an F next to the movement rate then it is a fast ship. (X) indicates a hull space used for the fast movement ability or the second space for a medium laser. 

Pantharii Imperium (and yes, they are the pink Panthari.  Painted for my daughter)

BB1 move 6  LS LS LS LP LP LP M M M FB SH SH A ATC RB RB 

Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6 

CV move 6  LS LP FB FB FB FB FB FB FB FB SH SH A A ATC RB 

Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6 

CA1 move 6  LF LS LP M M SH A A ATC RB RB 

Damage 1 2 3 4 5 

FF1 move 6  LS LP M SH A ATC RB 

Damage 1 2 3 

 The Panthari Imperium focuses more on lasers than missiles.  

 

Federation 

BCG1 move 6F  LS LS LP LP M M M M M M SH ATC RB RB (X) 

Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6 

CV move 6  LF LS LP FB FB FB FB FB FB SH SH A ATC RB RB 

Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6 

CG1 move 6F  LS LP M M M M SH ATC RB (X) 

Damage 1 2 3 4 

FF1 move 6F  LS LP M SH ATC RB (X) 

Damage 1 2 3 

The Federated Worlds prefer fast, lightly armored ships with more missiles than lasers. Fighters are only carried in dedicated fighter carriers. 

 

Domain 

BCG1 move 6  ICF LS LP M M M M M M M M FB SH SH A A ATC RB 

Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

CV move 6  LS LS LP LP FB FB FB FB FB FB FB FB ATC RB RB 

Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6 

CG1 move 6  ICS ICP M M M M SH A ATC RB RB 

Damage 1 2 3 4 

FF1 move 6  LS LP M M SH A ATC RB 

Damage 1 2 3 

The Domain's technology level is slightly below that of the Imperium and Federation. Other than the new carriers and battle cruisers, ships use fission reactors instead of fusion reactors like the other two major human powers. They also favor missiles, but have included ion cannons in their designs. 

 

 Blue Meenee 

Alpha move 6  ICF LS LP M M M M M FB SH SH A A A ATC RB RB 

Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

Beta move 6  ICF LS LP M M M SH SH A A ATC RB 

Damage 1 2 3 4 5 

Delta move 6  ICF MLS (X) MLP (X) M M M M M M SH SH SH A A A ATC RB RB 

Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 

Epsilon move 6  LS LP M M M M M M M M SH A ATC RB 

Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6 

The Blue Meenees use large, heavily armored and shielded ships. They do not have fighter carriers. There also tend to be fewer missiles and beam weapons than most comparable human sized ships. Examination of a destroyed Alpha found a mix of technologies that were both more advanced than and inferior than human technology. What appeared to be living quarters were very Spartan compared to those for human crews. Ship designations are based on the Greek alphabet. Alphas and Betas were the first two ship types encountered along with the fighters being designated Gammas. The massive Deltas and the differently designed (compared to the other ship types) Epsilons were encountered later. The third S and A values are redundant values for the StarFighter rules. They do not add any additional saving and eliminating one of each will not reduce their save. That is, a second shield space would have to be eliminated to reduce heavy shields to light shields.

Fistful of Lead: Starfighters

This past month Wiley Games released their latest addition to their rule sets called "Starfighters".  Play follows the usual procedure of the Fistful of Lead series of games.  Several examples of play can be found on YouTube by searching for Fistful of Lead: Galactic Heroes or other rule titles that Wiley Games has published.

They are fairly simple rules to play, but are a lot of fun.  Don't expect a hard science type of game like Starcruiser.  Some players are thinking of adapting them to airplane combat.   In addition to the light, medium, and heavy fighters there is a section for including larger ships as part of the fighter combat game.

One thing I had not expected was a section in the later part of the rules for fleet actions using frigates on up through battleships.  Fighters still play a part in a fleet battle, but they operate as a flight of six fighters and only engage in close quarters combat against the larger ships and other fighters.

