"Help for Novice to Spaceship Gaming" Topic

I'm looking to do a small spaceship combat game project. I have a set of rules in mind, but I'd like some recommendations on models to use. Ideally they will be small and cheap and be able to cover the following types (very Star Wars-ish):

Fighters (1-2 crew small fighters)
Cargo Ships
Transports (like armed assault ships)
Cruisers
Battleships

These do not have to be in anything liked strict scale with each other. They also don't have to be reminiscent of any existing story, just be quite generic types.

Regards

I have re-purposed some of the plastic kit ships from HobbyLinkJapan-just have to be a bit choosy with the particular styles in the Spaceship Yamato type series-

hlj.com/product/BAN33402/Sci
(this ship turns out to be about 5 inches long as do most for this price tag)

some of them are 'scaleless' in design and I use them as 1/300 landers, 1/600-ish destroyers/frieghters etc and as 'big' starship types in fleet games…..
Fighters are best from Studio Bergstrom 1" ranges

link

(Hope this ramble helps!)

irregularminiatures.co.uk 's are worth looking at but with caution link The fighters I like best come from them but also some of the worst do. kallistra.co.uk 's freighters and main ships I like but not their fighters. kallistra.co.uk/?page=22

There are a lot of good stuff around I am sure others will tell of their favourites.

x42

Search Ravenstar's blog. From there search Tinmen and Cold Navy.
In there is Battle Staras well as original stuff. Great for cargo ships and to flesh out fleet ideas.

I will say that if you're looking for cheap, starships are the one area where even a ten-thumbed fellow like me has a reasonable chance of rolling your own.

You are surrounded by plastic junk headed for the trash. Even the simplest of cuts here and there, with a little imagination, will give you something quite workable.

Now, please note, getting me to release my pile-o-Chris (Ravenstar) will involve prying back my cold, dead fingers.

Doug

I second the recommendation for some of the older Bandai kits.

hlj.com/product/BAN33412/Sci
hlj.com/product/BAN33409/Sci
hlj.com/product/BAN61264/Sci – makes a great bulk hauler
hlj.com/product/BAN33410/Sci – awesome passenger shuttle

Also the Silent Death ships have a wide and varied range: link (scroll to the bottom)link

G.

Ground Zero Games. His Full Thrust line has many races and varieties of ships. Also check Studio Bergstrom though his capital ship range is limited. You can get some cheap Micro Machines off eBay from time to time. There is also an OOP line called Star Wars Starship Battles which can be found on eBay.

Brigade Models

brigademodels.co.uk

Ground Zero Games

shop.groundzerogames.co.uk

Studio Bergstrom

studiobergstrom.com

Metal Express/Silent Death

link

Between those four, you've got over a thousand models to choose from, in sizes ranging from "smaller than your thumbnail" to half a foot long. Bergstrom and MX/SD even have larger-scale fighters if you want to focus on the dogfighting end of things.

Ground zero games +1

Checkout out Wormhole:

link

link

I'm using EM4 plastic star fighters from old Silent Dead range plus some Star Blazers Japanese ships from HobbylinkJapan.
See them in action: link
Cheers,

It's much cheaper to buy the plastic SD ships from Metal Express if you're in the US, but for Whirlwind em4 is probably the better choice.

link

I was going to ask if Red Shirt Games was tapped out yet, but never mind!

Doug

I've got some of them in action on my blog.

The "workbench" tag, which includes Brigade, Iron Wind Metals, and Shapeways: link

The "playtest fleets", which are primarily the Cold Navy stuff: link