Alejor IV - Painting an Arid Planet for Firestorm Armada

I've recently gotten into Firestorm Armada, in addition to Dystopian Wars. My first foray into making terrain for this game is to create a planet for my Directorate fleet to call home. Alejor IV, the fourth planet of the Alejor system. It's very arid but rich in metals and minerals. A small subsidiary to the Directorate, Tansalus Robotics has claimed this world and it's mineral wealth for their own.

I started the project with a 12" diameter hollow Styrofoam half sphere. I briefly sanded it with a fine finish sandpaper and then coated it with mod podge to try and create as smooth of a surface as possible.
Next I painted the entire sphere a dark marine blue. Once that dried I painted a thin coat of turquoise over the dark blue. The idea being for there to be lots of depth and variations of color in the blues.

Ocean painted

Next I needed to draw in some land masses and then fill them in with an earthen color. 

Filling in the landmasses.

After the landmasses dried I dry brushed a sand color on the lower half of the planet as this is supposed to be an arid/desert world. Above the sand I started to add a little more red and brown to the mixture to create a transitional area. I also added some islands and texture to the coast lines to make everything look a little more realistic.

We have deserts and islands!

Next I filled in the upper portion of the land masses with a dark green followed by a light green to give the appearance of plains and forests. This was painted on lightly as I still wanted to retain a lot of variation between the greens and browns. A mixture of a medium brown and red was also used to further deepen the transition between the desert and the northern plains.

Northern plains painted

Next it was time to start detailing the mountains. Using a detail brush I dabbed/blotted along the desert/plains transition to create the illusion of a mountain range. Many of the islands also got a little blot of white as well where I thought a mountain would make sense. The idea was to try and follow a logical path with the mountains. For me I thought maybe a northern mountain range would impede the encroaching deserts allowing for the small valleys you can see below. After that I tried to add snow along the northern coast of each continent.

Mountain ranges and snow.

I detailed a few more mountains and snow and then decided it was time for my Polar Ice Cap. This was just a white paint. Initially I created an outline and then went back and filled it in with white.

Ice Age ho!

After the snow and ice was finished it was time to go through and add some shallow water to further define the oceans. For this I took the turquoise I used for the ocean and mixed a little white and a little light blue. I then very lightly painted this along many of the coasts and around several of the island chains where I thought maybe the water would be a little shallower. Generally closer to the equator had more shallow water than the areas further north.

Shallow waters, check!

Wanting to further define my deserts I took a sand color and mixed a little brown in. I didn't want to completely cover everything painted previously so I wiped of the majority of the paint each time before I blotted the paint on the deserts. The land looked a little more organic this way and still had a lot of depth to it.

Only the clouds left now!

With the terrestrial part of the planet finished I moved on to the final and scariest step.... clouds. Before I even attempted this I researched several pictures of the earth from space on Google to get an idea of how clouds would look from above. I really wanted to capture the depth that people would get from viewing a planet from space. I thinned some white paint and wiped off the brush before each time, leaving only a little paint on the brush I began to blot areas over the water near the pole. It seemed like from the pictures I had looked at that large cloud formations tended to be closer to the poles. I repeated this process until I was satisfied with how the clouds were looking. I tried to be irregular about it as well to make it look more realistic. Overall I am pretty happy with how it turned out and I am definitely looking forward to doing another one!

Alejor IV

Ottoman Empire Vs. Kingdom of Brittania Battle Report

Just a battle report of a skirmish between my Ottoman Fleet and my Brother-in-Laws Britannian Fleet. Our objective was to secure a crashed dirigible at the center of the board.

Ottoman Empire (OE) Fleet List
-Effendi Ender Bast
1 Sadrazam (Dawn Star) with Zuhaf Escort
2 Sinop Monitors
3 Fettah Cruisers
3 Arci
2 HEC Phoenician Airships
2 Vulkan Repair Ships

Kingdom of Britannia(KoB) Fleet List
-Commodore James Ponders
1 Ruler with Dominion Escort
1 Vengeance Submarine
3 Agincourt Gunships with Dominion Escort
1 Lord Hood Battlecruiser
5 Valiant Submarines

The game was played on a 4'  x 4' board with 3 pieces of terrain.

