Looking for 2-6 players in the Central Illinois Area to meet monthly or bi-weekly for any type of Silent Death games from one-off matches to 6 session mini-campaigns and anything else we can put together.

Depending on the availability of the group, games can be held at Zeeke's Comics and Games, in Sunnyland,  Just For Fun Games in Peoria.

All miniatures and materials provided, new players are welcome.

If you know any small cons looking for event hosts, send me a message.

Bret Fox
Silent Death Event Organizer

Oh, good heavenly elliptical, spiral, and irregular galaxies, Batman! What an info-bomb -Stock Hibernators far and wide are emerging from their putrid cocoons for sure. My reactions:

Quote:Let us begin… with a FALL SALE!!!

Quote:we have not been as completely idle on the Silent Death front as our radio silence these past months would indicate.

Quote:Finally, we’d like to acknowledge some very devoted and talented fans of Silent Death who in the past year have jumped on board out of sheer love of this classic game to lend their time and talents to stoke the flames!

Quote:Callsign: Karpav1 has...   ...master artist... etc

Quote:So don’t just sit there, space possums! Kick those tires and light those fires! It’s time to launch!

This is the first in a planned series of posts in which I hope to take apart the existing ship construction system, see how it works and for that matter, why it works. 
 
This is in no way an endorsement or condemnation of the ship construction system.  When I look at what we currently have, I see hints of patterns.  That leads me to wanting to understand if these really are patterns I see and the reasons for those patterns. 
 
Of course, I welcome any and all feedback.  In fact, I crave it.  So let me know what you think.
 
Before I dive into specific systems, a little background might be helpful.  Before Silent Death, there was Star Strike.  Star Strike was the space combat piece of the Space Master game (2nd edition, I think).  Star Strike was a VERY numbers heavy game.  It dealt with a lot of detail, even the quality of the computer programs being used by the ship’s computer (not to mention the size and power of the computer itself).
 
According to the Designer’s Notes on page 31 of the Silent Death – Metal Express rulebook (SD 1st edition), there was a desire to create a simplified star fighter game system that would be supported by a line of miniatures.  The designer, Kevin Barrett, goes through several paragraphs explaining some of the thoughts behind the dice system and such, but one in particular intrigues me and impacts this work.

Quote:“All of the ‘numbers’ for the ships were extrapolated from their statistics in Star Strike.  Since each vessel was taken, or modified, from its Star Strike incarnation, this whole process was rather smooth though some alterations were made for the sake of making a more interesting game.  Star Strike already had a detailed, coherent construction system, and several vessel designs had appeared in a number of support products.”

Greetings my friends.  Long time, no comm chatter (at least on my end).

It is amazing to me how time flies.  A couple of months ago I was cleaning my basement with my kids and ran across some of my old Silent Death minis.  The kids started asking questions about it so we played a game or two.  I was explaining to them that about the time they were born, I was running SD games in Topeka, KS and submitting ships to Bruce at ICE.  Naturally they didn't believe me so I popped out to the site here and showed them the ships in the downloads section (nice to see a couple of them still there).  Its just hard for me to believe that it was 10 to 13 years ago I was doing all that.

Anyway, it looks like I'm getting my salvage claws lined up and grappling some old material again.  At least until the kids lose interest (and probably some decent time after that just because I really love this game!!!).

I really want to say "Thank you" for not just letting this game drift off into the void. 

Chris  

Not my own world per se, just my interpretation of the SD universe lore. Starting with a concept sketch based on the description of the builder species in Night Brood: First Contact. Having read the passage, with a pretty literal interpretation in mind, I expected it couldn't turn out much anything other than this- 

Which, gets its lunch money stolen by these guys every day...

My limited imagination notwithstanding, I was determined to at least try to visualize this creature as best I could.
 
While researching ideas for some kind of 'trunk-like' creature, I came across Poltys illepidus: the tree trunk orb spider.

Fits the description with a creepy mobility option, so went off that form for anatomy...
This is my first sketch. Not quite the leg layout I imagined (its "feet" look too hoof-blunt maybe), but a good base to start with I guess.

