Well, I'm back from GenCon. Had a great time(even when running games back to
back with little to no sleep, food, or restroom breaks). I met Allan and Mark
from the list and they seemed to be having a good time. The highlight of the
event was meeting Jon Tuffley. He's an interesting dude with plenty of
knowledge regarding gaming and military stuff. He also likes Anime quite a bit
and always has a joke or two to share.
When running some games it was interesting having Jon standing right next to
you. If any question came up that you weren't sure of, you could ask Jon and
get an immediate answer. One player asked: "Why does that guy seem to think he
knows all the rules?" I replied: "He designed the game." Player: "Oh." I hope
he can make it back next year. No funny jokes about elephants, OK Jon?
> Allan Goodall wrote:
Unfortunately most of the dealers were not offering "deals", just access to
a lot of stuff(and junk) in one place. Geo-Hex offered some good
discounts on their products and anyone who played one of our events received a
$5
coupon to use towards a Geo-Hex purchase.
I did get a lead on someone with old Superior miniatures. Aside from that the
only spacecraft I found included: FT line(finished my Kra'vak and FSE fleets),
RAFM Traveller ships(which are still in production, but having difficulty
finding the Fang class gunboats) and Silent Death(nice looking
large ships and affordable - $4.50ea), Starblazers minis(expensive
little suckers!), Spacefleet(also expensive!:(), and a couple odds and ends. I
was really disappointed by the selection of ship miniatures since this is the
big event to find cool stuff.
> I had a good time, though I only got one game of FT in. It was a good
I'm not sure which event you were in (Fire in the Sky?), but we did have some
delays with scenario related rules for Fire in the Sky. Fire in the Sky for
those who did not attend, is a scenario about an invasion fleet trying to
break through a planetary defense grid to land armor and troops. Fire in the
Sky introduced mines and mine defenses, starbases, a wave gun, various fighter
types(including new fighter bombers), and a planetary gravity well.
All said and done, it took about twice as long to explain than normal novice
blast-a-buddy or frag-a-friend games. I plan to run a similar scenario
at PentaCon with improvements and intermediate level players(hoping to skip
basic rules and just move to the scenario stuff).
Allan, sorry your game didn't run as long as you would have liked. We might
run intermediate games next year to help give players with experience more
play time. All GZG games at GenCon this year were free and meant as
introductory games to get more involvement. Overall, I felt the con went
great. Every game had a full load of players with others standing nearby to
jump in if a slot was open.
> I think next time (i.e. next GenCon) we should see if we can find a
Sounds good to me. I would like to meet more list members next year and
hopefully have more time to do something. Curious, but how many attended? How
many played GZG games?
Still lacking sleep,
Mr.Miserendino mentioned that although expensive, he did find both Starblazers
and Starfleet miniatures at GenCon.
Mike, did you get a phone number or address of the dealer(s)? I for one would
also be interested in getting my hands on these (2) hard to find miniature
ranges.
Thanks
> kosta kalogeropoulos 956-6476 wrote:
Maybe I could be of some help...
I too saw the Yamato minis Mike mentioned (they were very nice).
However, I thought they were for display and not for sale (the people running
the both had some finished ships in a display case and there was no rack of
packaged minis). I got the outfit's business card and called them up yesterday
regarding these minis. A Mr.Keith Johannsen told me that the mini's were
indeed for sale and are part of an upcoming (this fall) space combat game
called (Come on, guess.) "Starblazer." He has also come up with some "Legends
of the Galactic Hero's " minis and will perhaps produce a repective game
system that is based on the "Starbalzer" game. (Sadly these are not yet
available because Mr.Johannsen has not received permission to produce
them...yet!)
If you want a price list write:
Mushashi Enterprises, Inc.
c/o Kieth Johannsen
2613 S. 30th Street Milwaukee, Wi. 53215
...or Fax him at:
1-414-383-7791
Later,
> At 06:31 PM 8/12/96 -0400, Mike wrote:
Good point. I didn't use the Geo-Hex coupon because I bought one of the
large hex starmaps. I noticed that it cost $5 more than last year, but they
had a 20% anniversary discount on them so I came out ahead. Geo-Hex had
a
very good selection of lead and resin. I wish their starmap "add-ons"
were out for GenCon (they come out on August 15; bad timing).
