Landing party

Terran Transolar Federation Naval Command's signal woke the Devastator-class heavy galactic war machine from its suspended operation. Terran MAATAC* Unit LMR-682 checked its internal chronometer, which indicated that it had been 359.81 standard years since it was ordered to stand down. 

*Multifunctional Armed & Armored Tactical Attack Computer

Checking the local net, the cybertank learned that the base where it had been parked had been sold to a mining consortium, which for 265 years used the area as an industrial waste repository until encroaching glaciation shut the operation down. Now, transparent ice coverd streaks of mine tailings and toxic chemical spills, while blocks of frozen water thrust up from the plain.

According to the Navy, an Entomalian Imperial Fleet squadron of three Wasp-class stellar destroyers and a Hornet-class stellar cruiser excorted four Locust-class galactic transports into the Rellis system. While the TTFN galactic battlecruiser Colossus chased off the enemy warships, the cargo vessels made landfall, depositing an unknown number of Bug war machines. Some of which, the Terran war machine computed, would soon be scouting the area.

I played a quick solo game of MAATAC to familiarize myself with the rules. My painting table, along with some broken up styrofoam packaging, made an adequate battlefield. It was a simple scenario: one Terran Devastator-class heavy galactic war machine had to defeat or drive off a quarted of Entomalian Black Widow-class destroyer war machines, whose goal was to defeat the Terran. The Terran had better armor and more weapons, but the Bugs had the numbers. I would play out movement, which is supposed to be simultaneous, by moving the Terran first, then the bugs either randomly or whatever made the most sense for them. Shooting (also simultaneous) was simple: The Terran would fire everything at one Ent, and the Ents would fire everything at the Terran.

The first turn was just maneuvering, as everything was out of range. On the second turn the Devastator was in range of the first pair. Both sides had climbed outcroppings, hoping to obtain a hull-down advantage. Instead, they shot at each other with everything they could. The Terran hit one bug with several lasers, none of which penetrated its hull. Another shot hit the Ent's mobility system, slowing it down. The Black Widows' return fire failed to penetrate the Terran's hull, but one shot did disable one of the Devastator's launchers. 

Turn three saw the Terran move closer to the first pair of Entomalians in order to keep the other two out of range--but that meant giving up the high ground. Most of the Devastator's shots landed on the ice in front of the Black Widow, but it did manage to take out one of the bug's particle weapon launchers. In return, the Entomalians strippped a launcher off the Terran. A hull hit failed to penetrate, and successful shots to the Terran's treads did not slow it down.

The second pair of Black Widows tried to close the distance during turn four, but the Terran heavy kept its distance while closing with the first pair, who stayed in place. The Devastator's energy weapon volley again was mainly ineffective, hitting a laser and a launcher, but doing no other damage. However, its particle weapon launcher, which I play as indirect fire, scored another hit on the bug's mobility system, reducing its speed even more. The Entomalian shooting was more successful, as they stripped the Terran of three laser cannon and one particle weapon launcher. However, the Devastator's armor abosrbed two laser hits to the hull and one to the turret with no damage.

The fifth turn saw the Terran move closer to its targets in order to keep the remaining Entomalians out of range. However, with just a single heavy laser and a single particle weapon launcher, it was not able to do much damage to its hull-down target. Although the particle weapon hit its target's weakest armor, it still was not able to penetrate the hull.  And as the damaged Black Widow fired back with just one medium beam and one heavy beam (its partner was too far back to shoot), it stuck the Devastator's hull and turret. A successful penetration roll meant the heavy galactic war machine was destroyed--a resounding success for the Entomalian scouts!   

The burning Terran MAATAC sank into the melting ice, as the Entomalian vehicles chittered at each other in hexidecimal code. Merging their signals, they sang to a satellite in low orbit. The objective was secured, and the troop carriers could bring their cargo and begin building the new hive.

A fun and quick game, and I should not have been surpised that the Terran got blasted. It should have sniped at long range and used line of sight to hide until it had a good shot. With the way combat works in MAATAC, the smallest unit always has a chance to take out the largest vehicle. I need to play again. Let's see if the Terrans can prevent the Entomalian reinforcements from getting through.

