AAR: The Scarab Plague of Mars!

   As usual, this AAR is short on photos because I was too busy playing to take pictures. However, I did grab a few of the setup. Game was played on 28 JUN 2019 in my gameroom with Zach, his son Nathaniel, and myself participating.

SCENARIO:

   Two rival companies of adventurers, the British Lord Curr's Incorrigibles and the German Empire's Society of Thule have traveled to Mars via aethership. Their goal: seize ancient Martian relics of occult power. Unfortunately, they were discovered and Martian priests have awakened a terrible curse: a massive swarm of flesh-eating scarabs. The scarabs will eat only Earthling flesh, though. So now, the two companies must flee for their lives. Safety lies on the canal running through the nearest village, Golah. The Earthlings want to get on the boats; the Martians want to stop them long enough for the scarabs to catch them and devour them all.

RULES AND FIGURES:

   The rules used were In Her Majesty's Name, my favorite for small skirmish Victorian Science Fiction. The figures are a mixture of North Star (the Society of Thule and Lord Curr's Incorrigibles), Parroom Station (The Masked One, Martian leader and mystic), and RAFM (High Martians, Shield Gunners, and Archers).

An overview of the battlefield.

The mat is from Cigar Box. First time used!

The Village of Golah

Buildings are Plastruct COLORed buildings for SAGA

Custom made canals, ordered a decade ago, only second time used in a game.

Boats are all scratchbuilt and older, too.

British Start point. The Society of Thule is on the other side of the ridge.

The small dots at table edge are the scarabs, advancing as a line.

A Martian Shield Gunner stands guard outside the canal master's office.

The Masked One, a Martian Mystic

High Martian warrior. Savage flying primitives.

   The two companies moved up as quickly as possible but got held up in and around the village. If the random rolls for the scarabs' advance hadn't been very low, all would have been devoured! As it is, the two European teams ganged up on the outgunned Martians and killed all but two of them (the Masked One, who used his Mystic powers to slow up the British advance, and one shield gunner, saved by his heavy armour).

   In the end, the British reached the boats first. Rather than allow the Germans to escape, the British took all of the boats. End result: British victory (44 points, almost all of his company escaped), followed by the Martians (28 points, all because of devoured Europeans) and then the Germans (19 points, for killing Martians). But we all had fun, and that was the main point after all.

   Notes for next time we run this scenario: 

• Martians need more points to offset European gangup.
• Scarabs need to move a flat d10", not d10-2. For four turns in a row, the scarabs did not move at all. This cuts the pressure on the Europeans to get moving!

Red Vectors Martian Skiff

 Made by RedVectors in the UK, these skiffs were custom adjusted a bit to work for 15mm. I am in the process of assembling and painting the first of the pair. The price was quite reasonable, I thought, and the shipment was dashed quick.

   Not quite done. It needs a gun on that forward platform, and a crew. I suppose this calls for a visit to Scale Creep for minis...

Martian Skyship, Part 1

   With a bit of space made on the table thanks to some finished 15mm vehicles, I decided it was time to finally work on the hulls at least of my pair of 28mm Martian Skyships. I bought these from Ironclad Miniatures through their US distributor at Historicon back in 2015, I think. So almost two years ago. For me, that's not too bad.

   Anyway, I took the pieces out of the boxes and cleaned them up with warm water and detergent, just like I always do with resin. Dull, but I hate it when I try to prime a piece and some mold release is still on it, causing all manner of havoc. So, suds, rinse, let dry overnight.

   Next day I laid out the pieces and did a bit of test fitting. The fit is pretty good. Looking at it, it seems that the deck and lower hull pieces are the same as in their British Airship. If not, they are pretty similar. It's not a problem or complaint, mind, just an observation. The upper works are nice, but they don't quite fit the curve of the deck. I thought about sanding down the edges of the deck, then though about how much time that would take and the chances I screwed it up worse, and decided that the small flaw wasn't going to be that much of an issue.

   Yeah, I am a bit lazy, too. But mostly I didn't want to make a hash of it and be forced to wait until I bought another ship.

You can see how the curve of the deck and the curve of the 

upper works doesn't quite match.

