A Jolly Good Show!

Huzzah chaps! Jolly good news from the colonies down under! Our chaps have retained the Ashes, wrapping up the Aussies before lunch on day four. Watched it all on one of those new chronophotographic players with a bit of game pie and a bottle of brandy whilst the Memsahib was abed. Three cheers to Messrs Strauss and co. Bring on the bally Hindustanis next, eh what?

Dystopian Wars: Review

Has been posted by the podcast "The D6 Generation" in episode 70.
Its 1hr 11min into the show and its sufficiently detailed that it goes for over an hour!

You'll find the D6G here: http://www.thed6generation.com/

Wishing you a Very Merry....

Have a great and safe one everybody, 
and wishing you a gaming filled 2011!
(thanks to Brigade Models for the pic!)

Solid Earth Bases

Gentlemen, I understand that some of you like to mount your toy soldiers on scenic bases whilst playing a game of Little Wars on the carpet. If so you may wish to send the man servant off to purchase some from a company in the colonies called Fiendish Fabrications who make some jolly designs including clockwork, gothic horror and wild west.

Pax Britannia book reviews

In recognition of Mssr Blease's recent reviews here of the Pax Britannia books, erudite gentleman and author Mssr Green has posted a link to WWS at his own Blog here:
http://jonathangreenauthor.blogspot.com/2010/12/pax-britannia-book-reviews.html

But not only that, he has also posted a short story as a Christmas present to all, titled "SILENT KNIGHT, or, 'TWAS THE DARK KNIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS"
http://abaddonbooks.blogspot.com/2010/12/and-pax-britannia-freebie.html

Told you he is a smashing Chap!

Spring Heeled Jack

Gentlemen, with the festive season now upon us, it is important that we all keep our wits about us and twelve-bore to hand to protect our loved ones and wine collections from nefarious villians such as the one shown here in this chronophotographic record of the bounder known as Spring Heeled Jack!



Seemed appropriate for post 666! :-)

Steam Trek: The Moving Picture

Gentlemen, further research on my personal Babbage engine has unearthed this exciting chronophotographic record of the adventures of the crew of an astronef on an alien planet, though I must confess I am slightly dubious to its veracity in parts...

Pax Britannia: Dark Side

Blooming Memsahib! Seems she toke umbridge about my reference to cook's Christmas Puddings yesterday and has banished me to the gardener's potting shed. Daft old bird... Fortunately with the snow laying all crisp and even I had the good sense to grab a bit of game pie, a bottle of brandy, my cigars and the latest Pax Britannia penny dreadful!

That wordsmith Green don't half knock them out you know? Dark Side is the newest Quicksilver adventure and what a hoot, definitely the best to date! Following his brother Barty to the her Majesty's colony on the moon, we meet up with characters from the short story Vanishing Point and have astronef, Martian separatist anarchists, asteroids, mechanical automatons on the rampage, more pesky Nazi Prussians, a plethora of fillies, a series of murders, infernal devices, selenites, secret bases, tragedy, vengeance and the possibility of the end of everything, everywhere! Blimey, one needed a stiff one after all that I can tell you!! Hats off to Mister Green for a highly entertaining romp...

As usual he treats us with a short Quicksilver story entitled Proteus Unbound. A tragic tale featuring two of the survivors from the Leviathan penny dreadful that brought a veritable lump to the throat and proof to gentlemen everywhere to be wary of what those medical quacks try and force down your throat to cure your gout of lumbago! I'll be making sure mine takes a quick swig first in future I can tell you!

Pax Britannia: Movies On The Moon

Shocking revalations appear to be afoot gentlemen, having accessed this chronophotographic record via my personal Babbage engine regarding the next installment of Ulysses Quicksilver adventures. I will be giving them a thorough investigation imminently and will report back toodle suite (as they say over the Channel). It looks like it could be our hero's most challenging adventure yet...

Pax Britannia: Blood Royal

Wonderful smells wafting from the kitchen this snowy morn' as cook prepares some grub for the festive feasting. Her brandy mince pies are jolly spiffing and I can't wait to get my hands on her Christmas puddings you know!

