Finishing the Pack - Alternative Armies EH03 Space Brains

October is a good time for horror themed projects. I painted up one of these figures last year for that very reason. Then I forgot about the rest of the pack until I was looking for a horror-themed painting project as this Halloween loomed closer. B-movie horror is still horror, so I finished the other four.

A brainy bunch. Last year's test model is in the middle.

Alternative Armies sells these floating, gun-toting brains in packs of five. They work as gray matter extracted from enormous, mutated, alien conquerors in a variety of scales. Their ability to fly could come from their cybernetic augmentations or be some psionic power from their vast, cold, and uncaring intellects. Their cybernetic enhancements otherwise seem to be limited to weapons and the sensors needed to navigate and find targets. Each figure in the pack is a distinct sculpt with its own configuration of cybernetics and arms.

Close up of the different robotic appendages.

I used the test model from last year as a guide. The improvised flight stands are the same. The paint job is almost the same – there were two exceptions because I couldn't resist tinkering. The squishy thinking bits got a layer of highlighting using a mix of white and the Reaper 09281 Brains Pink that I used as a base color in those areas. The cerebral areas also got additional coats of wash. It gives those areas a raw and bloody look. I kept the dark look of the cybernetics - they remind me of Borg implants and add to the menacing appearance.

Last image from some remote outpost or a bunch of cybernetically enhanced brains dropping an album?

Now I need to consider when these will hit the table. Five Parsecs From Home? Or do I send them after the crew of USS Phoenix in our Star Trek Adventures campaign first?

Reaper Bones 77037 Medusa or How a "Warm Up" Project Comes in Handy

I suspect that this miniature - packing a bow and quiver while featuring the lower body of a snake from the torso down - was inspired by the Medusa in Clash of the Titans (1981). This is the white plastic version. I received mine as a backer reward from the first Reaper Bones Kickstarter.

A quick miniature painting project is the best way for me to get back into crafting tabletop gaming stuff after a break. Using a Bones fantasy monster miniature is ideal. Bones miniatures tend to be inexpensive and getting paint on one knocks down the pile I still have from the Kickstarter. Since I'm coming back after a break, I'm more likely to make mistakes. I'd rather do that on a model that will only be on the table long enough for the player characters to remove it violently. Unfortunately, I ran into more problems than I could have anticipated and a "quick" project turned into a "longer than I thought it would take" project.

Planning and Preparation

Most of the Medusa miniatures I've seen online are a shade of green. I decided to be different and go for a brown color scheme.

I posted my usual approach to preparing a white plastic Bones miniature elsewhere on this blog. Short version: I clean the miniature thoroughly with warm soap and water. Then I glue it on a one inch steel fender washer. Finally, I hit it with a mix of FolkArt Glass & Tile Medium and either brown or black paint. This acts as a primer coat. For this project, I went with brown.


First Paint Pass

This was supposed to be the only paint pass, but things didn't go as planned.

Tail and Hair
FolkArt 231 Real Brown
FolkArt 479 Pure Black

The first coat was a mix of Real Brown with some Pure Black to darken it a shade or three. Real Brown was used over that as a highlight. This really brought out the scales on the tail and torso.

Skin
Reaper 09221 Olive Skin
Reaper 09041 Tanned Skin

Base coated with Olive Skin with Tanned Skin used over it as a highlight.

Bow and Quiver
Reaper 09041 Tanned Skin

The Tanned Skin color works as wood and worn leather as long as a wash is used over it.

Bracelets and Other Metallics
Citadel Colour Tin Bitz
Citadel Colour Shining Gold

I used this over the bracelets and pretended that the bare breasts were really sculpted bronze plates worn over the breasts. The dark brown metallic base color is a little too dark, but the brighter metallic brushed on as a highlight makes it look like its catching more light in some areas.

Wash Coat
FolkArt 231 Real Brown diluted with water

There were a few spots that needed some help after I was done painting. A wash sometimes works as a quick fix, but wasn't enough in this case.


The Problem

The issue I kept running into was the paint running off the raised areas and exposing the bare plastic underneath. Early production Bones miniatures used a white material that sometimes repels water and water-based paints when painted right out of the package. (More recent Bones miniatures use a grey plastic and may not have this issue.) A good cleaning and a coat of FolkArt Glass & Tile Medium usually solves the problem, but didn't seem to be as effective on this project. Looking back, using craft paints instead of higher density artist or miniature paints may have contributed to the difficulties I was having.


Second Paint Pass

My new plan was to hide all the mistakes and patchy spots of the first pass with another coat of wash. Then I could brush on highlights over the wash coat and nobody would know unless they read this blog post.