Some more bugs

Some more MAATACs* from my MillenniumCon score. These are the Dragonfly-class troop carrier galactic war machines.

After words of encouragement on my first painted MAATACs, I decide to go with a similar scheme here: watered-down, color-shifting paints--but this time I drybrushed a non-shifting metallic color as well.  

I like the way these came out, even if it's not what I'm used to. I'm at least trying something different.

And this batch should put me over my goal of at least one miniature a week for the year, if you count the buildings and scatter terrain I made (which I do).

I've also been rereading the MAATAC rules, and even playtesting the game a little. Athough it's a little primative and somewhat incomplete, I can see getting some fun gamesout of that rulebook.

I hope to have some more of these painted up in the next week or so. Here's to more gaming in the coming year!

*Multifunctional Armed & Armored Tactical Attack Computers

My first painted MAATACs

As part of my pledge of painting at least one miniature a week in 2021, I applied pigment to some of the castings from my recent MillenniumCon score.

These MAATACs* are recognition code Black Widow-class destroyer galactic war machines from the Entomalian Empire. Note the articulated legs, giving this vehicle an advantage in difficult terrain.

These 1:285 (6mm) scale vehicles share the same setting and designer as Starfleet Wars, the space combat game by Superior Models. The MAATAC rules and minis can now be found at Monday Knight Productions.

Instead of my typical Bug paint scheme for these insectoid vehicles, I decided to go a different route: I used various hues of watered-down color-shifting paint atop black spray primer. I still can't make up my mind if I like the way these came out--they seem almost too garish.

Like their spacefaring counterparts, these designs carry a lot of detail. However, I wanted to get out of my comfort zone of drybrushing everything. So I decided to experiment.

The destroyer galactic machine is one of the smaller classes of MAATAC, but still more sizable than conventional armor, as you can see from this comparison shot with an obsolete heavy tank from a now-defunct Terran polity.

I may end up redoing the paint job later on, but for now I've got four more miniatures painted and ready for battle. Now to put together a short solo game to learn the rules.

*Multifunctional Armed & Armored Tactical Attack Computers

MillenniumCon wrapup (and loot!)

The convention was four days this year (Thursday-Sunday), but I ended up sleeping in and not making the final day of MillCon. I'm sorry I missed out on some pickup games of Melee/Wizard and the other Sunday morning events, including the flea market. 

But that doesn't mean I left the con empty-handed--while browsing the dealers room, I scored this massive collection of 6mm MAATAC* vehicles for the eponymous "intergalactic wargame of great armored fighting machines" from Superior Models.

There are well over a hundred castings in this lot, which I got for a very generous price from the vendor, a local gamer and publisher of Miniature Review blog. As a nice bonus, he threw in some Starfleet Wars minis (at upper right). These MAATAC units cover four of the Five Powers, so I will still need to purchase a few Avarians to round out my collection of Aquarians, Carnivorans, Entomalians, and Terrans.

But first, I get to paint some of these! A nice find at a great gaming convention.

*Multifunctional Armed & Armored Tactical Attack Computer

Mystery minis

Any idea what line or  manufacturer these miniatures are from?  The two big ones are metal, while the smaller, lighter-colored one is plastic.

Several years ago, I received a box of 1/285 and 1/300 vehicles and infantry that included these castings.  They're suitable scale for OGRE or Battletech or MAATAC, but I don't think these minis go with any of those games.  Do they ring a bell with you?

Reinforcements by tread

Ed the THW Guy's previews of 5150: Battalion Commander and the upcoming OGRE Designer's Edition have me thinking about 6mm sci-fi.  I was the only bidder on an auction for some 1/285 SF tanks, so I can expand on my collection of OGRE/GEV minis. 

I scored two heavy war machines from the MAATAC line of miniatures, as well as a pair of Conqueror Mark 1 Heavy Tanks from some outfit called "The Weapons Shops of L.A." that shared the same address as In Service Miniatures of Lakewood, California.  Here's a size comparison with some of my OGRE vehicles in front (from left: Combine missile tank, superheavy, and heavy tank).