   Next I glued the lower hull to the underside of the deck, and after that dried for about ten minutes - I'm using CA - I flipped it over and attached the fore and aft bulwarks. Or gunwales? Anyway, the upper deck railings. I held off on attaching the mast collar on the deck for now, as I will need to carefully position it so the guns and ship's wheel won't be in the way. More on those later.

  Once the glue was nice and dry, I took the model out to my spray booth for a shot of flat black all over.

   And that's about as far as I have gotten in the actual build. Why? As I looked through the box in which I had stashed these kits, I noticed I had forgotten a couple of things that I need for them: to wit, guns and a ship's wheel! The ships come with a control console of sorts, but it looks too modern for my vision of VSF. So I need to order those... and that's why I know there will be at least a Part 2 to this series of posts. Probably a Part 3 as well.

  I'll end this post with a few thoughts about what I'm going to do with these two vessels.

• Sails: Lateen rigged, will cut the sail from some heavy paper, maybe some of that scrapbooking stuff, especially if it has a nice pattern on both sides. Rigging from white cotton thread.
• Ship's wheel: both Eureka and Houston's Ships make nice ones. Leaning towards Houston's because of the next item...
• Guns: I want at least a pair of swivel guns on the railings, and a heavier gun either in the bow on a raised carriage/slide, or in the waist with perhaps a pivot mount. Houston's makes some that are specifically for VSF aliens that are strangely reminiscent of designs in 1889.
• Flight Base: Not sure. I can custom build one, I suppose. I don't like how the champagne glass stand turned out, so I will be trying something else. Probably some thick brass wire. But it will need to have either a wide or a heavy base underneath for stability.
• Transportation: They are getting their very own trays and custom pluck foam. I may need two trays, one for each hull or one for the hulls and one for the sails. I am going to leave the masts removable, maybe magnetized.

Upgrading Mars...

  A few months ago I decided that I wanted to work on improving the appearance of my tables when I get to play games. I also decided that I didn't have a lot of time to spend on scratch-building stuff, so I would focus on ready-made, and preferably pre-painted.

   At Christmas a couple of things I did obtain that are noteworthy for gaming was some new terrain. GF9 finally re-released their popular Badlands series of terrain, and I got two boxes for Christmas: the Plateau and the Tors. These will fit nicely in as Martian desert terrain, I think, and the best part is they are ready out of the box. I also ordered the Badlands Bluff a few days ago from Amazon to help fill in space. Of course, I can probably also use these as desert rocks for WWII gaming as well.

   Back in October I attended the BROADSIDES! Gaming convention held aboard the Battleship TEXAS near my home. One of the vendors there carried Cigar Box Battle Mats, which I already had purchased one of at Historicon a while back. I really like these mats. I decided I wanted to upgrade my Martian terrain this year, so I bought one of the Red Planet 6'x4' cloths. I like it a lot, though I haven't used it in a game yet. I also have one each of their Grasslands and Desert cloths.

Last new material of 2013.

   Well, I finished a few more things today, but I don't think I am going to get the last 11 15mm figures on the table done before midnight, so... this is the o-fish-ul last post of material this year. Plus, my beloved Texas Aggies (Fighting Texas Aggie Class of 1994, right here!) just won a hard fought bowl game against Duke, coming form 21 points behind to win by 4. And the gluten-free brownies for tomorrow's lunch came out awesome (I tried a 'test' brownie - with ice cold milk).

   So, without further ado... some Ogre minis! Oh, and a slipped in shot of some Martian shield gunners.

A Paneuropean GEV-PC, in German service.

All of these GEVs are part of I.Luftpanzer Division.

A trio of Paneuropean "Cossack" LGEVs.

In German service, I call them Luftpanzerkampfwagon I.

Paneuro Logo, handpainted.

The entire LGEV section (two flights) of I.Luftpanzer.

25mm Shield Gunners from RAFM.

German Ogre Infantry (actually GW Epic Space Marines)

This is the 2nd Battalion, I.Panzergrenadier Regiment.

A close up of the command for C Company.

Unobtainite At Last!

ORE FOUND IN CROWN COLONY

Viceroy Claims For Britain

As our more scientifically savvy readers can tell, the photostat above reveals the site of a massive source of unobtainite, the wondrous mineral that sunders the fetters of cruel gravity, binding all things to the planetary surface. Merely energize the smallest fragments of this fantastic substance with [CENSORED BY VICEROY'S OFFICE] of pure galvanic energy and soar into the heavens, shielded from - nay! repulsed by! - the gravitational force dragging us all to the core of the planet.

