Hasslefree and Effigy - A Couple of Quick and Fun Photos

Two exploration teams encounter each other on the surface of a barren world.

I had a little fun the other day with these figures, a GW Moonscape Crater terrain piece, and my camera.

The Figures

After finishing all three figures in Hasslefree Miniatures' "Retro Sci-Fi Crew" set, I wanted to see how they went with some other figures using a similar paint scheme. The other figures are from the now defunct Effigy Miniatures' "Havoc Girls" set. I painted them a few years back using the division colors of a later generation of space explorers.

Both sets hit some of the same notes. They are both all woman teams. There's a member posing with her sidearm. Another member is equipped with a portable device, although one is a handheld scanner and the other has an input device on the arm and a display visor. Of course, the influences are different - 1960s for one and anime for the other.

The Havoc Girls set did serve as an Away Team in our Star Trek Adventures campaign. They may return to the table when play resumes. Or I might offer to go old school with the Hasslefree Miniatures set. I'll have to give it some thought.

The Terrain

The GW Moonscape Craters are coming in handy. A surprising number of sci-fi miniatures look better on a barren, blasted landscape. I had my misgivings about them, but they are holding up well.

The Camera

I'm hitting the limits of what I can do with my current camera gear - a Canon Rebel T7i, a kit lens, and a EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens. An inexpensive tripod helps, but there is no way I can justify the expense of a macro lens just for taking photos of miniatures. I've got a set of extension tubes on the way - they attach to lens and change their focal length, allowing the lens to get closer to the subject. They might do the trick with the lenses I already own.

But that's enough fun with the camera for now. I've got miniatures to put some paint on.

Junk Pile Corridors - When Inspiration Strikes at the Wrong Time

"Inspiration is like lightning. You never know when it will strike."

Unlike the anonymous source of the quote, I know exactly when inspiration strikes me. When I don't have the time to follow up on it.

Actually, it's worse than that. Not only do I not have the time, but I don't even know when that time is going to show up. Life's been hitting me hard lately.

Corridors and tram placeholder with Havoc Girls for scale.

So, the story:

I was scrolling through various sites, researching ideas, and I came across various pictures of futuristic corridors. Some where clean and brightly lit - inspired by the Federations and Empires that like to keep a neat starship. Others were grungy access ways lined with pipes and other industrial details. Some were computer generated, but a few were dioramas with miniatures. And that reminded me of something I had stored away in the garage. What if?

A little rummaging uncovered a box containing plastic pieces from various sources. Each piece caught my eye at some point - an interesting shape that might eventually be the basis for a project. The corridor pictures reminded me of a couple of flat pieces that originally held copier or printer cartridges. The pieces could clip into end caps which I also saved. Now I had an idea of what I could do with them.

Close up of left side end caps. The irregular shapes help convey the feel of a cut-out diagram.

I laid out the pieces on my work table. My original thought was to lay them down with the opening on top. Unfortunately, this made the sides of the corridor too short. Placing the pieces so that the openings were on the side still provided plenty of room for 28mm miniatures. The pieces could be fully detailed on the inside and stacked on top of each other as shown.

The walkways are fairly narrow and long. Some scatter terrain could break up lines of sight.

There is the beginning of a good project here. These pieces could be the basis of an interior spacecraft section or an access tunnel of some distant outpost. It is a little small for a wargaming scenario, but it would make a good diorama or terrain piece for a roleplaying encounter.

Right side view. I'm not sure how I feel about the asymmetrical look.

Trams could run through the open area on the side. I threw together a placeholder freight tram piece from some leftover Hexagon Construction Set parts to demonstrate the concept. Trams like these could provide rapid transit through whatever complex or spaceship that these corridors run through. The original Half-Life game used the concept to good effect.

Close up of tram placeholder.

