Full Thrust Custom Pirate Cruiser "Anarchist"

This kitbashed figure last appeared in the pirate gallery post over here, but since then I've recovered the original background story and stats via the Wayback Machine so I'll give it a showcase of its own.

One of the most appealing things about the Ravager Rim Raider pirate ships is the jury-rigged nature of their ships, which really lends itself to unique kitbashes and conversions.  So, when I got  slightly defective ESU escort cruiser (quickly replaced by GZG, I might add) that sheared in half just in front of the aft hull, I decided to try my hand at some styrene sculpting.  Turns out the style of the existing Ravager designs is fairly easy to capture and after a little work I had a fine new medium cruiser for my fleet.

For anyone wondering, the ship's name is a nod to my Star Fleet Battles days, a game which features a similar salvage job involving the Hydrans getting their hands on the rear end of a Klingon cruiser following a mutiny, with the resulting vessel known as the D7H Anarchist.

Ravager Rim Pirate Cruiser Anarchist

The pirate vessel calling itself "Anarchist" began life as the Oriskany-class escort cruiser Grigori Wu.  The vessel was lost in action during a confused battle between NAC, ESU, and Sa'Vasku forces, and her fractured wreck was left adrift in space when the surviving ESU forces withdrew from the combat zone.   

At some point thereafter a group of Rim-dwelling "entrepreneurs" recovered the ship's relatively undamaged rear section and sold it to local warlord Dominic Faro, who used it as the basis for the latest addition to his fleet.  The irony of employing an ESU ship (or at least part of one) against its former masters was especially appealing to Faro, who had served as an ESU colonial director prior to the outbreak of the Xeno War.

The Anarchist has been involved in several convoy raids and pillaging expeditions against isolated colony worlds and mining outposts, and is currently subject to a "Destroy On Sight" directive from the Chiang Military District High Command for its role in the destruction of the 177th People's Population Reallocation Squadron.

The stats below use the optional rules for variable numbers of hull rows found over here.  Six rows is as fragile (and cheap) as it gets, and reflects the Anarchist's status as a salvaged wreck that's had a whole new front end welded to it by a bunch of dodgy space pirate mechanics.

Pirate Cruiser Anarchist

TMF 68

NPV 201 / CPV  179

Thrust 6 q 3 q

FTL q

2 Fire Controls qq

4 Class 1 Beam Batteries (All Arcs) qqqq

2 Class 2 Beam Bateries (F/FS/FP) q (All Arcs) q

2 Class 2 EMP Beams (F/FS/FP) qq

1 Needle Beam (F) q

Cargo Bay (Mass 4)

Six-Row Hull 20 (4/4/3/3/3/3) - 4 crew units, one every 5th box

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Starship Miniatures Post Index 

Full Thrust ESU Custom Builds and Game Stats

Kamchatka-class Battle Carrier

These custom ESU ship variants were originally posted to a long-defunct site belonging to an old employer of mine, but the Wayback Machine and the fortuitous find of some some old images has let me bring them back from oblivion.  Most of these are extremely simple kitbashes that anyone could do if you want to add some added variety in your ESU Full Thrust fleet.  The basic models that were used here are still available through GZG over here, although the fighters have been replaced with new, remastered versions.

You can see the the stock builds (and a few rogue images of these kitbashes) over at my main ESU gallery. 

 

ESU Pankov-class Strikeboat Tender

While officially designated as support craft for the ESU Frontier Exploration Program, the Pankov class armed tender is more often encountered in combat roles than in scientific ones.  Rather than supporting squadrons of far-roaming scouts and survey vessels, they provide repair and replenishment facilities for the increasing numbers of Cossack-class strikeboats employed in the fleet.  Built on a heavily modified Nanjing escort carrier hull, they retain the full armament of their parent class but trade the carrier's hanger bays for extensive fueling and maintenance equipment specialized for servicing smaller vessels.

