Star Trek Lives... at Origins 2009!

First off, if I'd had half a brain in my head these past few weeks, this should have been a post previewing the Origins Game Fair held last week (June 24-28) in my hometown of Columbus, OH at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. As it happens, it never occurred to me to even check the schedule until it was over, probably because I was bummed that I couldn't afford to go (and Gen Con still looks just as unlikely).

Post-con reports this week have been pretty much the same: attendance seemed slightly down compared to previous years, it didn't help that Wizards of the Coast, White Wolf and Games Workshop didn't exhibit, but overall it was a great show for gaming. As someone who deals with tradeshows in the tech field, I have to tell you that shows this past year have been down at least a third, and I hear Origins didn't have anywhere near that kind of drop. Congratulations to the Game Manufacturers Association for that.

It looks like Origins 2009 was packed with fun for Trek gamers. First off, a big round of applause to Steve Cole and the folks at Amarillo Design Bureau for a great presence at the show, and for running Star Fleet Universe new player demos for all 5 days. Best way to introduce new players to the hobby. In fact, it sounds like it was a full plate for SFU players throughout the show with Federation & Empire (the strategic game of the SFU) games run upstairs, Federation Commander and Star Fleet Battles games and tournaments, and seminars and "The Sing-A-Long" (the company briefing). Here is a picture album that Bill Stec has posted to Photobucket.

And here are some tidbits from friend, Groknard reader and fellow Cardinal (Class of '86), Lee Hanna (thanks Lee!):

• F&E was rocking... 23 bodies at 4 tables, the room was definitely full
• Played in the "Errant Wind" game (General War delayed, Romulans and Klingons gang up on Federation; 4 turns played)
• Attended the Company briefing (aka the Sing-A-Long) and the F&E Seminar. Came away impressed with the continued openness by ADB's officers. Missed the SFB Tactics and FC seminars. A number of seminars were podcasted, so you can hear for yourself with more to come
• Little coverage and no play of the Prime Directive RPGs during the con :(
• ADB's sales were higher YOY in May 2009 than May 2008 and June's sales were double, perhaps due to the new Star Trek film?

(side note: great blog entry yesterday at Troll in the Corner regarding memories of the old Star Fleet Battles)

Also popular at Origins this year was the other venerable Star Trek wargame, FASA's Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator. Chris Norton organized no less than four games of STSTCS in Hall D during the show based on Klingon vs IKS and Klingon vs Federation scenarios.

And here's one I wished I'd been in on: Ken Burnside's (Ad Astra Games) Squadron Strike with the scenario When Universes Collide - Babylon 5 vs Star Trek! I need to get me the SSDs for that and give the Star Trek universe a shot in a true 3D simulation game... In Valen's Name!

But it wasn't all miniatures and ConSims at Origins 2009. Prime Directive may have decided to skip the show (a shame, btw, considering that the new D20 Modern version rocks), but there was no lack (or variety!) of Star Trek role-playing games going on at the con. Tara Lydick of Blue Hen Gamers club, for instance, ran a LUG game called Which Came First? - "When the crew of the USS Blackhorse discover a new star system, can they successfully negotiate their way out of their strangest first?"

CODA games aplenty too! Patrick Goodman and I were talking on the phone the other day and he'd heard that his CODA Star Trek RPG Support Site came up in conversations during the show. Between the movie, a complete Trek game system for $35, and efforts like Patrick's, CODA has definitely proven itself to be the little Trek RPG that could. As for CODA games at Origins...

• Kevin Hake of Crimson Hand Gamers ran two games: Ports of Call, in which the USS Gryphon patrols the infamous Triangle, and Ports of Intrigue, where the crew goes undercover to investigate New Sahara... is it a black market or something more sinister?
• Kris Chester and Brandon Perdue also ran two CODA games: The Lost Colony, a TNG scenario, and The Treason Sharply, in which players could join the crew of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey and gain honor in the hunt for a traitor to the Empire.

