"Hang on Travellers"

 A line from the great science fiction TV series Firefly.  It's often taken as a clue that Josh Whedon the creator of the series had based the show on the SF RPG Traveller, although he has never directly confirmed this.  A quick dig around on the internet came up with this link Is Joss Whedon's Firefly based on the Traveller RPG he played? - Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange .  The comments strongly suggest it was.  Certainly the mix of weapons and technologies in the show mirrors that available in the game and the stories are the sort of thing that came up in games I played.  Even down to the prior military careers of some of the crew.  You see, in Traveller you rolled up a character who had already had a career, and gained useful skills, before becoming a freelancer, and sometimes they died during character creation,  yes Traveller had some interesting quirks folks (for a given value of interesting).  

I still have my original box set of rules on the shelf behind me as I sit typing this post but haven't played in years as I don't have a group of locals who are interested.  More to the point though for this post are the figures I still have.  These are mostly early Citadel from a range which was, I think, called Spacefarers with a couple of Minifigs and a Ral Partha casting added for variety.  The Citadel sculpts are true 25mm and for their age simply stunning castings, from the talented Perry twins.  The range was launched in 1979 and a full listing appeared in a catalogue in 1980 (it's amazing how erudite you can appear with the help of Google search)!

As nefarious a bunch as any role player could wish for

From left to right Marvin the Paranoid Android manufacturer unknown although as of a couple of years ago the range was still available on line, then two Minifigs followed by seven of the Citadel offerings and finally a lone Ral Partha figure.

I should perhaps have called this post "In the lead pile no one can hear you scream!" as I also found these un and part painted castings lurking in it's depths.

These guys would like the chance to be nefarious if only someone would paint them

A quick trawl through ebay shows prices ranging from £10 or more for an individual figure to £7 for a full set.  I suppose I should at least prime the unpainted chaps to prevent any risk of lead rot, although they have survived in an old OXO cubes presentation tin for 35 years or more so they may be safe.

Random Thoughts #3 - Reading choices during lockdown

Lockdown and a couple of long Bank Holiday weekends has allowed me to catch up on some reading.  It's been a mix of rereading  old favourites and trying out some new material.

I read a lot of science fiction and have done since I was a teenager.  I started out on the books I could find in the local library, children's Science Fiction and once I had read everything the children's section had to offer I moved onto the adult shelves.  Some of the children's science fiction was complete tosh, more fantasy than science others were more rooted in actual physics.  After that I moved onto adult SF with paperback reprints of the greats of the post war science fiction scene Clarke, Heinlein Poul Andersen Asimov and their contemporaries mixed with the newer writers of the late sixties onwards like Larry Niven.

He didn't just write Biggles! (by the way this is tosh!)

That gave me a taste for slightly harder edged SF with at least some connection to actual science although I do like a good page turner in the tradition of 'Space Opera' stories from the golden age.  I am currently working my way through the Expanse series. I have enjoyed the Amazon TV version and as I will probably have to wait another year for the next series thought I should try the books.  They came well recommended and so far they haven't failed to keep me turning pages (well actually scrolling through screens).

Well worth a read especially if you enjoyed the TV version

My other current reading is a new set of rules, well new to me anyway.  'Dahlgren and Columbiad' by David Manley.  These are quick play Naval rules for the Ironclad era 1860 to 1885.  I had been toying with doing ACW ironclads for a while and Jim Jackman's excellent blog 'Jims Wargames Workbench' tipped me over the edge.  His blog can be found here http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/ .

The rules look really easy to use and are simple to read through so I suspect that I will be buying some teeny tiny ironclads from Tumbling Dice in the very near future.

So that's it for this post Remember stay safe and be alert, as the man said ...'We need lerts'

More Objects in Space

Way back in the mists of time, well 2013 to be precise, I had a brief flirtation with Full Thrust the ship to ship space combat game.  The rules were OK although they did reminded me of a 1970s naval game I used to play a lot, called Seastrike.  This was partly because of the the hit location and damage rules but mainly because the lack of any 3D element to maneuvering.  I know how difficult it is to replicate gaming in three dimensions as my struggle with WW1 dogfighting mechanisms demonstrates.  As The Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy tells us 'Space is big', so some kind of recognition that not all actions are going to be fought in the plane of the ecliptic should really be present either in the position of units or at least in terms of reinforcing from out of the plane as a sort of 3D flank march.  So the search goes on for a set of rules which really hit the spot.

Part of the fleet the rest need a bit of TLC

Being a prone to these fits of enthusiasm I have learned not to spend huge amounts on models until I am satisfied that I'm going to stick with a set of rules or a historical period.  In this case I bought a handful of Irregular Miniatures spaceships, a few fighter groups from a manufacturer whose name I don't recall and I made the rest.

Scratch built frigates and a sensor corvette

The basic technique for making spaceships is one I have used since I was an impoverished teenager.  In best Blue Peter style (if you don't know what that is ask your grandparents about children's TV in the 1960s) these were made from layers of cardboard glued together to create something that is, if not 3D, at least 2D plus.  Details are from the bits box and include furniture fixings, panel pins, cocktail sticks, match sticks and bits and pieces of textured plastic packaging.

Home built merchantmen and Destroyer escort.  Scouts are Irregular Miniatures

After a couple of solo games that were less enthralling than I had hoped I put the models back in their box and there they have stayed.  They hadn't seen the light of day from then until today when, while sorting out my office bookcases, I found the box.  The home made stands were a bit battered but all in all they haven't been to badly bashed about by relocations over the last six and a half years.

A Fleet Carrier from Irregular, fighter swarms from who knows where and scratch built destroyers!

The dark background is the floor tiles in my conservatory which I think it actually looks nicer than some specialist space themed battlemats. 

At some point in the future I may drag the rules out and give them another go or I may start tinkering with the bits I feel are missing, if I do I will report on the outcome.