Babylon 5 ACTA: Hyperion Pulse Cruiser

 Remeber how I told that near the end of the ACTA lifespan, models where made for the various Hyperion variants, especially present in the Earth Alliance "early" list?

 

Well, this is one of those, the Pulse Cruiser.

 

A Raid level variant, this vessel focusses on the twin-linked pulse cannons, making away with the beam cannons.  So this makes it a nice close-in brawler, for as much as the venerable workhorses of the fleet are suited to that.  Think of them of a "light" version of the Nova Dreadnought, lighter surivability, less guns, but more agility.

 

The sculpt itself is the regular Hyperion where the control tower and the tubes at the botton of the central part have been removed, and instead a large disc, the pulse generator, rests on the top of the front section. 

 

And this vessel also means I obtained my goal of painting 5 points of raid up again for A Call to Arms.  I will use it in a Middle Age EA fleet as the Assault variant to distinguish it from the others in the list, and giving me a nice compact force as a result. 

 

Now to start preparations on scenery and such for the Warfleets battle day! 

Babylon 5 ACTA: Omega Destroyer

 The first spaceship of the year, and it is subtle as a brick!

 

Well, it actually also can serve as a brick considering it's weight and shape...

 

But the Omega Destroyer is perhaps the most iconic looking vessel from Babylon 5, bar perhaps the station, but definitly more so then even the White Star.  And it ain't to shabby at all in the game either, packing some serious firepower, high armour and defences, and heaps of hit and crew points.

 

Basically, a brick in the middle of your fleet...

 

An added bonus to the vessel is that it comes with no less then 4 flights of Starfuries, for which I went with Thunderbolts this time, a tat less a dogfighter compared to the Aurora, but with increased firepower to make those strafing runs on enemy vessels.

 

Colourscheme wise, I find these difficult vessels.  If you see them on screen, they are towards the black / very dark grey spectrum, yet in official manuals they look a lighter grey / metallic shade.  I never the less went for the first colouring, going from Dark Rubber as a base colour to Hardened Carapace for the final layer.

 

The Thunderbolts on the other hand have been painted the same grey as my other fighters and vessels, except with red instead of blue details.  It's easy to recognise a Thunderbolt from an Aurora at Fleet Scale, but it becomes a different story between a Thunderbolt and a Firebolt, so I'll be "colourcoding" my fighter stands as such.  Just for easy of play and identification, because the Earth Alliance loves variations on excisting designs after all. 

 

Now to round out this years Third Age fleet with painting up a final Hyperion (yes, a variant), so check back in a few weeks for that one! 

Babylon 5 ACTA: Sagittarius Missile Cruiser

 Well, what is in a name...

 

This Earth Alliance early era cruiser is just as subtle as the bowman constellation it is named after: it shoots missiles in all directions.

 

A Skirmish level vessel with average armour and hit points, it's use is as simple as it gets: hang back and launch the signature weapons of the Early era fleet, missiles.  Which, with the missile variant rules can actually become really nasty.  But that is just it's role, launch broadside after broadside (well, at least once you reload, because slow-loading) into the enemy lines.

 

Now, while this is a robust and typical "Earth Alliance brick" vessel, there is one issue.  It's engine section, being solid metal, is so heavy that it is a misery to mount it on a flight stand.  Even with drilling, superglue and a larger round plate at the bottom, it is prone to fall over.  I solved it in the end (a lesson learned from 20 years ago when we played it like crazy), is to mount it really, but really low, just showing a short piece of stem to do the measuring from and to.

 

Now, let's go off and pummel them with the subtelity of a brick... literally. 

 

 

Babylon 5 ACTA: Thetys Cutters

 The small Thetys, a patrol choice in the Early Years Earth Alliance fleet.

 

So small actually, you get two of them for one patrol point...

 

Needless to say, that means they aren't that impressive, yet I always loved them, because they actually are super handy ships.  Not only are these great initiative sinks to manoeuver your lumbering heavier vessels into position, there are also the one hit wonder variants.  These come either with a beam or a missile rack, both slow-loading so they probably won't survive the return fire after their salvo.

 

Yet, sometimes they do and then they are great for either lowering Stealth, overload Interceptors and more, because they have to get very close anyways to bring their weapons to bear, and are often overlooked for your juicier ships like your Hyperions.