Last but not least was a FUDGE homebrew sponsored by Grey Ghost Press and organized by Gordon Cooper called The Monument. In this TOS-based scenario, a science vessel investigating the ruins of a lost civilization has disappeared... and there are reports of Klingon activity in the sector.

Not too shabby a showing for Trek at all. I'm definitely going to try to make it to next year's Origins (June 23-27, 2010) and I may have a couple of my own games to run as well (more on that later). In the meantime, Gen Con Indy 2009 is just 40 days away, and I see a few Trek games on deck. Hmmm... what is "Directive 7731"?

But wait! There's more.....

A Miniature Crew of Your Own

It was about 2 1/2 years ago that I "re-discovered" The Hobby. Actually, I hadn't forgotten it, but I'd stopped following it on the Internets back in '99 because I felt they were sucking the fun out of it. Anyway, the reason I "came home" was due in big part to Star Trek and its long legacy of gaming, much of which I'd missed during my exile.

One of the first things I started looking for was the miniatures I'd had and those I missed. I've been lucky enough to have saved (or recovered) and expanded my collection quite a bit with the Heritage, Citadel, FASA, LUG and Ultimo Avamposto officially-licensed releases. Of course, those aren't the only options.

It was around that time (early 2007) that I was on The Miniatures Page and saw a post about a fellow named Matakishi who was planning on designing and casting his own 28mm Starship Crew. By early this year, I'd given up hope that he would finish the project, but lo and behold! He says he's still working on perfecting the sculpts, but apparently is willing to share the fruits of his labors in return for a donation. See his site for details.

It was also on his site and others that I came across pictures of some other "not Trek" miniatures that came out a few years ago, and are no longer available. Here are some from OOP Eureka Miniatures (that I have since managed to get off eBay):



...and here are 1st Corps' 28mm "Away Team", also long gone (that I have not managed to find):


There are at least two other options for a miniature crew of your own. I'm particulary fond of MegaMiniatures 25mm "SF Explorers", available through their eBay store:



They may look a little goofy, but they're very nicely cast, very affordable and easily modified with a little skill. Take a look at what Scott over at the Star Trek Miniatures Yahoo Group managed to do with one:



And I think Adam or I mentioned them before, but Victory Force Miniatures has their outstanding line of 28mm "Spacefarers" that are perfect for Next Generation era Trek, Galactica, Babylon 5 or even Galaxy Quest! Here's the "Space Crew Explore Pack #2":

Be sure to scroll down the whole page, and you'll find perfect sources for men, women, aliens... and even redshirts!

But wait! There's more.....

Star Trek: Big in Japan!

If you haven't noticed, I have a passion for many things Japanese, including Japanese things related to Star Trek (or, as the original series was called over there, 宇宙大作戦 (Space Operation)). Probably a result of the years I spent immersed in kaiju eiga and tokusatsu fandom... that's a fancy way of saying Godzilla, Gamera and Ultraman, heh.

Thanks to Eric, my wonderful online friend and Trek RPG buddy in Tokyo, I got a fantastic care package last week. I'd already managed to get ahold of a few chirashi (mini-posters) for the film, but Eric really completed my collection with the official movie program, a keychain with a very small new Enterprise, a command badge and a press/PR document (all pictured left, click any of these to embiggenize).

I still have and treasure my original 1979 theatrical program from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It was probably one of the final programs of its type published. By the time TWOK came out in 1982, everything seemed to have switched to "Official Collector's Magazines". Just not the same.

But in Japan, a few very high-quality programs still manage to be released, and some theaters and movies have additional merchandise for sale at the concession stands. Some of the coolest and rarest Godzilla collectibles were "theater exclusives" that would only be available at the end of the year when what used to be the annual Godzilla film was being screened.

And so it was with the June premiere of JJ Abrams' Star Trek in Japanese theaters this month. Shochiku Goods has released Star Trek theater merchandise as part of its Froovie ("something from the movie") line of goods, which can be seen at the Froovie website. Unfortunately, most of it now appears to be sold out (and Eric told me the same), so it will be difficult for most Westerners to get ahold of it unless you know how to frequent outlets such as Yahoo Japan Auctions. In the meantime, here's some closeup images of what Eric managed to get to me.

