ASTRAL EMPIRES: BRAVELY VENTURE-02200

The Wars of the Solar Ecliptic have ended.  The major powers of Earth have been subsumed into the mighty United Earth Commonwealth of Nations while the Outer Colonies have created their own military and political alliance protected by the fledgling Solar Navy.  Free Aries Colony stands alone between the two as gatekeeper to both the inner planets and the outer worlds.  The pirates of the belt have been defeated and now humanity turns its collective eye towards other nearby star systems.  Guided by the mysterious but ostensibly friendly Promedians mankind begins the long process of seeking out new homes for the descendants of Earth, now known as the Terrans.  The dawn of the interstellar age unfolds...

Solar Navy vessels operating over the world of Altaira.

Two ships of the newly unified Terran Vanguard fleet explore alien ruins from orbit somewhere in the Sirius Sector.

The Saladin VII Diplomatic Station was in full service until the 02270s.

 

Three of the impressive Valkyrie class warships engaged in military actions during the early 02260s.

Some of the experimental vessels of the 02260s Vanguard fleet ended up being too expensive for full service, such as the massive superdreadnought seen here with two Valkyrie escorts.

The passing of the guard...  A UECON superdreadnought built for the conflict of the 02260s hands off responsibilities for defending Terra to a newly built V-class cruiser. 

The 02271 incursion of the first Desolator encountered by Terran ships was a terrifying ordeal for those both in space and on the surface of Terra itself.

A second Desolator penetration of Terran space transpired in 02286 but the experience gained from the prior encounter led to a satisfactory resolution to the matter.

The vile Pauk were a birdlike race of creatures with an existence that seemed intended to wreak havoc on the peoples of Terra.

The Kronans were para-humans with a taste for conflict and a propensity for stirring up trouble between themselves and Terrans before they were overthrown by their own slave race, the Zarlacks. 

The Zarlacks rose to prominence in the 02270s and would remain a major power for nearly two centuries before migrating away from the known worlds.

ASTRAL EMPIRES: SOLAR ECLIPTIC 02100

It is the year 02100.  The dawn of the Solar Age.  Terran humanity has begun reaching out to the heavens, first by taking unsteady first steps to the lunar surface and nearby Mars...  And then to both the inner worlds of Mercury and Venus and out to the distant reaches of the Solar System to the huge gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
But man has brought with his exploration something more than just a drive for discovery....  War.  Conflict. Piracy.  Economic exploitation.  These have all followed humanity as it begins sojourning amongst the Solar System.
Join us for those historical times as mankind first stepped away from its cradle...  The Wars of the Solar Ecliptic...

NorAm missile cruiser dropping off supplies to start-up colony on one of Saturn's lesser moons.

Panasian military vessel orbits Mars in 2117.

 

Northern Bloc vessel on station near Jovian sub-system.

Crown States military ships attempt to interdict a smuggling ship.

Yamato Corporate fightercraft thrusting away from their mothership.

United Earth Commonwealth of Nations warship (with solar panels retracted) servicing an Exploration Service craft.

UECON fleet vessel over Io along with an African Union patrol ship.

02060 Era-United Earth Orbital Platform (aka Space Battleship Alpha)

In trying to connect the AEGIC COMMAND naval wargame to the rest of the ASTRAL EMPIRES universe I was trying to think of a craft that would relate to both terrestrial (and aquatic) concerns and orbital issues.  I came up with this design as the link between the two. 

The premise is this:  The AEGIS COMMAND era is around 02050, with a completely different political reality than we have today.  The UN collapsed during the Terror Wars and has been replaced by the United Earth World Council (much the same way the League of Nations gave way to the UN in the first place).  The UE, with major support from the New European Union and nominal recognition from other world powers has determined that they should be the first to possess a true military spacecraft in order to enforce UE edicts on use of the Earth's orbitals.  Thus is born the UESC Unitus (from the Latin word denoting "oneness, sameness, agreement"), a true space-going warship utilizing the technology of the 02050 AD era and built at the expanded International Space Station (now called United Earth Space Station One).
A powerful fusion-pulse engine powers Unitus, backed up by chemical rockets for additional propulsion capabilities.  In addition, Unitus carries hydrazine thrusters for docking maneuvers and other fine directional adjustments.  Her armament consists of four gatling chain-guns (chosen for reliability over the directed-energy weapons of the day) and four missile launchers carrying advanced missiles capable of targeting other space-going platforms or targets located on the surface of Terra. Other features of Unitus include the Habitation Module which is armored to protect against micrometeorites and incoming weapons fire and the Mission/Command module which may be detached from the ship for re-entry into Terra's atmosphere in an emergency.  She is the first Terra-built spacecraft capable of independent military operations and will serve as precursor to an entire line of Terran warships that will be built from 02100 AD through 50,000 AD.