It would take awhile for me to get from where I am now - the concept phase - to something complete enough to put on the table. These pieces need to be sanded down and cleaned up before I can add details. And I need to go through all my bits boxes to find enough details - doors, cardboard and plastic tubing for pipes, bulkheads, ladders, hatches, and all kinds of greebles for the those smooth surfaces. Then comes clean up, assembly, priming, and painting.

Unfortunately, I've got no time to work on it now. Nothing to do but store it for later. This post will serve as my project notes when I get the time for it.

*Sigh.*

Asteroid Ship Corridor Encounter

Initial test set up of the asteroid ship interior. This configuration ended up as the first area. Note my helpful assistant being helpful.

This post describes a set of encounters that I ran for our Star Trek Adventures campaign a few months ago. My hope was to present the players with an exciting and visually interesting session. My other goal was to provide some motivation to make more progress on the pile of miniatures and terrain that I've purchased over the years.

Background

The player characters' vessel - USS Yamato, an Akira-class starship - was investigating a century-old Starfleet distress signal. The trail led to an enormous sublight ship constructed from an asteroid. The asteroid ship was similar in principle to, but clearly of different origins from, the world ship Yonada from "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" (TOS). The player characters had reason to believe that Starfleet personnel in cryogenic stasis were aboard the asteroid ship. Unfortunately, the dense rock of the asteroid and the materials used to turn it into a functioning spaceship were interfering with USS Yamato's sensors. An Away Team mission would need to board the asteroid ship to investigate further. Naturally, the Away Team deployed from USS Yamato was composed for the player characters - the Captain*, the Science Officer, and the Chief of Security.

*TNG establishes that starship captains do not lead Away Teams, but DS9 and Voyager tend to ignore the idea. Since this was very early in the campaign, I preferred to have the player running the Captain use his character rather than putting him into the shoes of the First Officer or other Supporting Character. My justification for the purposes of the campaign was that the relevant regulation existed, but was sporadically enforced.

Planning phase. Always need coffee for the planning phase.

Rules Overview

Once aboard the asteroid ship, the Away Team found that their tricorders were limited to short range due to the same factors that interfered with USS Yamato's sensors. Tricorder scans also lacked definition - the operator was able to detect that something unusual was in a given location, but could not identify it without further analysis. Communications between the Away Team and USS Yamato were also degraded. It was quickly determined that the amount of static would increase as the Away Team ventured deeper into the asteroid ship, but that contact would not be lost entirely.

The rules were fairly simple. After the corridor board was set up and the miniatures representing the Away Team were placed, the Science Officer would roll for their tricorder scan. The scan would reveal anything of interest within short range. Technological items such as data terminals and cryogenic stasis tanks detected by the scan would be placed on the board. Biological sensor contacts would be represented by "blip" tokens placed on the board. The Science Officer could select a blip token and use each success rolled to determine its exact nature. A given blip could be revealed to be anything from the corpse of an asteroid ship crewmember to a group of alien predators to a type not previously encountered. A new board was set up when the Away Team entered another area of the asteroid ship. There were two boards set up in total.

Data terminals could be accessed to gather information about the asteroid ship. However, extensive security protocols limited access to the asteroid ship's data networks.

Cryogenic stasis tanks could hold a member of the asteroid ship's crew or a long-lost Starfleet officer.

Corpses of the asteroid ship crew littered the corridors. The corpses showed signs of predation.

Running into a group of predators resulted in a combat encounter. Curiously, the predators showed signs of a communal intelligence that communicated through the use of natural radio transmitter/receivers. The predators were clearly of different biological origin than the asteroid ship crew.

Test set up of the second area of the asteroid ship. Note the closed doors blocking free movement of the critters (represented by "blips") and the cryogenic stasis tubes.

Inspiration

The encounter was mechanically inspired by Star Trek Adventures' rules for gathering information. Each successful result behind what is needed to succeed at such a Task allows the player to ask a question of the gamemaster. In this case, each additional success allowed the Science Officer's player to ask what each "blip" token represented. Within the context of the game setting, this reflects the Science Officer's efforts to use her tricorder to dial in on a specific sensor contact.

