DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER
Darkstar - Building new fleet of playing pieces
As some people following this project may have seen, some of recent campaigns in Darkstar in the Scorpio, Libra, and Sagittarius coreward sectors have led to the rise of a new faction: The Khitan-Tunguska Free State, more commonly known as the Black Dragons.
In broad summary, these are a series of colonies from that have revolted against the Holy Russian Empire and the Panasian Union (predominantly, China). Because of their Russian-Chinese roots, they have adopted something of a Mongolian / Manchurian / Siberian separatist culture – their nickname coming from the Black River than runs between Siberia and northern China on terrestrial Earth.
Anyway, these Black Dragons have been engaged in two furious wars against my Americans and Japanese of the “Pacific Alliance” in the Xi Scorpio War (2516-18) and against the Americans alone in the smaller Scorpion’s Tail War of 2518.
These were mostly “playtesting” campaigns, usually run solitaire in MS Excel. So while there’s a massive amount of backstory, history, and games on record for this new faction (including some ships that have become really powerful through xp-upgrades), there actually hasn’t really been physical playing pieces made up for them for conventional tabletop play.
Now that the Black Dragons have entered a third war with live opponents and allies (@aras, @gladesrunner, and Jeff P.), it was high time I finally made some pieces for the Black Dragons.
They’ve escaped the Matrix! They’re now in the “real world!” 😀 😀 😀
Printing out the markings for starship bases (heavy cruisers, light cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and corvettes) and aerospace counters (fighters, bombers, scouts)
I trace out the bases I will cut from artist's matte board. These pieces must all be uniform with pre-existing pieces from factions already in play.
Bases all cut out with some light sanding to smooth the edges.
Bases are now mounted with the Black Dragon flag and ship class designations. CA = heavy cruiser. CL = light cruiser. DD = destroyer. FF = frigate. CV is usually "Carrier," but carriers are handled differently in this game. So CV = corvette. Although none are pictured here, there are also BB for battleships and PV for gunboats (patrol vessel). 
Cut stands on which the starships will be mounted on the stand. Again, these are certain lengths depending on ship types.
Starting work on the actual starship. Again, each type has a standard template. One of these decades I might finally get around to start building more advanced / visual "miniatures," but with seven ships types, 88 classes, 11 factions, and hundreds of individual starships on record, I can only nibble at the edges of such a project. Also, I've always wante dto encourage people who play this game to largely imagine for themselves how they like their ships to look.
The ships are now cut and assembled. 
A lick of gray paint adds to the "Battleship" mystique. :D 
Aerospace unit markers are now mounted and cut. In three hours of light work, a whole new faction has been built for Darkstar, and is ready for play. I actually hope to use them later this evening in a skirmish against some of their former masters in the Holy Russian Empire. 
An entirely new fleet for the UK to destroy…BRING IT!
Be careful, woman. That’s the Zhang Jia you’re talking about – the “Butcher of Tamakura” who destroyed the IJN Sendai, exploded USS Milwaukee, destroyed the civilian industrial station at Kansai Beta, and has crippled USS Oriskany no less than three times. Her black hull is painted in the blood of her enemies, she strikes terror and fear wherever she goes! Bwa-ha-ha!
Nice work, beautiful, simple, and elegant.
Thanks very much, @davehawes – I’ve been increasingly tempted to try, well … maybe “miniatures” is the wrong word, but definitely more advanced playing pieces. The problem is literally hundreds if not thousands would be required. That’s the nature of these hex-and-counter games. I’m thinking maybe if I made them modular, somehow, just made up a dozen or so ships and somehow magnetized them to attach onto bases of different factions / class designations, we could keep the hundreds of combinations / choices available in the mechanics and background … while having more ornate / detailed pieces to place with.