Whatever, whilst relaxing in the library with a nice snifter of sherry, for it is that time of the year, I finished reading another jolly jape from that wordsmith Green, this time called Blood Royal.

This volume follows on from the catastrophe that befell our fair capital in the last penny dreadful with London subject to curfew as strange beasties roam the streets. Our hero, Quicksilver, is soon drawn into intrigue following the kidnapping of a friend's daughter and an adventure follows that leads him to far flung places such as the Isle of Wight and Moscow. Airships, vampires, bandits, femme fatales and werewolves, this book is chock full of exciting derring-do and will certainly keep one on tenterhooks to see whether that dandy agent succeeds or not.

As ever there is a short Quicksilver yarn at the end entitled White Rabbit which is very, very strange. Obviously Green has been spending too many nights in the opium dens of Whitechapel and needs a good thrashing with a birch to beat this laudanum induced nonsense out of him! Jabberwocky indeed...

Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects

What ho chaps! Apologies for the lack of updates recently but I've been helping brave little Belgium in her efforts against the pesky Frogs! More on this another day but suffice to say those snail-eaters were soon beating a retreat to Paris with their tails between their legs.

Anyhow, I was pleased to find that the Memsahib had not only packed a fine bottle of brandy in my traveling chest but some of the most recent penny dreadfuls by that Jonathan Green wallah. Evolution Expects is the fourth Quicksilver yarn which sees our hero pitched into an adventure to save the capital from old enemies, whilst encountering all manner of strange friend and foe including Spring-Heeled Jack and the Limehouse Golem. A ripping yarn up to the usual quality and worthy of adding to any gentleman's library.

As usual Green provides us with a short story after the main course and this little triffle, entitled Conqueror Worm, is set two hundred years before the time of our usual hero and recounts an adventure of some filly called Cassandra Tyrell, a female secret agent would you believe, dealing with a secret cult at a stately home. Bit different one must say, but a jolly wheeze and one would certainly like to encounter that Cassandra filly again, harrumph!

You always need more

And here is the excuse you've been looking for!


As for the previous couple of years, we're running a blanket discount rather than specific special offers, since everyone seems to like them. Although there are a few exceptions, this isn't a '15% of selected items' or 'Up to 15% off' sale, it's a real '15% off everything' sale.

So once again that's 15% off all of our models - Aeronef, starships, Land Ironclads, 15mm and 6mm tanks, Iron Stars, WWI Belgians... all except Celtos, where the Celtic Gods are being even more generous and giving 25% off.

And that's it - no minimum or maximum orders, just a blanket discount until January 3rd. So what are you waiting for? Go out there and shop!

http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/Xmas.html

Nemo's War

A solitaire VSF game I've just ordered - looks fun!

Jules Verne’s classic novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea tells the story of Captain Nemo and his astounding ship, the Nautilus. Set in the year 1866, this amazing electric-powered submarine travels throughout the seas tacitly on missions of research and exploration, but it isn’t long before two captive crew members, rescued from the wreck of a Nautilus attack, Professor Aronnax and Canadian whaler Ned Land, realize that Captain Nemo’s motives are far more complex and possibly sinister.

Can you command the Nautilus on its year-long cruise to destiny? Can you fend off giant squids? Discover the South Pole, the Arabian Tunnel or the lost city of Atlantis? Can you scourge the high seas and create enough fear in the great maritime powers to free the colonial peoples of the world from them? There really is a whole world to explore and master when you are adventuring in this amazing solitaire game: Nemo’s War.

http://victorypointgames.com/details.php?prodId=94
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/39232/nemos-war

PS While at Victory Point Games, check out  another of their games:  "Toe-to-Toe Nu’klr Combat with the Rooskies"

The Defence of Melbourne

Real documentation for the defensive plans for the colony of Melbourne (against those dastardly Russians most likely!), including the layered use of shore batteries, coastal forts, minefields and the local flotilla (including the HMVS Cerberus).

http://www.awm.gov.au/journal/j35/kitson.asp

Note too the potential use of scouting dirigibles!

