GAMING NEWS: "T-5 Almost Here!" (17 December 2007)

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TOP: T-5 is almost here!

Hi Everyone,

Good new for the Traveller fan straight from Marc Miller's mouth:

Traveller5 is nearly complete.

It's full of material: Character Generation, Androids, Robots, Clones, Worlds, Starships, Small Craft, Adventures, and more.

Come see more at our web page:

http://www.farfuture.net/

We are in the last stages of completing an extensive initial CD-ROM version of T5 by Jan 31 totaling about 1000 electronic pages. Order now, and we'll send you our special offer now and the CD-ROM as soon as it rolls of the press.

We have a special offer on the web site. Come see what we have.

BONUS!

We'll ship on or about Jan 31, 2008. Pre-order now and we'll send you the printed black DVD Traveller5 Case Wrap (the same one that will be on your Traveller5 CD-ROM package when we ship it), plus four bonuses:

1. Our Mini-Map of the Spinward Marches,
2. The Traders' Guild Guide to Starships,
3. The Mini-Traders' Guild Guide to Starships, and...
4. The Wilderness Traveller (800-ton Speculative Trader) 4-view.

www.farfuture.net

And here's a half dozen or so more helpful Traveller links:

Freelance Traveller link:
http://www.freelancetraveller.com/index.html
(Probably the best link for anything Traveller)

Citizens of the Imperium forum link:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/
(Probably the best Traveller forum around)

Far Future Enterprises link:
http://www.farfuture.net/
(Marc Miller's site, one of the creators of Traveller...)
(Find reprints of older Traveller materials here and...)
(it's also the home of Traveller 5)

Ad Astra Games link:
http://www.adastragames.com/
(Find Traveller starship minis here)

Loren Wiseman's home page link:
http://www.cgi101.com/~lkw/

(A creator of Classic Traveller & the genius behind GURPS Traveller )

CT Striker Yahoo E-group link:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/ct-striker/
(One of the best discussion groups for Striker III)

Classic Traveller Yahoo E-group link:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Classic-Traveller/
(One of my favorite discussion groups for Traveller)

6SFWG (6mm Science Fiction War Games) Yahoo E-group link:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/6mmScienceFictionWarGames/
(Striker III and anything & everything related to 6mm sci-fi can be found here)

Have a great Monday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

MINI WARGAMING: "Sci-fi Rules Preview Draft Up" (3 December 2007)

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TOP: Laser Tank, an oldie but a goodie from 1980!

Hi All,

Well, I posted a draft on my small scale rules review over at the 6mm Science Fiction War Games Yahoo Discussion E-group. So, you can take a gander at it and hopefully let me know what you think.

I added in a few new blocks due to suggestions such as:

Mini type: Metal, resin, plastic or other.
Ground scale: What the ground scale is supposed to represent.
Time scale: How much time each turn represents.

And here's a new sample entry:

Name: Laser Tank
Genre: Sci-fi ground combat
Future level: Far future (space opera)
Org. level: Company skirmish
Universe: Traveller RPG

Rules Data:

Game Type: Board game
Complexity: 2 to 3

Unit Types:

Infantry: YES
Vehicles: YES
Mecha: NO
Flyers: YES

Miniatures Data:

Mini line: NO
Mini type: N/A
Mini scale: N/A
Ground scale: 1cm=1m (skirmish play), 1mm=1m (maneuver play)
Time scale: 30 seconds / turn
Status: N/A

Minis Internet Link:
N/A

Publishing Data:

Manufacturer: Judges Guild
Date: 1980
Status: (Out Of Production)
Rarity: Rare

Brief Description:
None.

Rules Internet Link:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/7776

One of the reasons I posted this was to look for constructive feedback...

*** Do you have any suggestions or advice of details you'd like to see in each rule set's entry? Any other ideas? ***

If you do have advice or suggestions, please post them at the my blog in the comments section or at the 6mm Science Fiction War Games Yahoo Discussion E-group.

Link here:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/6mmScienceFictionWarGames/

Have a great Monday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

GAMING NEWS: Mongoose Gets a Traveller License!