These crystals and the land surrounding them have been seized under law by the Viceroy himself. The discoverer of the deposit, Mister Clyde Abernathy, formerly of West Stoking, currently residing in Singh's Songhouse, Victoria Landing, has already filed suit to maintain his properly filed deed of claim on the property. The Viceroy's son-in-law and principle advisor on commercial legal affairs, speaking to our correspondent solely under the condition that his name would not be printed, revealed that the courts have already been influenced by the Viceroy, and the suit would be summarily dismissed.

Maton's Mechanical Monstrosity!

Herr Professor Doctor Otto Maton, the brilliant but utterly ruthless and maniacally despotic mechanical genius, has been at the drawing board again, developing a larger, more dangerous creature of unlimited power.


Here is the result: a massive mockery of Man in mechanical menace! Note the massive galvanic collector coils mounted on the giant's back. They supply power the matched pair of magnetic disruptor cannons which replace the infernal device's arms.

The photostat presented here was taken by Miss Eugenia P. Whistlebum during her brief but unwilling stay with the Belgian Madman. Miss Whistlebum smuggled the exposed photostatic plate out of the fiend's lair under her petticoat bustle when she was released following the undisclosed but reportedly very hefty ransom paid by her father, her fiancee and her future father-in-law.

[Editor's Notes: Back at it at last. I have some new terrain. The old handwavium crystals were made of pink foam cut with a hotwire, then painted. This unobtainite (blue, not handwavium green) is a resin product from Armorcast. Pyrite crystals, if I remember rightly. The new automaton is from Hydra, one of Matt's pulp sci-fi line Destroyer Robots, or Warbot Destroyer, or something like that. So far, it has been assembled and primed black. I hope to get a bit of painting time tomorrow night, so it may get brassy by then. The chest plates may get steel instead, to protect the delicate inner workings. Red eye? What do you think, HAL?]

Achtung! Panzer!

New materials have arrived on the Red Planet for the construction of an armored machine of war for the German Empire. This massive landship (name and classification unknown at the time of this publication) was delivered from KAS Wotan when she arrived this week.

This recent addition to the Imperial forces is, thankfully, not yet ready to take the field. Surely, once assembled and manned, this weapon will not sit idle. Although the journal's sources within the Viceroy's Office give us conflicting information about whether or not the landship is operated by the Kaiserlich Heer or the Kriegsmarine, one thing is certain at this time. A fiendish mechanism such as this can only be intended for one purpose: a direct assault against either Her Majesty's Martian allies, or the Crown Colony itself!

[Editor's Notes: This was a Hasbro toy, from the GI Joe line. It's called an IMP. I obtained this one for little cost via eBay after seeing some nice conversion done with one on another site. I think it will make a fine machine of war for my German 28mm forces. I've disassembled it already, and am considering the proper spray color. I might even do a naval splinter camouflage paint scheme on it. It needs to have a few logos Dremeled off, and various bits and bobs removed and added. Anyway, consider this the 'before' photos.]

Great Rebasing Project of 2010

Friends, it is time to announce one of my grand projects for the next few months: the rebasing of all my Mars-based figures, in both 25mm and 15mm scales. Which we all know are closer to 28mm and 18mm in most cases.

You see, I have, over the past two or three years, changed the material used for Martian bases at least three times. I now sit in a position where I believe the best bases are the most recent ones, and I am so happy with them that I am going to change all of the bases to match.

To my count, that means just over 200 bases need to be fixed.

Most will be simple: layer of PVA and then put in the basing mix. Allow to dry, then spraycoat with matte lacquer for extra adhesion.

The count so far: 18 down, 190 to go!

Weekend Progress

Actually got a bit of brush time in this past weekend.


The Papal States vessels of the Italian Confederation Combined Aeronavy are almost done, even with the changes I made to the paint scheme. All that is left is one cruiser that needs a bit of detailing and a dig battleship that needs touchup. Then all eight vessels are off to be clearcoated.


Also got a good deal of work done on the 15mm Luftschiffetruppen. All that is left is basing on a few (six or so) and then clearcoating. Mark this unit down as 90% complete. Pictures later this week.