Wash Coat
FolkArt 231 Real Brown
FolkArt 479 Pure Black
Liquitex Matte Medium
Water

This is a much darker wash than the one I used at the end of the first pass. It also holds together better due to the Matte Medium keeping the pigments in suspension.

Tail & Hair Highlights
FolkArt 231 Real Brown

Skin Highlights
Reaper 09221 Olive Skin

Metallic Highlights
Citadel Colour Shining Gold

The wash caused the previously applied colors to blend together. Here I tried to make the raised areas stand out again.

Basing
Mix of sand, FolkArt 231 Real Brown, PVA glue, and water
FolkArt 420 Linen

My usual approach to texturing and coloring the base of miniature is covered in more detail elsewhere on this blog. Once the mix was dry, I brushed on the Linen to bring out the rough texture.


Final Paint Pass

The second pass fixed most of the areas where the paint ran off during the first pass. There were still a couple of raised areas were much of the paint flowed off, leaving them significantly brighter. Worse, the details on the miniature were getting lost. Using Real Brown as a highlight over a mix of Real Brown and Pure Black works under a bright lamp, but is too subtle a difference to notice in other lighting conditions. I needed one more pass to highlight the details further and cover up the last remaining spots.

Highlighting Layer
FolkArt 420 Linen
FolkArt 231 Real Brown

Straight Linen would be too bright on its own, so I added a touch of Real Brown to darken it slightly. I used this mix over all the non-metallic areas to bring out the raised details and highlight certain areas. It also served to cover up the remaining spots.

Wash Coat
FolkArt 231 Real Brown
Liquitex Matte Medium
Water

Even darkened down with a little Real Brown, the highlight mix was still a little too bright when I was finished with it. I brushed on Real Brown diluted with water and Matte Medium to blend the layers together.

Wrapping Up

I tend to be more prone to making mistakes after a break. This makes "warming up" with something like a Bones miniature worthwhile for me. The process of engaging with a project can come back to me while working on something that only has to be good enough.

As for the Medusa, this miniature will do fine when it goes on the tabletop. All it has to do is menace the player characters until it runs out of hit points.

Turning Star Trek Headcanons Into RPG Adventure Seeds

Our Star Trek Adventures campaign is lurching along. The biggest challenge to an in person RPG campaign is the same as it's always been - scheduling. However, there are positives to such delays for the gamemaster. There's time to give the next adventure another editing pass, review the rules, and actually read the supplemental materials. In addition to all that, I've been going over old notes for ideas.

Gamemaster life involves books and keeping notes.

These are some Star Trek headcanons I've come up with over the years. These may or may not appear in our campaign. Each entry contains a description and notes on how to use the idea in play. I hope that y'all find them to be handy and entertaining.


The Changing Face of the Borg

Many aspects of the Borg that came out of nowhere were in-setting retcons. After acquiring reliable time travel technology, the Borg Collective edited their own history to create an optimal outcome for themselves. Unfortunately, it was not a straightforward process. Unintended outcomes kept appearing and they eventually canceled further efforts. Examples of changes brought on by the Borg's interference in their own history include, but are not limited to:

• The Borg's original modus operandi was to conquer other cultures and force them to serve the Borg while assimilating their technology. This changed to assimilating individuals and converting them into drones.
• Going from a true collective consciousness to a hierarchical structure with Borg Queens acting as command nodes.
• Invading Fluidic Space suddenly seeming like a good idea.

The Borg Collective shelved the project after realizing that every attempt to improve their own history or correct prior attempts only made things worse. (This one predates season two of PIC.) The attempt to prevent the formation of the United Federation of Planets by disrupting First Contact and assimilating 21st century Earth was the last gasp of this plan.

The player characters come across a remnant of the Borg from before they changed their own history. This takes the form of a Borg sphere protected by technology that protects it from being overwritten by prior timeline edits. Unfortunately for them, the unobtainium that powers the technology is running out and the current version of the Borg is hunting them down to prevent further alterations to their own history. The Borg sphere is targeting Federation and Klingon time travel research projects to keep itself going while seeking out the one thing it can change to revert Borg history to its previous state.


How Not to Deal With Q

Starfleet Command's recommended approach for dealing with representatives of the Q Continium is based on the reports of Picard and Janeway. Keep Q talking, figure out what Q wants, satisfy those conditions if possible, and - most importantly - get Q off the ship. Sisko's gambit of physically assaulting Q after being provoked is discouraged as too risky, although it was well received by Picard and Janeway when they learned of it. Sisko's actions seemed to convince Q to leave Deep Space Nine alone, there's no way of knowing how Sisko's heritage as a Bajoran Prophet influenced matters.