Skyship!

Flagship Games have annouced that they are "currently busy working on Skyship! a set of rules for Aeronef style VSF battles. Designed for smaller actions of 1-12 ships it will feature full 3-D flight rules, boarding actions, heroic heroes, and fantastic newly discovered super-weapons!"

You can join their Yahoo Group here.

Lest We Forget

Dystopian Wars: Further Previews

Pics just released by Spartan games:

Prussian Imperium Sky Fortress

 Kingdom of Brittania Battleship

 Empire of the Blazing Sun Sky Fortress

 Bombers and Flying Craft

Rules for Steam Vehicles in Saurian Safari

Here are some rules for using Steam Powered Ironclad Vehicles in Saurian Safari - now Sir and Ma'am dont' have to walk, and these new fangled contraptions can provide a means of rapidly getting back for tea!


Movement

Steam vehicles move at a speed of 1D6 per turn. They can move forwards and backwards at this speed but must stop for one turn before changing direction. Any number of turns of up to 45 degrees may also be made during each move at the cost of 1’’ of movement.

A steam vehicle may climb low hills or slopes but steep slopes are impassable. It can travel through any areas of vegetation including forest or jungle without penalty, clearing a path the width of the vehicle as it goes. A steam vehicle cannot cross swamps, marsh, rivers or soft sand. If it attempts to do so it will become permanently bogged down.

Crew and Armament

A steam vehicle has a carrying capacity of four plus one engineer. When travelling by vehicle, one party member must be allocated as engineer and may not use any firearms whilst at the controls, unless the vehicle is stationary. It takes one move to embark or disembark from a steam vehicle. The rules for restarting a stationary vehicle (p14) do not apply.

Vehicle mounted machine guns or light cannon are permitted but may not be removed from the vehicle at any time and require a gunner and a loader to be used. If mounted in a turret they will have a 360 degree arc of fire. To traverse the turret takes one move. Any vision ports in the machine may also be used as firing positions for a single figure with a 45 degree arc of fire and line of sight. When rolling to spot a dinosaur from within a steam vehicle, add a minus 10% modifier due to restricted visibililty.


Malfunctions

At the start of the movement phase, a D100 roll must be made to determine possible malfunctions of the steam vehicle. Only one malfunction can occur in any one turn, so do not roll for malfunction if one is already in effect. Apply effects as indicated on the following chart:

01 – 60% No malfunction, Full Steam Ahead!

61 – 65% Steering jammed (vehicle may not change direction for D6 turns)

66 – 70 % Gears jammed in reverse (vehicle will travel backwards at 1D6 per turn for D6 turns)

71 – 75 % Low Steam Pressure (vehicle grinds to a halt and will remain stationary for D6 turns)

76 – 80% Boiler Leak (crew must abandon vehicle for D6 turns until steam has dispersed)

81 – 85% Turret / Gun Jammed (may not fire or traverse for D6 turns until fixed by crew)

86 – 90% Track or Wheel Thrown (no movement other than a 45 degree turn in one direction)

91 – 95% Piston Valve Gasket Spring Reciprocator has broken (no movement for D6 turns until fixed by crew)

96 – 98% Safety Valve Jam (will blow up after D6 turns unless fixed by a crew on D6 roll of 5-6)

99 – 100% Boom! (roll a D6 for each of the crew: 1-2 Dead / 3-4 Wounded -1D6 strength / 5-6 thrown clear)

To fix a malfunction, one crew member must be tasked with the repair attempt but may not perform any other action during this time.


Dinosaur Encounters

The majority of creatures will ignore a steam vehicle as it looks a lot like a dinosaur.