One of the members of the Wiley Games Facebook group recently posted a report on a fleet action game he played and it looked like a good alternative to Starcruiser.  As such, I am adapting the ship specifications for the Pantharii Imperium, Domain, Federation, and others to Starfighter specifications.  this has been done by dividing the number of weapon batteries, missiles, and damage repair teams by six and shields and armor levels by three. While the design methods are entirely different I was able to convert all the ships directly to different specifications except for the Federation BCG300 class battle cruisers.  These would have required at least 30 spaces just for the missile load they carry and resulted in a ship with 40 spaces which is way beyond the levels of the game. 

 Ships of the Domain.  Top and bottom rows are three frigates, Second and fourth rows have a battle cruiser on the left followed by two cruisers.  The middle row is led by a cruiser on the left, the battleship which also serves as the fleet command ship, a fighter carrier, and another frigate at the right end.  The carrier has eight flights of fighters and the battleship carries another two flights.  The entire fleet totals 166 spaces.  Currently the Pantharii Imperium fleet totals 106 spaces and will be adding a fighter carrier for another 16 spaces.  Three additional cruisers and two more frigates will match their total to the Domain's.  this will give them two battleships, seven cruisers, six frigates, and a carrier. Both fleets will have sixteen ships and ten fighter flights..

The alien marauders.  Two class A ships on the left and two class B ships.  They total 52 spaces.  I need to find some ships that can fill in for the class D and Class E ships.

I plan on running a solo game or two pitting the Federation against the Domain to see how the game plays.  The BCG300's will either be ships with 15 spaces and six missiles or ships with 20 spaces and eleven missiles.   A few modifications to the rules to bring them slightly closer to how things are in Starcruiser will also be tested.  These are doubling the missile  movement to 24 inches, increasing the firing arc for turrets to 180 degrees except through the rear of the ship, allowing two single shot laser batteries per ship to double as point defense systems and function like the defense drones against missiles and fighters, and reducing standard ship movement to six which is the normal movement rate for most ships in Starcruiser.  Slow ships in Starcruiser move at a velocity of three.  Hopefully these modifications will not upset the game balance.

Engagement at Velpare

I played this as a solo game to see how the CG300s would do against a Panthari task force.   The CG300s were designed using the Excel ship design spread sheet for StarCruiser.  The Panthari ships are based on the French ships in the game.  Other than the "ground" and time scale the rules played as written with ships defending against a missile attack firing in the fire phase and the detonation phase.   Turns were changed from 20 minutes to ten minutes and one inch is one light second.  Fleets moved in formation centered on the command ship to which all distances were measured from and to.   Due to using miniatures instead of the board game counters, ships could not be "stacked" in the same place on the game mat.  The missiles have been revised to increase their velocity to 14/15 per turn in order to make them more effective and be able to chase down the American cruisers in the game which can outrun any of the original missiles.   Sensor drones were also modified to give them reflective and radiated signatures similar to the cruisers.  From starting positions at seventy light seconds to engagement distance at less than 40 light seconds took five turns.   The following is an account of the engagement from the viewpoints of the two opposing commanders. 

ADMIRAL'S LOG 0166.09.02 ADMIRAL VILM KELLARIUS COMMANDING
My squadron is now two light minutes from the opposing fleet.  It has been seven hours since we passed the FTL grav limit of the Velpare system.  All ships have oriented themselves to the planetary orbital plane.   The squadron had been on a training mission testing the new ships when we received orders to divert to the system and investigate a probable Panthari Imperium incursion into our territory.   Federation Intelligence agents had discovered a plot by Baron Rolf von Toerbach chairman of Tallamatrix Corporation to take control of several Federation systems with the backing of the Panthari Imperium.  This included establishing a secret base on the moon of the third planet of the neutral Velpare system.   Our orders were to secure the system and await the arrival of a marine brigade, which would arrive within the next 24 hours.  My command consist of the CG300 cruisers Achamandra, Calamain, Caractacalla, and Mairsus.

