3125 Scale Gorn Epanterias+ Medium Cruiser (CM) SR

The Gorns are six-to-seven-foot-tall, 350-pound, cold-blooded, egg-laying, reptilian humanoids bearing a superficial resemblance to a T-Rex or Raptor. Despite the fearsome visage, they are actually quite civilized people who run one of the few democracies in the galaxy. The Federation and Gorns met in a border incident in which two hot-headed captains shot first and faced embarrassing questions later. (A Federation corporation built an unauthorized colony outside of Federation territory. The Gorns saw a few Vulcans and thought the colonists were Romulans (with which they had fought wars for over a century). Diplomats smoothed everything over and the Gorns became the most stable ally of the Federation. The Gorn legislature’s reluctance to spend money or join the Federation's war limited this alliance during some periods. (Note: The dinosaur-based names are Federation “reporting names” because few in the Federation could pronounce the Gorn names for them. Shown books on paleontology, the Gorns were reportedly honored and amused by the naming convention.)

Partly due to the notoriously frugal Gorn legislature, the Gorn Navy had turned a necessity into a virtue. By designing their light cruiser to use about 2/3 of the parts of a heavy cruiser, every light cruiser could be converted to a heavy cruiser during any wartime emergency. When the Heavy Destroyer (a light war cruiser in all but name) was designed, the Gorn Navy kept the corresponding designs of the Medium Cruiser (a heavy war battlecruiser in all but name) very vague. This saved money in construction and allowed the Gorns to quickly begin building more heavy cruisers once the war began, and to convert heavy destroyers into battlecruisers once the scope of the conflict was realized. It later received the “plus” refit. The scaled panels on the outer surfaces represent efforts to reduce the electronic signature of the Epanterias+ medium cruiser and match it to the standard Epanterias medium cruiser so the enemy could not tell the difference.

The ship is available in a variety of materials. Ships are unpainted, use standard flight stands available from many sources, and, while designed for gaming, make fine display pieces.