However, carnivores and pack hunters will attempt to attack a steam machine as they assume it will taste nice (refer to the relevant reaction charts). These attacks will have no effect on the armoured plated exterior of the machine, although pack hunters will swarm all over it and any self respecting carnosaur will attempt to bite and chew bits off. After D6 turns, the dinosaurs will give up and wander off, unless they have already been KO’d or killed by the crew. The steam machine may attempt to crush pack hunters under its wheels or tracks with an automatic chance of success if the dinosaur is silly enough to stand directly in the vehicles path.

Any encounter with a Ceratopsian or Ankylosaur will have more serious consequences. Use the reaction charts to determine if the dinosaur attacks. If it does charge and makes contact, roll a D100, with a 50% chance of the steam vehicle being tipped over on its side. Any occupants will be unharmed but the vehicle will be immobilised and the turret and/or gun will be out of action. The dinosaur will then wander off allowing the crew to bale out via the escape hatch.

If a stampeding Sauropod happens to collide with a steam machine there will be a 75% chance of it tipping over. Other dinosaurs that collide with the vehicle will merely bounce off (and get a headache).

Many Thanks to Jim who posted these rules here:
http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/2010/02/rules-for-steam-vehicles-in-saurian.html

150,000 Hits!

...since August 2007 (though this blog was around for 18 months or so before that).


I am humbled by your patronage and indebited to my fellow WWS contributors.
Open the gin!

Dystopian Wars: More Previews

More sneak peaks at the forthcoming faction fleets, thanks to Neil at Spartan Games.

Les Belges Advance...

 

More of Steve's new Belgian army is now available at his blog:

http://bleaseworld.blogspot.com/2010/10/les-belges-advance.html

 

Great stuff old Bean!

WWS Exclusive: Belgians Go To War in Land Ironclads!

With a cry of "Remember Liège!!" the plucky Belgian army enters the fray against the nefarious French!

In these exclusive brand new pantographs we see the latest land ironclads from the Brigade factorium to released to interested buyers at the forthcoming arms show Crisis 2010 in Antwerp. They may not be the biggest, but by jove they'll give the pesky Frogs and rebellious Martians something to think about, eh what?

Marie Henriette class three land ironclad

Louise-Marie class four land ironclad

Charlotte-Ameilie class five land ironclad

By Tas: You can also see the Belgian infantry to accompany these LI at Mssr Blease's blog here:

http://bleaseworld.blogspot.com/2010/10/remember-liege.html

Dystopian Wars Mini Preview

Mark from "Conflict in Colour" has very kindly sent me these pics of new minis from Spartan Games's Dystopian Wars.  These are the British Carrier and Japanese Battleship, which he painted.  Good show old bean!


Neil from Spartan Games also informs me that these are pre-release models, which means they are made from sample resin, and not release quality.  Yes, that means the ones we will be able to buy will be even better!

Kingdom of Britannia Carrier

 

 Empire of the Blazing Sun Battleship

http://www.conflictincolour.com/ 

Dinoriders now available from Eureka Miniatures

Definitely more pulp than VSF, but I want to spread the word for Nic at Eureka Miniatures.  Plus you could  convert them to Prussian Dinotruppen for service on Venus too!  These are the figs I had the pleasure using during the Jurassic Reich game at Little Wars back in May - great fun!
More pics at the Man Cave here:
http://tasmancave.blogspot.com/2010/06/jurassic-reich-detailed-report.html
 ---------

Dateline - February 1943: the American push into North Africa is met with stiff opposition from Rommel's combat-hardened Afrika Korps. The official histories will tell of great numbers of inexperienced American troops fleeing Rommel’s panzers at Kasserine Pass, but those who were there know it took more than just a few tanks to strike such terror into the minds of so many young American soldiers. The truth was that they had to face a new horror - from another time. Squadrons of flying creatures - Pterodactyls! - armed with anti-tank weapons and bombs, had swooped down and relentlessly pursued the shocked Americans into the Atlas Mountains.




