The Men Who Would Be Warlords of Mars

Above the Liftwood groves, an Aphid class gunboat flies under French colours as Épée 

A well overdue return to some Space 1889 gaming today, with the specific intent to trying to nail down our rules modifications to The Men Who Would Be Kings. We feel they are..okay...but probably the best fit of anything we've found thus far. Regardless, we got to push some models around and thats always fun!

A French expedition from Ideus Fons defends a central position, with Cloudship Épée in overwatch position

Some rules changes we played with included Bolt Action style of pulling chits, to keep the game fully interactive and generate drama and tension with 'who goes next', which can at times be critical (and was!)

Épée (by Oshiro Models) with a crew of Armoured Sailors (by Ironclad Miniatures)

Additionally, for narrative reasons we played:

- a unit that rolls boxcars on an activation may take an extra action immediately (but must declare both at the start)

- a unit that rolls boxcars on Disciple check a takes an immediate free action (heroic reaction to taking fire!)

Units - we have trialled a few options and recommend Space 1889 units under TMWWBK as:

• European trained Canal Martians as Regular Infantry with Obsolete Rifles
• Canal Martian Shooters as Irregular Infantry
• Can Martian Choppers as Tribal Infantry
• Tharks as Tribal Cavalry

Tharks!!!! (Bronze Age Miniatures)

A unit of Tirailleurs Martiens (RAFM models) prepares to defend their position against advancing Martian Cutters

Canal Martians advance from cover (Bronze Age miniatures)

Give them a taste of St-Etienne steel, mes Amis!

Aerial gunnery takes advancing Martians under fire

New Units:

Shield Gunners as an additions to a Canal Martian Shooter unit. A Shield Gunner takes an additional hit to kill (eg 2 at close range, 3 at long range, 4 at long range and in cover!), and all shield gunners in a unit must be taken down before. A Shooter unit can add 2-3 max at a cost of 1-2 points, adding some much needed resilience against modern European musketry

Cloudship is still in development. We used the Aphid as a Regular Cavalry unit for activation and movement. It carries a half unit (6 men) of riflemen which have to activate separately, and a crewed weapon which also activates separately.  The Cloudship (in this case a poorly armed Scout class type) is operating at low altitude and can be taken under fire by all units as usual. 

Each hit is randomly allocated as:

• 1-2 Crewed Weapon Crew (4 total)
• 3-4 Upper Deck Crew (6 total)
• 5-6 Hull hit (6 total)
• Weapon fire is reduced proportionally with hits. The cloudship crashes if reduced to zero hull points.

Tharks crash into the Legionaries, devastating the unit

Would love to hear other people's experiences and suggestion for TMWWBK, or other rules sets they use for Space 1889 ground actions.

Sergent Pierre Reno, veteran of the Third Thark Suppression Campaign, revenges his comrades upon the last Thark