I got into
Star Fleet Battles (SFB) right when it was first published in "pocket games." I moved on to
Federation Commander a few years ago, but still have a lot of SFB stuff, along with other
Amarillo Design Bureau (ADB) material.
Like movies, TV shows, books, graphic novels and webcomics, like
Star Trek Beta Fleet; game designers utilize
tropes--storytelling shorthand--when whipping-up
Fluff.
The good folks at ADB have made a great use of
such tropes for SFB throughout the years, primarily
Space Is An Ocean, to give players a plethora of
Standard Sci-Fi Fleets.
Despite being a
long running tabletop game, the one thing I never bought all these years were ship miniatures, for my own Standard Sci-Fi Fleet.
So when my friend Dan was preparing to move, he offered to sell me his starship collection, I found it impossible to say "no."
Every figure pictured below was painted by Dan.
My contribution to this photo-op was providing the star field mat from
Monday Knight Productions.
The
United Federation of Planets (the
Trope Codifier for--well--
The Federation)
 |
| (One of the most recognizable starships in sci-fi) |
 |
| (Image: A Federation dreadnought escorted by cruisers, a frigate and scout/destroyer) |
The
Romulan Star Empire (a.k.a
Space Romans)
 |
| (An uncloaked Warbird/War Eagle) |
 |
| (The "problem" with this figure is--all the great detail is underneath) |
 |
| (Another shot of Dan's great detail work) |
 |
| (A Sparrowhawk modular cruiser) |
The
Klingon Empire (a.k.a.
Proud Warrior Race)
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| (A dreadnought escorted by a battlecruiser, destroyer and frigate/escort) |
 |
| (A battlecruiser on patrol) |
The
Gorn Hegemony (a.k.a. the
Reptilians)
 |
| (A cruiser on patrol) |
The
Orion Syndicate (a.k.a.
Space Pirates and
The Syndicate)
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| (A Salvage Cruiser trailing two Slavers) |
Freighters
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| (Two small freighters--or maybe even Q-ships) |
The
Interstellar Concordium (a.k.a.
Well Intentioned Extremists)
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(A cruiser on a peace enforcement keeping patrol) |
The
Hydran Kingdom (a.k.a.
Starfish Aliens)
 |
| (A Ranger Cruiser protecting the Kingdom) |
The
Andromedan Invaders (a.k.a.
The Greys? Or maybe
Little Green Men on steroids? Who knows?)
 |
| (A Mothership and her Satellite Ships) |
I'm not sure what this ship is, but it was in Dan's collection...
The
Lyran Empire (a.k.a.
Cat Folk)
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| (A Tiger-class cruiser escorted by two frigates/destroyers) |
 |
| (A close up of Dan's detail work--this time on top of the ships) |
The
Kzinti Hegemony (a.k.a. another breed of
Cat Folk)
 |
| (Cruisers, destroyers and a frigate escort a tactical tug) |
 |
| (An CVE--escort carrier being escorted by cruisers, destroyers and a frigate) |
 |
| (A BCH--heavy battlecruiser, or CVS--strike carrier under escort) |
 |
| (A CVA--attack carrier, or SCS--space control ship under escort) |
In addition being able to unleash a
Macross Missile Massacre against their non-feline foes with their drones (missiles), the Kzinti pioneered the use of
attack shuttles to provide players with
Old School Dogfights.
 |
| (A strike force launches all its attack shuttles) |
Thanks to Dan, I now have at least one ship from nearly every race in the SFB 'verse.
The only vessels I don't have, for now, are
Tholians (
Insectoid-like Aliens) in which to ensnare trespassers...
4 comments:
I am pretty sure the unknown ship is a Kra'vak ship for full thrust from ground zero games, probably a heavy cruiser.
Thu unknown ship is a Kra'vak ship from Ground zero games, Ithimk it's a heavy cruiser.
Very jealous. I, like you, played SFB for many years, starting with the ziplock bags. I don't have miniatures either but always did want them. Did I say I was jealous? :-) I cam understand your contentment!
Thank you Nigel for the clarification. A friend on Facebook also identified the "mystery ship."
Thank you Shaun for your comments. I'll be even more content when I get a chance to play. :) (I work a rotating shift that wrecks havoc with my gaming time).
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