The player characters receive a distress call from a nearby Starfleet ship or installation. Their commanding officer brashly decided to punch a visiting Q to be rid of them. Luckily, Q was more amused than offended, but the other crew still needs a third party to de-escalate and mediate the situation.


Allies, Enemies, and Allies Again

The brief conflict between the Federation and Klingon Empire just prior to the Dominion War was partly due to a new generation of Klingon warriors wanting to test themselves against a worthy opponent. Other factors include the influence of Founder agents, Gowron's ambitions, and a sense of betrayal on the part of the Klingons when their allies didn't join them in the campaign against the Cardassians. The Cardassian military fell too quickly, but Starfleet could always be counted on to recover from early setbacks and uncork a surprise or three. The resulting conflict was highly satisfying for the Klingon warrior caste, allowing them to seek glory on the same battlefields as their forefathers against an honorable foe. This allowed the Klingons to pivot from ally to enemy and back again quickly - it was never really personal for them.

The Starfleet player characters run into the same Klingon warship and crew before, during, and after the Federation-Klingon conflict. How they deal with whiplash of those specific Klingons being allies, enemies, and allies again depends on them, but the Klingons themselves seem to take it all in stride. A Klingon campaign can explore the situation from their point of view.

Familiar Ship Names

The naming conventions of Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force differ in the practice of naming ships after prominent personnel.

The 23rd-24th century Starfleet tended to avoid naming starships in honor of their own personnel. Many of the 23rd century officers who would merit such an honor were still alive well into the 24th century (Spock, McCoy). Even some of the ones who were presumed or declared dead had established a reputation for defying death and could turn up after a starship was named after them (Pike, Kirk). Starfleet Command decided that it would be best to avoid potentially embarrassing situations for all concerned. This decision was validated when USS Enterprise found Scott alive and well decades after he disappeared. This policy did not apply to non-Starfleet personnel, such the Excelsior-class starship USS Gorkon. This practice changed sometime prior to the 32nd century. The better part of a millennium seemed like enough time for the fate of even legendary figures to be firmly established.

Hopefully.

The Klingon Defense Force, on the other hand, had no reservations about honoring their own and other deemed worthy. IKS Koloth and IKS Kang were commissioned just prior to the Dominion War. IKS Kor entered service soon after the Dahar Master died in combat. And a lineage of warships was established to insure that the name IKS Rachel Garrett would inspire valor in the hearts of Klingon warriors.

IKS Rachel Garrett is traditionally assigned to the Romulan border. The warship bearing the name during the Cardassian invasion and Federation-Klingon conflict continued to patrol the Romulan border. All proposals to redeploy the warship to fight Starfleet were firmly quashed by the KDF's old guard. IKS Rachel Garrett was immediately reassigned to the Alliance Second Fleet at the beginning of the Dominion War, participating in Operation Return and the liberation of the Beta Zeta system.

Players may find it curious when they run into Klingon warships with non-Klingon names.


Why the Warp Five Speed Limit Went Away

By the late 24th century, higher speed warp travel had become commonplace enough for the "Warp Five Speed Limit" to have an adverse, but manageable, effect on Federation commerce. The real issue was finding a long term solution. Fortunately, someone else had found one.

Analysis of recovered Borg technology revealed many quirks that puzzled the Federation. Many Borg systems included features clearly intended to solve issues that the Federation wasn't aware of. In the aftermath of the Hekaras Corridor Incident, Starfleet engineers combed their records for anything that could lead to a solution. A team reviewing the data they had on Borg warp propulsion found subsystems that completely negated the damage that warp drives of that power would otherwise do to subspace. Without knowledge of the long term effects of warp drive on subspace, no one in the Federation had previously recognized what those subsystems were for. Reverse engineering the processes and developing modifications to existing warp drives took less than a year. Technical specifications on the modifications were provided to all Alpha and Beta Quadrant polities at the same time they were being pushed out to Starfleet.

Years later, analysis of captured Dominion warp drives revealed similar design details. The Dominion had discovered the issue at least a century prior. As the Founders had no interest in seeing their empire fall apart due to environmental issues, Vorta scientists were directed to find countermeasures. These became standard on all Jem'Hadar warships and other vessels operated by the Dominion and their vassals.

While there are similarities between the Borg subsystems and the Dominion countermeasures, they are not identical in design or operation. Starfleet Intelligence believes that the Borg didn't assimilate the technology in question from the Dominion, but from some undiscovered third party somewhere in the Delta Quadrant. Analysis of USS Voyager logs and interviews with the xB community within the Federation have yet to reveal any likely candidates.