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TOP: Mongoose now has a Traveller license!

Hi All,

One of my favorite all-time sci-fi games is the Traveller series... It originally came out at the end of the 1970s (...shortly after Star Wars came out) and really established Role-Playing Games (RPGs) and science fiction in the gaming mindset. And now there's exciting new news that may breath some fresh new life into Traveller: Mongoose Publishing is coming out with new materials for Traveller!

TOP: Some cool limited edition 28mm Droyne figures from...

J.D. Lauck of MEGA Minis.

So, without too much further rambling from me, here's the Mongoose Publishing press release:

After a near 10-year gap in which only reprints of the Traveller game system have been available, Mongoose Publishing becomes the centralised resource for Traveller titles with the publication of their core rule book Traveller: Science-Fiction Adventures in the Far Future, in February 2008. On this foundation, Mongoose will produce a supporting line of supplements, adventures, and source books detailing the official and original Traveller universe of the far future.

The materials published by Mongoose will be placed in and part of the canonical Traveller universe.

It is our aim to halt the fragmentation of the Traveller game, and reintroduce one solid system (...based on Classic Traveller), with one source for the official Traveller universe.

But that is not all. . .

Mongoose Publishing Science Fiction RPGs:
Mongoose will also be using Traveller in its licensed science-fiction properties (...each featuring a Traveller logo).

We have pioneered this concept already with Runequest, publishing a rules set and supporting adventures and source books, then using the Runequest rules as the basis for other alternative fantasy role-playing settings, such as Hawkmoon, Elric and Lankhmar.

The first licensed setting to be produced using the Traveller rules set (...and available in early 2008) will be Starship Troopers, a welcome return to bug-blasting action across the galaxy! Hot on its heels will be Strontium Dogs, based on the hit 2000AD comic strip. After that, who knows... ???

TOP: Cool Traveller starship miniatures from...
Ken Burnside of Ad Astra Games.

To the greatest extent possible, we intend that there be a transportability of characters, concepts, and even equipment between the various systems. So, it will be perfectly possible for your Strontium Dog Bounty Hunter to land on a planet in his Scout/Courier, only to find him battling for his life against waves of Warrior Bugs - with no conversion needed between the games!

All games and settings will therefore be able to utilise the core supplements, such as High Guard, Mercenary, and 760 Patrons, while retaining their own character.

News Release URL:
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/news/news_item.php?pkid_news=166

And Traveller certainly has seen many versions from the Classic Traveller timeline to one sin which the mighty Imperium degenerates into civil war, ones in which vampire-like computer viruses take over the world, a "Space Viking" scenario in which the Traveller universe recovers from a "Dark Age" and many more. I'm really curious exactly which timeline and background Mongoose will choose to continue.

TOP: One of the two Traveller computer games.

And the product range has been vast as well including: four different versions of the RPG game, miniatures in 15mm & 28mm, starship minis, at least two computer games, posters, sci-fi novels, clothing patches, adhesive stickers, T-shirts, and who knows how many other spin-offs and other goodies.

Here's the rest of the Mongoose Publishing press release:

Open Gaming License:
Once the rules for Traveller appear, we plan to make them available under the Open Gaming License (OGL). At the same time, we will issue a Traveller Logo License (TLL) which makes the Traveller logo and titling available to licensees.

Far Future will Publish T5:
Far Future is proceeding with plans to produce the long-heralded Traveller 5, initially as an extensive CD ROM package (...estimated at 1000 pages) by the end of 2007, and a distilled 350-page Traveller 5 Core Rules book in the first half of 2008.

T5 will be a superset of the Mongoose Traveller rules, providing detailed coverage of rules, concepts and history not available elsewhere. There will be cross-compatibility between Traveller and Traveller 5, allowing you to use rules and supplements from each.

Traveller will be faithful to Classic Traveller, with an upgraded task and combat system. Traveller 5 will be a superset of those rules, providing greater detail and more insight into resolving situations in Traveller.