Our arrival had been met by a challenge from system control to which we had responded identifying our squadron and stating that we were here to investigate the local situation and secure the system.   This was met by a further challenge from Grand Duke Emanuel Folgere commanding the Panthari task force that was orbiting the planet.   The Panthari task force had left orbit and headed for our squadron.   It will be another half an hour before we are within 90 light seconds of the opposing task force at which time we will go to full battle stations.  Meanwhile the crews have been preparing our ships for combat.   The spin habitats have been locked, loose objects secured, weapons systems tested, and damage control teams readied.

PANTHARI IMPERIUM TASK FORCE CROWN PRINCE MIKHAIL, GRAND DUKE EMANUEL FOLGERE COMMANDING
A Federation cruiser squadron entered the system some time ago.  Four drive signatures were detected with a velocity of .09c.   Our response to their message was that they were invading the territory of the Panthari Imperium and that their incursion would be met with deadly force unless they withdrew.   There has been no further response from them at this time and the task force is now about two light minutes from the Federation cruisers.    The task force has the battleship Crown Prince Mikhail, the cruisers Duke Pontefract  and Duke Aivan, and the frigates Goliath, Wattiwaddle, Viktorya, and Spook.   While the task force only has a missile salvo of 12 compared to the 16 that the Federation cruisers can launch it also has six fighters and four drones.  The Federation squadron may have two drones per ship, but if they launch more than one drone per ship that will reduce the number of missile they can control.  this was followed by launching our sensor drones

ADMIRAL'S LOG CONTINUED

Our squadron is now within 90 light seconds of the Panthari task force.   They have been approaching at .03c  and four additional drives have been detected indicating that they may have launched their drones.   All ships have gone to full battle stations and we are launching our drones.   Five of them will remain with the task force while the other three will take up equal distant position ahead and to the sides of the squadron.   Velocity has been reduced to .07c  as we continue to approach the Panthari ships.   A new message has been sent to the opposing fleet informing them that they are trespassing in neutral territory, that we were investigating possible criminal activity by a Federation citizen and that any hostile act by them would be met with force.   

PTFCPM

The Federation commander must be suicidal.   The latest message was a demand for us to not interfere with their mission or be met with force   This was followed by eight additional drives being detected indicating that they may have launched all eight of their sensor drones.   Three of them have moved out ahead of their squadron above and below the planetary plane.  The task force has responded by launching its drones and demanding the enemies surrender.   They have reduced their velocity to .07c indicating that they are diverting part of their power output to defenses and weapons.   In another 30 minutes we should be separated by about a light minute, at which point we will launch our fighters.   The sensor drones will not be able to get a target lock until the separation is about 30 light seconds.

ADMIRAL'S LOG CONTINUED 

The Pantheri response to our message was to demand our surrender.  Two of the additional drives have a velocity exceeding .10c and most likely are sensor drones.  They are quickly approaching us.  The other two have remained with the opposing fleet.  Separation is now 70 light seconds.  I have ordered the active sensors of one of the drones with our ships to go active.

 Start of game Federation fleet 

PANTHARI BATTLESHIP CROWN PRINCE MIKHAIL, COMMAND DECK

"Your Grace,  the Federation has just energized an active sensor in the main body of their fleet!   Separation is now 70 light seconds from their ships."

 Start of game Panthari fleet. 

ADMIRAL'S LOG/FEDERATION CRUISER ACHAMANDRA, COMMAND DECK
"Admiral, Separation is now 50 light seconds,"
"Maintain current velocity and course.   Are the missiles ready for launch?"
"Aye, sir."

ACHAMANCRA

"40 light seconds, sir"

"Light up the lead drones!"

"Aye, Sir...... We are getting targeting information from them now.   Bogies are one battleship, two cruisers, six unidentified."

CROWN PRINCE MIKHAIL
"Separation 40 light seconds, Your Grace."
"Energize the active sensors of the drones with the fleet.   Launch fighters."
"Your Grace, our lead drones are now within 20 light seconds of the Federation ships and are reporting target identification. Something is odd!?.  They are reporting eight Federation cruisers instead of four!  The  enemy has activated sensors on the three lead vessels."
"They must have configured their drones to appear as cruisers.   This will cause targeting problems for our missiles unless we can determine which is real and which is a decoy."