This one simply explains why the "Warp Five Speed Limit" disappears after awhile on TNG, is never even mentioned on DS9 or VOY, and is a non-factor in Star Trek Adventures.


Klingons Also Go Boldly

The Klingon Defense Force and various Great Houses sponsor a surprising number of deep space exploration and scientific research missions. Outsiders assume that these mainly seek out new resources to exploit and worlds to conquer. While these are factors, the Klingons are primarily motivated by a combination of genuine curiosity and simple boredom.

This reinforces the notion that Klingons of all eras carry out exploration, although not to the same extent as Starfleet. Thus, Klingon warships in the TOS era could appear anywhere, not just in space contested between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Likewise, a Klingon warship could show up far from the Empire in other eras.


Well Played

The Tal Shiar figured out Sisko and Garak's conspiracy ("In The Pale Moonlight" DS9 6x19) fairly quickly, but said nothing to the rest of the Romulan government. Far from being outraged or offended, they were coldly impressed by Garak's craftsmanship - especially given how little he had to work with - and decided to coopt the plan. The evidence Garak planted was good enough to convince most of the Romulan government and the Tal Shiar quietly tied up any loose ends. Their motivation was simple - the Dominion was a clear and present danger to the Romulan Star Empire. Founders had infiltrated the Romulan government before and the result was a major blow to the Tal Shiar at the Omarion Nebula. The loss of a Senator and shuttle crew was regrettable, but a small price to pay for the security of the Romulan state.

Starfleet or Klingon Defense Force player characters find out about the conspiracy to mislead the Romulans. Do they make their findings known or suppress the information? Much to their surprise, the Tal Shiar appears to maintain their own cover up.


The Curious Lack of Klingon Time Travelers

Outside observers have long commented on the Klingon Empire's curious failure to weaponize time travel technology. Klingon involvement in the Temporal Cold War, their access to the time crystals of Boreth, and the development of related technology such as the chrono deflector all indicate that the Klingon Empire could have worked out a practical and reliable means of time travel at any point from the 23rd to the 25th centuries. Federation understanding of time travel was greatly enhanced after the Federation-Klingon alliance led to an exchange of data. Many believed that Klingon scientists just never quite made the final leap from theory to application.

The reality is more complicated. The Klingon Empire weaponized time travel repeatedly throughout its history. However, many of the results were so disastrous that those edits to the timeline were undone at the source by the Klingons themselves. Examples include:

• Shortly after the discovery of time crystals on Boreth, an out-of-favor house launched a systematic effort to edit the timeline and elevate their family to the eternal dynastic leadership of the Empire from the time of Kahless to the far future. The struggle to reverse the changes to the timeline was severe enough to erase the house from the historical record entirely. The transfer of political leadership of the Empire to the office of chancellor after the death of the last emperor in the mid-21st century is believed to be a side effect of this conflict. The Boreth Monastery was quickly established to prevent the time crystals from being misused in this manner again.
• Another series of edits resulted in the Klingon Empire conquering Earth during the post-atomic horror to prevent the formation of the Federation. Supporting their occupation force at the end of long lines of communication was costly for the Empire. Their poorly defended supply lines became too tempting a target for the likes of the Orion Syndicate and the Andorian Imperial Guard. Meanwhile, a resistance movement on Earth led by Lily Sloane received support from an unexpected source. Zefram Cochrane used data from reverse engineered Klingon systems to complete his own work on a prototype warp drive. His brief flight attracted the attention of Vulcan High Command, who were concerned about the Klingon Empire being on their doorstep. The Vulcans began giving Earth's resistance forces covert aid, adding to the costs of the Klingon occupation. Romulan attacks on the overextended Klingon Empire during the mid-22nd century was the final straw. This alternate Klingon Empire was in the process of collapsing when the changes were reversed.
• A botched attempt to alter the outcome of the First Federation-Klingon War also ended in disaster. Qo'noS was destroyed by a Starfleet special operation. The loss of their capital, their main source of dilithium on Praxis, and their primary ship production center stalled Klingon advances into the Federation. Starfleet used the pause to install Spore Drives on a limited number of starships, allowing them to strike any Klingon target at will. The result was a greatly extended conflict that devastated both sides. Probing attacks by the Romulan Star Empire beginning in 2266 revealed that both the Federation and Klingon Empire were too weakened to resist conquest. The Timekeepers of Boreth undid the changes with the blades of their bat'leths.