As you can see, these new vehicles are pretty massive compared to the conventional armor from OGRE.  They would fit in nicely as other factions' superheavies or larger cybertanks.  These minis also have me noticing that there's no Two Hour Wargames rules for massive tank battles just yet.

Also included in the ebay lot I won: a 1/300 scale fortification, part of the Tiny Terrain line by  the now-defunct Simtac, Inc.  This will come in handy for future tank battles. 

Yep, I want to play some massive tank combats now ....

New Arrivals

Ah, times are good!  I passed 2d6 on the post-mission reinforcements table, and here's what I got to augment my fleets:

• Up top, we have the Entomalian task force: a Mantis-class galactic dreadnought escorted by a Mandible-class stellar destroyer leader and a squadron of Wasp-class stellar destroyers.
• In the middle, you can see the Carnivoran Tiger-class galactic dreadnought (right) and Tomcat-class galactic battlecruiser (left) accompanied by a Puma-class stellar destroyer leader and five Cheetah-class stellar destroyers.
• Finally, at the bottom of the picture there's a Leviathan-class galactic dreadnought patrolling with a Tigershark-class stellar destroyer leader.
• Not pictured are the 50 starfighters I also received: 30 Gnats for the Ents and 20 Bobcats for the Carnies.

These are all brand-new minis from the Galactic Knights line by Monday Knight Productions.  They were originally designed for the Starfleet Wars game, and MKP now offers its own rules for the ships, the eponymous Galactic Knights.  I plan on using these models for both of those games, as well as with the new set of rules I co-authored with Ed the THW Guy, the fleet starship combat game 5150: Star Navy.

Speaking of rules, I also picked up a few books to round out my collection: the Entomalian and Carnivoran expansions to Galactic Knights, as well as a reprint of the oringinal MAATAC* sci-fi ground combat game: 

Let me give some kudos to Monday Knight.  They were great about communicating with me regarding my purchase, and they were willing to work with me on the details of my order.  It did take some time to fill my order, but they post this notice on their website, so I knew it going in. All in all, some good customer service from MKP.

Now we wait to see how long it takes me to get all of these painted.  I'm not willing to put any money on when I'll finish, but y'all are welcome to wager amongst yourselves.  Let the betting begin!

*Multifunctional Armed and Armored Tactical Attack Computer

Old Superior Models order form

In a comment on my post showing the original packaging for the Starfleet Wars line of miniatures, Black Vulmea recalled that some ships were sold three to a box back when they were originally manufactured by Superior Models.

That reminded me that I have a scan of an old Alnavco order form from 1980 (while still in business, the company no longer distributes these sci-fi lines) with models and prices for models for use with Starfleet Wars and its companion game of ground combat, MAATAC:

The writing on this form isn't mine, it was on the original scan.

Sure enough, starbombers, star armored pursuit ships, and stellar destroyers were sold as triplets.  Stellar destroyer leaders, stellar cruisers, and galactic transports came in pairs.  The larger capital ships--galactic battlecruisers, galactic dreadnoughts, galactic attack carriers, and super galactic dreadnoughts--were offered as individual models.  Starfighters were sold in packs of ten.  The MAATAC units also were packaged as multiples; from larger armor models sold two at a time to the robot infantry going five to the box. 

And check out the prices on some of those models.  Ah, the good ol' days ...

Superior Models' Wargamers Forum

A while back on this blog, THE HESSIAN asked about Wargamers Forum.  This publication was a house organ put out by Superior Models in 1979.  The magazine billed itself as addressing "space, naval and armor wargaming with miniatures."  Issue No. 1 had a cover price of $1.75 and was dated October 1979.

