Latest acquisitions

Well, it's been a quiet old time of it since October, I really haven't got any painting done, but in the meantime I have done a few other things. Had Christmas and got several groovy new gaming-related things - the GASLIGHT Compendium and the Dictionary of Imaginary Places, for starters - and with a bit of spare cash I managed to accumulate, I've ordered and otherwise bought some new minis.

First up, from Baker Company, a company I didn't know anything about until the guys at the Lead Adventure Forum recommended them, come 9 British command figures (from their Zulu War range) - an eight figure command pack, and an Ensign:

These include a Glengarry-wearing officer, who will be joining my UNIT troops as their commander, Captain Yates, allowing me a bit more freedom with what I do with my Commodore Lethbridge-Stewart figure - in GASLIGHT games, he'll probably become a Group Commander, I'd think.

The package arrived extremely quickly, and even got a discount because the original shipping charge was more than the actual postage. Great service from Baker Company!

Next, from the lead-pile of the inestimable Whiskyrat, respected denizen of Lead Adventure Forum, come some minis I've been calling 'Various Victorians and Manly Chaps (Mostly Moustachioed)'. Some are moving slightly into Pulp territory, but I don't care.

 Some will see service as regulars, some civilians, and some, very likely, as militia-types, colonists resisting the counter-attacks of Martian, Venusian or Atlantean natives.

Is it just me, or does the chap in the middle have a tiny head? I may give him a pith-helmet to see what happens, but it does really look small compared to the others. No idea which manufacturer it's from; most of these figures are Foundry I think, but I don't recognise this one.

Also from Whiskyrat is a somewhat amazing Warzone 'mini' - though the term has little meaning for something this size - a 'Mercurian Maculator', also known as 'Giant Gorilla with a Gianter Gun'.

Taking the Various Victorian and the Mustachioed Manly Chap for scale, this gorilla is about 36' (getting on for 12m) tall. Trying to justify this in game terms may be a little tricky, though in some ways the gun is the easiest bit. Obviously, it's been converted from a big gun on an aether-ship. So now I have a size for aether-ship guns - about 13 or 14'. How to stat the model for GASLIGHT however is another question.

Finally, this morning my order from Brigade Games arrived - 10 British Troops in Pith-helmets and Rebreathers, and an Officer for the same with some kind of hand-held Maxim gun, who will be my first unit of Aetherines. No pics of them yet but they're the ones I posted in October as a wish-list. well, now the wish has come true!

Thanks very much to Danny at Baker Company, Whiskyrat, and staff at Brigade Games - you've all made me very happy! 

Of course, now I have to actually paint them... expect sporadic updates!

Martian Wars, 1881-1927

This is my overall scheme of warfare in the late 19th-early 20th century that underlies my VSFery. Of course, I reserve the right to change any and all details as I see fit...

The 'First Martian War', 1881; Martian Invasion of Earth (this is the War of the Worlds incident, lasting a couple of months)

'Second Martian War', 1886-1895; Earth nations, particularly British (as they have best access to Martian technology and eventually start to work out interplanetary travel) invade Mars - this is a colonial scramble leading to diferent competing zones of influence and control, but is fairly short-lived as war is hard to sustain at such a distance and colonies continue to slowly develop

'Third Martian War', 1909-16; this is more of a series of space-battles, between the Aether Fleets of Britain and Russia versus France and Austria (and allies of all of these) for control of the aether between Earth and Mars, and over territorial rights in outlying parts eg the Asteroid Belt

'Fourth Martian War', 1921-27; Re-invasion by Britain of Mars, to combat Franco-Austrian gains, but both Russian and Austrian ('The Astro-Hungarian Empire') zones (especially in the Asteroid Belt) are in revolt.

Now, what's happening on Venus in this time is...

Things and stuff

Well, May has almost departed us and hardly has my paintbrush touched paint in the last 6 weeks or so, such have been the demands of what I laughingly refer to as 'real life'.



Here is a little teaser for what will be coming up over the next few weeks (I hope) - actually it's an old WIP shot of my much-talked-about but rarely seen Colonel Hammond-Mustard, who also doubles as one of my Ruritanian officers.