<<snip>>
> RAFM Traveller ships(which are still in production, but having
If you want, I can see what I can do about them. RAFM is made in Cambridge,
Ontario, about an hour away from Toronto. I've never had problems getting RAFM
stuff. I'm glad to see that they're still in production.
> and Silent Death(nice looking
Almost bought some myself, but I had to draw the line SOMEWHERE.
> Starblazers minis(expensive little suckers!)
You've got that right! Do you know if they came pre-painted?
> I
Me, too, though I was looking more for Stargrunt stuff. I bought a lot of
Living Steel figures. I enjoy the Living Steel/Phoenix Command system,
and the Neemis Enterprises sets in particular make good SG2 figs. Depending on
where you got them, $5 to $7 got you 5 figures in combat armour and 3 in power
armour, as well as a plastic padded carrying case. I bought 11 sets (5 Neemis,
2 Starguild, 2 Dragoncrest, 2 Seven Sword).:) I also got some resin Kryomek
grav tanks. Deals, though, were few and far between. One of the better deals
was ICE selling 48 Silent Death ship stands for $5. Last year there was a
great deal on old Star Frontiers miniatures: $2 per set of six ships, or 12
boxes for $20. This year, someone was selling a set of the same ships, with a
vary basic paint job, for $75.
> I'm not sure which event you were in (Fire in the Sky?), but we did
The event was "Helm, Full Thrust". I felt that for an introductory game there
were too many ships per person (two capital ships, a cruiser, and two escorts
per person was common, with at least one ship a side carrying fighters). It
made for a good game for experienced players, but it took too long to resolve.
On the other hand, everyone involved got an excellent feel for the game as a
whole, so maybe I'm just being picky. One excellent point, though, was setting
up each side along the long ends of the table, not the short ends. This meant
that ships were in range on turn one. I would strongly suggest this for anyone
doing a demo game.
> Allan, sorry your game didn't run as long as you would have liked.
Hey, I still enjoyed myself, and that's REALLY all that counts.
> We might
I'd appreciate that.
> All GZG games at GenCon this year were free and meant as
For all my bitching:) the other players in the game really enjoyed themselves
and more than one bought the rules while they were there. Spreading the word
is almost as important as everyone enjoying themselves.
> I think next time (i.e. next GenCon) we should see if we can find a
It might be a good idea to post the scenario here ahead of time and then try
to find a place to play. This shouldn't be too hard...
> On Tue, 13 Aug 1996, kosta kalogeropoulos 956-6476 wrote:
> Mr. Miserendino mentioned that although expensive, he did find both
I'm curious too. I have made it one of my life's quest to find as many of the
small Star Blazer ship models as possible.
> At 10:31 PM 8/12/96 +0000, you wrote:
> I'm not sure which event you were in (Fire in the Sky?), but we did
Sounds like an interesting scenario. Could you post more details on the
scenario please?
James
> Mark wrote:
> perhaps produce a repective game system that is based on the
I believe they were running several Strablazers games at the Con using the new
rules. At one time, a group was playing a Starblazers game next to our FT game
using the plastic mini models.
When I stopped to check out a mecha-style game, a friend pointed out
several Starblazer ship cards. I'm not sure if they were used in the
Starblazers games, but they looked really cool. The front of the card had a
color picture of a Starblazer ship while the back had Full Thrust system
symbols all over it with several Earth ships using a wave gun or modified wave
gun. The card was sleeved in a collector card plastic holder. This way, as the
ship took damage, systems could be marked out with a marker and wiped clean at
the end of the game. Great idea for reusing ship forms.
> Mushashi Enterprises, Inc.
Yep. That's the company.