Turn 1
KoB won initiative and activated the Vengeance. It advanced and fired on the Sadrazam. Luckily no damage was scored on the Dawn Star. I activate my Sadrazam and move to broadside the Vengeance. Poor rolls protect the Vengeance from sustaining any damage. The Sadrazam created a storm to block fire from the Valiants and Agincourts when they activate. A KoB Recon SAS is activated. My Phoenicians are activated and move along the edge of the board to fire on the Dominion escorting the Ruler. A critical is scored damaging its weapon systems. My opponents Lord Hood advanced on the Phoenicians and double crits it destroying the unprepared flyer. I activated my Sinops next and fired the bombards on the Vengeance and broadsides at the Lord Hood. The Bombards were unable to damage the Vengeance. The broadsides would have scored a solid critical on Lord Hood unfortunately my opponent rolled quite a few 6s for his shield roll and reduced the damage to nothing. KoB SAW attack the remaining Phoenician damaging it. My Fettahs have some pitiful dice rolls firing at the Agincourts and Valiant Submarines but activate a storm to cover them from fire from the Ruler. The Ruler and Dominion activate next and torpedoes a sinop causing a double crit and magazine explosion destroying it. The resulting explosion crits the other Sinop and destroys and entire friendly support air wing. Firing its turrets the ruler also manages to damage a Fettah. The Arci squadron horribly fails firing at the Ruler, I rolled eight 1s! The Agincourts move to fire on the Fettahs through the storm and manage to destroy the Fettah damaged by the Ruler. To end the turn  the Vulkans fail to repair the damaged Sinop and the Valiants fail their attack on the Sadrazam. All the Ottoman ships pass their disorder tests and the Dominion repairs its weapon damage.

Turn 2
Unfortunately the KoB wins initiative again. My opponent activated his Ruler and Dominion and critically attack the Sadrazam damaging its engine. The ruler also managed to destroy an Arci and damage one of the two remaining Fettahs. On my turn I activate my Sadrazam and turn it so it can broadside the Ruler and Dominion. The Dominion sustains some some damage but Ruler manages to avoid damage due to some more poor rolls. The Zuhaf escort drops a mine in front of the Valiants which is then moved adjacent to the center valiant. At the end of the activation the mine arms and detonates destroy two valiants, damaging one and damaging the Zuhaf above. A KoB SAW attacks the lone Phoenician. The Fettahs swing around the Sadrazam and fire at the Dominion and Ruler. The Ruler doesn't sustain any damage but Dominion takes some damage. The Lord Hood continues to advance on the Sadrazam and fires at the Fettahs. One is double critted causing another magezine explosion and destroying it, the last Fettah is damaged. The Vulkans manage to repair the critical on the Sadrazam. The Agincourts fire through the storm at the Sadrazam and mange to score a hit. The escorting Dominion scores a hit on one of Vulkans. They also torpedo and destroy last Fettah. The Arci move to attack the Valiants but fail to cause any damage. The Vengeance target paints the Arci and fires its torpedoes at the Sadrazam. With some lucky rolls for CC the torpedo attack is mitigated. The Vengeance also captures the objective. The remaining squadron of Ottoman fighers attack the KoB torpedo bomber squadron destroying 4. The lone torpedo bomber attacks the Arci but is destroyed by AA. The Recon planes attack each other but fail to accomplish anything. The Valiants fail to AA the Zuhaf and fails to damage the Sadrazam.

At the end of the turn the KoB retained control of the objective and won the battle. The remnants of the Ottoman fleet slinked away under the cover of their storms. There will be some words spoken with the logistics master back at port. The weapon systems failed miserably and it is very possible that Effendi Bast has enemies in the Sublime Court.

Overall the Ottomans seemed perform well. Unfortunately numerous times when firing at enemy ships I rolled terribly and failed to cause damage which is where the idea of Effendi Bast having an enemy in Court. Hopefully next time my weapons won't be using wet powder.