He's one of the leaders in my GASLIGHT force that I'm slowly assembling; which brings me on to the new GASLIGHT Compendium - I'm hoping to get it as soon as the hard copy is out; the PDF is already available from many a reputable online retailer.

I have managed to find another unit I can add to my forces - either pro- or anti-British, I'm not sure yet. But I managed to pick up a game called "Impact" (in fact I got the expansion, "Impact - Battle for Wolf Ridge" as well) from a local charity shop. It's a funny game, there are various spring loaded weapons in the sets, and missile fire is resolved by actually firing little rubber-tipped bullets and knocking your opponents' models over; hand-to-hand is handled similarly to chess or draughts or something. But never mind, it's the figures I was after.




Within, as well as about 15 humans and some robots, armed with futuristic weaponry, there were also about 20 dino-lizardy types, mostly with weird rifles. The humans will no doubt see service for my sci-fi gaming, but the lizards might make a nice substitute for the ubiquitous Kroot Parrotmen of Cytheria that everyone seems to be doing.





There are about 15 Lizardmen similar to this, including a couple with smaller weapons. Also included in the Lizardman force were 4 larger more dino-like models with shoulder-mounted 'missile launcer' type heavy weapons, very odd affairs that seem to be made out of some kind of animal. Whether I use them as enemies or allies (perhaps Venusian Lizardmen Sepoys, for instance), or both, is yet to be decided. They may even be found on Atlantis, I suppose. I might even be able to do an entire Atlantean engagement, Lizardmen v. Morlocks, that would be fun.




Seen here with an Ironclad Brit for scale, they seem to be fine (size-wise at least). Maybe some repainting might be in order, but frankly as I'm rubbish at painting perhaps I shouldn't bother.

More minis! Hurrah!

I've begun putting glue to plastic to get my Riflemen and Aetherines together, as well as my GW walker that's been lying around in bits. The Wargames Factory British look like they'll be OK for what I want them to do, and after a very fine chap called Mors (as detailed in this thread on the Lead Adventure Forum) gave me some heads in Glengarry Caps, I have enough to make a unit of 10 in Glengarries, which makes statting GASLIGHT units much easier I believe.

My idea is that these fellows will be a dual purpose unit - either the fictitious (but plausible) Northdale Rifles, a Victorian incarnation of one of the fictional army units in the lists; or, when I'm feeling a little more 'way out', or when Torchwood 1891 need a bit of firepower, they can be Uniformed Naval Infantry Territorials, or 'UNIT'. Their uniform I'm thinking (in an homage to the 1970s UNIT uniforms) will be green jackets and khaki caps. I did consider black with red caps like the modern iteration of UNIT, but... nah.

I also have started, with the other 10 bodies from the Wargames Factory pack, putting my Aetherines together. They will have Pith Helmets; after all, they may fall out of their airships, and bang their heads, so they need something more robust than a Glengarry cap. But on the other hand, Home Service spiked helmets might be a liablity when ballooning; hence the Pith Helmets.

I've also started the process of building the breathing apparatus for these chaps, for high-altitude assaults, or fighting on Mars or Venus. I wonder when I'll finish the experiments and actually get the minis ready... Don't hold your breath, as the saying goes.

And the walker... the Pith Helmeted Wargames Factory heads seem to fit the pilot OK; perhaps it could belong to the Aetherines.

Pictures to follow I hope soon.

The 43rd (Prince Rupert's) Regiment of Horse

Not quite sure what my thinking is here, but the co-incidence of Captain Cadman serving with the above regiment is giving me ideas.

As I live in Leicester (where Prince Rupert of the Rhine led the seige in the English Civil War) and my kids are in the 43rd Leicester Scouts, the 'Fighting' 43rd (Prince Rupert's) Regiment has a certain resonance. And my kids like horse riding.

Add to that the fact that the only other noted Rupert (we'll leave Rupert Bear out of it) is Rupert of Hentzau (also a skillful rider and dashing though impetuous soldier, born near Prague, and almost certainly modelled on Rupert of the Rhine), so Prince Rupert already has a certain connection with VSF musings.

Prince Rupert's armorial bearings include a gold lion rampant on black. The 43rd Leicester Scouts have red and pale blue. I'm going to have to work on this.