I love the program, but I think this is my favorite: yet another new Enterprise keychain! This is much smaller than the US version I covered a few weeks ago, 1 3/4" (45mm). For starship miniature fans, that's about the same size as the small Romando Star Trek 1/7000 collection (my favored scale for gaming).

Here are some additional close-ups alongside a Galoob TOS 1701 Micro Machine, the US Basicfun keychain, and -- one of my favorite recent acquisitions -- a brilliant 1/7000 scale Klingon D7, erm, Sing-on Starship from Studio Bergstrom (do check out that website, his minis are better than the pictures and a GREAT VALUE!).

And here are some shots of the additional merchandise (click to enlarge):

But wait! There's more.....

The "Key" to New Starship Miniatures!

Fans of Star Trek and starship miniature gaming, rejoice!

As I hinted in my blog earlier this week, a new alternative for starship miniatures has come onto the market in an unlikely fashion: the new line of Star Trek Keychains from Basic Fun, Inc. The company has released a set of 5 new keychains, 4 from older Star Trek series and 1 from the new film. Based on the pictures, I decided to take a chance to see if these would be suitable for Trek miniature gaming, and similar to the Star Trek Micro Machines I already have in terms of quality and scale. The answer is: close enough!

The new line of keychains are made of the same soft plastic (PVC?) that most of Galoob's Micro Machines were made of. They are each about 3 inches (8cm) long, and consist of the following ships:

- TOS USS Enterprise NCC-1701
- TOS Klingon D-7 Battle Cruiser
- TNG USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D

These are in identical "Original Trek" packaging (see right) with images of each on the back, including a TOS Communicator keychain, not covered in this post. Regardless of contents, the packages are all labeled with the same SKU and "Item# 1354".

The fourth starship is the new Enterprise from this year's film. It is in its own unique packaging, listed as Item# 1355, and makes no reference on the back to any of the other keychains.

As you can see to the left (you can click most pictures in this post to get the bigger versions), the ships are all the same length. Both of these Enterprise ships are nearl the exact same length as the Galoob Micro Machine USS Enterprise, as pictured at the very top of this post. At first glance one might even think that the two TOS Enterprises are from the same mold, but the quality and detail of the new "keychain" version exceeds the older one in subtle ways, such as the thickness of the saucer section.

The paint jobs and lettering on all of the new ships is excellent, and none of the ships I received were at all warped as MMs could be at times. I will certainly be clipping the chains from these ships and using a Dremel to drill small holes in the bottom for flight stands.

One really important thing to note for both the TOS and the new Enterprise is how the keychain itself is connected. Despite the images used on the packaging and in promotional photos for them, the connecting loop is more invasive than depicted. To the right, for instance, is a closeup of one of those images, definitely a prototype. Down below, however, you will see that the loop actually goes through two small holes on the rear of the saucer, and one through the neck. They're not sloppy holes and I can see why they chose to do that considering the material and their actual function as something to pull out of your pocket. But I'm sure there are some fans who would prefer to know this before they purchase them. This method is not used on the 1701D or the D-7.

It's not a deal killer for me, and I don't think I'm going to bother trying to fill the gaps. Although it would be easy enough to do with green stuff (epoxy modeling putty), it would probably be a pain (for me) to match the original paint. I'm sure others with be able to do it in such a way as to not even be noticeable!>



I only wish Basic Fun had released a Kelvin as well! I would have bought a boatload of those to kitbash and create the two other Federation starships (the "Quad" and the "Trike" as some call them). But even with just the 1701, there are some great custom kitbashing possibilities, like those found at the awesome Shipyard site of 3D artist MadMan.

Here are some more images of the other "Ships of the Line". First, the 1701-D and the D-7, side-by-side with their Micro Machine counterparts. As you can see, they're a good half-inch longer.



