Just to let people know: I just foudn 3 box sets of the old Star
Frontiers Sathar/pirate spaceship minis. One each of the Sathar Heavy
Cruiser, Light Cruiser and frigate, plus a Pirate frigate and two pirate
assault scouts. IIRC, the Light Cruiser is ~3-4 inches long, so it'd
make a dandy battleship, with the Heavy Cruiser serving as a DN. They're
retailing for $15; if anyone's interested, let me know and I'll grab 'em.
Later,
Excerpts from FT: 20-Dec-97 Old Sathar (Star Frontiers).. by Aaron P
Teske@CMU.EDU
> Just to let people know: I just foudn 3 box sets of the old Star
[snip]
> They're retailing for $15; if anyone's interested, let me know and
Right, two are taken... anyone for the third? (Man, Kochte moves
fast....)
Aaron Teske
Mithramuse+@cmu.edu
> Aaron P Teske wrote:
I found some more Star Frontiers Ships Box sets(UPF and Sathar) at Half Price
Books for about 11 bucks a box. I was tempted to buy some, but I chickened
out. I wonder it they are still there?
> Right, two are taken... anyone for the third? (Man, Kochte moves
It was easy; I didn't have to actually *think*.. ;-}
Mk
Excerpts from FT: 20-Dec-97 Re: Old Sathar (Star Fronti.. by
such@csd.uwm.edu
> I found some more Star Frontiers Ships Box sets(UPF and
For the record, the UPF Battleships are *quite* impressive. Nearly 5" long
once you attach the engines. Very hefty piece of lead.
(And yes, there *was* a UPF box at the store... but that's mine. ^_^ )
Later,
> Surrender?? You tell them they're on the Naughty List! wrote:
You actually *think*? (8-)
(Okay, I know, we're REALLY off topic now...)
J.
On Sat, 20 Dec 1997 17:34:15 -0500 (EST), Aaron P Teske
> <Mithramuse+@CMU.EDU> wrote:
> For the record, the UPF Battleships are *quite* impressive. Nearly 5"
Yup, pretty hefty. I had painted up a fleet of Sathar and a fleet of UPF ships
for the GenCon mailing list game. The UPF ships paint up nicely (even after I
hacked part of the heavy cruiser due to lead rot). They take a while, though,
because they are just so darned big.
I REALLY lucked out at GenCon in 1995. A place was liquidating a tonne (metric
tonne, that is) of old TSR lead. I picked up 6 Sathar boxes and 6 UPF boxes,
as well as a bunch of blister packs. A dozen boxed sets cost a total of
US$20...
As a side note, does anyone have any suggestions for conversions or different
figure lines to add to the UPF and Sathar fleets? There are four types of
Sathar ships (the boxed sets have 3 but there were some "cutters" as well) and
about as many UPF ships. I've painted the ships in a couple of different
colours so I can say, "That blue heavy cruiser is actually a dreadnought, but
the red cruiser is a carrier." However, I'd like to get some additional ships
to add to the fleet. The ships should look like they belong to the same fleet,
if at all possible.
Excerpts from FT: 21-Dec-97 Re: Old Sathar (Star Fronti.. by C.
Excerpts from FT: 21-Dec-97 Re: Old Sathar (Star Fronti.. by Allan
Goodall@sympatico.
> The UPF ships paint up
Hrm... how much of a problem *is* lead rot? I didn't really think of it, but I
just popped open the three Sathar boxes to check, and they do have some
gritty... encrustation? on them. Mostly it's just on the Heavy cruisers, odd
enough, and just on the forward bulge at that... but it's there nonetheless.
(It's also not that bad, mind you, I can rub it off with my fingernail and the
metal underneath looks fine. But if you really need to lop it off, deep...
erm.)
> I REALLY lucked out at GenCon in 1995. A place was liquidating a tonne
Luck-keeeeeeeeee....
> As a side note, does anyone have any suggestions for conversions or
Well, it's not likely to help much, but the Grenadier's Space Squadrons line I
got a while back uses rounded sections a lot... but they have more the long,
cylindrical feel of the UPF ships. <shrug> At this point, I'm probably going
to combine my UPF fleet (I'd already found ~5 Frigates and 8 Assault Scouts)
with those ships, they do look pretty close. But the Space Squadrons line
looks to be older than the Star Frontiers line... and I am, unfortunately,
unaware of any recent
releases. But if you find any, please let me know. ^_^
Later,
Evening Mark
> I found some more Star Frontiers Ships Box sets(UPF and
If your not going to get them for yourself, I'd be interested in the Sather
ships. Were there any of the BB's?
> On Sat, 20 Dec 1997 17:34:15 -0500 (EST), Aaron P Teske
What about some of the SFB (Task Force/Harlequin) Gorns to go with the
Sathar ships? IIRC, similar flattened spheroids for the main hull sections, so
they may look OK together.
First, let me apologize to those who've asked me if I had any for sale; I have
traded one in the past for painting services, but right now I'm holding on to
the ones I have.
