Friday, May 2, 2014

Earth Empire Fleet

I always found the ships from the Space Dreadnought 3000 line rather interesting. I managed to order a fleet of all of the main factions in that range. The setting is the galaxy is divided into 16 sectors, each sector is administered by a Guardian power. Travel is via jump points (called Star Centres). Guardianship for the 7th sector (where Earth is located) is up for grabs.

Earth Empire Fighter Baseship
The background for the Earth Empire is rather interesting. They had just fought a devastating war with the Vargans and if it wasn't for the Guardians of sector 7, Humans would be extinct. Earth became extremely xenophobic as a result. Because of their relatively small population, their ships are highly automated. Above is the Fighter Baseship (carrier) for the Earth Empire. The ships were painted with Steel followed by a black wash. Steel was then reapplied in the overly dark areas. A light drybrush of aluminum and some of the details in the superstructure were emphasized with chrome. the main guns were painted with Boltgun metal with chrome highlights. Fighter bays were  painted black and engine exhaust was painted white.


Earth Empire Superdreadnought
In this game, ships are essentially eggshells with sledgehammers. Cruisers, Battle Cruisers, Dreadnoughts, and Super Dreadnoughts are the main fleet combatants. Patrol ships and Destroyers make the smaller, more expendable components of the fleet.
Earth Empire Patrol Ships
The fighters come 14/pk. They are mounted 6 ships on a ring with a 7th in the center. I took the ships off the ring and mounted them on earring posts.
Earth Empire Fighters
I had fun painting these ships. The have a clear design aesthetic and an interesting background. Additional pictures can be found on the gallery page.