Articles in Wargamers Forum No. 1 relevant to this blog included a Starfleet Wars background story "The Five Worlds-A History Part 1: Terran Contacts with the Entomalians and Avarians," pieces on starbombers and super galactic dreadnoughs identical to the rules in SfW Book 2, an article on kitbashing Terran and Carnivoran models to create a new starship, details about the Mantis and Leviathan classes of starships billed as "excerpts from a forthcoming starfleet recognition manual," and Starfleet Wars/MAATAC Q&A (intended to be a regular column to clarify or correct the game rules).   The issue also had articles on historical naval wargaming.

As far as I can tell, there never was an issue No. 2 of Wargamers Forum.  Too bad.  I would have loved to see more details on the ships and background of the Starfleet Wars setting.  Someone should start a 'zine ...

Old Starfleet Wars demographics & distributor info

Between the eras of Superior Models and Monday Knight Productions, a business called Game Masters was selling the Starfleet Wars and MAATAC lines of models and rules.  While that company's website is dead, the Internet Wayback Machine allows us to conjure up its ghost to tell us secrets of the past.

Here's the Game Masters web page aimed at retailers that this distributor had back in the day.  I find the info on gamer demographics interesting:

The typical Starfleet Wars customer is a white male between ages 35 and 45, works in a technical field, earns an above-average income, and owns a computer.  The customer will first acquire all ships within one of the five Starfleet Wars empires, then acquire a second or third empire's fleet.  The median first-time Starfleet Wars order has been $133.  Over 79% of these orders included one galactic dreadnought-2 (GD2) or super galactic dreadnought (SGD).  Follow-on orders are common.  The Terran ships sell best, followed by the Carnivorans and Entomalians.

It's also notable that Game Masters sold the models in what it called "kitted" and "finished" form.  Kitted means it's your typical wargaming mini that needs basing and painting.  "Finished miniatures are polished and mounted on heavy sculptured bases ..."  For those of you wondering, there are still some of these "finished" Starfleet Wars models for sale by another company (along with 100mm figures of the five SfW species).

Also of interest on the old Game Masters website:

• Starfleet Wars introduction: includes rulebook excerpt on the Five Powers
• MAATAC introduction: includes rulebook excerpt on the Five Powers' land war tactics

Both those release schedules mention release dates that never happened.  Still, I'm playing one of those games at present, and the other is still for sale, so I'm happy.

Vintage Starfleet Wars reviews

The Starfleet Wars rules and miniatures came out in 1977, produced by Superior Models.  I've learned some of the background that led to their creation, but now I'm curious about what kind of splash the SfW rules and associated models made when they were first released. 

Although Superior evidently had a viable product line, it didn't leave much of a record ouside the magazine ads remembered by geeks like me.  But now, thanks to the power of Google and the assistance of the kind folks over at The Miniatures Page, I was able to track down a few mentions of the rules and/or minis in a couple of gaming periodicals from around the time Starfleet Wars was released.  Here they are in chronological order:

Space Gamer #21 (January/February 1979)

In the overview "Spaceship Miniatures & Rules," author Tony Watson looks at "the proliferation of miniatures lines" dealing with science fiction gaming.  One of those minis ranges is Starfleet Wars, and the writer isn't that impressed with the models:

The models have a lot of detail (bordering on the garish) and are bristling with turrets, sensor modules and a variety of other odds and ends whose purposes we can only guess at.  My major criticism of the ship designs is, for some reason, the designer felt it necessary that the ships in some way resemble the race that built them. Hence, Carnivoran ships have a cat-like appearance, and the Aquarians look like turtles. ... I'm surprised the Star Wars Corporation hasn't sued over the resemblance to their "Imperial Stardestroyer"!

The reviewer sums up the miniatures as "a disappointment" and "not ... very appealing."  He also initially describes the game as "simplle, fast and clean"--but concludes "the rules have a sort of thrown together feeling."

The Dragon #29 (September 1979)

In "MICRO-REVIEWS: Short Takes and First Impressions," TD editor Tim Kask examines the miniatures and rules for MAATAC, the sci-fi ground combat game set in the same universe as SfW, and he mentions the spaceships as well:

If you haven’t seen the figures (castings would be a more correct term) you have really missed something. They are an extrapolation on their outstanding STARFLEET series of spacecraft, being the ground units of the five races. They also mesh with the STARFLEET WARS set of rules for using the spacecraft.

