Into the Firestorm: Ryushi Resurgence

We’re one week further and time to get the rest of the base colors onto the three Hokita-class cruisers. I knew that I wanted to end up with a nice engine glow, so I decided on a light blue to start that off. Also, inspired by my own ‘heat management system’ in our house these past few hot weeks (read: a repurposed silver/gold rescue blanket from a spare first aid kit on the back door glass), I reckoned gold would make for great observation domes – it fits the space theme (thinking about astronaut visors here) and goes well with the main yellow. But what to do for a little contrast and interest? After discarding green and a darker blue, I went for a classic red to accentuate some ribbing, part of the bridge and the main weapon housing on the prow. The muzzle of the front cannon itself, as well as the few broadside turrets on either sides, were then painted bare metal.

Next week: sponging battle damage!

Yesterday I decided on the base coat of my color scheme for the Ryushi fleet. I wanted it to be something different from what I’ve been painting lately (being Protectorate of Menoth for Warmachine, in metal/beige/green), and I was inspired by a one-off model I’d painted during the corona crisis for The Edge: Dawnfall, which was a yellow dwarf robot with a bunch of battle damage. Seeing as how I want the Ryushi to look properly dinged-up in the end, I might as well go with the same idea… and also because I LOVE the coverage of Yriel Yellow. I’ll just have to do some research on proper battle damage in space, as I’m sure it won’t translate 1-on-1 from a footslogging robot.

Three Hokita-class cruisers will be the testbed for my color scheme!

And, we’re off! Not to a standing start, fortunately. No, the shipyard has been working overtime.

Out of the box…

According to my three boxes, I should have one Shautrai-class Battle Carrier, two Onnisha-class Carriers, ten Hokita-class Cruisers and twelve Akkarai-class Corvettes. Apart from the ships themselves, I should also have six large SRS (Short Range Spacecraft) tokens – usable as bombers, assault craft or support shuttles – and six small SRS tokens denoting fighters or interceptors. Quite a fleet, actually. And here I was, thinking that I had only kept a souvenir force.

Surprisingly, there were two extra Hokita-class Cruisers in one of the Alliance Fleet boxes. Free reinforcements, good times! They are mainstays of the Ryushi fleet and more of them are always welcome. Funnily enough, one large and one small SRS token were not Ryushi at all: judging from the design (and having played them extensively myself), I’m pretty sure these are old Directorate tokens. Seeing as how the Zenian League, of which the Directorate is a part, is responsible for the current predicament of the Ryushi in the lore, I’d say it is wholly fitting that my outcasts should have… procured these craft on a daring mission behind enemy lines (very Tydirium-esque, isn’t it?). I’m pretty sure that they’ll be handy infiltrators! More on this later, when I flesh out the background of my fleet.

… and onto the assembly line

It took me about two hours to clean and assemble the fleet. It probably could have taken less time (especially when considering that the cruisers, corvettes and tokens are all single-part), but I did this during my weekly hobby session on videochat with friends, so the much-needed banter and laughter filled up the rest. During assembly, I was once again reminded of the amount of detail Spartan Games put into these ships. They really are a feast to behold and I’m at the same time daunted by the prospect of doing them justice during painting. Ah well, that’s verse two.

As for those details: most striking on the capital ships are the latticed domes, which many people once said tie into these vessels remotely operating both the small craft and the corvettes. Still, the carriers also each have a communication dish at the secondary bridge, so it sounds more plausible that the domes are exactly that. After all, according to the lore the ships became their only home when the Ryushi went into exile, so the domes are far more likely part of their living space, so to say. I’ll have to come up with a good spot color for these, anyway.

Another set of great details can be seen on the majestic battle carrier, which is the only ship I’ll be painting in sub-assemblies. You can actually choose to model it in a ‘open’ or ‘closed’ fashion, which means the flight deck is either operational or not. I really want the ‘power fields’ (the blue parts) active, so I’ll assemble the ship after having fully painted it – including the little craft on the flight deck and on the elevator.

Getting up to speed

Well, that’s it for one evening. I’m happy to have finally started this project – also my first project on this website, to boot – and I hope those of you reading this will be wondering how this fleet will end up as much as I do. Until next time!

LX