And eventually, we might even see Striker III, a Traveller miniatures ruleset of Chadwick'ian lineage. The key developer behind Striker III resides nearby (...when he's not in Texas) and he runs a web group where you can learn more about the project, which I've shared a link for below.

TOP: "The Journal of The Traveller's Society," THE Traveller magazine!

And here's a half dozen or so more helpful Traveller links:

Freelance Traveller link:

http://www.freelancetraveller.com/index.html

(Probably the best link for anything Traveller)

Citizens of the Imperium forum link:

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/

(Probably the best Traveller forum around)

Far Future Enterprises link:

http://www.farfuture.net/

(Marc Miller's site, one of the creators of Traveller...)

(Find reprints of older Traveller materials here and...)

(it's also the home of Traveller 5)

Ad Astra Games link:

http://www.adastragames.com/

(Find Traveller starship minis here)

MEGA Minis link:

http://www.megaminis.com/

(Find limited edition 28mm Traveller minis here)

Loren Wiseman's home page link:

http://www.cgi101.com/~lkw/

(A creator of Classic Traveller & the genius behind GURPS Traveller )

CT Striker Yahoo E-group link:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/ct-striker/

(One of the best discussion groups for Striker III)

Classic Traveller Yahoo E-group link:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Classic-Traveller/

(One of my favorite discussion groups for Traveller)

6SFWG (6mm Science Fiction War Games) Yahoo E-group link:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/6mmScienceFictionWarGames/

(Striker III and anything & everything related to 6mm sci-fi can be found here)

Have a great Monday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

MINI WARGAMING: Jav-98's 6mm Sci-fi Startown!

. Javelin-98's awesome 6mm city terrain tiles.

Hi Everyone,

Hope you're all keeping busy like me... in a good way. Life as usual has been pressing... my workplace lost a body so I'm pulling double duty until a new employee gets hired. And on that observation, I always seem to have FAR MORE ideas for blogging material than I have time!

Recently my good friend Andreas AKA Javelin-98 ("Jav98") shared some photos of an oustanding 6mm sci-fi project he's been working on: city tiles. So, without further ado, check these photos out (with commentaries from the Epicomms forums):

OVERVIEW of the four 6mm sci-fi city modules.

Jav: I've been working on something like this for some time, only using 12" square tiles. So far I have four tiles in various stages of completion -- a low-income residential area, an upscale residential area, a powerplant block, and a spaceport. My idea was to put the roadway around the edges in the single-lane square configuration with smaller roads criss-crossing the interior. While the tiles are all still in a state of infancy, I can post pics of what I have so far.

Okay, bear in mind that these are a work in progress of the utmost sort. The spaceport and powerplant are nearly done; the two residential blocks are still far from finished. The one covered with keyboard buttons was inspired by the Tau University entry by Vanvlak from a past EpiComp (I think '05). After starting the first two tiles, I realized that aligning the streets would be a problem. That's why the powerplant and the more finished of the two residential tiles have streets along the margins.

INDUSTRIAL BLOCK: Spaceport.

Jav: The boards were really quite cheap, made mostly of "reclaimed" materials glued onto MDF textured with spackle. Some examples:

The cargo bunkers at the spaceport are made from electrical tape blister packaging. The landing pad is made from the bottom of a USB joystick package. The tower is a section of old Crayola marker topped with two bases (a flight base on top of an upside down hex-shaped slotta base). The only purchased content are the cargo containers from Old Crow and the gantry crane arm made from a Mechwarrior clickie tech TM mech.

Javelin-98's spaceport landing pad reminds me of the blast pits from the Traveller science fiction setting.

INDUSTRIAL BLOCK: Powerplant.

Jav: The power plant was made from two "reclaimed" items: the bottom is made from the top lid of the same USB joystick package that I used for the spaceport and the steam stack is made from a pour spout for paint cans which I found at Home Despot for $1.50 USD. The buildings with windows were made from plasticard (the type with 1/8" squares on it) while the other buildings are made from various blister packs. The fence is cross-stitch fabric. The big oil tank thingie (technical term, of course) is the lid from my wife's last can of styling mousse. My next step with this block is to add some rust streaks and dirty up the asphalt with some playground sand.