Kask however, has not played the game, telling readers, "If we had had some of the castings, we would have tried them by now."

Space Gamer #30 (August 1980)

In the "Capsule Reviews" article, under the Miniatures subsection, SG publisher Steve Jackson himself reviews the starship minis, with high praise for these models:

The STARSHIPS are the best miniature spaceships I've seen.  They come in five "races" – that is, there are five different sets of ships.  Each race has, at present, seven classes of ship, ranging from tiny starfighters to enormous "Super Galactic Dreadnoughts."  Each race's ships have a distinctive "look," setting them apart from those built by the other races.

He says he even dropped a couple to see how they responded to mistreatment and notes they're hard to break.  He goes on to recommend these minis for spaceship fans, "especially those who can paint well enough to do justice to the details."

Space Gamer #31 (September 1980)

In the "Capsule Reviews" article, under the Games subsection, contributing editor Nick Schuessler describes the SfW power allocation process and notes the rules are unclear about the advantages of firing at half range or less.  He does does like the differentiation between maximum power units for each ship:

A major pitfall in this type of game is to spend your time thinking up fancy names and then give all the ships nearly identical characteristics.  Here the PUs and the maximum for offense, defense, and movement pretty well reflect the national characteristics given in the policical discussion.

The reviewer also suggests adapting the game to use hexes instead of inches for movement and range, something I have done in my own Starfleet Wars games.

Space Gamer #34 (December 1980)

In the "Capsule Reviews" article, under the Games subsection, author Alex R. Sabo reviews the rules for MAATAC.  He describes the game as simple, lacking the details of more complex wargames such as Tractics or Panzer.

The basic rules of MAATAC are straightforward, easy to explain and understand, and quick.  Probably anyone familiar with miniatures could just pick up the data tables and start playing.  This is very good for an introductory game or for scenarios with large numbers of units.  ... The rules can also becom boring after very few plays.  The reason?  While there are five empires, each with five classes of MAATAC they all have the same weapons systems.  The vehicles in each class, while different in detail, all seem very much the same.

The reviewer recommends the rules for players wanting a game with infantry, armor, and air aspects, but warns them to keep its simplicity in mind.

Dragon #101 (September 1985)

In the Ares science fiction section of Dragon magazine, in the article "Starships and Star Soldiers: Miniatures in Science-Fiction Gaming" editor Roger E. Moore compiles a list of sci-fi minis and rules, including: 

MAATAC; Superior Models, Inc. These are tank-battle rules.

Starfleet Wars; Superior Models, Inc.

There's no further details in this article, just these bare-bones listings under “Land warfare” and “Space war” respectively (but that's all any other sci-fi minis games got, anyway).  I'm surprised I didn't find more mentions of SfW or MAATAC in other issues of Dragon magazine.

That's all the mentions of Starfleet Wars and MAATAC I could find from back in the day.  If you know of something more, in these magazines or in other periodicals please let me know.

New MAATAC designs

Monday Knight Productions is offering some new models to accompany its range of MAATAC* minitures for the eponymous science fiction ground combat game.

According to the company's announcement on The Miniatures Page today, these are designs that were announced when the game was first published, but remained unreleased until now.  Check out the reactions in the announcement discussion thread on TMP.

These 6mm sci-fi tanks would make good proxies for some of the smaller cybertanks in OGRE/GEV.  I can also picture them in games of Battletech, Dirtside, or Future War Commander. 

Bonus MAATAC content: Miniature Review's comparision shots of MKP tanks with Progenitor and Dirtside vehicles.

*Multi-functional Armed & Armored Tactical Attack Computer

New MAATAC on the way?

Heard an interesting tidbit over on the Galactic Knights Yahoo! group:  Seems like GK publisher Monday Knight Productions has a new edition of the venerable sci-fi ground combat game MAATAC* in the works. 

