THE CHRONICLES OF JOE BOSS' TABLETOP ADVENTURES IN SPACE OPERA SCIENCE FICTION AND ELDRITCH HORROR MINIATURES WAR GAMING. I AM A LONG TIME SCALE MODELLER, THUS YOU CAN EXPECT FREQUENT ARTICLES ON RELATED HOBBY TOPICS AND COOL SCIENCE FICTION AND GOTHIC-ELDRITCH HORROR MODELING PROJECTS.
Christmas was strong this year. I spent time with my best friends, had a nice backed ham dinner, with all of the holiday treats, drank plenty of eggnog, and listened to some good music while I played with my new toys.
You know, it is the little things that make life good.
This month all of my new models arrived in the first half of the month. This was a happy surprise because my Garmillas models shipped from Japan and they had been listed as an "After Christmas Delivery" item by the seller.
My Ebay purchases were delivered in week one. I got several rare and wonderful (Ha, Ha!) Galaxy Voyagers Micro Machines to use for my Pirate Faction, and some tanks and robots to use for Pirate and Alliance Ground Forces. Most of these models will be converted to look like they fit more snugly in the Star Wars Universe.
In week two the first glorious Yamato 2199 kits arrived all the wayyy from New York and Japan! I love these models! I am going to make Astro Fighter and Bomber swarms, so that I have that cool element of play in battles. I had planed to get these craft sculpted and printed if need be, but now that I have seen the 1/1000 scale planes that come with these kits, I know I can use the official models. I am very happy about that.
As many of us know, The STAR WARS X-WING Rebel Transport and Tantive IV Expansion packs are coming in the next three or four months. There has been a lot of happy speculative chat on the forums about how these new ships will change The Star Wars Universe.
Thanks to the recent Game Trade Articlewe get a further peek at some of the forthcoming rules for the premiere Capitol Ships and the new EPIC Games Alternative Rules, and I for one, am very happy that FFG is making this a reality.
I recently started working on making STAR BLAZERS into a game using The X-WING Rules. Over the last two weeks I have hunted up about 300 images, and done some serious thinking and a bit of writing too.
I started doing test graphics this weekend. What follows is an early look, to give my buddies here an idea of what my Game Materials are going to look like.
The X-Wing Cards will be entirely redone, with (Ha, Ha!) STAR BLAZERS Art! I am keeping the very nice X-WING layout however, as you can see in the first cute little work in progress sample above.
I had to include the best moments of the big battles from YAMATO 2199 in my game cards, that is why I have happily spent two weeks Goggling my butt off, and taking screen captured scenes from HD video. I think I am about half way there now, but I will need a bit more art to complete my card sets.
I am going to make this game play EXACTLY like The STAR BLAZERS series that we know and love...well as good as it can be with miniatures. The way that I can make this happen is with the game cards. The X-WING Rules are fine for any fighter game I think, but the abilities and stats make up the flavor of the setting. I am diligently reviewing series one, two, and the redone series one. As I watch these great series I am taking notes to be sure that I include the important abilities of the ships as depicted on screen. I am making the game materials look like the new YAMATO 2199 art, because in my very well informed view it is now the best version of the glorious STAR BLAZERS Universe.
YAMATO 2199 CONSOLES WILL BE USED TO MAKE THE FINAL CARDS.
The brave crew of The Yamato, Our Star Blazers, return home on this day in the year 2199. They bring with them the hard won Cosmo DNA which restores life to our all but dead Mother Earth.
On December 8 2199 Mankind is saved by The Star Force!
"Miracles Don't Just Happen...We Need To Make Them Happen!"
The New Capitol Ships are expected in 1Q 2014 between January and April from FFG! Miniatures Market and Cool Stuff are taking preorders for both sets now!
Miniatures Market seems to be more on the ball about these, and has good stock. I personally do not expect to see either of these wonderful ships until April, but it is cool to know that we will have them in the reasonably near future...
As a child STAR BLAZERS was the second big life altering universe I discovered, which came to me just a few years after STAR WARS. I have fond memories of running home from the bus stop after school to get my little afternoon drinks and snakes set up in front of that huge RCA Console, just in time to watch this wonderful series! Star Blazers Series One originally aired in America in 1979. I was to young then to truly understand it all, but I watched the entire series and loved it! Years later in reruns during the early eighties, Star Blazers became a permanent part of my hipster nerd life.
The Yamato 2199 seriesis fine art that an adult, who fortunately retained their inner child, can thoroughly appreciate and enjoy. This remake is faithful to the original story, but it manages to improve on just about everything in the telling. This is a triumph of realistic heroes, over the top villains, and believable science. You will laugh and you will cry... it IS that damn good!
The New Yamato, And She Never Looked Better!
This is the New Series One remake opening, appropriately renamed as Space Battleship Yamato 2199. For my friends who have never seen Yamato 2199 I am including the three cool Alternate Openings, which are down and dirty rocking, and full of extra character moments and serious action! How could you not love this Epic Space Opera?
The new remake of series one is the best Star Blazers production by far, and I absolutely love everything about it. The adult themes and believable drama which are well played out, make the series worthy of an award for best animated drama. Some of the desperate situations the crew of the Yamato get into, and their reasons for continuing their missions despite the great dangers really elevates this story. Character development is well above typical action driven entertainment in my opinion, yet the battles are the best that I have seen for this type of updated classic animation. This is the good stuff my friends!
GAMING YAMATO 2199.
The New 1/1000 Scale Yamato Is 12 Inches Long, Just The Right Size To Look Great And Maneuver In Games!
I recently rediscovered Star Blazers as Space Battleship Yamato 2199,
while researching some information about models on Google. I of course
found the entire series within minutes, and have watched it all this
week, and loved every minute of it!
I am going to apply the awesome FFG STAR WARS X-WING approach to gaming Star Blazers battles. It should be easy enough to use these fine core rules and to write my own where necessary. This is going to be hell of a lot of fun!
I am rather happy about not knowing of all the new Star Blazers Yamato 2199 products until a few weeks ago, because during the last year during my ignorance, there has been an entire range of excellent models released to build complete Astro Fleets!
Black Six Red Seven will now focus on Dogfights and Epic Battles in both The Star Wars and Star Blazers universes. There is nothing like doubling your fun...