Likewise, I don't have a picture, though I might attempt to scan some box art.
Can anybody point out a web site with pics?
I think I pointed this out before, but, the 'Battlers' from the Buck Rogers
box game are dead ringers for the Sather 'Fighters', which, in the game, are
larger than the Fed Scout ships. Not sure how much they fit the fleet look,
but something to consider. Did you get any blisters? I think there was one in
a blister not in the box(flat with two engines).
The SFB Gorn fleet has some real possibilities, especially if you use the old
Enterprise engines! I rather like keeping my SFB fleets the way they are, so I
might add the Sather to the Gorns; thanks for the idea!!! Hell, in the 'fluff'
the Gorn could have built ships using Fed engines under a
lend/lease arraingement.
For extensions to the Fed fleet, 1) do you have enough boxes to try using just
the fore part of the big ship? Very little work, maybe adding less than the
full eight engines, and you have a 'different' ship. Given that I see the
designs as having a 'Victorian iron' look to them, you might try any GDW Space
1889 gunboats you can find. I have some, but, here again, I'm speaking from
looking, and not from trying myself.
Concerning lead rot, it was very spotty in these boxes, some being terrible,
most looking clean. Made you want to buy more, just to make
certain you had a good set for sure. ;->=
The_Beast
jon@gzero.dungeon.com (Ground Zero Games) on 12/22/97 04:29:32 AM
Please respond to FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
To: FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
cc: (bcc: Doug Evans/CSN/UNEBR)
Subject: Re: Old Sathar (Star Frontiers) box sets
> On Sat, 20 Dec 1997 17:34:15 -0500 (EST), Aaron P Teske
What about some of the SFB (Task Force/Harlequin) Gorns to go with the
Sathar ships? IIRC, similar flattened spheroids for the main hull sections, so
they may look OK together. Jon (GZG)
> [quoted text omitted]
Excerpts from FT: 22-Dec-97 Re: Old Sathar (Star Fronti.. by
Doug_Evans/CSN/UNEBR@UNe
> I think I pointed this out before, but, the 'Battlers' from the Buck
?_?
Huh? In the box set, there's a set of minis rule, adn the picture of a UPF
fighter firing on a Sathar fighter; they're roughly the same siz. It also says
to use counters for fighters, so I was kinda assuming they hadn't made any. I
don't know what the 'Battlers' look like, but are you sure you're not thinking
of the frigates, or the transport, which are both quite flat, with two
engines?
> Not sure how much they fit the fleet
Later,
Aaron P. Teske's pithy reply went thusly:
-Huh? In the box set, there's a set of minis rule, adn the picture of a
-UPF fighter firing on a Sathar fighter; they're roughly the same siz.
-It also says to use counters for fighters, so I was kinda assuming they
-hadn't made any. I don't know what the 'Battlers' look like, but are
-you sure you're not thinking of the frigates, or the transport, which
-are both quite flat, with two engines?
Well, I'm not certain how I came up to the conclusion, though I thought the
mini rules had outlines/sillouettes of the ships, and the fighter's came
in a LITTLE bigger than the Fed ships.
I may be thinking of the separate mini rules(Knight Hawks) box, or one of the
mods.
The Buck Rogers game figs have a spherical front with point(sort of like a
mechanical
bird), forward-swept curving wings with two fin/protrusions, and a
little
blister/
cockpit on the main body. AND the vinyl battlers are close in size to, though
I think a wee bit smaller than, the Fed 'scouts' metal minis.
I HATE trying to remember this s**t from w**k; almost as much as if I didn't
have the
time at w**k to waste doing the thinking... ;->=
The_Beast
On Sun, 21 Dec 1997 23:41:11 -0500 (EST), Aaron P Teske
> <Mithramuse+@CMU.EDU> wrote:
> Hrm... how much of a problem *is* lead rot?
It depends on the ship. A couple of my UFP ships were so badly rotted that I
had to excise a turret and some surrounding metal. Not only was part of the
turret gone due to the rot, much of the surrounding metal crumbled into a
powder when I started cutting.
Lead rot is particularly bad in lead figures from the early eighties and
earlier. Later figures tended to have more tin than lead, which makes them
stronger, a little more brittle, and less susceptible to rot. Pewter based
figures should be even better off.
I think that once you paint the figure, you effectively halt the rot at that
point. It creates an air tight seal. I would suggest that anyone picking up
these TSR figures should check them for rot, cut out the rotted bits, and
prime the figures as soon as possible. Even if you don't intend to paint them
for a while, priming them should help to protect them.
> Well, it's not likely to help much, but the Grenadier's Space Squadrons
Well, if I ever find some I'll pick them up. It doesn't look likely, though.
On Mon, 22 Dec 1997 10:29:32 +0000, jon@gzero.dungeon.com (Ground Zero
> Games) wrote:
> What about some of the SFB (Task Force/Harlequin) Gorns to go with the
Thanks, Jon. That's a good idea. I think there are some Gorn ships around
locally, and I think I can still order some.