Ottoman "Retrofitted" Daedalus Class Airship

Taking inspiration from Gouniaf's project to convert a Russian Tunguska I decided to convert one of my favorite airships, the Covenant Daedalus.

http://community.spartangames.co.uk/index.php?/topic/9702-when-the-ottomans-loot-a-tunguska/

When I realized in 2.0 that the Ottoman Separatists were allied with the Covenant and at war with the Ottoman traditionalists it clicked. What would happen if my traditionalist forces had captured a damaged or unfinished Daedalus in Separatist territory. Well now I don't have to wonder anymore, the Sultan has authorized a prototype be built from the captured Daedalus. It will be named the Lion of Antioch or Antakya Aslan.

The Daedalus before being retrofitted

My first task was to saw off the stacks and center portion of the superstructure to make space for the classic Ottoman Dome. I used a Revell made modelling razor saw to do the job. After sawing the section off of the model I used a modelling knife and some very fine sand paper to level and smooth the new section for the future dome. For the dome I took a Fettah cruiser and cut the off the fore piece of structure leaving the dome, four turrets and back structure with spots for the iconic spires. Below is a pre-glued placement of the new additions.

I added the Ottoman turret just to get an idea of what that would look. I need to find a way to acquire an additional turret as all four of the ones I have are currently being utilized by my dreadnought an battleship. Here is what the model looks like with some additional parts and pieces as well as the spires.

The kitbashed model with minuets all put together.

Basecoated model.

Initial coats of paint. Templar blue for the hull, gold for the domes, a chocolate brown for the wood decking and a light ivory drybrushing over superstructure.

Second, overhead picture of the base colors.

Some additional brass, copper and gold tones added. Silver for the broadsides. Minuets painted, and rivets drybrushed white.

Turret painted with a pewter, copper and scorched metal. Wood decking is drybrushed to make look a little more weathered. Red accents on the engines were added to tie into the red on the rest of the fleet.

Final picture of the finished coverted Ottoman Aslan class airship.

Ottoman Desert Shield Support Fleet

Lng have I eyed the stunning architecture of the Ottoman fleets. They really convey a sense of a floating city or fortress. I am also a big fan of the bombards and massive broadsides favored by this faction. I have acquired both the naval battle group and the support flotilla. I have also started a little kit-bash project to make an Ottoman airship. This project was heavily inspired by Gouniaf's "When the Ottomans loot a tunguska" post on the Spartan Games forum. 

http://community.spartangames.co.uk/index.php?/topic/9702-when-the-ottomans-loot-a-tunguska/

More on the project in another post :)

I haven't yet had a chance to play a game with this fleet but I am looking forward to the new 2.0 alliance stats being posted so that I can.

So far I have only had time to paint a few of my ottoman ships. The paints I used were Vallejo Burnt Cadmium Red for the Hulls. Silver for the gunports, ivory for the superstructure and copper for the domes. 

Kanuni Class Dreadnought

Sinop Class Armored Cruiser

Avci Class Destroyers

Chinese Federation Western Tide Fleet

In preparation for the new 2.0 Alliance fleets I will be posting my painted Alliance fleets. One of which should be easy to guess based on the post title. I also have a new Ottoman Fleet that I have been working to get finished up
.
Over the next few weeks if I can find a few nights where I am not too busy I hope to post some pictures of the new fleets.

I will try to post some impressions after a short game with the new 2.0 rules as well. Just as a quick overview it was awesome! Once we got some of the new rules figured out it definitely felt more streamlined. Each ship felt a little more powerful and the capital ships now feel more unique due to the new upgrades you can apply to each. Overall we had a great time though my french fleet would have likely lost to my penguin opponent's fleet had we been able to finish the game.

Back on topic, the Chinese Western Tide Fleet is all painted except for the Liuxing Air Bombards. Currently commanded by the young Sun Feng the Western Tide Fleet is operating off the west coast of Africa in concert with several other Imperial Bond Aligned nations.

The color scheme was developed in the process of trying to indicate which vessels had jade armor. This was acomplished by painting their hulls with Vallejo emerald, then drybrushing with Italian Tank Crew Highlight and Ivory. The roofs were painted terracotta and the superstructure or non jade armored portions of the ship were painted a tan yellow and drybrushed ivory.