The Allied generals and their political masters were stunned. Where had these creatures come from? Stalin suspected an Anglo-American plot to deceive him created by those “degenerate capitalist tricksters in Hollywood”. Others simply refused to believe it. General Patton dismissed the Pterodactyls as the “Delusional rantings of a load of yellow bellies who need a good slapping!” - until two Pterodactyls strafed his car near Djedjelli. But in London the news struck a chord with British Intelligence who had been gradually piecing together the strange story of an ancient seven-sided archway (dubbed the 'Anubis Gate' because of the hieroglyphics that adorned it) that Napoleon's troops had uncovered in Egypt in 1801. Defying interpretation for almost a century and a half, the artifact had remained, almost forgotten, in a basement of the Louvre Museum. But within hours of the fall of Paris in 1940 a team from Himmler’s Ahnenerbe (the Nazi Occult Bureau) had arrived with a truck and they took the 'Anubis Gate' off to a secret location in Germany.



Sometime during 1941 the Nazis discovered that when ‘energised’ the artifact became a time portal to the prehistoric past. They sent through armed expeditions looking for ancestral Aryan supermen, but they returned with captured dinosaurs. Keen to explore the possibilities further, expeditions were sent to establish research and training facilities back on Cretaceous earth (and thus safe from Allied bombing). By the end of 1942 the Nazis had trained a number of units: the Kriegsclaws – Dinonicus (deinonychus) mounted SS cavalry; and the Pterowaffen – pterodactyls deployed as air defence fighters or in ground attack roles.

After their successful introduction in Africa, Hitler ordered the deployment of dinotruppen across Europe – on the Eastern Front (forcing even Stalin to acknowledge their existence), in the Balkans, along the coastline of Normandy, and in the defence of the Italian peninsula. The mountainous Balkans and the trackless wastes of the Russian steppes and forests became excellent hunting grounds for the Kriegsclaw; in fact wherever the terrain was impassable for vehicles or the distances so great that fuel supplies were an issue – these agile creatures were in their element. Principally used for screening and reconnaissance roles, the Kriegsclaw were occasionally used offensively to assault an enemy's flanks (as in the Kursk encirclement) or to cover infantry withdrawals. Nazi Germany had harnessed the greatest primeval forces the world has known - it was the dawn of Jurassic Reich …







Designed by Kosta Heristanidis and Mike Broadbent, these figures are part of our Pulpiations “pulp fiction” range and can be used alongside our “Dogface GI’s” or any number of 28mm World War Two ranges that are out there. Colour schemes are optional. We are looking forward to the heated internet forum debates over the correct camouflage colours to use, and telling us that the number of teeth we’ve given the Dinonicus is more appropriate to an Ausf C rather than an Ausf D.

http://eurekamin.com.au/news.php?newsid=EklZEuEuFATWHHLjGs

Leviathans Update

I must admit its been awhile since I revisited this one, so I was delighted to find a new, free offering for this game: The Channel Campaign.  This is a good read and has lots of potential for Aeronef too of course. Find it here:
http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=219&products_id=2594

You might also be interested in the latest interview with Catalyst Game Labs by Beasts of War, which they recorded at GenCon and discusses both Battletech and Leviathans.

15mm Figures For America's Splendid Little War

From Sculptor/Modeler/Author Chris Ferree, returns his original line of figures for the Spanish-American War in 15mm. First produced by Richard Houston over 10 years ago as part of the innovative "Battles In A Box" miniatures collections, the full line is once again available exclusively from TVAG.

Masterfully cast by Tom Dye of GFI/MiniFigs USA, the figures come from newly mastered molds and are as crisp and full of character as ever.

"Rough Riders!" consists of all troop types actually sent to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Islands by the United States, and as they fought the defending Spanish forces. The Spanish are themselves well represented by the troops (as defined by recognizable uniform types) defending the last outposts of their former Empire.

