DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER
Recommendations: 3619
About the Project
The year is 2512.
The powers that remain on an ecologically-devastated and plague-ravaged Earth have been forced to look to the stars for the resources, capital, and room not only to expand, but to survive. While the setbacks encountered by mankind over the past 500 years have forced him to unite in a shaky global coalition and make fantastic strides in technology, they have also caused seismic and reactionary shifts in religion, culture, and politics. A second age of imperialism has dawned, and because man would never survive another war on the fragile remains of planet Earth, he is forced to ply his oldest trade ... war ... exclusively among the stars.
Darkstar is a tactical war game postulating naval combat in a “science faction” universe set five centuries into a troubled and uncertain future. Players take command of warships serving in the new “black water” navies of reborn empires of old, struggling for control of shipping lanes, resources, and colonies. Ships maneuver and fire in fast-paced combat, with survival not only of the players’ fleets at stake, but perhaps their nation and all of humanity as well.
Related Genre: Science Fiction
This Project is Active
Online Maps for long-distance Darkstar Play
Good afternoon, all ~
After the challenge was put out last week on XLBS, and more talk is starting to circulate regarding online play for Darkstar, I thought I would dust off the electronic maps and start getting this ready for potential use.
Two two factions pictured here are the US Navy and the “Black Dragons” of the Khitan-Tunguska Free State. Also available are the Royal Navy for the UK, the Holy Russian Empire, Japan, Imperial Prussia, and the Panasian Union (basically, China and her allies / vassal states).
There are also more factions, the Arab League, the New Roman Alliance (France, Italy, Spain, and other predominantly Catholic countries), the Corporate Consortium (loose collection of high-tech private “navies” to include “security consultants,” privateers, and outright pirates. These are technically available, but would take just a little work to bring them out of 1st Edition and update to the new 2nd Edition model.
In this “e-gaming model,” players share access to a file in a shared web space, switching keyboard and mouse controls as they both view the same desktop / gameboard in a video teleconferencing format.
Darkstar comes to Coleraine!
Filmed some great Darkstar content in the Beasts of War “Cage” last night, hopefully we’ll see it rolled out front stage before too long. 😀
British Royal Navy Carriers
In some of the comments, some readers have expressed interest in starting a British Royal Navy battlegroup built around an aerospace carrier.
Here are two of the initial prospects. Osprey class is probably what’s recommended for a new player, simply because carrier play requires some of the more detailed rules, and a lot more finesse with the tactics. Ergo, smaller carriers (with smaller aerospace strike groups) are probably better to start out.
As usual, opening the image in a new tab is best to read this text. 😀
New 3D Scratch-Build Miniatures complete! (P2)
Scratch-built miniatures for Darkstar starship tactical wargame.
So the largest miniatures here are for heavy cruiser. Just under two inches long.
The smallest ones are the destroyers, about 1.5 inches.
This makes the minis about 1:9000 scale (destroyers in this game mass about 45000-52000 tons, about 850 feet long).
Smaller ships (not built yet) would include frigates, then corvettes, and finally gunboats (about the side of the Millenium Falcon).
Larger ships would include pocket battleships, battlecruiser, battleships, supercarriers, and superdreadnoughts (600-650,000 tons, about 3-4 kilometers in length).
Close up of the Japanese heavy cruiser task force (port quarter)
Close up of the British (starboard bow). 
Close up of the Japanese (starboard bow). New 3D Scratch-Build Miniatures done! (P1)
Okay, everyone. The new scratch-built miniatures are complete and being packed up for shipment across the ocean for the visit to Ireland.
Again, the idea is for a “fleet” of 20-30 ships or so (10 have been built so far today since about 4:00 AM), and have them detachable for use with different bases for different factions.
Three ship classes represented here – Destroyer (DD), Light Cruiser (CL), Heavy Cruiser (CA).
For now, attached to Royal Navy / United Kingdom bases, and IJN / Japan bases.
Built from light cardboard, balsa dowels, and small bits from my girlfriend’s jewelry hobby box.
Primed in Krylon medium gray.
Dry-brushed in lighter gray craft store acrylic.
Weapons mounts painted lighter gray, along with white and blue running lights, red and green port / starboard maritime navigation lights, and light blue engine glow.
The fleet as it exists at the moment (starboard bow)
Fleet from the port quarter.
Port quarter close up of British heavy cruiser task force (about 320 points, if ships are all "n00bs" with no upgrades or crew bonuses)Starting new 3D Playing Pieces
It’s certainly been a while since this project has been active. A big reason has been the upcoming Boot Camp. However, some people who’ll be at the boot camp have expressed interest in trying this out at the BoW Studios, so I thought now would be the best time to start making up some enhanced 3D playing pieces.
I’ve talked about this before. Right now, with 11 active factions and almost 100 starship classes in fourteen different category types, the total “fleet” of playing pieces is well over 300 ships. Needless to say, I can’t do 300 ships like this, so what I’m starting is to build a smaller fleet of say … 20-30 ships then using some kind of magnetized attachment feature where I can switch out the actual “miniatures” with the base (where the faction, ship class, and ship number are displayed).
After all, there are almost never more than 10-12 ships on the table at once, even in the biggest game.
So here I have two heavy cruiser, four light cruisers, and four destroyers, ranging from just under 2″ to 1.5″ long. Cut from cardboard, balsa dowels, and small jewelry hobby bits. These will be painted later today, then made “magnetized attachable” to a wide array of bases so I can accommodate whatever players may want to try during the upcoming trip to BoW studios.
And if it doesn’t work out at BoW Studios, no worries. This was something I’ve been wanting to get started on for quite some time, and it feels good to take a brief break from the desert.
More to come, hopefully later tonight!
New Factions!
Okay, maybe not quite “new” factions – but factions for nations and navies in Darkstar that haven’t got a lot of focus so far in these posts.
Entries include the Basra class destroyer of the Arab League, and the Gujarat class destroyer for the Indian Republic.
Darkstar Promo Video!
Okay, I don’t pretend to be Steven Spielberg … much less a Justin, Lance, or Lloyd … but here is my attempt at a PROMO VIDEO for Darkstar the Wargame!
I should include the source for this music:
Two Steps from Hell, an L.A. based production company that started out creating music not so much for movies, but movie trailers. I can almost guarantee that everyone on Beasts of War has heard TSFH music at least once, be it in a movie trailer, TV promo, internet ad, or some such.
For my money they also make the best wargaming music ever.
I have linked their YouTube channel below, as well as the specific track used in this slideshow (Red Omen, from their Halloween). After finding them on YouTube I purchased just about all their albums on iTunes, no matter what your gaming genre … they’ve got something you might like!
YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3swwxiALG5c0Tvom83tPGg
Red Omen (Halloween album):
