Tuesday 15 May 2012

Bwendi Aerospace Patrol commissioned and ready for action

Figures: Brigade Models SAC spaceships

The Bwendi Aerospace Patrol is tasked with protecting Bwendi-controlled planets from foreign incursions. By this we usually mean attack by the Albion Defence Force or pirates given letters of marque by the ADF. Curiously, most Bwendi neighbours are largely peaceful and it is only the overweaning arrogance of the ADF that disturbs the attempts of peaceful Bwendi citizens to pursue life and happiness.

I bought two fleet packs from Brigade as the basis for my Bwendi Aerospace Patrol. Each fleet pack amounts to about 1000 points for Starmada X: Brigade. Direct conversion to Starmada: Admiralty Edition gives about 2200 points. A standard battle in both is about 1000 points, so I have plenty of options for my games and can even conduct training manoeuvres with what I have.

My plan was to paint 1000 points of ships in May, but I managed to get all my ships painted because they really were very quick to paint. Ease of painting was aided by my decision not to add running lights, portholes, etc to my ships. I have seen some examples of painted ships that look phenomenal with all the extra detail but I started thinking too hard about spaceship design philosophy and came to the conclusion that it will probably be more like submarine design than surface ship design. Therefore, Bwendi combat vessels have no portholes and only a minimum number of any type of hole that could be a weakness in battle. It also occurred to me that the use of visual signals would probably be redundant because combat will be conducted at such long ranges that the human eye will not be much use. Therefore, complex camouflage schemes, identification numbers and other insignia have not been added to these ships. To do so would be a waste of valuable resources. The only concession to camouflage is the basic design that has been added in a bid to help against space fighters, which might well rely as much on the Mk1 eyeball as they do sensor technology. Also, the blue and grey of the Ztumsian Ear Frog, one of the deadliest savannah frogs in the Bwendi homeland, is a visual signal to planetary inhabitants that the BAP is in orbit and that they should behave themselves. Ok, enough rambling. Here is the new and complete Bwendi Aerospace Patrol:

(Click the pics for larger images. The captions link to the specific items in the Brigade catalogue)
BAP Taskforce prabhaGga

BAP Taskforce AghAta
The M1-class Battleships 'Leicester Forest East' and 'Newport Pagnell' on patrol
The News-class Strike Carrier 'Huffington Post' with an escort of Tabloid class Fighters
A group of five Shipping Forecast-class Heavy Cruisers. Here we see the Dogger Bank, Cromarty, North Utsire, Forth and Forties on patrol.
The Radio 4 class Light Cruisers 'Jenny Murray', 'Brian Redhead' and 'Charlotte Green'
Three Cricket-class Destroyers: 'The Oval', 'Edgbaston' and 'Lords'


The Estate-class Frigates 'Orchard Park, 'Bransholme' and 'Longhill'
The School-class Lancers 'Roedean', 'Harrow' and 'Hymers'
The BAP has also recently commissioned an experimental dropship launcher. Initial trials suggest that it is a solid design and more will follow when the commissioners approve budget expenditure:
The Stobart-class Dropship Launcher 'Katy Ann'

1 comment:

  1. The ADF force is ready to take on the Bwendi fleet. Bring it on :-).

    Steve

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