The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Letters of Marque is an interesting idea whose time has come. Massive starship deckplans that allow the GM to use miniatures for boarding actions, visual aids, or just sheer coolness. The floor plans included with this first batch are Odyssey (an al-Malik class explorer), Sentry (an escort ship from the Merchant League), the Hawkwood Hornet class frigate which needs two maps, the Mantis frigate from the Decados, another massive shipping requiring two maps and the Luxury Liner which is larger than all others as it uses four maps.

Each map is built from sturdy paper. I've owned the Letters for months now and haven't had any rips or tears. Unlike road maps, these deckplans are built for quick opening and closing.

The floor plans are clearly marked for ease of use. Freezer, kitchen, bathrooms, it's all there. The only thing I didn't see labeled was the kitchen sink and I strongly suspect that it's in the Kitchen, which is labeled.

The Side Schematic maps make viewing the floor plans easier for those who are unfamiliar with maps of this sort. For those like myself who want to know how cool these ships look without floor plans, there are illustrations of each ship located where it doesn't obscure the detail of the floor plans. The League Escort, Sentry for example, is illustrated in the top right corner. In addition, for those who play Noble Armada, the Luxury Liner has a Ship Display sheet which means it can be popped right into play.

The symbol key is easy enough to understand. In most cases, functions are obvious like the single bed as opposed to the bunk bed, but some, like the various signs for professions, gunner, pilot, engineer, marines, noble, and league captain, may take a while to memorize. They're all circles with different symbols inside. Fortunately, they're all very distinct from one another. The engineer is a wrench, while the marines are a down turned saber.

Strangely enough, Letters of Marque has been approved for use in Traveller. I say strange because most game settings have very specific designs on what their ships look like. I'm not saying that I haven't used these maps for oh, say, Trinity*, but how 'Official' can this use be? Are there going to be crossovers soon? One can only dream.

Letters of Marque is perfect for any science fiction game that uses miniatures and is inexpensive enough that all Fading Suns Players should own a copy.

*Yes, I admit that I sold my soul to White Wolf during their last X-Mas Trinity miniature sale. I now have more Aberrants than I know what to do with, but hey, they work well in fantasy games too!

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Letters of Marque
Author: Chris and Tracy Wiese Category: Miniature Company/Publisher: Holistic Line: Fading Suns Cost: 14.95 Page count: n/a SKU: 501 ISBN: 1888906510 Capsule Review by Joe G Kushner on 07/20/00. Genre tags: Science fiction Space	Letters of Marque is an interesting idea whose time has come. Massive starship deckplans that allow the GM to use miniatures for boarding actions, visual aids, or just sheer coolness. The floor plans included with this first batch are Odyssey (an al-Malik class explorer), Sentry (an escort ship from the Merchant League), the Hawkwood Hornet class frigate which needs two maps, the Mantis frigate from the Decados, another massive shipping requiring two maps and the Luxury Liner which is larger than all others as it uses four maps. Each map is built from sturdy paper. I've owned the Letters for months now and haven't had any rips or tears. Unlike road maps, these deckplans are built for quick opening and closing. The floor plans are clearly marked for ease of use. Freezer, kitchen, bathrooms, it's all there. The only thing I didn't see labeled was the kitchen sink and I strongly suspect that it's in the Kitchen, which is labeled. The Side Schematic maps make viewing the floor plans easier for those who are unfamiliar with maps of this sort. For those like myself who want to know how cool these ships look without floor plans, there are illustrations of each ship located where it doesn't obscure the detail of the floor plans. The League Escort, Sentry for example, is illustrated in the top right corner. In addition, for those who play Noble Armada, the Luxury Liner has a Ship Display sheet which means it can be popped right into play. The symbol key is easy enough to understand. In most cases, functions are obvious like the single bed as opposed to the bunk bed, but some, like the various signs for professions, gunner, pilot, engineer, marines, noble, and league captain, may take a while to memorize. They're all circles with different symbols inside. Fortunately, they're all very distinct from one another. The engineer is a wrench, while the marines are a down turned saber. Strangely enough, Letters of Marque has been approved for use in Traveller. I say strange because most game settings have very specific designs on what their ships look like. I'm not saying that I haven't used these maps for oh, say, Trinity, but how 'Official' can this use be? Are there going to be crossovers soon? One can only dream. Letters of Marque is perfect for any science fiction game that uses miniatures and is inexpensive enough that all Fading Suns Players should own a copy. Yes, I admit that I sold my soul to White Wolf during their last X-Mas Trinity miniature sale. I now have more Aberrants than I know what to do with, but hey, they work well in fantasy games too! Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)