I have an interest in science fiction gaming. For a year or two I've been collecting 25mm figures of all sorts (Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Bugs and other weird looking aliens). But that is not enough. Little men need little worlds to play in. Sci Fi games center on three different locations: Planets, Cities and Space Ships. I have a number of "brown" world desert boards to represent planets. Desert works well for alien world – due in part to the large number of desert scenes used in cheap Hollywood SF movies. People accept it as alien. The fact that I use the exact same terrain for North Africa matters not! Throw down some purple lichens and a few bugs and the thing looks alien. I use a North African Arab city board to represent alien cities. I find that Arab city lay out is just different enough that people accept it as another world. It helps that Star Wars was short in Tunisia and that Indiana Jones also jaunts down to Dar al Islam. But Space Ships – There is no substitute for them. I build space ships out of 2"x24"x24" pieces of blue styrofoam. It is thick and durable. It carves with a saw or and electric cutter and is still light enough to carry. Start with a 2 foot by 2 foot board. Place a second board on top of that. Draw the hallways and rooms you want the ship to have. Remember this is for 25mm figures so make your hallways at least 1.5 inches wide. Make you ship walls a quarter, a half or and inch wide (depending on how you are cutting them). Then cut out the top sheet into a jig saw puzzle. Assemble the puzzle (minus the hallways and rooms) onto the base board. Glue it down. I like to cut Star Trek "Jefferies Tubes" into some of my walls so I make big bulkheads. This allows players to crawl around inside their ship. The end sculpted ships may look something like this… Warp Engine Cell Sickbay Crawlway ...... Bridge Transport Warp Engine Cell After construction it is a good idea to reinforce the corners with card board and put tape on the exposed wall tops. This cuts down on nicks. Then liberally slather Durham's Water Putty on it to harden it up. Next, paint to your taste. I like white walls and airy rooms. I guess I just a Star Trek guy. If you want dark future grunge then paint in shades of black gray and brown. Little electronic do dads stuck into the wall adds to the ambiance. You now have a space ship ready for use. I generally build a card board (or sometimes even a wooden) box to transport and store my terrain in. After going to all the effort to make it it seems a small enough investment to do. Your new space ship can be used for skirmishes, role play games or Matrix Games. Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #9 To Matrix Gamer List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Chris Engle. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com