Next, some closeups of the beautiful detail found on the new 1701. Yes, that is actually an aztec pattern on the bottom of the saucer! Manufacturing has come a long way.





Next, some close-ups of the D-7 (or, as I'll call it when I pit it against the new Enterprise, the big "D-9 Klingon War Birds", even though the Klingon War Birds in the new film do have some stylistic differences). In the third pic, you can almost imagine that I know how to focus a camera in such a way that you can see the individual windows painted on.



Here's the 1701-D, and it's just beautiful. Very smooth, and windows and other detail are fantastic. The keychain connector simply unscrews, leaving a small knob that should come off with a sharp hobby knife.



Finally, the "NCC 1701. No bloody A, B, C, or D."



So, there you have it. At about $6 a pop, definitely a less expensive alternative for the new Enterprise than what's available through the secondary market right now, and some almost perfect alternatives to what came out through Micro Machines. You should be able to find these on eBay or the official Star Trek Store (beware obscenely priced and slow shipping and handling!), and I would think that they'll be showing up in all sorts of brick and mortar retail outlets as well.

Let the kitbashing and tabletop gaming begin!

But wait! There's more.....

Still More Trek Gaming Tidbits!

Just a few quick, fun finds of note tonight before dinner:

When it comes to miniatures, a good Klingon is hard to find. Or is it? Check out the new "Rim Alien" (left), and if you're interested in this and more, head over to Gary Mitchell's Shop. They're not the Big K's, of course, but they look close enough for gaming purposes. They'll be coming soon.

If you're like me, you dig schematics and deckplans. Need a good ship? Perhaps a station to visit? How about a nicely detailed Ground Base to infiltrate? Well, thanks to IceGiant in a thread over at TrekRPGNet, a site thought to be lost had turned back up: Publius' (John D. Lees?) Trek Role-Playing site, which includes maps of the Damaris Sector, some CODA house rules, and deckplans for the Nova-class, the USS Rhode Island variant, the Java-class, the Regula Station and more! Grab 'em while you can before a black hole opens up.

Owen Oulton has pointed out Samuel Kowal's lovely deckplans for the USS Raven on his deviantARt page. Samuel also has some cool original schematics (1701-F, G, H and I?) in his gallery. And Owen's added some new material to his Rising Sun campaign.

Designer John Eaves. Poor guy. His blog is about to get bombarded with Teh Angerz as he opens up the can of worms known as "How Big is the New Enterprise?"

I should have a picture this week of something that may be a perfect mini of the nuEnterprise! Though you can always bid against me on this (eBay). Hopefully this other option works. It'll be much more affordable!

Speaking of eBay, I'm too lazy, erm, busy to do Auction of the Week... so here's a bunch! Something for everyone!

• Set of LUG TNG and DS9 Core RPG books and Tech Manuals to go with them - $5!
• LUG TNG The Way of D'era Romulan Boxed Set - $40! (reduced to $32?!)
• Task Force Games Prime Directive (1) RPG Lot (and these are the 3 really good books, IMO) - $15!
• FASA Star Trek Miniature Starship Collection MIP (all but one) - $627 or Buy It Now for $1000! (if you can afford this, please adopt me)
• Heritage Tellerites... the Stocky Pig-Gaces Humanoids! - $4!
• Complete Decipher CODA Trek RPG Collection - $30!

Yah, I can't afford to be shopping either. I did just get (finally!) FASA module "Old Soldiers Never Die" and its very cool "The Romulan War" companion. "w00t!" as the kids say.


Like your Trek gaming Fast Furious and Fun? I'm pretty sure I mentioned Renny's Savage Worlds conversion in the big "homebrew" post months ago (still the most popular post, btw), and Bretbo has another underway. The Savage Worlds Conversion page has a newish entry from Mike Callahan called "Red Alert!" (a Word doc) that's a nice approach to ship-to-ship combat in SW. I have Pinnacle's Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition. I have a deck of cards. I have Star Trek minis out my butt. And there's a Savage Worlds Online for Fantasy Grounds, a virtual tabletop I've been wanting to try for a long time. I should really make time (HA!) to dig into SW further.

