I was born in East Orange, raised in Bloomfield, and went to school somewhere around Newark until my parents launched an exodus across NJ. I have been lucky enough to travel abroad. I read, play a couple of musical instruments, like movies, and do what I can to improve a rapidly aging body and mind. I currently work in Texas and live in Florida. I have moved over two dozen times in my life. My tiny armies and navies have followed me on my march across the US. Eventually we hope to end our nomadic existence and settle in one place.
15mm SF left to right, Laserburn scout, Martian Metals EVA suit, RAFM/Citadel Tech 3 military, Laserburn spacesuit with rifle
There is a nasty bit of fault finding in me. When browsing that dark pool of overpriced miniatures known as E-Bay, I sometimes come upon something obviously mislabeled (a figure from the Ral Partha’s Condottieri line labeled as an AD&D figure, for example) or something equally misguided. Oftentimes, a dealer has something rare but receiving no bids because of a poor guess at the product line (almost everything is Warhammer or Ral Partha) or overpricing something that is still in production and can be purchased for a reasonable price elsewhere (RAFM Traveller figures are a good example).
It may be worth knowing to anyone interested in following my self-righteous need to correct sellers with little interest or knowledge in the figures they sell that most of the time my e-mails are ignored or perhaps given half-hearted attention. The seller who insists that a Ral Partha Battletech Flea is actually a 15mm Traveller Walker for Striker rules from GDW will not be dissuaded.
But, on a happier note, the largest collection of Heritage Napoleonettes I have got a hold of was listed on E-Bay under Revolutionary War Militaria. So, if you are patient and have the time, a bargain is still to be found though probably not as often as in the past. At least you can have the joy of finding 25mm Space Aphids listed as 15mm frog people for whatever pleasure that may bring.
I suppose it is no surprise that someone with a sedentary hobby and a job that compels him to sit in a chair all day and who commutes several hundred miles each week and cannot recall where he is when he wakes up in the morning should find themselves held in a hospital for a few days. Now, I am hearing about my terrible lifestyle that has driven me to this awful fate. It is a twin difficulty with being found to have a physical ailment that it is also seen as a personal failing. I finally reached a limit when a doctor told me that my days of ‘hiding from doctors’ were through. I pointed out to him that I had been to a doctor as recently as the summer and had a test for the exact same condition they are treating me for just a year ago with no results. He in turn listened to my concerns that I cannot jump into his office at a moment’s notice by summoning me to his office one business day after our meeting about my lab results to discuss further details about the results. I declined.
OK, that is irrelevant. Circumstances have limited my additions to the site though I feel I am reaching a point where I can return to it. I dug out an old Jack Scruby catalog I knew I had but had been unable to find. The catalog shows that unlike his contemporaries, Scruby was quite happy to match his figures to existing scales including model railroad scales. I am hopeful that I will also ferret out a group of his American Civil War figures I purchased at that time. I felt they did not stand up to the attractive 25mm figures from Custom Cast so placed no additional orders but sometimes wish I did.
I also found some old Task Force Games figures for their game Musketeer. I will post the photos when I have the opportunity.
Hard to believe but there was a range of SF miniatures in 15mm that were not designed for use with Traveller. Instead, they were designed for use with with a set of rules called Laserburn written by Bryan Ansell. There was also a 25mm range which I have not seen.
The 15mm figures are interesting and well detailed with a nice unique quality. They provide an effective range that works well with the RAFM Traveller range. The set includes a variety of figure types and vehicles. The entire range is still available either through the Alternative Armies website in England or the Noble Knights E-bay store in the US. Another instance where an attractive set of 15mm figures has remained available years after their initial release. If only all miniatures were handled in this manner.
Martian Metals for a time had the license for Traveller miniatures which, in contrast to most RPGs, required 15mm figures. Martian metals are well detailed with a flat appearance likely due to the two-piece molds used. The range offered was fairly comprehensive and interesting but the license for 15mm Traveller ultimately went to Citadel. The figures shown above closely mirror illustrations used in GDW Traveller literature.
