"Brigade & GZG compatability?" Topic

Just wondering how the starships from both these companies compare in terms of relative size & detail – yes I know it's for a space game so technically it really doesn't matter but I'm just curious as to how big for example the Brigade ONESS British 'Fisher' Superdreadnought is compared to a similarly described hull type from GZG.

I already own *hundreds* of GZG Full Thrust models and I'm pondering expanding my collection to include some Brigade stuff (probably either ONESS Brits or Neo-Soviets) but I want them to look roughly equivalently scaled on the tabletop. Am I making any sense here?

Yes, and the Brigade Models line generally lines up pretty well with the GZG line. I think that generally the Brigade Models stuff tops out out a slightly smaller size; the Dreadnought size ships from Brigade tend to be around GZG BDN size.

-Will

I agree, there's a bit of a different feel (in terms of style) to them, so I wouldn't necessarily mix them in one fleet without handwaving that they come from different shipyards. A few of the Brigade fleets are mixed in with some GZG ships for my Third Imperium fleet.

I get that a lot of people like to look at their forces as having a coherent look for ease of identification of faction, but I wouldn't be worried about the detail differences. Just look at the disparity in styles of ships in modern fleets and it'll be easy to believe that different builders/designers would come up with different styles.

Oh, and they size pretty well, no worries.

The differences in style can also be explained as a matter of production timeline.

For my sci-fi setting I assumed that starships had long operating lives during peacetime (not much wear and tear in a vacuum) and so ships constructed decades apart could end up serving next to each other when hostilities break out. The older hulls (hopefully) would have received refits and so wouldn't necessarily be obsolete in terms of performance, but they keep many aspects of the older 'look'. That can add a fun dimension if you use rules with a range of results in detection/scanning – the player doing a scan on an enemy may identify a hull as a particular type, but not have full information on which refits it has.

As well, if there are peripheral powers in the setting, ships that are past their "use by" date can be sold on to them, allowing you to justify having hulls originating from different timelines AND from different nations operating together.

My GZG fleets already contain a mix of the old hull designs and the new ones (I first bought into GZG in the 90s I think); I simply explain it away as new technologies being introduced and new hulls being designed to accommodate it. Since I maintain a similar paint scheme between the old and new ships in the same fleets it seems to work okay. I kind of get a nuBSG Galactica/Pegasus old/new effect :)

I probably wouldn't mix the Brigade and GZG stuff in the same fleet but develop completely new separate fleets to be honest. They would probably both be on the same table at once though (fighting each other most likely!) hence my curiosity about how they match up. Sounds like it's worth picking up a sample fleet pack or two at the very least, probably from Scale Creep since I'm in the US right now.

Another use for the Brigade stuff, or Ravenstar BSG ships is that of pirate/corporate merc ships, or even new factions. I also borrowed some Ravenstar ships to use as civilian govt-owned system defense ships (5-row hulls, no FTL).

You could also use a particularly nice Brigade ship mini as a one-off from a new shipyard. Note the differences in even US Navy ship designs (Perry class for example; it looks rather different than previous designs).

So I say if you like the look, go for it. :)

I have fleets from both and they scale quite well with each other.