Look's like VulcanStev may have another guest post coming on that very subject. In the meantime, as promised, he has posted his own thoughts on Gaming in the Universe of Star Trek.

So, Savage Worlds: any readers play it and can tell me "yay" or "nay"?

Better yet, don't! I have to finish those nuTrek schematics, playtest EZFudge Final Frontier (and you can too!), finish the PD1 article, check out Ad Astra's cool 3D starship combat game, Squadron Strike!, send an e-mail reply to the very gracious Grandfather of Star Trek RPGs, etc., etc..

But first: DINNER!

But wait! There's more.....

More Homebrew Updates and Tidbits

So many updates and tidbits to share, so little time to put it into a cohesive format. But I don't want to delay and today is a holiday, so I'll get them out here.

First, this (left) should put to rest the question "How big is the new Enterprise??". It's really the best photo reference yet in which we can compare scales. The new Enterprise is 23 meters long and 5 meters tall. Let that be the end of it.

The new movie has certainly kicked up interest in Trek role-playing, big time. Google Trends indicates searches have nearly tripled over the past few months (as has my own traffic here), activity related to Trek old and new has really increased over at TrekRPG.net, there seem to be at least 3 new threads a week at RPGnet about Trek, and bidding has been somewhat fierce over on eBay for a number of Trek games and supplements, especially FASA (I curse whoever it was that outbid me on the Romulan Ship Recognition Manual last night, lol). It's a shame that there's no new game to take advantage of it, but it seems to me that it just doesn't matter right now. Interest seems to be evenly split between FASA, CODA and homebrews, which is really wonderful.

Speaking of homebrews, that series of posts seems to have been one of the most popular here at Groknard. As it happens, there are some updates worth mentioning (in no particular order):

- Mike Berkey's brilliant Microlite20 Where No Man Has Gone Before has been updated a few times. It's in Version 2.0, but he continues to update it occasionally (including today!), so bets to bookmark it.

- Jerry Cornelius of the Triplanetary and Jetan blogs has a compelling Trek TAS adaptation for R. Talsorian's Mekton Zeta.

- I don't even remember how I found this (right), but I dig it! DT Butchino's To Boldly Go... A True Trek Sourcebook for Star Trek TOS (PDF via Sendspace) for Green Ronin's True20 system. Great layout, tons of fluff and crunch.

- Bob Portnell has put out a call to those who would eventually like to playtest his EZFudge adaptation of Final Frontier. Drop him a line at nvdaydreamer (at) gmail (dot) com. Details at his blog.

- Speaking of EZ, fans of Atomic Sock Monkey Press' PDQ (Prose Descriptive Qualities) System should check out a series of blog posts in which a group uses it for their Trek adventure. The posts cover character creation, character descriptions, and the three gameplay recaps. RPGNow offers the updated PDQ# (PDQ Sharp), the basis of ASM's Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies RPG, for free.

- Although Adamant Entertainment has cancelled plans for their Mongoose Traveller sourcebook, Final Frontier, an effort to do a Trek homebrew for MgT has kicked up over at TrekRPGnet. Please jump in if you'd like to assist in this effort.

- Also at TrekRPGnet, CODA stats for the crew of the new Star Trek film and a call for submissions for a CODA Klingon Sourcebook is underway.

- At RPGnet, an effort to map out Trek for Troll Lord Games' StarSIEGE: Event Horizon, itself adapted from their Castles & Crusades d20-like re-imagining of OD&D.

- Again at RPGnet, running a Star Trek game using Cubicle 7's FATE-based Starblazer Adventures.