The Unitus was the first combat starship built by United Earth, the beginning of a design lineage that would stretch over 50,000 of Terran-descended human history.

UESC Unitus schematic.

Unitus testing her fusion-pulse engine in orbit of Terra.

AEGIS COMMAND: Our Near Future Naval Combat Game

As I posted over at The Miniatures Page board, we're working on a near-future (circa 2050) era post-modern naval wargame called "Aegis Command".  The idea is to project the next few decades naval warfare developments and mix in some sci-fi elements, while remaining as "realistic" as possible. 

Here's the sample cover for the Core Rules:

 There will be a large number of vessels (based on extrapolations from current designs and those on the drawing boards) for the major fleets-The Panasian Sphere (China and conquered territories), the Northern Atlantic Alliance (US, UK and Canada), New European Union, Japan-Korean combined forces, South American Confederation (led by Brazil), Northern Bloc (Russia and allies), African Union, Israel, India, etc.  Each will be detailed with technical information in an attempt to project what naval combat will be like in the near future. 

 Below are some sample designs for various fleets:

A NAA fusion-powered supercarrier at sea with two ecorts.

New European Union cruiser/carrier hybrid.

NEU destroyer firing rail gun.

Weaponized satellite carrying "god-rods" for orbital-based artillery attacks.

Israeli strikeboats patrolling in the Mediterranean.

Medina League of Islamic States nuclear bombardment vessel.

Northern Bloc (Russia and allies) sub-orbital nuclear missile satellite.

NAA railgun-armed Leviathan cruiser. 

Washington class SSBN escorted by advanced SSN design.

Panasian supercarrier operating off coast of Australia.

Panasian attack subs in Hawaiin territorial waters.

United Earth Space Command orbital battle platform for enforcing UE World Council edicts.  

And just to show that it connects with our other ASTRAL EMPIRES stuff, here's a shot of that same United Earth orbital battle platform escorting a Zetan starship from the AE 02060: Invasion Terra era sourcebook. 

New Products for Port Nova Media (including ASTRAL EMPIRES)

Greetings!  I decided to do a blog format for sharing information about the new ASTRAL EMPIRES science fiction roleplaying and wargame series as it offers the most flexible means of communication for what we're looking for.  We recently released three products for combined arms ground-based miniatures combat: Strike Legion and its two expansion modules.  They are available at Wargames Vault and are currently all still in the top 10, with the core game Strike Legion at #3.  You can find out more at the following address:

http://www.wargamevault.com/product_info.php?products_id=86528

In addition, our first two tactical starship systems are due out in the next week or so.  ASTRAL EMPIRES: NOVA COMMAND is a game where you can design your own units or choose to play as one of seven currently available fleets: The Technocracy, Felinoid Consortium, Merchanteers Alliance, Barony of Machiavelli, insectoid Qajari Writh, the far-off Galactic Federacy or the enigmatic Omnicron Singularity.  

Here is the book cover of the ASTRAL EMPIRES: NOVA COMMAND core system:

There is also a book of appendices and game aids which comes with it.  Here is the cover:

 

Lastly, there are two fleet books available for NOVA COMMAND detailing the seven currently available fleets.  One of the (hopefully) cool things about the entire ASTRAL EMPIRES project is the number of factions available for the multiple eras the game universe covers which allows for major changes to take place in the background setting over the course of the timeline.  Here are the covers of the two fleet books:

Keep an eye out for the next phase of ASTRAL EMPIRES from Port Nova Media (www.scifirpg.com) 

ASTRAL EMPIRES Book Covers

Here are several of the covers for the new ASTRAL EMPIRES gaming products coming soon from Port Nova Media: