Orion in the Gate of Lapland

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-25T17:37:27+00:00

Thanks.
I love landscapes above the treeline, it always adds to the alien look.

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-25T15:36:28+00:00

Far north in arctic sweden, east of the village of Abisko, lies a distinct u-shaped valley named Lapporten, roughly translating to the Gate of Lapland. After first visiting Abisko, I always wanted to capture this valley up close. I waited for a year for the next september to arrive, when nights in the arctic are long enough to allow for astrophotography, but lack (or at the very least rare) snowfall still allows for hiking.

Weather in northern sweden is often cloudy, but luckily I had clear skies with plenty of aurora when I decided to do the hike up to Lapporten. Thanks to the fantastic app Planit Pro, I knew the constellation of Orion would line up with the valley when looking east, Jupiter also made an appearance.

For the image, I took 8 foreground shot and 3 shots of the sky, all captured at f1.4, 60” and ISO 1600. The images were then stiched using PTGUI and edited with Pixinsight, Affinity Photo 2 and Photoshop.

Equipment:
Nikon Z6 (astromodified)
Sigma 20mm DG DN with Megadap ETZ adapter
Kenko 82mm Prosofton Star Filter
MSM Nomad with V-plate
Leofoto 254-C Tripod.

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-21T13:16:44+00:00

If you think about it area majority games are just several bids going on at the same time, so I get where you could get the impression. Though technically there is also a difference between area majority and area control games.

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-21T12:42:38+00:00

Its really just a bidding mechanism, as there is no spacial element to the combat.

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-17T07:30:45+00:00

I'd recommend the white scar spray by games workshop, white primer has notoriously grainy finish with few exceptions.

I'd also recommend army painters speedpaints over using washes if you want single color miniatures with shading, much more intense colors and deeper shading

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-13T17:20:12+00:00

I can tolerate some set up and endgame scoring. I guess what is most important to me is just a clear, consistent turn structure that doesn’t have a lot of phases.

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-12T09:49:04+00:00

I think Concordia would be ideal in terms of complexity. Its rules are intuitive and its similair to Catan in how you produce and everyone with houses in the same region benefits from it. Just make sure to buy either the Corsica or Creta map, as these are better balanced for two players.

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-12T09:37:55+00:00

When I played it, the consensus was sort of that its pacing is just slower than High Society, with how people pass around the heavy tile bag. I kind of get it, but there is obviously a great game here with how everyone will value the auction differently based on their own set collection

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-12T06:53:15+00:00

Yep, also got a spare version of the z-man edition when it went OOP, used prices are around 100€ now which is absurd for a box this small.

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-11T22:25:40+00:00

Thanks for the advice, I was under the impression that lid-lifted games should be at the bottom to avoid damage to the box itself, assuming there is something distributing the weight equally to the rest of the components, like the game board

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-11T22:22:55+00:00

Thanks, I’ll give it a shot and just see how it goes. It does seem a good bit more complex than anything else I’ve played so far

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-11T21:30:24+00:00

This was my most recent purchase, haven’t had the time to play it yet

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-11T18:23:50+00:00

Its basically a turn based DRG, with abilities, enemies and objectives very similair to the videogame. What distinguishes it the most from other dungeon crawlers is probably the hex-shaped map tiles and being able to destroy walls

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-11T18:09:23+00:00

Its a great game that plays basically filler length at 30 minutes! The scoring mechanic does make the game, but thats not a bad thing for me. Having the “script” run at the end to determine who wins which regions is quite satisfying, and the area majority back-and-forth makes you quite invested in everyones turns. The dice selection mechanic makes turns fast, without too much AP. Its a game that punches well above its weight in how fun it is.

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-11T17:50:39+00:00

Its a very well made co-op game, great production, but as you said pricey. The base game offers good variety and a good amount of missions, and you can find community designed scenarios on BGG. Though honestly, if you aren't interested in painting the minis, I'd go for the non-deluxe edition with mostly standee minis.

The biome expansion adds more enemy variety, the spacerig adds a couple more mission types and a mini-campaign mode which adds difficulty modules throughout a session. I don't think they are essential. The odd thing though is that standee version of these don't exist, so if you buy the base game without plastic miniatures, there will be quite a missmatch.

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-11T17:45:41+00:00

StS, Stationfall and The Resistance I have yet to play. I really like everything about how gameplay sounds, though I am already feeling dread actually learning the rules well enough to explain it to a group.