- GURPS and GURPS PD fans take note: Steve Jackson Games recently released the latest PDF from David Pulver's excellent GURPS Spaceship series, GURPS Spaceships 3: Warships and Space Pirate, which includes the "Intrepid Class Frontier Cruiser" which seems an awful lot like the Enterprise, and the stealthy "Eclipse-Class Battle Cruiser" which could possibly pass for a Klingon D-7 K'tinga class cruiser. Just sayin'...

- Speaking of GURPS Prime Directive, two threads over at the SJG forums about adapting the new Trek film to GURPS PD.

- Not necessarily Trek related, but Jason of Elf Lair Games has mentioned on his new blog that he's planning a science fantasy/space opera game (a "settingless toolkit") called Twelve Parsecs™. I absolutely love Elf Lair's Spellcraft & Swordplay, and you know what I'll be thinking about doing with this when it's released. It's still some time away, but I wish ELG best of luck as they get started on all these great endeavors. An Old-School Renaissance Space Opera game... yippee!

- Again, how did I find this? Bridge Crew by James Mullen over at the 1KM1KT collection of free rpg games, which is described as "a simple, narrativist style RPG of cheesy space opera, very much in the mode of a certain well known, heavily franchised TV show". I usually run from anything that says "narrativist", but there are a few interesting ideas worth mining here.

- You already know about the supremely cool Star Trek Miniature Maker, don't you?

- Remember my translation for Tsukuda Hobby's Enterprise Star Trek RPG from 1983? I was told awhile back that it ended up online. No biggie, glad to know it's out there and I can't be held responsible for distributing it! Anyway, I ran across it over at Scribd. Thank you, Vina, whoever you are. It even got a comment in Japanese: "This is a good translation. Thank you." Phew! I even found a copy of my Mothra vs Godzilla boardgame translation at Scribd. What next? My grade school book reports?

- And speaking of my projects, I have actually decided to postpone my TOS adaptation for Thousand Suns. Instead I will be doing one based on the new film. Why? Two reasons. One, as these posts make clear, there are already tons of options for playing TOS. I'll get to it, but there's just no rush. Second, I want to play in this new sandbox, both as a writer and as a player. "I like this ship! It's exciting!" There's a lot of freedom there, whether it be in deck plans for the new Enterprise, the backstory of events leading up to and following the Kelvin incident, and mapping out what could happen next. Thousand Suns is still the perfect choice to do so, so that won't change.

- Following that, there will be two, possibly three projects. One (or two) is a Trek game based on a wholly original system I've been working on, one that takes an approach similar to my beloved The Fantasy Trip games like Melee (1977) and combines that with elements similar to the RPG portions of starship combat of the FASA system and the exploration themes in boardgames such as FGU's Star Explorer (1982) and West End Games' Star Trek The Adventure Game (1985). I've already started writing it, though I'm hashing out some high-level details about how many books and how to break it down. I think it's going to be pretty different from much of what's out there, and I wouldn't categorize it strictly as an RPG. It's much more of an "adventure game" that will either have broad appeal... or no appeal at all! Nevertheless, I'm pretty excited about it. I think it's going to be the Star Trek game I've always wanted. I'll keep readers updated and, as I said, I also plan on returning to TSFF. All of these projects will benefit from each other.

That's all for now!

EDIT 5/27: Adam reminds me below that Owen Oulton of Memory Icon has been busy posting updates to his Rising Sun Campaign for LUG's Star Trek RPG. Of special note are new additions such as a full-color map of the infamous Triangle boardering Federation, Romulan and Klingon space, and Starbase T-1. Be sure to check out the extensive deckplans for the SS Rising Sun itself!

But wait! There's more.....

Trek Heritage Miniatures Masterlist Updated

With yesterday's post for Heritage's Star Trek miniatures #1632 - Romulan Assault Unit, that completes what I have available for information and photos, with the exception of what you see on the left. These are recasts of 4 of the 6 figures included with #1612 - Federation Crew. Also included in that set was one seated male figure, and a second male with his phaser raised.

I've been updating the original masterlist from January with links, but here it is consolidated into one place.