 

So to start out, I painted up 4 of them, which I can use as whatever variant I need for the opponent that game, and spend a point of Skirmish only for the squadron. 

 

Now to get the rest of the fleet painted up and get at least a game in! 

Babylon 5 ACTA: a second Hyperion cruiser

 I love Hyperions in my Earth Alliance fleet, the true workhorses of the fleet and useable in every one of the three EA lists.

 

Now, they have variations over the various era's, and by the Crusade era they are nothing more then armoured transport vessels, but still, they are there.

 

And that makes painting them up really rewarding, as you can always use them, varrying on levels either being Raid or Skirmish, depending the variant.  And this one is a second "regular" version, though in the later days of the game some variants actually received dedicated sculpts, and I'll be painting up some of those as well.

 

Of course, I also painted it's "on board" flight of starfuries, opting for Aurora's again as these are, apart from the iconic EA fighter, also by far the best variant, perhaps only eclipsed by the Minbari fighters, and even slightly.

 

Now the fleet can already be fielded at 5 skirmish level, and I'm going to try to get a small scale game in to get reacqainted with the rules and mechanics, but it won't stop there to paint them up! 

Babylon 5 ACTA: Oracle Scout

 Time for the second ship to be painted up for my Babylon 5 Earth Alliance fleet, and that is the brave Oracle scout.

 

At Priority level Skirmish in the A Call to Arms ruleset, wether it is in the 3rd Age or the Early years lists, this is a handy little vessel to have around.

 

Though personally I always prefered the Explorer for my scouting shennanigans, the vessel does come with a Stealth field, though nowhere as potent as the Minbari ones for example.  On the other hand, it is a solid little light cruiser with some decent all round weaponry considering it's level and it's role on the field of battle.  

 

But it was good fun to paint, even though assembling the little turrets and the engine "flaps" is a bit of a fiddly tinkering, but I like how it turned out in the end.

 

Now to go back to some more battle line vessels... 

 

 

Babylon 5 ACTA: Hyperion Cruiser

 The first model to return to the venerable A Call to Arms gamesystem has been painted, and what else could that be then the mainstay of a Dawn of the 3rd Age Earth Alliance fleet, the venerable Hyperion Cruiser.

 

A solid all rounder at Raid level, these vessels are the literal backbone of the EA fleet, workhorses like the Excelsior class is in Star Trek.

 

Armed with the needed medium ranged guns and boresight lasers, it also comes with a flight of Aurora Starfuries, excellent little dogfighters in the game and pretty iconic for the show.   

 

As everything is measured base to base for fighter flights, it doesn't really matter how you make them up, and I re-opted like in the old days to put them by the two's on a round base.  The huge hexagons from Fleet Action are just to unwieldy, and as they are cast in metal weigh a ton that can damage paintjobs in transport otherwise.

 

The Hyperion itself has been painted now in a light grey compared to inked metal I used to do all those years ago, to get some more joy out of working on them and it just looks better in my opinion now, as my paint style has evolved as well over all those years.

 

Now to start working on the rest of the fleet as well and get a game in somewhere during the summerbreak period... 

And so it begins... anew

"The Babylon project was our last best hope for peace. It failed. But in the year of the shadow war, it became something greater, our last best hope for victory. The year is 2260, the place Babylon 5."

 

Yes, we are back to the old great nostalgic love... Babylon 5, A Call to Arms spaceship game by Mongoose Publishing.

 

I blame Andy.  I really do.  Suddenly, out of the blue he poked me on WhatsApp, asking me if I still had my fleets, which I didn't.  What followed then was a sales pitch and before I knew it I had ordered a new Earth Alliance fleet over at Agents of Gaming, even with the serious import costs I would need to pay.

 

Now, I started out small, ordering a 5 points of Raid fleet for now, consisting of an Omega Destroyer, 2 regular Hyperions, an Assault Hyperion and an Oracle scout, together with the necessary flights of Aurora and Thunderbolt Starfuries.

 

The biggest difference perhaps is that over the years my paintingstyle has evolved / improved, so I could have more fun painting them up then the pure drybrushing of 20 years ago.

 

So scrounging for the long OOP rulebooks and fleet lists, we will get a game in left or right, as my "Dawn of the Third Age" fleet is being shipped in right now.

 

To be continued... soon!