Visually, it was inspired by a certain board game about investigating a massive derelict in space. The board game is based in a certain grimdark space fantasy setting where there is only unending military conflicts and endless debates over what is considered canon. That board game was, in turn, clearly inspired by the second installment of the "Alien" movie franchise.

The full set up of the first area during actual play. The Away Team just cleared this section of the asteroid ship and are preparing to press on.

Miniatures and Terrain Sources

The asteroid ship interiors area single set of Creative Gamescapes Spaceship X modular spaceship corridor tiles. As shown, the tiles are not in a complete state. They are assembled with a silver basecoat and a layer of wash, but still need some work. I intend to write a separate post on them when I finish that project.

The Away Team was represented by Effigy Miniatures' Havoc Girls. They were featured in a post earlier this year.

Litko Scanner Blip Tokens, Fluorescent Blue were used for the tricorder contacts. In retrospect, green might have been more thematic.

The alien predators prowling the corridors of the asteroid ship were represented by the Parasachnid Warriors from Khurasan Miniatures. They are featured in their own post.

The data terminals were Warsenal's Access Terminals. They were featured in a post from April.

The cryogenic stasis pods were a "trash bash" built from bits I had in storage. See this post for details.

The crates and other small terrain pieces scattered along the corridors were Spartan Scenics Warehouse Accessories. They were featured in a post from way back in 2015.


Wrapping Up

The encounters worked as designed and were well received by the players. I was also happy to get a few more painting and assembly projects completed. Having an immediate use for specific miniatures and terrain helped to maintain my focus.

Effigy Miniatures' Havoc Girls

Three sci-fi adventurers just arrived at a busy spaceport? Or three figures taking their place in my display case?

These are the Havoc Girls, a set of 28mm figures individually called the the Pilot, Recon, and Hacker from the now-defunct Effigy Miniatures. I'm not sure if the sculptor - Tom Mason - was going for a sci-fi version of "Charlie's Angels" when he created these figures, but I have strong suspicions. These were the first figures available from Effigy Miniatures' initial Kickstarter and later the company's online shop. They later become part of Effigy Miniatures' Havoc Protocol line – a series of miniatures with a similar futuristic aesthetic. In 2013, a career change prompted Tom Mason to close down Effigy Miniatures. To the best of my knowledge, these figures are no longer available for sale, even at the new company that Tom Mason started up.

These long-term residents of my lead pile finally made it to the work table early this year. I decided on a darker color scheme than the one used in the original artwork for greater contrast between the bodysuits and the accessories. The accessory colors on each figure are based on the Starfleet uniform colors used in Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the 24th century Starfleet, Pilot would be in the Command division and wear red. Recon would be in the Security department and wear gold. I decided that Hacker would be in the Sciences division and wear blue for variety, but an argument could be made for her to be in Engineering. The uniform color choices were made with an eye towards using them in a future Star Trek Adventures campaign. The hair colors are the result of me being unable to decide what natural hair colors to use and picking the three brightest paint colors to catch my eye.

The bases are from a Warsenal Tracking Beacon 3-pack that proved a little too fragile for my fumble fingers during assembly. The remains of that project found a home in my bits box. The bases are assembled from two pieces of plastic and create a layered effect. They are available separately from the Warsenal Tracking Beacon 3-pack as Tunguskan Bases.

I'm not entirely happy with how the paint jobs worked out. The base coating and highlighting went fine. Unfortunately, the washes broke after I applied them, leading to uneven coats on the figures and the bases. Still, given that this is my first painting project in a long while, I'm willing to live with a "tabletop as long as nobody looks too closely" standard.

Improvised light box on the kitchen table. It has the advantage of folding up for storage.

The initial set of photos that I took in my improvised light box were also disappointing. None of them turned out well. I resorted to snapping a shot of the Havoc Girls in my display case with my phone. The results were a pleasant surprise – not perfect, but better than the ones I took earlier. If this keeps up, I might make it my standard practice – it would certainly be easier!