I am also in the process of rebasing many of my Mars-based units to a standard style. I did both Sentinels and several other figures (15 in all).


So, with only one weekend left in the month, I am skeptical about meeting my monthly goal. The Zulus are taken care of, though not finished yet. The Nefs are going pretty well, and the Luftschiffetruppen. But I got to get on those ferals!


Oh well. Must sleep now.

Monthly Goal Update

Greetings, Ladies and Gents...

Felt like I ought to update my progress for the month. So first, the stuff that is being painted:

• 40x 15mm Zulus [Stone Mountain]: Mailed to painter. I realized I want the troops, but I don't want to paint them. New painter this time; I'll review the work when I receive the minis.
• 20x 15mm Luftschiffetruppen [Old Glory]: 80% done. Touchup, basing, and clear coat.
• 10x 25mm Feral Martians [RAFM]: 40% done.
• Aeronef Papal Fleet [Brigade Models]: Total of six ships. About 60% done. I made some alterations to the fleet paint scheme that need to be redone on several ships.

Regarding new purchases, I have been a busy boy, on TMP, eBay and company websites. Also, I have discovered the joy of Bartertown (http://www.bartertown.com), and that has been time consuming. The 'take' so far:

• GW Mordian Lascannon and crew. No gunshield. Repaint and fit with 19th C. field gun wheels.
• Parroom Station Clockwork Soldier (NIB). New 'recruit' for Maton.
• Armorcast Gothic Laboratory Power Generator. Power for the Lascannon.
• 20x Copplestone Castings German Colonial Marines. Destined to be Luftschiffetruppen.
• Wyrd Miniatures's Malifaux Brass Arachnid. Nice and big, suitably menacing for Dr. Maton.
• 16x 25mm Japanese cavalry (Russo-Japanese), painted
• 17x 25mm Japanese infantry (Russo-Japanese), painted
• 2x 25mm Japanese artillery, w/ 4 crew (RJW), painted
• GW WFB Lizardmen Stegadon (5 ed.) - only $10! Gex in the howdah... a fearsome weapon on Venus!

And there are still some things I am trying to find at a reasonable price or trade.

• 3x GW Imperial Guard Praetorians with lasguns. Most poses would be okay.
• 1x GW Imperial Guard Praetorian Sergeant, with the powersword.
• 2x GW Imperial Guard Praetorian missile loaders
• GW Imperial Guard Praetorian heavy weapons (especially heavy bolter and autocannon)
• Wargames Foundry Victorian Special "Dr. Jekyll". I will probably order today from Foundry, but at $10.50 for one figure, it hurts!
• A boat to convert to a Martian 'kite'
• And more... always more... *sigh*

So... plenty to keep me busy for the next nine or ten years, at any rate...

Tiny Towns!

Martian Towns Seen From On High!

From high above the Martian city of Gwalli-Andor, at night. The town is quite dark.


The villa of Kez Ra Tohnassi, the wealthiest merchant prince in Gwalli-Andor.


The Tower of Righteous Harmony and Conduct, a cross between city hall, royal palace and a temple.

All of these magnificent vistas were photostattted by our Lead Correspondent, Mr. Eli Arndt. He took the photostats from the highest of altitudes aboard a native kiteship. You can see the acres of shining white kur plants, whose fibers make an astonishingly sturdy fabric, lightwieght and airy. Something like a cross between cotton and silk, it is one of the staples of Martian dress.

We are looking forward to additional aerial photostats from Mr. Arndt as he travels across the Red Planet. As always, his despatches are eagerly awaited by our hungry audience.

[Editor's Notes: Eli has been making some 1/1200 Martian terrain from scratch for Land Ironclads and Aeronef gaming. He showed me these pictures of the work in progress, and, well, I thought they were absolutey brilliant and deserved a wide audience. I made up the names and background material for this post, but I hope he uses the town name at least - I know I will be using it more in the future.]

Martian Construction Projects

Two New Buildings Begin Construction

Two new native Martian structures are under construction at this time. They are made in the traditional manner, of fitted stone covered in a layer of gritty stucco. They also have the familiar 'dust lip' threshold around the structures to prevent the fine dust deposited by the numerous sand storms across the Red Planet's face from entering the building at ground level.