RESIDENTIAL BLOCK: Middle-income Housing.

Jav: This upscale residential block is made using two types of purchased items: the mosque and four JR Miniatures Middle Eastern houses. OK, maybe three if you include the trees. Everything else is either keyboard keys or blockhouses made using plaster poured into ice-cube trays. I decorated the inside the of the ice-cube tray with bits of plasticard and sprue, which left some nice impressions (...like the skylights-slash-rooftop pools). I'm still in the process of painting this one; after it gets a clearcoat, I'll hit the houses with a wash.

RESIDENTIAL BLOCK: Low-income housing.

(Photo not available, but it is pictured in other photos as the unfinished residential tile

...made from spare computer keyboard keys.)

Jav: The fourth tile is still very much in progress, needing more paint, flocking, trees, and street markings. It was the first tile I started on, but the others were more interesting, so they got more love. I have this plan in the back of my mind to create 12" square vacuformed terrain tiles. I think that something like that would work well and give people instant cities for a very low price. Sadly, I know nothing about vacuforming, so that project is quite a ways off.

Moscovian: With that level of ingenuity, I am shocked you bought your trees! I can gve you a very cheap alternative that IMHO looks better than the the ones they sell online. I used to make miniature trees for a landscaping company. The only drawback is you have to be careful how you store them or they won't last long. Still, I love all the goofy bits of stuff being turned into a work of art. I have collected a trash bag full of plastic containers and things for this very purpose. Every time we get something sealed in a plastic container I start eyeballing it and my wife gives me "the look."

Jav: I suppose I could have made trees myself, but in the interest of time and the interest of interest, I just bought some. Figured what the heck! My wife has given me "that look" too! Right after she recognizes why I'm standing motionless over the garbage can with a odd plastic bit in one hand and a contemplative look in my eye...

Once I finish these tiles, I'm going to do a downtown/financial district block with tall office buildings and skywalks, always loved the looks of those. I'll be putting a couple helipads on top, too, for air assault actions! These are meant to be urban tiles, so I won't be doing any farmland or anything of that sort... Any other thoughts, guys? I'm thinking of another industrial block (a factory), several more residential blocks (one with a hospital, to be sure), a military base block, and maybe a government/palace type block. We'll see.

Moscovian: Ideas for anyone to steal:
I was tinkering with the idea of a pneumatic transportation system. Recently I picked up a giant tube of candy from one of those mall kiosks (...you know, you fill it yourself with the flavored sugar and bounce off the walls for an hour). I looked at it after I was done and said, "Hmm, I bet an Epic figure sitting in a little car would fit nicely in there." Then I bought another one. It is about 2 & 1/2 feet long and gives you some good material to work with. Flexible but doesn't crease. I wanted to use it on a moonscape but you could adapt it to a futuristic cityscape as well, I am sure.

Or you could buy some of the great commuter trains from Old Crow:

6mm commuter train and elevated rail from Old Crow.

You can find Old Crow's site here:
http://www.oldcrowmodels.co.uk/

And you can find Andreas' site and Photobucket at these links:
http://home.comcast.net/~kudby/
http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j20/javelin98/

My big hobby resolution for this year is to build a similar set-up. Andreas has set the standards high!

Thanks for sharing, Andreas AKA Jav-98!

Have a great Friday and a great weekend!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

HUMOUR: Experiments in Literature...

Hi Guys,

My friend Claudio from Italy sent this to me:

(WARNING *** Strong Language! ***)

(WARNING *** Read at Your Own Peril! ***)

Here's a prime example of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" offered by an English professor from the University of Phoenix:

The professor told his class one day:

"Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and-forth.

Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached."

The following was actually turned in by two of his English students:

Rebecca and Gary.

THE STORY:
(first paragraph by Rebecca )

At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

(second paragraph by Gary )

Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago.

"A.S. Harris to Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic communicator.

"Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam! flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

(Rebecca)

He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him.

Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. "Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel," Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously! excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her.

"Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.

(Gary)

Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dimwitted, wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty through the Congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race.

Within two hours after the passage of the treaty, the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded.

The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid Laurie.

(Rebecca)

This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semiliterate adolescent.

(Gary)

Yeah? Well, my writing partner is a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium.

"Oh, shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F--KING TEA???

Oh no, what am I to do? I'm such an air-headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels!"

(Rebecca)

A**hole.

(Gary)

Bitch.

(Rebecca)

F__K YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!

(Gary)

Go drink some tea - whore.

(TEACHER)

A+ - I really liked this one.

If that had you laughing, it got me too... and this picture of a laughing dog also got me:

Claudio is part of the Ten Worlds (TW) project, probably the most exciting space opera backgrounds created since Traveller.

Ken Burnside owns the TW world and it's amazing. He's a great guy and has very generously helped me with much good advice while I'm in the process of designing my own sci-fi game, "Planetfall." He markets games using the TW background from his company Ad Astra, which can be found here:

http://www.adastragames.com/

"Attack Vector: Tactical" has won several well deserved awards and it's an amazing groundbreaking game, if a little complicated for some gaming groups. Ken also owns a license to produce games set in the Honor Harrington universe from the bestselling sci-fi novels by David Weber.

To learn more about Honor Harrington, please check out this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_Harrington

======
Update: My friend Yehuda had also heard of this joke and sent in this earlier version of it which he added a link to in the comments section for this post.

Yehuda's excellent web site can be found here:

http://jergames.blogspot.com/

======

Oh, and...

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY to my American readers!

A patriotic tune:

http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/grandoldflag.html

I share this offering from Thomas Sowell for Fourth of July celebrants:

(Warning *** Politically incorrect material! Read at your own risk! ***)

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell070306.asp

If you haven't heard of Thomas Sowell, he's best known as a writer of some wicked polemics. I took several classes on intellectual thought back when I was in university and one particularly broad-minded professor assigned him as well as the usual assortment of Sartre, Che Guevara and Marx. I enjoyed reading several of his books. You can learn more about him here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sowell

======

Have a great day!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

WEIRD NEWS: No Worries About The Yellow Snow, Mate!

Hi Guys,

I follow a number of E-groups and interesting news bits are always turning up.

*** Ever wondered about those "lemon" yellow snowcones? ***

This caught my eye about a week or so ago:

Ded posted this at the Traveller-TNE E-group:

Being the space enthusiasts that we are, we're aware that providing space travelers with sufficient, safe drinking water is a vital concern. Hauling all that water into space in our pre-contra grav TL is a major payload expense. Traveller has predicted a means to recycle human waste, though it doesn't say so in so many words, at least not that I recall. Well, a major advancement has been made here in reality.

http://wired-vig.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/urine.html

There's probably enough info in the article to enable GM's to develop water purification systems for their games (if desired). Haven't found the website for the company yet.

The Traveller-TNE E-group can be found here:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Traveller_TNE/

Some other links turned up later:

http://www.watseco.com/

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

NOVELS: "Space Viking" by: H. Beam Piper.

Hi Guys,

I just finished reading H. Beam Piper's "Space Viking," a true sci-fi classic.

It's easy to see why Traveller's authors were so inspired by it.

Great book! I highly recommend it.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

GAMING NEWS: Planetfall Hoth Photos Posted from 10-17-2005 Playtest Game

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Hi Everyone,

I just posted some photos of one of my recent "Planetfall" playtest games in folders named: "Planetfall Hoth Playtest Game 10-17-2005"

On the two following E-groups:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Planetfall-TGUSFMWE/

And:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/SSSW/

----
A short description of each E-group:

SSSW (Small Scale Star Wars) Wargaming:
- This group supports Star Wars miniatures gamers using pieces smaller than 25mm (The normal SWMB miniatures scale) including small scale starships and stub fighters, Micro Machines figures, 10mm AMT/ERTL/MPC Action Scene figures, 6mm sci-fi proxy figures and others. Several of the group's members are also designing their own rulesets so the list also functions as a playtesting house for them.