In 1978, Heritage released the Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier book and the first set of miniatures intended for use with the game. These "Gaming Diorama Sets" (as they were described in the book) were 25mm scale and, unless otherwise noted, had an MSRP of $2.95. They consisted of figures from both the original series as well as the animated series (also detailed in STAGFF), which aired in reruns through 1975. The catalog was detailed as follows (links will take you to individual posts with close-ups and more detailed information):

1600 Capt. Kirk (75mm, MSRP $10.95)
1601 Cmdr. Spock (75mm, MSRP $10.95)
1604 Kirk, His Yoeman (sic), Scotty, Sulu
1605 Spock, McCoy, Uhuru (sic), Dioramic Nameplate
1606 Chekov, Chapel, Lt. Arex, Lt. M'ress *
1607 Balok, Flint, Asmodeus, Lucien **
1608 Harry Mudd, Cyrano Jones, Tribbles & Glommer, Theela of Taurus II **
1609 Elysian Council (11, MSRP $7.95) **
1610 EM3 Green, Sord, Prince Tohar, Lana **
1611 Sarek, T'Pau, Ayelborne of Organia, Kahn the Klingon **
1612 Federation Crew (6)
1613 Romulan Crew (6)
1614 Klingon Crew (6)
1615 Gorn Soldiers (6)
1616 Aquans of Argo * (6)
1617 The Dramians "Giant Androids" **
1618 Phylosians "Plant Men" (4)
1619 The Andorians "Blue Tentacled Humanoids" (6)
1620 The Skorr "Winged Eagle Men" (4)
1621 Talosians "Large Craniumed Humanoids - Zoo Keepers" (6)
1622 The Kzin "8-Foot Cat Men" (4)
1623 Mugato (Neuralese Great Ape), Cappellans Powercat, a Vedalan *
1624 Cappellans **
1625 Orion Colonials **
1626 Pirates of Orion (6) *
1627 The Vians **
1628 Tellerites (sic) "Stocky Pig-Gaces Humanoids" (sic) (6)
1629 Rock Creature and Horta "Silicon Creatures" *
1630 Federation Special Defence Force (6)
1631 Klingon Stormtroopers (6)
1632 Romulan Assault Unit (6)

* These sets may be rare, as I've been unable to locate the figures or find images. But I have confirmed or read anecdotal evidence of their existence, either in whole or in part. If nothing else, these were probably low manufacturing runs compared to others in the initial line.

** Although each of the packs above were listed on page 37 of STAGFF these sets were listed, apparently planned for later release. Molds exist for some of these, but they were likely never released (one collector, however, did manage to obtain Kahn the Klingon from 1611 a few years ago, so it's possible that some others were cast and released).

But wait! There's more.....

Heritage Star Trek #1632 - Romulan Assault Unit

Manufacturer: Heritage Models, Inc.

Set #: 1632 Romulan Assault Unit

Scale: 25mm

Year: 1978

MSRP: $2.95

Notes: I don't actually have these. The Hoplite-like helmets remind me a little too much of Marvin the Martian to take seriously, so I've never gone out of my way to get them. These photos are from the collection of Dave Berton, from whom I obtained most of my collection.

It appears that there are 3 poses: 2 with pistols, 1 with rifle down, and 3 with rifle ready.

But wait! There's more.....

FASA Star Trek #2603 - Dr. McCoy

Manufacturer: FASA Corporation

Set #: 2603 - Dr. McCoy

Scale: 25mm

Year: 1983

MSRP: unknown

Additional Notes: McCoy is in his jumpsuit and appears to be holding the anabolic protoplaser that he used in the Peter Preston sickbay scene of TWOK.

This sculpt is different than the "Dr. Leonard McCoy" included in FASA's Wrath of Khan box set (#3001 "Collector's Series Number One: USS Enterprise and Crew"), in which he's wearing his standard uniform and holding a hypospray.

The base is etched with what appears to be "SLP83" on the bottom and "ⓒ83 PPC" for Paramount Pictures Corporation.

But wait! There's more.....