Hive, Queen and Country

After seeing this Yahoo group advertised sat TMP, I went to check it out. These guys are developing a VSF setting for wargaming and RPG and these are some of their fascinating background notes:

Hive, Queen and Country

In 1891 the Sun never sets upon the British Empire. It is an empire that spans four worlds; an empire won by accident as much as by design, its expansion founded upon faith in the ideals of a nation. With the latest innovations of technology the British flag and imperial way of life have been established on all the continents of Earth, the craters of Luna, Canals of Mars and the seas and islands of Venus. Imperialism has been propelled forward (but also sometimes reined in) by the forceful personalities of powerful men and women. In scientific, social, and political thought, mercantile and technological achievement The Empire is the most advanced human organization in the solar system. In the spring of 1891 it is to meet another society, one that doesn’t have the engineering skills of Babbage and Brunel, the writings of Tennyson or Byron or the social philosophies of Gladstone. The Hive has but one thing. The Hive has hunger.


The Focus of the Campaign

Hive Queen and Country Campaign sourcebook primarily centers on the military efforts of the First Hive War. The efforts of the Imperial forces to contain and then destroy the Hive, an alien race of terrible ferocity and hunger, take place between the early spring of 1891 and the late summer of 1892. The Hive is an alien super-organism, a group of creatures like a colony of ants or termites magnified uncounted millions of times. Introduced from off-world into Victorian England the Hive is genetically programmed to feed, eating any bio-mass it encounters, and use that bio-mass to breed more hive members. Each successive generation is better able to thrive in local conditions. The Hive will feast and grow until it becomes large enough to make additional hives, undergoing fission like a single celled. The process will begin all over. The aliens will cover the entire Earth unless they are stopped. The only remnant of earthly flora and fauna will be those species the invaders have chosen to raise in their gardens, like the fungi grown by leafcutter ants. The desperate military actions of HM forces are set against the larger background of a Victorian Era in which space travel is far more common then it is in our current era. The Great Powers, which competed so stiffly against each other for rule of Earth have all the inner planets on which to shoulder the White Man’s Burden. Before the rediscovery of Aerolyth, the contra-gravitational mineral, the Victorian era was one of rapid technological advances. Giving Victorian engineers the challenges of designing for vehicles first for aerial navigation and then space flight and the rigors of interplanetary travel was like throwing rocket fuel on a bonfire. A period of amazing growth has pushed forward the limits of human knowledge and engineering ability at an unprecedented rate.


Worlds of Hive Queen and Country

The Victorian period is one of immense progress in all fields of human endeavor; strides were made in every science, the value of human life validated as never before. Entire regions of the planet were explored, mapped, and exploited. Yet for all that was done there was much that was nearly done or left unfinished. The tradition of speculative fiction, both hard science fiction and what we now call techno-thrillers began in the Victorian Era as people rode a wave of change that made them look even farther into the future. Hive, Queen and Country takes place in a world where many of those “might have beens” became everyday realities. Where not only do great ocean liners ply the seas and vast airships cruise the sky but huge astral liners the airless darkness between the planets. It is a world, or worlds, that have the bright stamp of a human race that is vigorous, powerful, and above all hopeful for the future. It also has ancient races that are steeped in darkness and filled with hatred and envy of the Earthmen and what they represent. It is this evil, this fear, and hatred that will challenge the British Empire as never before. The worlds of Hive, Queen and Country diverges from our history in several places, firstly in 1830 when Babbage’s Difference Engine becomes a working reality and forever changes the way that mathematical data is developed, handled and stored. Next comes John Lubbock’s accidental rediscovery of Aerolyth in 1865 on the Salisbury Plain, which allowed conquest of the air ocean above the Earth’s surface. These two events lead directly to the colonization of the solar system by the Great Powers. After reaching the limits of the atmosphere the great powers looked to the vast reaches of interplanetary space for new realms to conquer. They found them in Earth’s nearest celestial neighbors, Luna, Venus, and Mars. The rockets of Hale and Mendeleyev-Konstantino and then the Etheric Engines of Ewing-Stuart gave them the tools they needed. By 1891 colonies of Earthmen stood on the Moon, Venus and Mars. Everywhere they went they found marvels and surprises. The new worlds were jewels in the crown of empire, Mars a dazzling ruby, Venus a vast opal. The moon is a dull lump of coal, but no less valuable for its lack of beauty. The race for the new worlds had begun in earnest in 1873. By 1880 men and women were living, working, and dieing on all three of the other planets. Each had their own treasures, but each also had its own ways of killing. http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Hivequeen/