ACHAMANDRA
"30 light seconds, sir.   Our drones have identified the other bogies as four frigates, six fighter and two sensor drones in addition to the two that are maintaining a separation of 20 light seconds.  As are our lead drones which have now gone passive again."

"Continue to close and rotate ships 180 degrees.  Send  the following message 'This is your last chance to cease hostilities.  If you do not break off and acknowledge we will fire upon you'.  Prepare to launch missiles at roll over if they do not break off."

CROWN PRINCE MIKHAIL
"We still have not been able to separate the decoys from the actual ships, your Grace.  We are now 30 light seconds from the enemy.  Incoming message demanding we break off or they will fire on us."
"Tell them to go to hell"

 Turn 5.  Fleets are at 22 light seconds from each other. 

ACHAMANDAR
"The Panthari response was negative sir"
"They are going to regret their choice"

CROWN PRINCE MIKHAIL
"The enemy ships have reduced their forward velocity to .05c  We are now within 22 light seconds of them."
"Prepare to launch missiles when we close to 20 light seconds"

ACHAMANDAR
"Sir, rotation is complete.  The enemy has closed to within 22 light seconds."
"Launch missiles and make full speed away from the Panthari ships"
"Missiles away.  Lead drones maintaining 20 light second separation.  We are increasing separation from the enemy"

Turn six missiles about to strike Panthari Fleet

CROWN PRINCE MIKHAIL
"Your Grace,  sensors detect enemy ships moving away from us at .09c and missiles being launched.   My God!  There are 144 of them heading towards us.  Estimate time to impact is less than 15 minutes"
"That's impossible.  Power up the shields and get the lasers online.   There is no way for us to avoid them.   This might be another trick of theirs like the extra cruisers."

ACHAMANDAR
Sir, sensors confirm over 100 missile detonations.   One of the Panthari cruisers is an expanding cloud of debris.   The battleship and several of the frigates have lost power. "
"Hold position and bring all ships about 180 degrees.   Lets see what they will do"

CROWN PRINCE MIKHAIL
"Get me a damage report on all ships immediately.  How many missiles made it through our defensive fire?"
"We have 29 confirmed missile kills, your Grace.   Damage reports as follows:  Duke Aivan is destroyed, Duke Pontefract reports  both active and passive sensors damaged, major hull and computer damage   , Spook, Viktorya, and Wattiwaddle have lost power in addition to other damage.  Goliath has minor hull and computer damage We have minor hull damage, no power, computers have been destroyed,  major crew losses and ongoing system failures."
"Contact the Federation Commander and tell him we surrender.   When they accept, order our crews to abandon their ships and scuttle them?

ACHAMANDAR
"The Panthari fleet is surrendering sir."
"Accept their surrender and round up the survivors"
"Aye, Sir"

TIN CANS AND BEER BARRELS

Time for a brief break from the past and a look into the future.

A while back I posted a design for an improved missile cruiser for the Federation CG300  It took me a while to find an appropriate model for the design though.   I had looked at various hobby and craft sites, but all the had were wooden barrels or oil drums.   Finally, I was able to find a barrel shape that was very similar to the shape and dimensions of the CG300.  There were actually several different vendors on Shapeways.  The design was for the daego millennium falcon model.  deago barrels 

While they were the right shape and number they are about 1/2000 scale compared to the 1/1000 scale of the domain starships.  The picture below is a comparison of the CG300 and domain ships at actual sizes

The next picture shows the CG300 at the same scale as the Domain ships.   I used Paint Shop Pro 3028 to resize the ship

As can be seen the ship is wider and shorter than the others.  The Domain ships are probably longer than they actually should be, but that is the way they are made and they ae the style that I want for the Domain.   The CG300 was designed this way to reduce its reflected image and its target size aspect.   The overall diameter is the minimum needed for the spin habitats needed for crew comfort and is maintained along the length of the ship except for the ends to allow fields of fire for the laser turrets.   The overall length is also the minimum needed to enclose the volume of all the ship components.