Pankov-class Strikeboat Tender
TMF 102 (includes 21 Mass dedicated to fuel tankage, ammo stores, and repair parts for servicing small starships, as well as some surprising decent "guest rooms" for their tiny crews to get out of their flying coffins for a short break between missions)
NPV 293/CPV 257
Thrust 4 q 2 q
FTL q
Level 1 Screen q
2 Fire Control Systems qq

ADFC q

4 PDS qqqq
5 Class 2 Beam Batteries (F/FP/FS) q (F/FP/AP) q (F/FS/AS) q (All Arcs) qq

Repair & Resupply Facilities (treat as Cargo) qqqq

Armor 2, Hull 24 (6/6/6/6) - 6 crew units, one every 4th box

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The mini below uses the main hull and side engines from the FT-239 battlecruiser, and the prow and tanks from the FT-262 fleet tanker, plus a bit of plastic tubing to make the aft replenishment couplings.  Simple little kitbash, and the ship has enough combat ability to make life hard for light raiders striking at a fleet supply convoy or group of Cossacks with empty missile racks.  The rearm/refuel/repair process is much too slow to complete during a battle, so the mass used for it is priced as for any non-combat equipment.  If you're playing a campaign you'd want to increase the ship's cost a bit to reflect its utility for rearming strikeboats between battles away from base.

ESU Kamchatka-class Battle Carrier

The Kamchatka-class battle carrier is a controversial design within the ESU fleet.  A "jack of all trades" intended to provide both gunline and carrier capability on a single hull, it performs both functions somewhat poorly for its size and cost.  The current admiralty favors more specialized and economical vessels and the class is likely to remain in strictly limited production for the foreseeable future.

Kamchatka-class Battle Carrier
TMF 142
NPV 489/CPV 465 + fighters
Thrust 4 q 2 q
FTL q
Level 1 Screen q
2 Fire Control Systems qq

ADFC q

4 PDS qqqq
6 Class 2 Beam Batteries (F/FP/AP) qq (F/FS/AS) qq (All Arcs) qq

2 Class 3 Beam Batteries (F/FP/FS) qq

2 Fighter Bays qq

Armor 4, Hull 37 (10/9/9/9) - 8 crew units, one every 5th box

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The mini below uses the aft hull and side engines of the FT-245 escort carrier, the prow of the FT-29 battlescruiser, and the dorsal engine of the FT-240 battleship.  The dorsal engine requires a bit of trimming to fit securely but it's a simple enough kitbash all in all.  The parts required are a bit of a chore to accumulate, though.

ESU Sheng Li-class Strike Carrier

Produced as a lower-cost alternative to the Changchun light carrier, the much smaller Sheng-Li retains a full four-squadron fighter group as well as respectable medium medium-range beam armament.  The design is derived from standardized hull sections from both the Khalinov and Changchun classes, but the resulting ship is overstressed by its weapons payload and plagued by "minor" engineering issues problems, making it much less resilient than most ESU vessels.

Sheng Li-class Strike Carrier
TMF 147
NPV 508/CPV 412 + fighters
Thrust 4 q 2 q
FTL q
Level 1 Screen q
2 Fire Control Systems qq

ADFC q

4 PDS qqqq
5 Class 2 Beam Batteries (F/FP/FS) q (F/FP/AP) q (F/FS/AS) q (All Arcs) qq

4 Fighter Bays qqqq

Armor 4, Hull 36 (9/9/9/9) - 8 crew units, one every 5th box

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The mini is created with a simple part swap attaching the FT-243 light carrier prow to the aft hull of the FT-240 battleship.  This leaves you with parts required to build the FT-241 battledreadnought, making this an unusually efficient conversion.

ESU Dewu Lo-class Light Battleship

Named for its chief naval architect, this class was built primarily in the Chiang Military District as an economical capital ship.  They are "light" only in comparison to the massive Khalinov class, and along with the Pobyeda battlecruisers they provide much-needed numbers to the ESU battleline.  The "light" designation also helped calm the Central Planning Committee on Earth regarding exactly what sort of empire-building was going on in the distant reaches of ESU territory, which is never a bad thing for ambitious colonial bureaucrats.

Dewu Lo-class Light Battleship
TMF 124
NPV 422/CPV 452
Thrust 4 q 2 q
FTL q
Level 1 Screen q
3 Fire Control Systems qqq

ADFC q

4 PDS qqqq
5 Class 2 Beam Batteries (F/FP/FS) q (F/FP/AP) q (F/FS/AS) q (All Arcs) qq

3 Class 3 Beam Batteries (F/FP/FS) q (F/FP/AP) q (F/FS/AS) q

Armor 6, Hull 36 (9/9/9/9) - 7 crew units, one every 6th box

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The mini below is kitbashed out of the FT-239 battlecruiser and FT-240 battleship.  The two models share the same hull and side engines, and the Dewu Lo uses the battleship's dorsal engine and the battlecruiser's prow, with a bit of plastic tube to enlarge the central "gun barrel" a bit.  This leaves you with a main hull/side engine set, the battlecruiser's dorsal pod, and a battleship prow for your bits box.