I'm dreaming of a White Wine Sauce Christmas

Best Wishes for a very Merry Christmas to All!

May your cup runeth over...and keep running!

The Colonel’s boiler plated brandy Snifter

Patrick has posted his VSF rules, brilliantly entitled: "The Colonel’s boiler plated brandy Snifter"!


They are a VFS plug-in for the existing Two Hour Wargames rules and you may find them here:
http://patrick.smyrl.googlepages.com/home222

Dumont's Airship

Alberto Santos-Dumont,the young plantation owner from Brazil, spent lavishly in building sausage-shaped airships, establishing the first airport, and maintaining a fleet of dirigibles. His first flight was made in 1898 in a cylindrical balloon 80 feet long and propelled by a small gasoline engine suspended in a car below. Releasing gas to make a landing, he averted a catastrophe by signaling a group of boys to pull his collapsing dirigible like a kite by its guide rope as it neared the ground. After two failures he succeeded, in 1901, in circling the Eiffel Tower in Paris despite a strong wind, and won the de la Meurthe 100,000 francs. award for his achievement. For a decade he continued to be a central figure in French aviation, performing a series of spectacular feats with air-ships, and later airplanes, and proving by his accomplishments the practicality of flying.

You can download a paper model of this great looking airship from fiddler's green here: http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/AC/aircraft/Dumont-Airship/airship.php

Thanks to Jim J of the LostWorld yahoo group for the link!

Imperial German painting guides

Prussians are notorious about looking just right after all

Reading German would be handy for this one, but is not essential
http://www.grosser-generalstab.de/

but this one is all in English:
http://www.kaisersbunker.com/gtp

Tas's Factorium Back in Buisness!

After a year of extreme labour shortages, Tas's Factorium is back in business! On the bench right now is a modular river section, jungle terrain and a dozen 15mm adventurers getting ready for a dinosaur hunt. While I am happy with the way the terrain is coming along, it would seem that figure painting is indeed a highly perishable skill...

Anyhow, I hope to have pics up in the next few days.

I had to do a bit of research for the terrain, so have compiled a section for the most relevant terrain modelling links - its on the left hand frame of the blog, below the 25mm VSF section and above the blog archive. I hope you find these useful

Dr Steel's Christmas Message

I received the following communique today:

Happy Holidays, Toy Soldiers! With the holidays now upon us, Dr. Steel has sent a special transmission from deep within his laboratory to wish us all a very merry Christmas. Thank you for helping Dr. Steel take over the world!

May your holidays be filled with joy (and robots)

Dr. Steel Holiday Greeting

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Pre-Dreadnought prototype from North Head Miniatures

I got this email today from Simon at North Head Miniatures:

Dave and were having a discussion the other morning over the paper and our morning tea about where we could possibly expand into next year, 2008. We want to continue working on the 1/1200 Ironclads and I have a project that I am working on that we have yet to agree on. However, we both have a love of pre-dreadnoughts and WW1. So we were thinking of maybe producing a range of ships for those periods, maybe focusing on the Med and the Black Sea.


We have rather quickly knocked out a sample to see what it could look like and I have used my rather poor painting skills, as Dave was busy designing, to show you what would be possible and ask if you thought it was worth going forward. The miniature is the Italian Regina Elena . Your thoughts would be appreciated.

