Deception Island

I find it amazing how real life can feed fiction like nothing else. Sometimes the facts of something that actually happened can be the fuel for a whole host of ideas.

So I came across this YouTube video about an island just off the Antarctican Penninsula called "Deception Island" So this is an island that, and I kid you not, was a massive whaling processing camp for the Norwegians about 100 years ago.

It gets better. The reason why this island made such a great base of operation in what is known for being an incredibly hostile environment? It's an island on top of a massive active volcano!

Zenos: Prettier than they are useful!

Oh baby, how the creative juices flow!

I have high hopes for the Fresnel making Energy Turrets
viable!

So I've been thinking for a while that I wanted to create a couple of large islands that would be feature pieces for the transition of snow covered antarctican Covenant bases to a more moderate and temperate clime. I realize that a 6' x 4' board is hardly enough of a space to show that change in climate, but I think it would make a nice transition even if the scale is telescoped out dramatically. What I've been trying to figure out is what do I want to make as the CoA base?

Enter this video and totally fascinating bit of history and I've got my plan! So I think what I'll do is make a miniature version of this island. In my mind the CoA position the island as an innocent whaling factory but what it really is is a secret monitoring station for one of the CoA's giant staging fleet teleporters! It's gonna look incredible.

On that note we've really ramped up on the Dystopian Wars thing again recently. Both Brad and I brushed off our models last weekend and had ourselves a good game (and a podcast! I just need to finish processing it!) and totally fell in love with the models and game again. :)

Some finished Thales.

So we've agreed to have another game this coming Monday at 1,000pts. This time we're changing things up again. We agreed upon the smaller point scale because we wanted something that we could take our time with but actually finish and Brad (good guy that he is) is focussing more on a naval bent for his Rising Sun fleet so it's actually a bit of a challenge rather than his incredibly effective air core.

So as a result we're going to have fully painted fleets and fully painted terrain. I've already painted up a squad of Zeno class medium cruisers, some more escorts and my dearly beloved and newly Christened Fresnel class support cruiser which have breathed new life into my beloved Plato cruisers. So long as I get my Thales corvettes finished this weekend I am going to see if I can't whip out a few more large islands and finish the water effects on some of my existing ones to make the battle report really pop!

Close up shot of the Thales

In the meantime here are some pictures of some newer CoA models to whet your creative whistles!

One of the things that I love so much about this game is the creativity that is inherent in the subject matter!