A manufactory, with large vents in the ceiling to release the heat and noxious gases of industrial production. These vents can be quickly shuttered in case of storm activity. The central node houses the elevator equipment that leads to the subterranean manufactory.

An opulent home in construction. Notice the large water vapor extractor unit on the roof of the building. Luxury indeed, to provide your own water. It is believed the owners may soon begin selling water to their less fortunate neighbors.

[Editor's Notes: These are nominally going to be in 25mm, but nothing scale-specific has been added yet.]

Regarding Historicon Poll vs. Purchases

The results of the Historicon poll were very close. 25mm Martians came in first, followed by Masked Minions and then Germans. All the rest lagged behind a bit.


So, let's compare that to what I bought at Historicon.


As far as Martians go, all I purchased was a box of High Martians (the flying guys) [RAFM]. My son also bought some Mage Knight cannons that will probably be pressed into Martian service, as they are sort of primitive looking and bulky and just look 'right.'


For the Masked Minions, I purchased a 4 figure gun crew [Parroom Station]. I also bought a Smoke Launcher [Parroom Station] for them to crew. The gun may be used by others, of course. And it may not always be a Smoke launcher. Suppose I need rules for the poisonous cloud that it fires off. Maybe a blast template that wanders with the wind? Green-sprayed battening on an old CD base? Bears thinking about.


For our third place contestant, the Germans, I bought infantry and a massive artillery piece. Again, the artillery piece could be used by anyone, really. It is the Steampunk Cannon [JR Miniatures]. Having a stubby, mortar-like appearance, I also want to make a barrel extension for it (removable, of course) so that it can be made to look like a big fortress piece. Shouldn't be too difficult, as the barrel of the original mortar is tapped quite deeply. I'll explain my idea for it when I get around to doing it. The infantry I chose were the Prussian infantry of Parroom Station.

So, that's it for now. I have gotten a few minis primed and hope to get something painted up today or tomorrow so that I can work on those Pledge numbers I can already see I will be needing more bases. But that's going to wait at least a month for my bank account to recover from our show purchases and travel expenses.

Historicon, Day Two...

Reports from the front coming in... pictures to follow...

So, it's early (ish) on Saturday morning. Last night was a bit late, so I put off blogging until now. Sorry about that. The Yuengling may have had something to do with it. That's my excuse, anyway.

Day 2 started early with an 0800 game. The boys tried out a new (to them) set of Western rules called "High Noon." The folks putting it on had a HUGE (200+ square feet!!!) table set up, with towns, ranches, deserts, Indian villages and mesas. Unfortunately, the boys lost (they were on a team together), but they did have a couple of very dramatic moments, including one point in which Dane dove a character through a window, came up with guns blazing, and killed one of the cowboys.

Next up was my game, "After the Unobtainite". Happily, I had all six players show up, so I had a full game. I think everyone had a good time, and I made no major mistakes. HMLS Prince Charles burned down about ten Martians before succumbing to multiple hits from the Martian artillery. Another high point of the game was when one of the Soldaten went rogue and charged into the unsuspecting back of a squad of Maton's Masked Minions! The British force was virtually annihilated in the end, and the automatons were plagued with mechanical difficulties, leading the Martians in good position to destroy the pack animals which were carting off their unobtainite for the wetland devils. Colonel Sir Harlan Sanders, KFC, will have a hard time explaining his losses once he returns to the Crown Colony!

The boys hit the painting table while I was running my game, and Dane even got a class in painting for beginners in. They continued to practice painting at the Paint N Take Event. You will see that mentioned again, as they have spent a lot of time there! Thankfully, I have checked with the ladies in charge (Heather is the best!), and I am proud to say they have gotten glowing reports on model behavior. I suspect bribery...

Next up was a trip through the dealer's area, and the flea market. I picked up a couple of things for a friend of mine back in Houston, and the boys found a new copy of a game called AT-43 (science fiction) for half off, and pooled together to buy it. It's nice because the minis are pre-painted and neat looking, so you can pretty much play as soon as you open the box. Dane also bought a few minis at the flea market, while Grey and I went looking (unsuccessfully, so far) for some Reaper brand paints. Those may just have to wait until we get back home to order some for him.