It could use some refinement maybe, and some other designs to compare to. Not sure the best approach for the leaf-like structures either- and I've looked at a few alien-plant designs. Next to figure out what the ship-building process looks like. The skeletal frames of gammas rising from glowing pink pools of 3D bio-printers, dripping translucent goo while a bio-mechanical arms- similar yet larger than any auto-manufacturing robots inserts pale larval hatchlings into the canopy modules?

Getting the ambiance of a large cave with atmospheric lighting is the challenge. I'm new at this and still learning as I go. I also only work on it when I'm burned out on other areas of the hobby. Adapting grub phases and making them look as nightmarish and unsettling as possible is also rolling around in my head. Less is more is my philosophy there... -much like the first Alien film. Chiaroscuro style with the creatures just lurking in the shadows of the space nearly obscured being the ideal.

I figured the builders could be more in the light. Is it unsettling enough? Does it need to be? Should make some more concepts with more legs/different colors/textures.

As promised here's an update on my map purchase with a few pictures.

There were a lot of nice and colorful designs to choose from, but since this was the first map for me, I opted for a 6'x4' eclectic star field as my first go to map to order.

There's a $3.00 USD surcharge for a custom hex or grid overlay.

Shipping was free for me (within "48 adjoining U.S. States" & $99.00 purchase) at the time I ordered. They do not ship internationally at the time I ordered. I was also offered a 15% off coupon, which dropped the order below the free shipping limit, so I added a set of dice and I was set.

Email communication was excellent, they provided me with a proof to check out and I had them flip the grain on the hexes, they sent a new proof and bingo! A tracking number was sent within the next few days. And not long after that- she arrived:



The edge retained a slight curl that went away after a quick counter-curl and brief rest of about a minute.



The backing rubber has a firm, dense feel with excellent grip and unlike a floppy neoprene, has a more of stiff feel to it. The map easily stands up under its own material strength when rolled up without even a hint of a buckle. It just comes off as a  durable mat. That's the feature I would say is its most unique immediate takeaway.



I was curious as to what the manufacturer meant exactly by 'felt like' surface. That really is the best way to describe it though.



Here's a pic of the logo: Small and unobtrusive. The hex grid itself is also subtle. The flash of my camera makes it stand out a tad bit more than it seems when looking at it.

I had a bag from a lawn chair that works perfectly to sling it over the shoulder with...

 
I'm very pleased with this brand hex mat and will probably snag another with some nebula colors within the next year.

I hope you found the review helpful and informative. Any other questions just ask. Disclosure: I was not approached by anyone, asked to review, offered compensation, or anything of the sort for this write-up. This is a voluntary review.  If you decide to purchase through Gamematz, using my referral code http://rwrd.io/qsqzvty will earn me some points/cash off towards my next purchase, so there's that... but I really just wanted to offer some insight since few manufacturers/reviewers show what their mats look like with a grid printed on them.

Gamematz website: http://www.gamematz.com/

Being someone late to the game I don't have all the materials from the old starter set. Does anyone have suggestions for good missiles or missile tokens to use?

Sorry if this isn't appropriate but I think this could really be a great thing for SD especially with the prevalence or 3x3 space field maps for other games being easy to get. Its a clear grid patter than you can place over any battle mat to add a hex grid. Right not the KS is for a 1x1 square then a 1x1 hex which would be too small, but if this idea takes off it could be really handy. 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/819...y-tablewar

Post your raw Night Brood playtesting battle reports and feedback on this thread! We ca then evaluate it, and we'll post the summarized accumulated feedback in the parent Night Brood 2.0 forum. 

We really need as many hands on deck with this as we can get. The Night Brood are an important part of the Silent Death canon, and for too long the have languished in a state of neglect, poorly playtested and grossly imbalanced in game terms in their originally published format.

We want to correct this, and in doing so, make the Night Brood a faction people will want to game with, whether running a Night Brood swarm or battling to save Terrestrial civilization from annihilation at the claws of these weird and terrifying alien beings.

So grab yer flight helmets, people! It's time to go light us up some Grubs!

The Gargoyle, Griffin, and Unicorn ships from HOUSE FALSTAFF: ORIGINS AND RISE all have greyscale images of mini's... is there a manufacturer for these ships or just some custom sculpts that never made it into production?