And as combat with the Spanish ended, new foes appeared. Of these, the most colorful and exotic were Spain's perenial Philippine enemies, the Moros. "Rough Riders!" provides these fanatical warriors and their lethal weapons in spades.

http://fauxtoys.com/tvag/400-Rough%20Riders.htm

Martians & Machine Guns

A big Huzzah to Andrew Sewell who this month has begun his own VSF Blog titled 'Martians & Machine Guns'.  His 6mm chaps are very nice and I'm looking forward to following his continued adventures into VSF silliness!
http://haarken.blogspot.com/

Dystopian Wars

The next major line from Spartan Games, this is scheduled for release in November 2010 with four great nations from this war ravaged world: Kingdom of Britannia, Empire of the Blazing Sun, Prussian Empire and the Federated States of America.

This is a game involving airships, land ironclads and of course mighty naval platforms.  Here is the Prussian "Storm Cloud Carrier"

http://spartangames.co.uk/dystopian_wars.html
and more here:
http://www.tabletopshoponline.de/blog/Dystopian-Wars-Intro/

Love or hate the rules, at least there will be more minis about!

WTNW Core II Game

The ArmChairGeneral (Rob) well be running a demo of the When the Navy Walked: Core II rules at Borderlands Comics and Games on Wednesday October 20 from about 6:00-9:00 immediately following their Jacksonville Garrison meeting. He will be bringing enough for several games at once. He will also be trying out some of the new rules from the Martian supplement!

http://armchairgeneral1.blogspot.com/2010/10/wtnw-core-ii-game.html

When The Navy Walked

When the Navy Walked - Core Rules 2 Note: Thank you for purchasing When the Navy Walked! You have the core book in the ground level of a new venture that I started because I wanted to be able to share my ideas. When the Navy Walked is more than just a game or an idea it is a springboard for imagination. The Victorian Science Fiction genre has always been one that attracted creative individuals. The rules in this book should allow you to have many fun battles using the Great Powers. Look for coming supplements such as scenario and army books that will be designed to expand the alternate universe and add rich elements to the game!

http://www.wargamevault.com/product_reviews_write.php?products_id=81192

Blog dedicated to these splendid new rules and other items of interest:

http://armchairgeneral1.blogspot.com/

Babbage Analytical Engine reborn!

Well Huzzah and Hoorah - Babbage's ingenious locomotive sized wonder may be constructed once again, breathing new steam into innovation!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11530905

Bravo and thanks to DC for the heads-up!

Warlord of Mars

Now as any good officer knows intel is paramount when up against pesky natives, especially when serving off planet. Now thanks to those good chappies at Dynamite Publications we have some more resource to help subjugate the bally Martians in the form of an intelligence briefing cleverly disguised as a comic book (no doubt to fool the French).

Warlord of Mars is apparently a prequel to those briefings from that Burroughs chappie and is available this month so get the man servant to pop out and pick up a copy, though make sure he puts it in a plain paper bag as it is unlikely the Memsahib will appreciate the fact that those dusky Martian maidens aren't so keen on wearing clothes and get the wrong idea, harrumph!

New French Land Ironclads from Brigade

What ho chaps! Jolly exciting news and pantograph imagery of the wonderful new model French land ironclads from those clever chaps at Brigade Models in their Maidstone factorium.

Release is imminent so dig out those bank notes and get your butler ready to pop along to the post office to buy a penny black and post an order to the Brigade chappies. At last we'll be able to recreate the damned thrashing we gave the Froggies at Caterham on our sand tables! Huzzah!

The pantographs show the new models alongside some Irregular French infantry and cavalry so you can assess scale and marvel in the wonderfulness of the new models.

Detendu class one land ironclad:

Immuablement class two land ironclad:

Vengeance class three land ironclads:

Glorieux class four land ironclads:

Blockhaus Roulant class five land ironclads:

We've also managed to sneak out some exclusive top hole news which we'll share with you once we have clearance from GHQ so keep your Babbage Engine warmed up and get your man servant to check back regularly you enjoy a good cheese board and fine port.

A Grand Century!

100 Followers - thanks Chaps!  Its nice to know one's work is appreciated

Chin-Chin!

Steampunk House

Now this erudite Gent has really got the VSF bug - see what he has done to his house!
If only SWMBO was so accomodating...

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2efHtO/steampunkworkshop.com/visit-steampunked-home