Weathering cargo containers

I had found these pre-fab HO scale cargo containers at my FLGS/hobby town store. They are made from a sturdy plastic and are pre-painted with company logos and container numbers applied as well. Unfortunately the containers look out of place right out of the bag/box.

I had simply applied a bit of thinned Vallejo wood grain in streaks where I thought water or other corrosives would pool or drip down the container's corrugated surfaces. It never hurt to look at train cars as they passed by either...

100 Ton Scout-Courier

This is another ship design that I really like as it provides several corrections to the original Type-S scout courier design.  The Type-S had issues with the deck plans because there was not enough volume near the 'point' of the triangle to house the bridge and the other components.

You can see another fantastic rendition of this star ship in the blog banner above as well as the conceptualized art work for the T5 rulebook.  This is a wonderful ship design that only suffers from one flaw on the deck plans - that is both an overhead/dorsal exterior hatch.  I would assume that ships of this size and shape would need a way to dock/connect with an umbilicus to other ships easily and this plan is missing that very thing.

Never the less, this is a wonderful ship layout and it can provide a bit more interesting layout for those 'interesting' boarding actions in Snapshot.

Image by Brian Gibson - 2002.

Landing craft for gunners

I had used the pack of Khurasan Miniatures partisan pack (ttc-1401) for the door gunners.

Step 1: Remove pintel mount for the miniature figures.

Step 1a

Step 1b

Step 2: Use a pin-vise a hole in the base of the gun mount. I had used a .032 bit with a .031 brass wire. Glue long brass wire into gun mount on the miniature(s).

Step 2

Step 3: remove the original beam ball turret and cut the armature from the ball turret hinge.

Step 3a

Step 3b

Step 4: pin vise the armature to allow the door gunner's weapon to fit within. Slip the door gunner's brass rod through the armature and snip off the remainder from bottom of armature.

 Step 5: file the cut end of he brass wire to allow it to pass through the armature without too much effort.

Step 5

Step 6: Glue pins into miniatures

Step 6

Step 7: Paint and enjoy

Grav tanks

I had fallen in love with this tank the first time that I had seen the box cover artwork that was produced by Martian Metals "back in the day".  All of the larger models were sold in this box and identified with a typed label.

This grav tank had been the only vision I had had in my head until the The Spinward Marches Campaign supplement was made available and it including a bit more traditional rounded 'Trepida' design for Imperial Armor and power armor within the illustrations.

I have been in luck with finding these grav tanks being sold by RAFM miniatures.  They also produce some of the old Citidel figures as well, which are fantastic even for their age.

'Trepida' Pattern Imperial Grav Tank

Here are two platoons of the RAFM grav tanks.  I had patterned their camouflage and their markings as if they were a German unit fighting along the Solomani rim and had been in the field for a long period of time.  Each of the tanks have a shield pattern applied to the side of the turret to easily identify the 'name' of the vehicle.  Unfortunately some of the hull numbers had come off of the forward hull, so I had given to the idea that the tanks had suffered some damage or re-painting when entering the theater and had not yet had their hull numbers applied.

These models are now available through RAFM miniatures.

Unicorn

Macharius

Wolf

Galacta

Eisernes Kreuz

Platoons four and five

Command Group

Morning Star

Centaur - Base example

Raging Bull

Raging Bull - Left

Centaur

Empress Marava Class Far Trader 15mm Deck plans

In the tradition of 15mm Traveller miniature gaming, many of the original supplements surrounded actions aboard starships where, presumably, there was an awful lot actions aboard star ships.  Surprise inspections by PDF (Planetary Defense Forces), raids by mercenaries with letters or Marque or simply pirates looking to take what there was to be had were the "normal" actions and in some cases the PC's were the pirates!

One of the ships which we had attacked was a Marava class far trader.  At the time we had had to create our own deck plans for this class of ship based on the drawing that was available in the later Traveller Book.

Thankfully, there are a number of new applications available that have allowed this great ship's deckplans and her variants to become available for use with the usual deckplans already available in Snapshot or Azhanti High Lightning.

Dedication and mission statement

This blog is a thank you and a tribute to Marc Miller, Frank Chadwick, John Harshman and Loren Wiseman for all that they had created in the Traveller game and background.  This is intended to become an inspiration, source for deckplans, 15mm and Traveller news and all things 15mm Sci F gaming for everyone who wants to embrace the new T5 project and/or continue the original 15mm sci-fi traditions in true Traveller style!

 

Like many my age, we had begun playing Traveller back in the days when it was first released in 1977.  I had played my first game using 15mm miniatures (Martian Metals) at the Golden Dragon game store; the same store where I had been introduced to Traveller.

That game store was run by a husband/wife team, named Steve and Sue, and I am eternally grateful for the experiences that they had steered me towards.  I am sure that many of you recall the excellent games produced by GDW: Asteroid (although not specifically Traveller), Snapshot, Azhanti High Lightning and of course Striker!

There are many great works contained within the original 'cannon' Traveller series and many addon works produced by other companies as well.  Many of the works produced for the MegaTraveller time frame were also well written and contained many imaginative illustrations for people, places, vehicles and creative alien species to help spark the occasional stumped GM as well as the player's imagination.

With all of the work put into producing the many supplements for playing Taveller in 15mm,   Supplements such as Snapshot, Adventure Class Ships Volume 1, Adventure Class Ships Volume 2, Aslan Mercenary Ships, ISCV: King Richard, ISCV: Leander, ISPMV: Fenris, ISPMV: Tethys, Merchant Class Ships and Start Port Module 1: Hotel Complex, it is somewhat surprising that it had taken till the first part of the 21 century for the 15mm sci-fi scale to finally catch on as a d-facto standard.

Thankfully, today we have many talented sculptors, far better technology (such as 3D printing) for rapid prototyping and much better techniques for producing fantastic miniatures for use in our RPG or miniature games set in the Traveller universe!

Cheers

Scott