Dun Class Bastions

Flotilla of Nu Class frigates backed by two Chui Class support carriers and the Tide Star, Guan Dao Class Battlecruiser

Flotilla of Yue, Wuxing Shaolin a Jian Class Battleship and three Dao class Cruisers

Tide Star amidst the fleet

Letter from Sea

My brother-in-law and had massive 6,500 point battle last weekend. I plan on writing the battle report soon but in the meantime I am publishing a letter recovered before the battle.

March 25th, 1871

My dearest Lyra,

It has been 7 days since we left port in Venice and not a day has passed that I have not missed you. I pray that you an dour children have been blessed with good health in my absence.

Four days prior we passed through the Suez Canal. The canal and port were a wonder to behold. I met with a Lord Aslan Bast and was able to arrange for the fleet's passage. The new alliance forced by the Great War and our relation with Prussia does have some benefits.

I have been filled with sadness for having not been able to write to you sooner. I had to ensure that our passage occurred with the utmost secrecy. We should be arriving tomorrow to the rendezvous point with the Chinese Ambassador. I have heard that Sun Feng is a shrewd tactician and diplomat. Hopefully we will be able to reach an agreement that will benefit both of our great nations.

I am afraid I must cut this letter short my Love. I can hear some of the crew on deck calling out something on the horizon. I will likely not be able to write again until after my negotiations with the Chinese Ambassador.

I would like nothing more than to be home at our manor with you, my Love. Unfortunately, my loyalties to the Pope, the Doge as well as to my crew must be served here first. I will return as soon my work here is done. Pass my love on to our children.

With all of my Love,

Leonardo

Hope everyone enjoys the letter. I will try to get the battle report up soon.

Dystopian Wars Short

Just a fun little short story my Brother-in-law and I took turns writing from the perspectives of our fleet commodores. We had a lot fun writing it, hopefully its fun to read too!

Margrave Leonardo DiMarcus paced the observation deck of his flagship pensively as he listened to the staccato booms of cannon fire in the distance. The lone Arronax class sub had been quite a surprise when it surfaced near the Venetian Fleet's perimeter. Ignoring several warning shots as it closed on the screening cruisers, he had had no choice but to order its destruction.

It just didn't make any sense, the Covenant were not known for throwing away their military so carelessly he thought to himself. "My lord!" A breathless young sailor ran into the observation deck. His silent pondering cut short, he turned.

"Yes?"

"Unidentified vessels approaching from the west!" The surprise attack by the Submersible seemed less surprising suddenly.

"Battle stations!" His mind spinning through a whirlwind of possibilities he looked out the observation windows and caught a glimpse of the Arronax slipping beneath the waves under heavy fire from several Italian cruisers and frigates.

***

And only seconds after it slipped beneath the waves, it rocketed upward through the mid section of one of the Italian cruisers breaking it in half, kraken style. Moments later it opened its massive maw and poured an iridescent beam of power into a frigate squadron, blowing it and its terrified Italian crews to tiny glowing bits.

The fires of burning life boats are a oddly pretty sight on her majesties waters...

"Ahh, peaceful" said Admiral Ponders, with a grin.

***

Margrave DiMarcus mourned the loss of the brave sailors. A brief smile touched his face as the trap was sprung.

Appearing to almost gloat over its victory the arronax was unaware when the waves of Italian torpedo bombers struck, followed by Ucissore torpedo craft and Atlas Assault craft. The scene was beautiful, similar to a ballet, for a military mind. The lithe little triplanes and small assault craft dancing nimbly around the ponderous Aronnax. A death by a thousand cuts thought DiMarcus. The great beast finally exploded, a sickly green explosion, as a sturginium reactor was punctured by a torpedo.

***

"Sir?" asked his second, gazing at the Aronnax.

"Plans within plans." Replies the admiral of the New Londoners with a wolfish grin, watching as the final remnants of the enemy fleet dog piled the flailing Aronnax.

"What?" replied his second quizzically. After a brief pause he continued "Ahh".

Coalescing out of the invisible shadow of the Camouflage field, he was suddenly able to see the battle ships along side and carriers above of his captains fleets as well as the decking under his own feet once again, It was a most disturbing contraption, this generator of Lord Ponders newest allies.