In this message regarding MKP's schedule for this year's wargame convention Enfilade!, Monday Knight honcho William Thompson tells us one of the events he plans to run at the con is a beta version of Galactic Knights: MAATAC.  According to Will, this is going to be the

First showing (in public) of the new MAATAC ground combat rules that link ground forces into the Galactic Knight Universe (Giving you a reason to actually PUT cargo holds in your ships :-) )

As you know, MKP already sells the old MAATAC rules, along with 1:285 scale miniatures for all five powers for that universe (the same setting as Starfleet Wars).  However, the original version of the futuristic warfare rulebook isn't really compatible with the Galactic Knights starship combat game (or at least the two games' backgrounds aren't exactly the same).  It sounds like the new book is meant to go hand-in-hand with GK, and I can't wait to learn more about it.

*Multi-functional Armed & Armored Tactical Attack Computer, in case you were wondering.  Gotta love the retro-futuristic vibe you get from that acronym--shades of ENIAC and UNIVAC!

Interregnum and Revival

Superior Models eventually went out of business, leaving the Starfleet Wars line adrift.  Then, in 1999, the guy who runs the Starship Combat News website found out Superior's distributor had bought the rights [scroll to the bottom of the page] to the whole thing, rules and minis (including the MAATAC ground combat game).  In 2001, Monday Knight Productions made a deal with the new owner to cast and distribute the starship line. The company now sells the entire range of starship miniatures under the name Galactic Knights (it also sells the original MAATAC rules and the ground vehicle minis as well).

Instead of reprinting the old starship combat rules, however, MKP came up with a new game: Galactic Knights.  This rulebook was more granular than the original Starfleet Wars rules, giving each ship specific components that could be destroyed in combat instead of the older game's hits leading to a reduction in allocable resources.  The first book only covered two of the five powers, the Terrans and the Avarians.  In 2006, however, MKP published a fleet book for the insectoids, Entomolian Invasion (complete with different spelling of their name).  Then, in 2009, Monday Knight released an expansion for the felinoids, the Carnivoran Republic Star Forces.  These products are all available right now--and I own a great deal of these starship miniatures.

The Launching of the Dreadnought

Welcome to Super Galactic Dreadnought!  I've been a science fiction fan since before the first Star Wars movie came out (back then, of course, it was just Star Wars--we had no idea there would be sequels!) and a wargamer since my teens. 

One of the attractions of Star Wars was the concept of massive space battles between fleets of starships hurling beams of energy at each other, an idea that echoed the space battles of E.E. "Doc" Smith and A.E. Van Vought in the ancient library books I would bring home.  One day, I was looking through a magazine (I think it must have been Boys Life) and saw an ad with a picture of several different spaceship miniatures evocative of Imperial Star Destroyers, along with an address for a catalog.  I sent the dollar and the self-addressed stamped envelope, and a few weeks later I received pages and pages of product listings.  There were boardgames, miniatures games, and roleplaying games.  The names of the products were evocative: Dungeons & Dragons, Warp War, Traveller--and Starfleet Wars.

There was the source of the picture I had seen in the magazine: starships of the Terran Federation, along with additional pictures depicting the other four powers in this game (Aquarians, Avarians, Entomalians, and Carnivorans) in what the manufacture said was 1:1200 to 1:9600 scale!  Not only that; there were lists of every ship class for every species, with evocative designations such as Starfighter, Starbomber, Stellar Cruiser, Galactic Transport, Galactic Attack Carrier, and Super Galactic Dreadnought.

Not only that; the sheet also offered "Galactic Armor Models" in 1:285 scale.  They had MAATAC Corps for each of the five powers as well (MAATAC = "Multifunctional Armor and Armoured Tactical Attack Commputer"), with light, medium, and heavy Galactic War Machines.  There was even a set of rules (the eponymous MAATAC).

Unfortunately, as a youngster, I never had the cash flow to purchase any of these product via mail order.  Still the imagery and the concepts struck a chord with me, and I hung onto those catalog pages for years, before they disappeared in the mists of time.  It would be decades before I reclaimed that lost part of my youth.