The figures above show the standard EVA set plus a few spacesuited figures from other sets in the background. All figures were painted with a primer coat of white enamel. EVA figures were then brushed with a wash of black enamel followed by cleanup with white enamel.
In the 80s, Citadel released an extensive range of figures for Traveller. Shown above are the Tech 3 military. the figures were produced and are still available from RAFM. The figures above use a black undercoat with a layer of pthalo blue acrylic paint and some Testors gold paint on the visors.
Some days I wake up and have no idea where I am. Sometimes it is an interesting sense of disorientation, sometimes disturbing. You cannot get used to anything when nothing is in its proper place long enough to allow it.
My life has a certain inevitability about it. Part of that seems to involve being constantly on the move. In the last few months, I have moved from one campus to another campus and now to a building midway between both as a result of work. My tiny apartment remains the same though the people around it keep changing and more often than not disappearing.
Tonight, I will be back home but only until tomorrow morning when I drive the 120 miles back here again.
On the plus side, the 6mm Roman figures seem to be moving closer and closer to completion with a significant number of cavalry painted and a bunch more in process. Additionally, I finally decided on a look for the RAFM 15mm Traveller figures and they are looking pretty good. I have put a moratorium on figure purchases though I do not know how long it will last. The huge array of miniatures remains an island of tranquility in a steadily deteriorating world.
Following the success of Panzerblitz, Avalon Hill produced Panzer Leader, a similar design for tactical combat in Western Europe. The game included 4 modular boards, one showing a beach, and counters showing tanks, infantry, artillery, and aircraft counters for British, American, and German forces.
Scenarios start with a paratroopers holding a vital intersection on D-day and follows with beach landings, attempted breakouts, etc. in chronological progression. The game seemed a bit smoother in design than Panzerblitz but Panzerblitz had the benefit of being there first.
SPI in the meantime was taking the design in a different direction and introduced a similar magazine game, Combat Command with significant changes in scale and a promise of a continually evolving system.
Anyone who has seen Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan will remember the simulation room and the Kobayashi Maru scenario. FASA had at one point gotten license to produce Star Trek gaming material and this board game was their answer to tactical space combat offering a simpler, easier to approach game than the more popular Star Fleet Battles from Task Force Games.
They also offered a range of ships derived from Star Trek Ship Recognition Manual which offered some unique designs that different from SFB and not necessarily appearing in any other Star Trek material. The offerings included Federation, Klingon, and Romulan ships as well as some others including the Kobayashi Maru for the completist.
The rules provide an introductory game, an intermediate game, and an advanced game designed for use within an RPG play thru where each member of the crew can perform in whatever role they are assigned to.
Some of the game pieces provided displayed on the single sheet board.
There seems to be little information on this company though it appears from the Star Blazer figures I have that they were likely producing miniatures for other firms licensed to handle particular products. I have read that the company was started by former employees of Grenadier Miniatures. The six packs below show only a handful of the available Star Blazers miniatures which were likely meant as a tie-in to a ruleset offered at that time. For those unfamiliar with Star Blazers, it was an early anime favorite in the US, altered from its original source to remove much of the violence and death in the original, Space Battleship Yamato.
SPI continued their exploration of tactical games with Dreadnought. James Dunnigan had earlier created the massive cardboard miniatures game Jutland for Avalon Hill. Here, capital ships are simplified to basic stats encapsulated on the colorful set of counters with simple silhouettes showing the ship from the air as little more than a black or white outline. The game covers naval warfare from 1906 through WWII and is supposed to include every battleship in action during those times. Cruisers and destroyers are presented more abstractly wherein a single counter represents multiple ships. Like so many of the naval games SPI was releasing at the time, this one uses the SiMove pad where orders are written for each ship prior to the turn.
I bought this game in the late 70s when I was frustrated with the limited range of tactical space combat games available and thought that with a little monkeying around this game could fill that role. I played it a number of times but always as a basic naval game.
There is an interesting campaign game where one is presented with 4 different battle situations and must allocate their ships accordingly. Overall, a pretty fun game with limited stacking for capital ships, none for cruisers and destroyers. A note, too, that submarines and aircraft play no part in the game. Maps are simply identical light blue modules.