Comparison shot of the standard FT-240 battleship (left), my light battleship hybrid (center), and the standard FT-239 battlecruiser (right). 

Starship Miniatures Post Index

Zaurak Empire Gallery From Studio Bergstrom

 Following on from my earlier post about Studio Bergstrom's Auran Dominate fleet, today I'm looking at his Zaurak Empire models, which are part of the Future Frontier line along with the ORCDef ships I've showcased several times now.  This set of figs is designed to allow quite a lot of part swapping to produce your own custom ship builds, with each ships consisting of just two parts - a main body and a wing section that lies crosswise atop it.  Much like the Auran Dominate ships, there are also a multitude of small sockets for weapon mounts of your choice.  The Zaurak have their own range of eight varieties of weapons, which are fully compatible with the Auran range so can cherry pick your favorites from both sets.  

There are a total of three main bodies (a basic 2.5" one, a heavy 3.25" one, and a carrier-specific 3.25" variant) and five upper sections (small destroyer, basic cruiser, battlecruiser, battleship, and dreadnought), all of which are compatible with each other (although the smaller body might look odd on the largest wings).  The carrier main hull is only sold as a "pre-built" option (it uses the battleship wing) but all the other parts and various weapon packs can be bought ala carte, as it were.  All models are metal, and the big ones are pretty hefty.  I believe I based them all on finishing nails, and the dreadnought got a 2" metal hex base as well.

You'll have to pardon the lackluster 15 year old paint jobs, which are definitely not my best work by a long shot.

Group overhead shot displaying relative sizes.  These are the "pre-built" options at the main link.  Going clockwise from the 12 o'clock position, that's the destroyer, battleship, battlecruiser, dreadnought, cruiser, and finally the carrier (not the hanger bays on the main body).   

Multi-angle shots of the destroyer.  Note that the basic small body has five weapon sockets on each side (of which I only filled four), as well as four on the top section.

And here we have the basic cruiser, which also uses the small main body (this time with six of the ten sockets filled) with its own 2" wide wing section.

This is the battlecruiser, which also uses the small main body and its own 2.5" wide wing.  As you can see, there are a total of 14 sockets on the wing 10 filled), 10 more than the previous ships. 

The battleship uses the same main body with a 3" wide wing, which also has 14 sockets on it (all of which are filled in this case). 

The carrier uses a unique main body the same length as the heavy body on the dreadnought, both of which are compatible with the lighter wing sections.  As you can see, there are only 2 sockets on this variant, with most of it being occupied with carrier facilities.  I prefer to think the grid of little "windows" are actually individual launch tubes for scrambling attack craft while the four big hexagonal bays are recovery and repair hangers as well as launch/landing sites for larger shuttles, dropships, etc. but you do you.  Maybe the "windows" are actually for firing a massive missile broadside or something.

That same battleship wing looks quite different with a different array of weapons mounted on it.  

The dreadnought's an absolute brute at 4.5" long and about 3.625" wide, and the wing section dwarfs even the heavy hull here.  Between the 12-socket main body and the 16-socket wing I've only mounted  20 of a potential 28 weapon - and that without even considering more real estate for extra weapons with their pins filed off so they'll lay flush.  If you really want to go crazy with gun turrets it's a good thing Drew sells the weapons in lots of six for under a dollar.

The range also includes both bomber and fighter miniatures, but since I don't have any of them painted we'll have to make do with the renders from the catalog.

Overall, I think this range accomplishes its goal of being a customizer's paradise almost as well as the Shadow Weaver figures Drew also sells, and perhaps even better.  Not only can you produce some quite different looks for ships by simply varying your weapon choices (and again, don't forget the potential for using Auran Dominate guns as well), you can also experiment with using the heavy bodies on lighter wings.  In fact, there's nothing really stopping you from using the bodies or the wings by themselves as independent ships, although you'd probably want to do some conversion work to make them pop more if you went that route.

Kind of a pity there haven't been any further additions to this range (or the other, non-modular) Future Frontiers fleets since their release, but the original designer Rob May has apparently been out of touch for a rather long time now.  He used to be a regular on the forums at Starship Combat News, and I can remember him sharing drafts of his designs from before the deal with Studio Bergstrom even came to be.  Drew did a lot of finishing work on the Zauraks himself to get them ready for casting, but I think he's moved on to other projects since then, some of which use the weapons created for this range.

Still, if there were a sudden surge in sales maybe that might change, eh?  You could certainly do a lot toward making more bodies and toppers if there was a demand for it.