| Lysander | 28 Jul 2015 9:14 p.m. PST |
I am preparing to run an RPG with a significant tactical component (probably using TW) near TAANSTAFL on Aurore in the Traveller 2300 universe. I will be using GZG Crusties as Kafers. I am struggling to identify miniatures I might use as a "Bugbus", "Crawler" and "Deathsled". I will generally be using GZG vehicles for the humans since GZG has so many "not Traveller 2300" vehicles but am struggling with Kafer vehicles. I assume Kafer vehicles are generally larger (and more brutish). Since I will be using GZG vehicles that are a bit smallish, I think there are a lot of manufacturers that have vehicles that seem large compared to GZG but not many come to mind that seem "Kaferish". None that I have seen look much like the vehicles in the sourcebooks. I have seen folks recommend the Vietnam era LVTP as a "Bugbus" (and it DOES look really cool) but I am struggling with using it since it actually IS an LVTP. I am not looking to absolutely match the Traveller 2300 sourcebooks but rather find something that feels right…..and alien. Any suggestions would be helpful. |
| Buckeye AKA Darryl | 29 Jul 2015 3:21 a.m. PST |
I think the Kra'vak range of vehicles from GZG are close. link |
| Goober | 29 Jul 2015 4:40 a.m. PST |
I've used a mix. Crawler: rebelminis.com/eafocofl.html
Deathsled: link (although almost any big hovertank will do)
Bugbus: link or link
Floater: – the alien APC from Old Crow. It's cast on demand now, so no linky, I'm afraid. |
| Col Durnford | 29 Jul 2015 5:27 a.m. PST |
I always liked the Kafers in spite of the poorly chosen name. |
| Goober | 29 Jul 2015 6:09 a.m. PST |
Kafer means beetle in German. The name has nothing to do with the similar sounding racist slur. |
| Col Durnford | 29 Jul 2015 7:08 a.m. PST |
It really doesn't matter about the origin of the word. I still believe it was poorly chosen and that the authors should have know full well what they were doing. |
Patrick Sexton  | 29 Jul 2015 7:49 a.m. PST |
Kaffir (racial term) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
link
Wikipedia
The word kaffir was used in South Africa to refer to a black person. The word is derived from the Arabic term kafir (meaning 'disbeliever'), which originally had the …
Etymology – Historical usage – Modern usage – Slang |
| LoudNinjaGames | 29 Jul 2015 7:54 a.m. PST |
No… Kafer is German for beetle. -Eli |
| Zargon | 29 Jul 2015 8:54 a.m. PST |
Welll someone has a largish chip on his shoulder, if we sanitised all that was deemed unacceptable we'd have lots of blank pages in our libraries, perhaps if the dude in question says 'out damned spot' it'll go away. The Kafer was actually a name for the wartime VW beetle as Goober and others say.
Cheers off to fight the sanitised Cape Frontier War as the sensitive renamed it. |
| Zargon | 29 Jul 2015 11:03 a.m. PST |
BTW Lysander there was an article on the Kafer on the Old Ambush Alley forum not sure if its still around, my thinking the transport would be primitive and bulky with open top sort of like versions of the WW2 M2s and the like with no paint or very basic paint and markings, I get a feeling that as a cannibalistic, anamalistic savage type of alien, they come across as the thinking mans Scifi orc.
Cheers |
| Col Durnford | 29 Jul 2015 11:25 a.m. PST |
The Kafers were not cannibals, nor did they eat humans (that's all human propaganda). I seem to recall there were some pictures of their transport in one of the books. I remember the "Bug Bus" looked something like a M-113 with a very long body. |
| Goober | 30 Jul 2015 4:30 p.m. PST |
The eponymous Kafer Sourcebook had lovely colour plates. The Crawler was an open topped, tracked vehicle, not unlike a BTR-50. Bugbus is an enclosed, tracked APC, very similar to the LVTP-5. The Deathsled is a hovertank of prodigious size bristling with weapons, some facing in opposite directions (because – aliens). |
| TheBeast | 30 Jul 2015 4:42 p.m. PST |
And the 'Crawler' looks even more like one, and shorter. The tail of the Bugbus is vertical, and the side plates remind me of something Soviet, but not sure what. The Deathsled hovertank is a flat, slightly slope-sided, brick. At least, from the side-only images I've got. Doug Edit: Sorry, Goober. It actually took me that long to write my few sentences. Does sound like you've got a better view of 'em. I guess I would have said 'bristling brick'. ;->= |
| emckinney | 30 Jul 2015 4:54 p.m. PST |
I remember the "Bug Bus" looked something like a M-113 with a very long body. Not, not at all. It was bleeping long, though. link |
| Lion in the Stars | 30 Jul 2015 5:54 p.m. PST |
Looks like an M113 with an entire Marder grafted onto the front! |
| Lysander | 31 Jul 2015 5:46 a.m. PST |
Yes, I have all the Sourcebooks (multiples in some cases). The Bug Bus carried 17 troopers. It's huge and I am not sure there is anything like a match for it. Someone mentioned GZG Kravak vehicles but I have 2 problems there. Since it is GZG, it will be smallish and I expect Kafer vehicles to be largish compared to humans. The other problem I have is that it appears to be gravitic – not tracked or hover. No anti-gravity in the 2300 universe. |
| emckinney | 31 Jul 2015 11:03 a.m. PST |
The Crawler was an open topped, tracked vehicle, not unlike a BTR-50. Bugbus is an enclosed, tracked APC, very similar to the LVTP-5. Crawler is the closed one, Bug Bus is open. Looks like an M113 with an entire Marder grafted onto the front! Open-topped, though, so rather different in detail. Actually, pretty different overall. The only similarity is that it's fairly slab-sided. |
| emckinney | 31 Jul 2015 11:03 a.m. PST |
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| emckinney | 31 Jul 2015 11:11 a.m. PST |
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| Goober | 31 Jul 2015 9:29 p.m. PST |
Sorry, yes. I got them mixed up. The new Mongoose version of 2300AD has reimagined versions of both Crawler and Bugbus in the French Arm Adventures scenario book. Crawler resembles something like a sleeker version of the Landram from Battlestar Galactica, and the Bugbus is an open topped halftrack, something like a BTP-60 with the rear wheels replaced by tracks. |
