"Anthing can happen in the next half hour" Topic

These are some shots of the undersea city of Titanica for the 1/100th scale Stingray game for Salute 2015 by the Warlords.

In all fairness, it's only an outpost of the city: a 'wet dock' for some of Titan's Terror Fish submarines but… well, it's big enough as is (last time I was involved with this game a quarter of a century ago we did it in a much smaller scale…)

I will try to add some more detail to it before the big day but I'm fast running out of time.

Fortunately, all nine Terror Fish now are built and painted as are three Stingray class vessels (including not only the eponymous Stingray but also the Tiger Shark and the Barracuda).

The Terror Fish are in resin and painted by Kevin Dallimore. The Stingrays are die-cast with repaints (using custom-mixed spray cans purchased from the local car shop to get the colour match exact) and with custom decals for the new names and numbers. Stands re by CorSec engineering.

Play, damage and order plotting is almost entirely driven by cards and a very few dice rolls: just one each for the players every turn to determine how many actions they take (ie how many cards they play) and one when an umpire controlled Terror Fish shoots at a players' Stingray.

When I say "umpire controlled" the Terror Fish are actually driven by a card driven, automatic 'programme'.

But that's another story. The game will be for three players (six if you really want to double up as pilot and co-pilot to relieve some of the decision making burden) but we only have three hats!*

Games should last no more than an hour each so ask yourself this: can you destroy Titan's fiendish advance base and protect the World Aquanaut Security Patrol? Or will you go down the Davy Jones' locker with a ship punched full of Aquaphibian holes?

More photos, as I get them.

John Treadaway

PS: Oh and – as ever – please ignore the Dalek

* Yes the WASP Troy Tempest hats will be coming out again!

Love the Dalek!

You've got a dalek! I hate you so much right now.

Nice looking game by the way (still hate you though).

Cheers Roger.

Does the winner get to choose between Atlanta and Marina?

Looking forward to seeing this on the day… dare I suggest… plastic guppies and swordtails just like in the original!

Does the winner get to choose between Atlanta and Marina?

Stop it Supercilius Maximus: you'll get woodworm!

Yeah, a puppet joke but it's all I could think of… :)

By the way, there's a lot more scenery than that: it's just that those are the only four bits with buildings on them!

John T

EDIT: Rick, ta! There are some plastic crabs and fish hidden amongst the rocks in the scenery as an homage!

And in case you're wondering why the buildings look like they do, here's the original from the TV:

John T

Looks great!

!!!

That is awesome! I love the tube system!

Jealous of the set-up? Heck, yes!

Great set up.

I always want to see a hamster running thru one of the tubes.

I always want to see a hamster running thru one of the tubes.

YouTube link

1.26 into the video… ;)

John T

Hahaha! That's going to get you dawghoused…too funny.

Mark

I'm very hopeful that good people on TMP will see it in the humorous context it was meant :)

And anyway, I can't help it if I'm an Electric Six fan and own several of the records and DVDs…

John T

John,

I am very impressed both by the buildings and vehicles but also by the very concept of the game.

Thank you very much Patrick

The rules are written by the team based on my UFO rules that I wrote a few years ago and those card examples show some of the pre-written hex moves which you lay as part of your actions (along with firing Sting Missiles, of course!).

The jump cards (each player has a few in different lengths in his play deck) are to enable Stingray Captains to clear scenery that would otherwise block their way forwards (and emulates the opening credits of the TV show with the Stingray leaping dramatically from the water) which is great until you lose them with a damage result after the Terror Fish open up on you!

To give an idea of size, the Stingrays are about 9 inches long.

John T

Do you move the figs for your Dalek friend or does he have some sort of tractor beam to participate?

John,

Inspired by seeing your smaller scale version all those years ago I've bought and stock piled the small scale die-cast models in the hope of eventually playing the game. Might you offer these adapted new rules and cards for sale and/or as a download? Am I right in presuming you've gone for a Wings of War/Glory style card based movement system?

Leidang: the models are all 'sucker friendly' so he does a fine job playing without assistance (though he does tend to be both aggessive and dictatorial…).

Timmo: the UFO rules that the Stingray game is based on are at least 12 years old so I'm not able to make a wings of war comparison.

I should get my act together and produce a PDF of the whole game – I've already done the card front and backs so that shouldn't be too onerous.

John T

Love the Dalek. Love the puppet show. How about Fireball XL5?

@49mountain

Needless to say I have a superb diecast one of those as well.
link

John T

Outstanding, John! Great idea…

Sure, hate you too, with or with old nobby britches.

Okay, adds immensely. Really, enclosed porch…?

Won't ask about the cards and rules being made available, the backlog of stuff has been just too fast and furious. Glorious smorgasbord!

Still, I'll be downloading if you do!

Ah, the AAR! The piccies! The obscure quotes!

I am SO jealous. Oh, sorry, already covered hating you…

Anyone notice in the second shot at top how the tube appears to pierce the chairback and go through to the dalek?

Doug

Doug – I suspect that's how the Dalek controls the Terror Fish…

And the space is my very large conservatory (known – for photograpic purposes – as "god's light-box) which – very sadly – I'll be losing soon when I move.

