Firestorm Armada

[thescreamingswede]

I originally started picking up some of the minis for Firestorm Armada with the intend of using them for Star Trek fan race stand-ins. After stumbling across numerous clearance sales in the local game stores here in my home town, I realized that I had amassed around 300 miniatures across eleven of the races in the game, not including enough ground forces from one faction to invade an entire planet with ease.

The miniatures look great, but some are quite large in comparison to my Star Trek Fasa stuff. I've been looking for relative size charts for the large ships to see if they are actually that big or are just in a different scale, one I could perhaps use bigger Star Trek models for if I were to continue to use them as cross over fan races.

Here are some pics of my burgeoning collection, currently under construction and painting. I've got sizable fleets for nine of the eleven races so far, but only have built Sorylian, Dindrenzi and Terran fleets in any numbers and have only managed to paint most of the Sorylian fleet, with the Dindrenzi and Terran fleets still in primer.








I now find myself in the position to actually host games for this as well, however it seems to have died here. Anyone else actually play this game too?

[Deleted]

Never played. But it does have some nice minis.

Incidentally, where is "Here"?

[thescreamingswede]

Incidentally, where is "Here"?

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Or in and around those parts at least.

[Gorn]

Is Calgary too far for you, Swede?

[thescreamingswede]

I pop down to cow town for the model railroad show in April, and usually once or twice a year after as needed. It's about a 3 hour drive or so from home. Far enough to warrant getting a room for the night, but not so far away to not make a day tripper either.

[thescreamingswede]

Almost finished up my Terran fleet. I got a Battlestar Galactica TOS vibe from the designs, so I ran with that utilitarian grey scheme throughout. I want to add a minute bit of colour, just to tease the eye a bit, but overall I'm pleased with the result.

Cheers.

Attachments:

[starcruiser]

I like a lot of their designs but, I've heard that the game system itself isn't very well thought out.

[thescreamingswede]

Aug 5, 2017 19:21:54 GMT -7 starcruiser said:

I like a lot of their designs but, I've heard that the game system itself isn't very well thought out.

I've seen it played and I have a PDF of the first edition of the rules (I think they are doing a third edition now). I have mixed views of the game engine in general. It's a "buckets of dice" game where you throw an inordinate amount of 1d6. Babylon 5 A Call to Arms worked in the same manner. I don't have a problem with such systems per say, but I do have an issue with one of the mechanics.... exploding sixes.

In the game, a roll of 6 equals two hits and I'm fine with that, but you then get to roll those dice again. If you score another six, that's two hits and you roll again... and again... and again... and again, etc, etc, etc, until you stop rolling sixes. It's a broken mechanic that rewards luck over skill. You could, for all intents and purposes, utterly obliterate a dreadnought with a scout if you rolled enough sixes. Granted, that wouldn't be statistical, but I have played gamers who were utterly useless on the battlefield in regards to strategy and tactics, yet win because their luck is utterly out of balance with everyone else. It's annoying.

There is a small group of us willing to try the game out, however it would appear, at least in my neck of the woods, that the game has fizzled out. Not a bad thing. I am getting some pretty sweet minis for dirt cheap.

[starcruiser]

So, if Will Wheaton tried this game - with his notorious bad dice luck - he would always loose?

I heard about the dice issue and never played B5 A Call to Arms (B5 Wars, I did play).

[thescreamingswede]

Aug 6, 2017 8:25:59 GMT -7 starcruiser said:

So, if Will Wheaton tried this game - with his notorious bad dice luck - he would always loose?

I heard about the dice issue and never played B5 A Call to Arms (B5 Wars, I did play).

I don't know about Mr. Wheaton, but I fear the worst for myself. I usually get slaughtered in B5 regardless of how well I outmaneuver, out think, or out play my opponent simply because the dice refuse to work for me. The first turn in one battle saw my entire fighter fleet (we're talking over 30 squadrons) get bombed out of existence with one good luck hit from one damn weapon. We reset the table and it happened again, first turn. When it happened again for the third time, I turned the rest of my fleet around and left the game. The fighter contingent was supposed to balance out the scenario since I had limited capital ships. Once they were gone, I was severely outgunned.

I have the same problem with Battletech, except my friends say I am the hardest player to beat on the field because of my tactics, which use the terrain to its maximum effect. When I'm not the GM, I usually win, but it takes forever. I regularly miss needing numbers as low as 6 or less to hit on 2d6. I've missed an entire volley needing 4s!

Needless to say, luck is luck, and it art a fickle bitch.

[rabid]

they look a bit like battlestar galactica to me what with the ribs on the ships

[Deleted]

Swede, get a dice tower. Better rolls

[starcruiser]

Yes clearly - do NOT trust your own hands!

[Deleted]

Rolling dice is actually a skill. I found that once I started using a tower, the rolls made a lot more sense.

[thescreamingswede]

Dice towers? Fool me not with that sorcery. Such heathen blasphemy!

Haha. One of my Btech players uses one, mostly to keep his dice from rolling off the table. I tried it, didn't help, though I have found that if I switch hands between each roll, roll one set at a time, and think of something not related to what I'm doing I occasionally break even.

However my son puts so much English on his dice rolls that we have threatened to get him one just to speed up the game by not having to go hunting for a die on the floor all the time. Our house rule is that if you roll a set of dice and one falls off the table you MUST reroll both dice; no picking up a spare and just rolling it.

[starcruiser]

Ah - I know - you need loaded dice! Perfect, and no one will complain...right?

[trynda1701]

I've never played the game, or have any of the minis.

Unfortunately, according to this post I just came across on TMP, it seems that the company that produces this game has gone out of business!

theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=461289

Sad news when you hear about something like this.

[starcruiser]

The announcement was done yesterday (I think) and very suddenly.

I've always liked the look of their ship designs but, they were too large for my tastes. I prefer gaming minis that are 2-3 inches or so. Once you start getting into near display model sizes, they tend to get clumsy.

It's sad that they crashed like they did but, I do understand that it happens. Someone will probably pick up some of their product line.

[Gorn]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ-A5Ec-Ybs

I got me several Lou Zocci dice!

[starcruiser]

Yeah - you want quality dice and Lou's are the best available.

[Gorn]

They had almost no 1-10 x 2 for our game, though. I got 2 of them, but not in the colors I wanted. I also got a 7 set for D&D. That includes maybe a better d10 & d100/10.

[jeffwright]

Aug 26, 2017 6:15:03 GMT -7 starcruiser said:

The announcement was done yesterday (I think) and very suddenly.

I've always liked the look of their ship designs but, they were too large for my tastes. I prefer gaming minis that are 2-3 inches or so. Once you start getting into near display model sizes, they tend to get clumsy.

It's sad that they crashed like they did but, I do understand that it happens. Someone will probably pick up some of their product line.

I hate that.