Planetfall-TGUSFMWE - Planetfall Support Group:
- Purpose: This group supports fans of "Planetfall - The Generic Universal Science Fiction Miniatures Wargame Engine."
- Game Description: "Planetfall" is a new set of generic gaming rules for ground combat using any science fiction background. The recommended figure scales are 6mm, 10mm and 15mm although the game mechanics will work in any scale. "Planetfall" is not a skirmish game and individually based infantry are not required, a common feature of squad-based skirmish games. "Planetfall" games are organized around squads grouped into companies up to battallion-strength task forces. Smaller or larger games can still be played, of course!
- Latest News: "Planetfall" is currently undergoing playtesting and development and is scheduled to come out in late 2005 or early 2006. "Planetfall" is a professional project.

----

I played three playtest games that day with 3-5 players a side.

The Hoth gaming set I made is in 10mm scale with the following toy & miniatures pieces:

10mm REBEL SNOWSPEEDERs:
- Galoob Micro Machines & Ertl/MPC Battle of Hoth diorama model kit
10mm REBEL ATGAR ANTI-VEHICLE BATTERY/s:
- Galoob Micro Machines & Ertl/MPC Battle of Hoth diorama model kit
10mm REBEL GOLAN ARMS LASER TOWERs:
- Ertl/MPC Battle of Hoth diorama model kit
10mm REBEL INFANTRYMEN:
- Ertl/MPC Battle of Hoth diorama model kit

10mm REBEL TRENCHLINE PIECEs:
- Ertl/MPC Battle of Hoth diorama model kit kit-bashed by Maksim-Smelchak
10mm REBEL POWER GENERATORs:
- Custom-made by Clevella of San Francisco from bubblegum (Bubbletape) packaging
10mm REBEL BASE STRUCTUREs:
- Custom-made by Mark Carper of Sacramento from I-pod (mini-computer) packaging

10mm IMPERIAL AT-ATs:
- Ertl/MPC Battle of Hoth diorama model kit
10mm IMPERIAL AT-STs:
- Galoob Micro Machines
10mm IMPERIAL AT-PTs:
- Ertl/MPC Battle of Hoth diorama model kit
10mm IMPERIAL SNOWTROOPERS:
- Ertl/MPC Battle of Hoth diorama model kit

- The AT-ATs are based on 2"x4" bases that have custom diorama elements added by me (snow, ice and AT-AT foot prints).
- Most of the other pieces are based on fender washers that have a custom ice/snow diorama added.
- I used a combination of junk to build up snow piles, putty, bathroom caulking, Vallejo's Piedra Pomez and Snowtex to make snow and ice.
- The Snowspeeders were used with a combination of Galoob Micro Macines flying bases and the transparent plastic flying bases made by GW.
- The infantrymen are individually based on 3/8" washers and were then placed on "movement trays" made from larger washers with magnetic sheeting fitted on top of the washers.
- The infantrymen were then magnetically attached to the "movement trays" (large fender washer with magnetic sheeting) and removed as casualties were inflicted.
- The white die by most of the game pieces represents Action Points, a command game mechanism used by my "Planetfall" rules.
- Some pieces have a small green die by them which represented Supression Markers which lowered the amount of Action Points available to a unit, and made it hard for supressed units to execute orders and take any kind of action.

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I had a lot of fun both hosting and playing "Planetfall" and will play this Hoth game again including at an upcoming local gaming convention, where I'll host an expanded version of this game. All of the players of the game enjoyed it and asked to play it again the next time I host it.

I am working on a set of "Planetfall - Traveller: The Fifth Frontier War - Zhodani vs. Strephonian Imperials" rules to playtest soon.

I hope to playtest the next game on 12 November 2005.

I will be using 6mm sci-fi miniatures for the "Planetfall - Traveller: The Fifth Frontier War - Zhodani vs. Strephonian Imperials."

If I am able to, I will post photos of that game as well.

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Thanks for your time!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

P.S.
Happy Halloween!

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).