3125 Scale Gorn Carnosaurus-P Gunboat/PF Tender 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.)

The Gorns adopted gunboats as other empires did, and mobilized these short-ranged attack craft by mounting six of them externally to a convenient warship hull. The first gunboat tender design used the Gorn destroyer as is shown here, as that ship was available in sufficient numbers (the design having become almost obsolete). The ship gave up its plasma torpedoes in order to mount the special long-range sensors needed to find targets for the gunboat flotilla and support it in direct combat with electronic warfare. As other empires already had, the Gorns discovered that the ship was small enough to be targeted and destroyed in a single volley, and most of these destroyer-based gunboat/PF tenders were converted into battle-destroyer-based gunboat/PF tenders within two years.

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.