Projects for 2018

Time to set some goals for the coming year.  In no particular order I hope to accomplish the following items for the coming year:

Finish painting and basing 18th century armies (Duchy of Clove-Hamhock and Principality of Turanschlag).  I will need to purchase some additional Hussars and maybe some grenadiers and heavy cavalry from Heroics and Ros.   Got some new figures from a friend.

Expand Franco-Prussian War armies.  Need quite a few additional figures from Heroics and Ros.  Fortunately they are easy to paint.

Finish painting and basing additions to American Civil War armies.   Also print flags for them.  Almost finished painting them.  One of six unfinished items from last year.

Finish painting and basing the Carthaginian figures I was given.

Finish painting and basing the barbarian infantry additions.

Finish painting and basing the early Byzantine cavalry,

Finish painting and basing the Sassanian cavalry.

Finish painting space ships.  About a dozen to paint.

Flock bases for Napoleonic armies along with any repairs that need to be done.  Most boring project.

Place a special order with GHQ for a couple of replacement tank gun barrels, a 5cm AT gun and crew, and a 7.5cm AT gun and crew for WW2 Germans.  WW2 done except for those items.

Add helicopters to the two fictitious modern countries (The Peoples Democratic Republic of La Cucaracha and the Federal Union of Buena Vista). Already ordered and on their way.

Choose a set of ancient naval rules for large fleet actions along with printing and basing ancient fleets.   Might be the most time consuming project when cutting and gluing them.

Shadow Omega

Received this in the mail on Monday.  Clicking on a phot will enlarge it.

 Top View

 Front View

 Rear View

3/4 view from rear.

The model is from Pulsefired on Shapeways.  It is 134mm (5 inches) long.  This is to big to fit in with the other ships.  Hopefully he will be able to produce a smaller version that is to scale with the other Domain ships that I have.  The ship is from the old TV series Babylon 5 and appeared during the fourth season.  While it is often referred to as the Shadow Omega, due to combining Shadow Technology with the Earth Alliance Omega it was known as the advanced Omega.  The spines sticking out  from it are found on the Shadow ships which look sort of like a flattened spider with the legs (spines) all sticking out.  I haven't counted how many spines it has.  It is also a very good model of the ship.

The balance point is just in front of the rear ring of the central rotating section.

Sensor Drones and Misssiles in Starcruiser 2300AD

Most of the space fleets in Starcruiser have sensor drones.  These can be used both offensively and defensively.   They can be sent out ahead of the fleet in order to use their passive and active sensors to detect opposing ships, etc.  When their active sensors are emitting they can also be used to help screen ships from being detected.  Active sensors add the equivalent of four light seconds of distance to the detection range of opposing sensor detection attempts if they are with a friendly ship(s) or directly between the opposing sensor and the friendly ships. 

Sensor drones could also be used as a decoy.  If they are designed and equipped with additional reflective surfaces or fixtures they can made to appear as a full size ship to active sensors.  Also, if strong enough, their radiated signature may appear to be the same as a regular ship.

As I noted in a previous post, I re-designed the missiles to increase their velocity.  I only did this with the French, German, and American missiles as these are the ones being used by the main combatants in Human Space.   Those used by the Kaefers only had their velocity increased instead of being completely re-designed.   As far as I know design information for the Kaefer's has never been released, though there has been some additional in later books. 

The following tables have the revised statistics for the American (Federation) SIM-14, French (Panthari Imperium)Ritage 2,  and the German (Domain) SR-10, and Donnerwetter missiles.  The formula for the volume of a missile bay is (diameter)x(length)x2x(number of missiles per bay)meters cubed  The surface area of the exit port for a missile is (diameterx2)meters squared.  All missiles are considered to be cylinders.

Design parameters

Missile	Sensor	Attack	Power Plant	Drive	Cost
Federation	20p	10x2	0.5FC/NM	0.5NM	2.0mcd
Panthari	10P	10x2	0.5FC/NM	0.5NM	2.0mcd
Domain	1P	4x3	0.5FC/NM	0.5NM	1.8mcd
Domain exp.	6P	10x3	0.6FC/NM	0.6NM	2.4mcd

Sensors are passive.  FC is fuel cell.  NM is new military.  mcd is million credits.  costs were rounded up slightly to account for hull material and fuel.  Cost per missile is about four to five times that of the original designs.