My 1900 game - the one I was probably most looking forward to, Airfleet Battles by GASLIGHT, was cancelled as Chris was very ill. I did manage to get into another game that I had wanted to try which was run using the rules "Valor, Steel and Flesh." That was fun, and the minis (by Parroom Station - the game was run by the sculptor, Bob Charette, incidentally) were fantastic. I wish I had taken a few more closeup shots of the tanks, especially. I played the Prussians in an Earth Alliance attack on a pass held by Martians. The infantry did well for me, but neither of my tanks could hit anything. I think it must have been Oktober, and the tank crews were celebrating a bit much the night before. Hangovers are not good for accurate gunnery. Honestly, I don't know if it was possible for us to take the pass, but we gave it a good solid try, and the sands of Mars are a bit more red as a result!

Grey and Dane had a game at 2000, in which they each took command of a 25mm scale buccaneer ship. They didn't win their game (we have had some rotten luck this weekend!), but did have fun. Dane blamed a couple of his allies for getting in his way so that he couldn't come to grips with the enemy, as he ended up the game essentially unharmed, but frustrated in most of his attempts to blast the British ships he was raiding.

So, once my game was finished I checked in on the boys (who still had an hour to go) and then I hit the free beer line. Yes, you heard me: Free. Beer. Yuengling Lager, no less, which I am rather fond of but have a hard time getting my hands on in Texas! Got my beer, called up my friend Patrick (Gallowglass of TMP fame), and went to hang out for a bit. He was just starting to run a Moderns game (Ambush Alley, I think), so he was busy, but I chatted with a few other players while there.

Anyway, except for the cancelled game, which I luckily replaced with another game I wanted, Day Two was another good day of fun for us all at Historicon.

I'll post Day Two photos later. Promise!

Masked Minions Unveiled!

These are two prototypes of the masked minions, one of the regular riflemen and an officer/NCO type. They are mercenaries working for Professor Maton, at least next week at Historicon they will be. A month from now, who knows? They are masled mercenaries, after all.

The coat is brown, as are the trousers. Helmet is steel, mask is brass. Leatherwork is reddish brown. Green epaulettes and collar (on the officer)

Obviously, still need to add the Dip and base work. Before Tuesday. Yikes!

The minis, by the way, are Regiment Games' 15mm Prussian Kanaltruppen from the Mars or Die range.

Abandoned Martian City Found!

Fabled Abandoned City of Jef-Carr-Lyl

Famed archaeologist Cacique Caribe of the University of TMP has identified this location for us. You can see more inspirational work by the same artist at this location.

[Editor's Note: Now THAT'S how you do a Martian canal city. I only wish I would ever have the time, talent and treasure to spend on creating something that modeled this in 15mm. Wow. But it is an incredible inspiration piece, and makes me happier with the row houses I have been building off and on for a Martian canal city. At some point, I have to do the canals themselves.]

Minor Clash Last Night

Mechanical Menace versus Martian Malcontents!

   Last night, a series of brief clashes were reported between a group of known Martian troublemakers and a motley menagerie of mechanical minions.

   Overall, it seemed the Martians got the best of the automatons, but the fighting was desperate at times. Firepower seemed to save the day for the flesh and blood brood, as they managed to put down several of the brass and iron terrors before they could close in with pincer, saw, claw and stinger.

   Again, the proud deathrays were sadly chewed up in their second attempt at the tough toolbots. This time, however, they gave as good as they got, destroying all the toolbots while losing all but the Prince in the scuffle. The Prince had hoped to swoop in with his lances in a devastating charge before flying away

   Rifle-armed Martian levies appeared for the first time on the field, and accounted for several automatons before being slaughtered like hariskin (a small Martian animal, like a rabbit, but slower and dumber) in close combat by the spiderbots. It would have happened sooner, had the spiderbots not malfunctioned and wandered aimlessly in the wrong direction for half an hour before being brought back under control by Professor Maton himself.

   Unfortunately, our photographer was killed and his camera lost, and so we have no photostats of the events to show you. The camera's parts are probably being salvaged by the infamous genius of the Martian wastes at this very moment. The photographer's parts have undoubtedly been cleaned up by the ravenous wildlife of the red sands...