John T

Only John Treadaway would have an actual Dalek for an assistant….

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

"I should get my act together and produce a PDF of the whole game – I've already done the card front and backs so that shouldn't be too onerous."

John, if you do I'd be very interested in buying a copy.

Brilliant as always.

And don't forget you need Barry Gray's music, especially the drums!!

Very nice indeed :)

cannot wait to see this next week..outstanding sir

Looks great!

Thanks for sharing your pics.

Hope you have a superb event.

Is it me, or does the Dalek appear to be keeping an eye on things.

John, do you own the Dalek, or does the Dalek own/control you?

Type three CCCs on the keyboard, if the latter, and we'll send help.

Love the sonic screwdriver addition to the scenery, i was like , is that, it looks, it is……….. :)
beautiful layout , thank you for sharing it.

John, if you do I'd be very interested in buying a copy.

@ Timmo uk

It might have to be after the game but I'll see what I can do. We've already worked out that most sensible people will do it using Matchbox or Konami kit in about 1/300th so it would seem a good idea to produce the rules.

@ Vespasian28

We are bringing a speaker and some music/bongo drum samples! I have to say that the different levels of readiness – action stations, battle stations and launch stations all with three different levels of drumming – was, as a youngster, one of the most exiting things I'd ever heard (and still sends shivers up my spine on a good day).

@ Leland

I have a Dalek assistant because I just can't get the staff!

Eric, Raptoruk369 and Mako – thanks again: oh -and have no fear – The…. Dalek…. is… not…. controlling… me… exacerbate, exacerbate exacerbate (etc etc etc)

Glad you spotted the Sonic Screwdriver, Raptoruk369: the Dalek passed it to me earlier on – he said some tomfoolery about it being left in his storage cell by a previous visitor but I don't believe a word he says, to be honest :)

John T

"Love the sonic screwdriver addition to the scenery, i was like , is that, it looks, it is……….. :)"

"Glad you spotted the Sonic Screwdriver, Raptoruk369:…."

Okay, now I know I wasn't seeing things…..

Duck

I have a Dalek assistant because I just can't get the staff!

John,

c'mon now, Daleks are *better* than staff, as they actually *obey!*

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

What Dalek?

The big red one?

John T

More news from the front…

Titan's Terror Fish production:

Stingray, Barracuda and Tiger Shark being decaled.

Close ups of fish:

And everything together:

Thanks to Kevin Dallimore for the WIP painting shots.

Hopefully I'll have more shots of an actual game – scenery, Stingrays and Terror Fish – on Monday with luck.

John T

Love the terror fish!

Brilliant! I must add this to my list of 'stuff to look out for' at Salute!

TheBeast – we don't really do American-style porches over here. Too much rain probably!

PS….one should NEVER ignore a Dalek…..

I remember seeing the original game, at Salute I think. It looked fantastic with all that vegetation.

Thanks sumerandakkad: you have a long memory!

Pictures below of that old game:

The latest game has a similar amount of (proportionally) tall rock formations as the old one but, obviously, much bigger (around 6 inches tall – like the ones in the shots above) to suit the 1/100th size of the vehicles – about six time bigger than my old white metal ones. In addition, I've bought an awful lot of fish tank plants to dress them with (and the odd plastic fish!).

Most sensible people (who aren't doing a show game) might do this, as I mentioned earlier, with the 1/300th or so Matchbox or Konami models:

Matchbox

Konami

The Konami are nicer models with clear eyes for the Terror Fish and better detail on the Stingray but they are more expensive.

All are available on eBay

John T

John,

Your game inspired me to put together my own (sorry, don't seem to be able to post pictures directly at the moment) in micro scale, ships created by a friend, using your old rules as a basis and some damage/random event cards.

flic.kr/p/p5xrzo

Your new game looks excellent, so looking forward to seeing it at Salute. I am putting on a James Bomd skiing game, so may not have the opportunity to do more than just come and admire the set up. Your cards look great and reminiscent of the board game "The Great Space Race".

And I would love to see a PDF of your new rules too. My boys love playing Stingray and I have been looking to create something a bit simpler.

Nice shots commanderog: one thing I can guarantee is that the rules are certainly simple!

John T

Your Fireball XL-5 is beautiful. Now I hate you, too.

You may be interested to know that the game I am running at two conventions this year revolves around extracting a spy code-named "Agent X-2-0".

(The game is StarGrunt II, played with 25mm figures, and set in the Traveller Universe.)

@Glenn: "all for the glory of the Mighty Titan!" (said in a Peter Lorre voice!)

John T

As promised: shots from the game tonight:

The Barracuda in close combat:

The Control Consoles are nearly finished:

Terror Fish lay in wait around Titanica

The Gallant Crew

Attacks going in on Titanica

An octopus lies in wait

Multiple Stingray class vessels attack!

Tigershark launches a missile

A docked Terror Fish

Anyway – for those that are coming: see you Saturday!

John Treadaway

Awesome

I like that there is more of an undersea canyon feel and the terror fish docks. Do you have rules for a giant octopus attack?