Dimensions and velocity

Missile	Diameter	Length	Volume	Mass	Velocity	Duration
Federation	2m	2.75m	5.5mc	7.84t	14	80min
Panthari	2m	2.75m	5.5mc	7.84t	14	80min
Domain	2m	2.5m	5.0mc	7.04t	14	80min
Domain exp.	2m	3.4m	6.8mc	9.42t	14	80min

Volume is meters cubed.  Note: The Domain missile can have a velocity of 15 by replacing the power plant and drive with 0.6mw units and increasing the length to 5.5m  this would also increase the volume of the missile bays.  Cost would increase to 2 million credits

Bays

Missile	Bay Volume	# per Bay
Federation	55mc	5
Panthari	44mc	4
Domain	120mc	12
Domain exp.	163.2mc	12

Ships of the Panthari Imperium

Took the following pictures of the ships that I am using for the Panthari Imperium.  These are from Irrational Designs on Shapeways.

 Battleships

 Cruisers

 The fleet.  Two battleships, four cruisers, and four frigates

These were the closest designs that I could find on shapeways to the following ship from the 2320 version of 2300AD

When Worlds Collide

There are quite a  few pages on Shapeways that have planet and sun models.   Some can be quite expensive.   3Danime and LittlePlanetFactory make them in various sizes and prices.  There is another page that has fictional terrestrial planets..   The following picture has the ones that I purchased.

From left to right and front to back.   Terrestrial world, gas ball or ocean world, striped gas ball, what is supposed to be the sun, but is actually more red than the picture shows and would pass as a red dwarf, an arid planet, and a dead planet.  These are all about one inch or less in diameter.  I plan to get a four inch diameter plastic or foam ball from an arts and craft store to make the correct size model of our sun which is just over four light seconds in diameter.

2300AD Kaefer space ships

While browsing through shapeways looking for some space ships that would be useable for the marauding aliens in the Human Space Universe (use the label to see earlier posts and background)  I typed in 2300AD and Kaefer and found three  ships at
https://www.shapeways.com/shops/magnificent-obsession 
These were the Kaefer Alpha battleship and Beta battle cruiser and the French Suffren.    The French chip was very close to the images from the game and 2300AD books, while the Kaefers had some differences.  I decided to purchase several of the Alphas and Betas.   Price will vary depending on the type of material chosen.  The two are shown below

Alpha

 alpha front

 alpha rear

 Beta front

 beta rear

 beta top.

Beta (top) and Alpha (bottom)

The pictures were taken outdoors in the sunlight and some of the detail on the left side of the p0hotos of the models is lost in the glare.  The ships do not come with a mounting hole which I added with a 1/16 inch drill bit (about 1.5mm) after finding the balance point.   The beta has a slightly flattened oval front while the alpha is round.   Both are nicely done and scale well with the ships I am using for The Domain and The Federation

The betas sort of conjure up the image of a wasp or scorpion with their gun towers located at the rear. and will be painted in a yellow and black pattern similar to wasps and bees.  The alphas will be painted in various stripes or spotted predator patterns.  The fronts of both will be painted with fangs similar to some aircraft for the alphas or like venomous snakes for the betas.

Ravenstar Studios Fort Courage and more Domain ships.

Last month Ravenstar Studios had a 30% off sale so I purchased the Fort Courage space station and one of the starships.   Due to the large number of orders that were placed for the sale it took about a month before I received my order, but it was well worth the wait.   Fort Courage is a very nicely detailed model and after seeing a post about it on The Miniature Page I had decided to take advantage of Ravenstar's next sale to purchase one.  The model includes the main ring assembly, a piece to glue on the top center of the hub.  another piece to go under the station, and a small piece to glue into the center of that one.   Ravenstar was also kind enough to include some extra items with the order.   I only used a black wash when painting the model.