Records of these and dozens of other attempts by Klingons to edit the timeline were preserved on Boreth. The timeline edits that weren't utter catastrophes resulted in such minor changes that they were ineffective at achieving their goals. Given these results, the development of time travel technology in general was quietly discouraged by those Klingons in the know throughout the Empire's history. Any suggestion of weaponizing time travel was firmly suppressed. The destruction of time travel technology after the Temporal Wars was greeted with quiet relief by the Klingons.

The player characters could become involved with any of these or other efforts by rogue Klingons to edit history. The first hurdle is to convince the Timekeepers of Boreth not to resort to just taking bat'leths to everyone involved and calling it a day.


Ambassador Ralph Offenshouse ("The Neutral Zone" TNG 1x26)

Unsurprisingly, Ralph Offenhouse's career as a Federation diplomat tended towards dealing with civilizations still using market economies and engaging in capitalism.

His early negotiations with the Ferengi did require a period of adjustment. While the financial world that he made his fortune in was certainly ruthless, it wasn't as quite as openly exploitative and blatantly predatory as many Ferengi business practices. This tripped him up for awhile, but he still tended to outperform other Federation diplomats.

He also tended to be placed in the lead during negotiations with the Orion Free Traders.

A proposal to send Offenhouse into the Gamma Quadrant to supplement Ferengi efforts to establish trade through the Bajoran wormhole was shelved after the destruction of USS Odyssey. He had a small, but significant role during the Dominion War. He secured sources of badly needed materials for the Federation war effort on favorable terms. He also led efforts to buy up certain materials on the open market, denying them to the Dominion. Efforts to synthesize Ketacel White, in particular, suffered significantly as sources of the necessary supplies dried up over and over again.

Offenhouse benefited from the ability to scan a proposed agreement (what the Federation called a "treaty" and the Ferengi Alliance labeled a "contract") for the kinds of loopholes that other Federation diplomats and Starfleet officers tended to miss even after careful examination. He was only able to teach this skill to colleagues from worlds that joined the Federation recently enough to have lived experience outside of a near-post-scarcity civilization. However, Offenhouse did pass on his other skills and knowledge, finding that he enjoyed teaching, writing, and lecturing. His books and recorded talks on interstellar diplomacy and economics - many produced during his semi-retirement - were considered foundational long after his death.

Offenhouse is a financial expert - a rarity in the Federation. He can appear as an NPC during Federation negotiations with profit driven cultures such as the Ferengi or Orions. His expertise can also be critical in dealing with new Federation members with economies still based on capitalism and analyzing the financial records of suspicious individuals and organizations for evidence of criminal activity.

Lightyear Hyperspeed XL-07 Modest Modifications

A quick update on this project. September 2022 was not a good month for me. I couldn't cobble together any hobby time until last weekend.

Not as much of a conversion as I first planned, but sometimes less is more.

Finding parts to add a few more details proved more challenging than I counted on. The usual approach of digging around for model kit parts and searching the bits collection wasn't fruitful. Most of the things I found were just too big or looked out of place.

One thing that did work was a round plastic bushing. I used it to add detail to the blank area inside the thruster. This was the spot that was bothering me the most for some reason. The bushing will be nothing but a vague shape in the darkly painted interior when I'm done, but even that will give the impression of mechanical workings.

Rear view. Note the plastic bushing filling out the thruster and the MDF blocks on the sides.

A scaled down approach was in order for the rest. My collection of tiny bits isn't as extensive as the rest. I found most of what I needed in the leftovers from the various MDF terrain pieces I've built over the years. Some of the terrain had fine details that were exposed by pushing out the MDF left after laser cutting. Most are simple shapes that are handy for projects like the monowheel cycle I scratchbuilt earlier this year.

MDF and many plastics form a solid bond when joined with CA glue. I stacked the deck a little more in my favor by using some trusty Gorilla Super Glue.

She may not look like much now, but she's got it where it counts.

A couple of angled MDF parts form canard-like additions to the sides of the fuselage. These would be absurdly small on any other craft, even at this scale, but they don't look out of place compared to the size of the actual wings.

Two rectangular MDF parts hide some mold lines on the rear. They extend the existing shapes and should blend in after painting.

A pair of cylindrical MDF parts suggest sensors or the business ends of weapons protruding from the twin noses of the spacecraft. They give it a slightly more aggressive appearance than before.

Front view. Note the MDF "gun barrels" and canards.

I could add more details, but the work I've done fills in the blank areas and mold lines that I wanted to fix. I'll be spray priming it next. Painting may have to wait until I decide on a color scheme. Do I want a sporty civilian flyer, a rugged scout ship, or military light attack craft?