"Shall we show these Venetians the meaning of fire power?" Asked the Captain rhetorically.

"Fire" He said softly.

With a thunderous roar of sound that was felt as much as heard, over a hundred massive gun barrels belched flames and whoosh as the water before the fleet became streaked with the paths of more torpedo's then one could count streaked toward the Venetian vessels desperately trying to bring their small guns to bear on the massive British navy.

Moments later the Venetians evaporated in a cloud of actinic fire and staccato series of explosions as the torpedo's blew the shattered ships in to ever tinier pieces.

"What about DiMarcus's Carrier?" Asked the second, watching the large pontooned ship turn about to flee at the destruction of it remaining ships.

"Wait for it." Replied the Admiral.

With a terrible grating and rending of metal, the massive Vengeance class submarine burst from the waves beneath the Venetian carrier slicing off the starboard pontoon. Slowly almost gracefully the large ship leaned to the side and flipped into the water as it began to sink, spilling planes and Venetians into the sea.

Lord Ponders mouth turned up in a smile at the curses in Italian drifting over the wind.

***

Margrave DiMarcus sighed in frustration as the Venetian Carrier, Atlas, slowly capsized. Its shield generator had done little to nothing it appeared to protect the majestic vessel. The loss of life would be tremendous, not to mention the loss of resources to the Doge. He was not however, surprised by his opponents use of camouflage generators nor the sudden use of brute force in response to the sinking of his beloved Aronnax. He had thought the Atlas would have had a little more time to get away before Britannian fleet arrived.

"Time to move our timetable up a little", he spoke quietly to himself.

"My Lord?" The noble captain standing behind him asked. DiMarcus turned to face his subordinate.

"Radio our allies Captain, tell them the time is nigh."

"As you will, my Lord." The captain turned and gave several quick orders to the crew quietly working on the observation deck.

A deep rumble was all that signaled the arrival of their new opponents. Brittanian ships began to break formation as they realized too late what was descending from above. The Vengeance was caught completely by surprised as the Austrian Airships massive Bomb bay doors opened and dropped their massive payload onto the hapless submarine. The great submarine appeared to almost shutter as it was wracked by explosions from the Austrian bombs. Finally the punishment was too great and with a great sigh the great submarine shattered into several pieces before sinking beneath the waves. In the darkness the Margrave could make out the small shapes of Brittanian sailors deperately trying to find something to cling to in the cool waters of the Ocean.

Lightning continued to arc from the great airships fore Tesla Coils and jumped between numerous ships within the Brittanian fleet. The AA fire from the Brittanian vessels was impressive but didn't seem to affect the great airships as they cut their way through the enemy fleet. Chaos and disarray ran rampant through the Brittanians, several of the smaller vessels collided causing more damage as they attempted to allude the Austrian assault. DiMarcus caught glimpses of fighting on the decks of several of the enemy cruisers. The famed Austrian Luftlancers must have already deployed in hopes of securing some prizes. The Margrave smiled to himself as he watched the Brittanian fleet fleet disperse before the Austrian Airships.

EIMC Harbor part 1

Tonight I focused on painting the buildings for the small island first. Once I have everything done for that I will move over to the larger island. I thought that a company meeting hall would be perfect on top of the small island hill. It would give great views and show off the wealth and ingenuity of the EIMC. I then thought that the mountain/hill could be housing sturginium so I place the storage silo on the island. The dock and crane came naturally after that. I also added some vegetation to the small island to give a little bit of an overgrown look. I added the fort to provide some protection for this hidden outpost.

I have a few more buildings to place on the small island, a refinery for the sturginium and small barracks. Both of which still need to be painted. Hope everyone enjoyed the progress update. I will try to update again soon.

First of several terrain posts

Again, I must apologize for the long delay between posts.

Recently, I began work on a secret EIMC harbor for use in future Dystopian Wars games. This harbor was inspired by a previous game where we had put together a small port/base for a game. If I can find a picture of that game I will post it. The harbor looked and worked really well for not bring painted.

This one will actually be painted. I have attached a photo of the initial island set up. I am currently working on painting and staging the small island. Then I will move on to the large one.