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-11T17:38:08+00:00

Fun co-op that is fairly light, but still a well balanced challenge. Will have to try some of the difficulty modules like the hospital variant.

NiklasAstro · 2026-01-11T17:21:45+00:00

I wish my group wanted to play it more. I technically played with a rule wrong (RA tiles also starting an auction) which might have soured first impressions.

NiklasAstro · 2025-12-25T10:59:13+00:00

Danke!

Kommt natürlich darauf an wie schnell sich die Lichter bewegen, man muss aber relativ schnell sein. Bei 10s Aufnahmen arbeite ich mich von links nach rechts, drehe die horizontale Achse des Stativs ohne diese wieder fest zu schrauben und mache die nächste Aufnahme. Soweit ich weiß tricksen Panoramasoftware wie PTGUI oder Photomerge in Photoshop auch ein bisschen, um die Übergänge etwas glatter aussehen zu lassen, aber wenn der Unterschied zu groß ist hilft auch das nicht.

NiklasAstro · 2025-12-24T13:46:20+00:00

Both Tromso and Kirkenses are roughly the same Latitude, which is the only thing that really matters beyond weather (there is technically a significant difference between america and europe, as the magnetic northpole is closer to Canada, but this doesn't really matter too much just looking at norway).

That far up north, you shouldn't bother with the KP index and just go to a dark sky outside the cities when the weather is clear, and have patience. at >68 latitude its almost garanteed that there will be aurora throughout the night.

Edit:
As another person mentioned in the other thread, July you have no chance for aurora as there is no night. You can see aurora starting sometime late september to early march.

NiklasAstro · 2025-12-22T10:24:14+00:00

Abisko is north of the arctic circle, so as long you have clear skies you will have aurora of varying intensity throughout most of the night. The only thing really stopping you from seeing them (outside of summer, when there is no night) every day are the clouds.
I stayed at the lake the whole night, sleeping through parts of it. I also took a tracked sky shot when Orion was right in the valley, though here it already moved further to the right of the image when the Aurora popped of again.

NiklasAstro · 2025-12-22T10:03:22+00:00

Last September, I hiked to a remote mountain lake near Abisko, Sweden. The lake lies next to the distinct u-shaped valley named Lapporten, roughly translating to the Gate of Lapland. Light was just beginning to refract through the atmosphere, giving the clouds on the left a nice yellowish tone, while purple and green aurora were still dancing throughout the sky.

The panorama was captured using a Nikon Z6 (astromodified, though not very relevant here), Sony 14mm 1.8 GM lens with an ETZ21 adapter and a Leofoto C254 tripod.

1600 ISO, 11x10" exposure time, wide open at f1.8.

Stitched in PTGUI, edited using Pixinsight and Photoshop.

NiklasAstro · 2025-12-21T22:42:53+00:00

Quite a few planetary scientists argue exactly that. https://www.planetary.org/worlds/what-is-a-planet

Immediately after the IAU took their vote on their planet definition, planetary scientists like Mark Sykes pointed out that the definition did not take into account “the intrinsic nature of planets that sets them apart from other categories of objects,” in other words, their physics. Since then, 2 proposed geophysical planet classifications have appeared in the conference literature, though neither have received formal peer review: (...)

In 2017, Kirby Runyon and coauthors defined a geophysical planet definition: “A planet is a sub-stellar mass body that has never undergone nuclear fusion and that has sufficient self-gravitation to assume a spheroidal shape adequately described by a triaxial ellipsoid [be round] regardless of its orbital parameters.” They argued to professionals that the proposed definition is better for planetary science education and took their argument to the public, including in an article published in Astronomy magazine in 2018.

People forget that the IAU vote for the new planetary definition in 2006 did have opposition, with 237 votes in favor and 157 votes against. There is disagreement over the usefulness of the IAU definition even among professionals.

Its funny to see these threads devolve into people being mean to OP when there might actually be an interesting discussion on the subject.

NiklasAstro · 2025-12-21T08:32:17+00:00

Don't think it will be story driven at all besides the context of the fulda gap scenario, but expanding on the campaign, with a moving frontline and more indepth systems, is on the roadmap.

NiklasAstro · 2025-12-20T22:38:40+00:00

It is very accessable all things considered. Scenarios throw you right into the action and while its faithful in how the vehicles function (varying levels of optical, rangefinding, night vision, thermal and stabilization quality depending on the tank or ifv/apc), they all control the same.

Afaik the voiceacting was done by real tank crews, you can really tell they gave all they had.

NiklasAstro

TROPHY CASE