Fort Courage.   The camera flash has washed out some of the color on the closer part of the model.  I had taken a picture of it without the flash, but the interior house lights had given it a yellowish tone which can be seen in the pictures of the ship models..

In addition to Fort Courage, I also purchased some more Babylon 5 ships.  The 3d printed models are nicely detailed and are available in a variety of sizes.   The level of detail is quite a bit greater than I had expected.  I decided to use the larger of the two Omega models that are in the photo below.   While it is about four times the price of the smaller one it is more detailed, has a rotating center section, and is a better size fit for the light cruiser.   It is listed as the EA destroyer.  The model comes in three pieces, the rear hull and engines, the rotating section, and the forward section.   It does not have to be glued together and if using spray primer it is better to prime the pieces prior to putting them together.  Other ships purchased from the same shop were the fleet scale Nova dreadnaught, Warlock, and the guided missile battle cruiser.   Another ship that I purchased was the Poseidon from the store with the smaller Omega's and Nova's.

Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them for better detail

The two Nova models

The two Omega models

Poseidon carrier.

Warlock model from the same site as the larger Omega

The EA battle cruiser

The smaller Nova will be used for the Domain frigate.  The larger Omega will be for the cruiser and the EA battle cruiser will be used for the Domain battle cruiser.
 

 The three Domain ships/  Battle Cruiser at the top, missile cruiser in the middle, and frigate at the bottom.  The Omega is the same model as in the previous picture with the rotating section turned.

All of the ship models have been sprayed with dark grey prime and given a black wash.   I may add decals or dry transfers to them.

The Poseidon may be used as it is intended for a fighter carrier, or it might be used for an assault troop carrier.  The Warlock may end up as a ship for the aliens.   The ships in the StarCruiser game are the German Sachsen frigate, Hamburg cruiser, and Bismarck battle cruiser.  The Sachsen can control two missiles at the same time, the Hamburg four, and while it can only launch four missiles per turn the Bismarck has been modified to control up to eight missiles at once.  This allows it to hit targets with four missiles each turn while other ships firing at a 15+ light second range usually have to wait a turn between launches.  With its screens and armor it would probably take three or four Federation guided missile destroyers to take out the Domain battle cruiser.

Domain and Panthari space ships

While searching the web for a space ship model similar to the appearance of the battleship in the StarCruiser rules that I am using for the Panthari Imperium, I found the agents of gaming website.
Agents of Gaming
They carry a fairly good selection of the Babylon 5 wars ships and books.  These come in two different scales, ACTA (a call to arms) and fleet (similar in size to full thrust)..  I purchased some of the larger scale models

 

 This is the ACTA scale Warlock which I may use for the aliens.

This is the explorer which is close to the battleship design.



Further checking of the web located other models which I have decided to use for the Domain's starships.  These are available in a variety of sizes and prices from as low as $4.50USD each to several hundred for the very large ones (about 18 inches or more in length)

A slightly out of focus shot of a Domain fleet.  I had to drill 1/16" holes for the bases which came from Brigade Models.

Size comparison of the Agents of gaming model in front and two others.   The Agents of Gaming model is the ACTA scale.  The rotating section can be glued in any position, but does not rotate.  The larger model from https://www.shapeways.com/shops/halcyonyards in the back is designed so that the center section will rotate.   The smaller one from  https://www.shapeways.com/shops/pulsefired does not.  Pulsefired offers listings for multiple ships at a discounted price per ship.

The Agents of Gaming model is actually the Shadow version and comes with a substantial selection of spines to attach to it.   Checking for images on the web brought up several different version with a varying number of spines pointing in various directions.  These were located in the area of the engines at the back and at the forward structure of the ship.   I decided to use some of the smaller spines that came with the Shadow model to convert the larger of the other two to a shadow version.   The spines can be bent in different directions.  I added two sets of triple spines to the engine area and two doubles and two singles to the front.

 clicking on the photo will give a closer view of the models detail.

The cloth background is from JoAnn fabrics.   It can be found on their site at navy star fabric  At the time I purchased it, it was on sale at half price so I purchased enough for a six by ten foot area.  They have several other patterns including the one I have used in a previous post.