> On Wed, 14 Aug 1996, Mike Miserendino wrote:
> Mark wrote:
Since I started play FT (3 months ago -- yes, a newbie) I've always used
overhead pens on copies of the blank ship sheet inside a plastic sleeve. I'd
always done the same thing when using Battletech mech sheets. But
making card-sized individual ship sheets (they're small enough) and
puting
them in card sleeves is a great idea. I'd actually put them in 9-card
folder sheets so you have your entire fleet in front of you. Sure beats having
to redraw each of the ships every new game.
> James wrote:
Sure. Try to post it soon.
> Allan wrote:
Thanks for the help. I will try again locally. If I can't get them I'll let
you know.
> Starblazers minis(expensive little suckers!)
A friend bought a handful of unpainted ones, so I assume that's the way they
come from the manufacturer.
> Last
Last year I bought three sets for a $1.00 each. The dealer selling the painted
SF minis for $75 must have thought he had some nifty art skills or something.
$75, What a joke!
> The event was "Helm, Full Thrust". I felt that for an introductory game
We try to use a variety of ships to give players a chance to try the different
types, and also so that they don't get blasted away in a short time. Since FT
revolves around fleet engagements, it's appealing to command your own battle
group. We will be working more on supplying faster start times.
> One excellent point,
Yep. Works great - fire usually exchanged on first turn.
> Hey, I still enjoyed myself, and that's REALLY all that counts.
Glad to hear(read) it.
> On Tue, 13 Aug 1996, Mike Miserendino wrote:
> Kosta wrote:
A gaming store here in Columbus, OH still has the plastic Federation ship
models (Dreadnought, Crusier, Destroyer, Tug) and metal Klingon D-7.
If you want the address and phone number, I can provide it.
> >Mike, did you get a phone number or address of the dealer(s)? I for
Mike,
I just talked to Steve Smith of Pentacon games organizers... My Star Warriors
game has been moved to 6th session (last one on saturday night), and we are
still on for friday night's Macro thrust with the Circle of Death scenerio.
There MAY be a conflict in games with Friday night for the stage, but we're
working on it. ALSO, Steve told me you haven't turned in your game master
registration forms yet! You need to get on that as your deadline is like two
weeks from now. He explained to me why you didn't get your own packet, and I
will talk to you about that later.
> Kyle Klingler wrote:
Thanks, but the miniatures in question are Superior Starfleets (no relation to
ST) which came out sometime in the 70's. I've been trying to find these
ships for some time. Supposedly, Superior re-released them a year ago
in pewter, but they didn't sell well, so they dropped them again. If anyone
knows where I can find these ships as well as the old Stardate: 3000 ships I
would really appreciate it.
In a message dated 96-08-17 10:51:50 EDT, you write:
<< Thanks, but the miniatures in question are Superior Starfleets (no relation
to ST) which came out sometime in the 70's. I've been trying to find these
ships for some time. Supposedly, Superior re-released them a year ago
in pewter, but they didn't sell well, so they dropped them again. If anyone
knows where I can find these ships as well as the old Stardate: 3000 ships I
would really appreciate it.
> [quoted text omitted]
According to other nebulous sources, superior is "NEVER" going to reproduce
the ol' Starfleet Wars Minis. I've been looking for 'em for years now and the
pewter rumor is a new one on me......
Hey, does anyone OWN a copy of Starfleet Wars?
Gene
> << Thanks, but the miniatures in question are Superior Starfleets (no
I used to, before mice got into where I was storing things and dined on the
rulesbook heavily. :-(
Still have some of the minis, though. :-)
Mk
> Gene wrote:
I realize these minis might not see production again. The question was
directed at finding existing ones floating around that someone might be
willing to sell. As far as the pewter 'rumor' goes, this came from a friend of
mine that's been trying to buy the molds from Superior for some time.
He
was informed by Superior about the pewter versions and why they dropped them.
> Hey, does anyone OWN a copy of Starfleet Wars ?
Wish I did. I would like to convert the ships to FT based on their old stats.
> >Hey, I still enjoyed myself, and that's REALLY all that counts.
Ditto. I played the FT, and liked it enough to run down to the dealer's room
and buy the rules! Good job...
I already have a couple of ideas for rules variants/options, which I'll
post separately.