[Editor's Notes: Second playtest for Historicon. No full scale battle this time, we merely set up a couple of skirmishes. Remembered the rules better this time, though I forgot to make a Morale test or two for the Martians (Automatons don't make them). I am pretty satisfied with the malfunction rules now, and the combat ability of the automatons. Don't let them get too close if you can avoid it! But most have no ranged weapons. I may tweak the Start and Sustain rolls a bit for the different types of automaton, for a little individuality. Next playtest is next Wednesday. We'll keep you posted.]

Martian Rocks and Terrain

Inspired by our friend Eli of I See Lead People, I am trying to do at least 15 minutes worth of productive hobby work every day this month. I've started off well, making more terrain for my Mars table in the form of hills and rock outcroppings, etc.

Below, you see two pieces of that handiwork. The scenario for Historicon will require that the British get their mule train off the board between the long rock face in the foreground and the hill in the background of this photo. A road will be added , and is probably my next major terrain challenge for the month.

This photo shows the advantages of some good terrain: a Martian cannon sited on top of this rock has a very good field of fire for the battle. And cliffs to the front help to protect them from interference. This is another new piece.

My most recently completed piece is this cave. While it won't be used in the Historicon scenario, everyone needs a good cave or two, and it serves as a learning piece for something that will be in the scenario: a mine entry.
Details on construction and more photos of these pieces and others can be found on my terrain blog, Gaming Terrain.

The Hills of Mars...

I am doing a little bit of terrain work these last few days. I have finally come up with a method that I like for using pink 1/2" thick foam insulation board.

I have a hot-wire foam cutter, a cheapie I got at Hobby Lobby a couple of years back for $10, I think. That's what I am using to shape the pieces, cut smooth bevels for the hillsides, rough faces for cliff sides, that sort of thing.

I'm also using spray adhesive. Sounds a little crazy, I admit, but it seems to hold like cement and doesn't eat the foam. This way I can stack multiple layers for more impressive rock outcrops and hills.

So I cut the foam to the shape I want using the hotwire. Then I glue the layers together. So far so good.

The next step is painting. I found some black latex wall paint I had leftover from a DIY project, so I used that. Painted it on the foam, let it dry. Now when I spray paint the colors on the foam, the foam doesn't dissolve away!

Finally, once the black is dry, I hit the foam with three colors of spray in at least two layers of each color. You don't have to wait for each layer to dry - I like the mixed look, it seems more natural.

I'll post pictures once I get some decent lighting. I tried to take a few shots tonight, but... too dark.

Caravan Raid, Part Two

So, the rest of the Caravan Raid playtest report...

   Turn 6: Sergeant Harbuck and his half platoon of the 23rd Foot clear the crystals and charge the Ghost Archers who have slain two of the British soldiery. In response, the cowardly dogs fled the field of battle (failed a Morale test, ran right off the table)! Rightly afraid of cold British steel! Martian levies pounce upon the malfunctioning spider-bots, and wreck five while they are immobilized. The toolbots manage to return to their programming, and turn to prepare an assault on the levy hacking apart their many-legged friends. HMLS Prince Albert finally fires its first combat shot, only to watch the shell fly wide of the target: one of Maton's giant Brass soldaten. The other half-platoon of the 23rd Foot, under command of Captain Compost-Pyle fire a devastating volley at the same target, and strike it seven times! One round finds a weak spot in the ammunition feed for the massive gun, and BOOM! One brass soldat, blown to bits. Meanwhile, the pack mules - you remember them, the entire focus of the mission? - are wandering about the landscape.

   We ended the game at this point, after almost 3 hours of play, although it is still setup on the table. The game is scheduled to run 3 hours at the convention. I am hoping we can get at least one more turn in during the convention, if not 2 or 3 more. Additional tests will bring my familiarity with the rules up to snuff, and better positioning of the forces will help move the game along too.

   I got a lot of valuable information from the game, and Zach (the Martian player) and I are zipping emails back and forth in regards to ideas for improving the game. Plans are being made to make further tests, although a second set battle might not happen for a few weeks. I am anxious to get at least one more full scale test battle in before Historicon.

   I'm a little unhappy with the automatons. They seemed to break down a little too easily. Once in combat, they were pretty nasty, though. One consideration would be to break them into smaller units (this would be nice for convention play anyway), so that a malfunction roll (which affects the entire unit) would not affect as large a percentage of the entire army.