I for one love this period (almost as much as the Ironclad era) and heartily support the idea of expanding such a range in this scale, which matches nicely with Aeronef and the forthcoming Land Ironclads and Aquanef.

What do you think? Leave your comments here!

Steampunk Dalek

You may recall this Steampunk Dalek by Promus-Kaa:

Steampunk Dalek by ~Promus-Kaa on deviantART


Well now its animated too!


but I prefer the B&W render for truly authentic feel:

Converted Steam Chair

• You may recall that last week I posted a link to Thunderchicken's 15mm VSF gallery here:
  http://pauljamesog.blogspot.com/2007/12/new-15mm-vsf-pics.html
  
  Well he has produced something new and outdone himself this time - modifying Eureka Miniatures' 25mm scale Lucifer Hardlove's steam chair to a 15mm vehicle.
  
  

Great work Tunderchicken, just the thing I need to scout ahead of my mechanised force for next season's invasion of Zululand!

http://www.displacedminiatures.com/Thunderchicken/image.html?galleryId=2529&imageId=24908

http://www.displacedminiatures.com/Thunderchicken/image.html?galleryId=2529&imageId=24907


You can see the original model here: http://eurekamin.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=1937

Kinder s'prise model

This great VSF/steampunk model by "leborico" was scratchbuilt from a Kinder Suprise egg. He also used "electric wires, paper, solder wire, a piece of grid from a coffee machine, gears from an old watch, copper pipes"

Well done indeed!

Tribal Villages

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Either as an objective of a punitive expedition against errant tribesmen, or an Encounter in the Lost Valley, native villages are an essential part of any VSF or colonial game.

TOP: The ubiquitous native village!
Now, complete with fire pit!

I just found this simple and effective method for scratch-building such villages at Terrain Thralls:
http://www.terrainthralls.com//articles/village/firstpage.aspx
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HMS Recalcitrant

This is a great scratchbuilt burrowing vehicle, or as I call them:

Terra-nefs

Taken from:
http://redjak.com/ImpMechSapper/Recalcitrant.htm

A great way to transport combat troops under an aerial barrage, or as a method of transportation to the Lost World!

How to Build The Heavy Mechanical Sapper

"The Recalcitrant or similar vehicle presents an ideal way of inserting those pesky, overpriced, underarmed Imperial close combat troops. With simple, easy to obtain materials it could be built in a few nites of work. The materials required are a styrofoam cone (craft store), a McDonald’s styrofoam coffee cup, some airdry modeling clay, some sheet styrene, dress snaps, paint and paper mache or patching stucco. Paper cardstock can be used to replace sheet styrene though it will take less of a beating."

"Roll out some modeling clay in a string that is thick on one end and thin on the other. At the pointed end of the cone start with the thin end of clay and wrap it in a spiral around your cone. Then work the clay into the shape of a screw thread and set aside to dry. Take your cup and cut it at an angle to make your vehicle look like it’s coming out of the ground. Wrap the piece with thin sheet styrene. Secure with a small strip of styrene across the spice point. Trim the top and bottom edges of the styrene to match the shape of the cup (the styrene wrap can be glued to the cup with white glue as well)."

"Cut some sheet styrene to make your door hatches and door frame assembly. Half of a dress snap forms the hatch wheel lock mechanisms. Cut a hole in the body of the vehicle just a bit larger than your door opening. Glue your door assembly over the hole. Add bits of scrap as decoration (fins, vents, gunports, access doors panels) as you like. Small styrene rod, round or hex shaped can be sliced for rivets and bolt heads. Cut a disk shape from styrene scrap to serve as a separation between the end of the cup and the screw drill point. Once dry glue the two pieces together. Paint the vehicle the colors you desire. Insignia can be drawn with a computer program and printed on a color printer. Cut it out and glue it on. Glue the vehicle to a base of matte board or other suitable material. Work up ground cover with stucco spackle or paper mache mash. Once dry paint it in earthtone colors. Using the same earthtone colors weather the vehicle so it looks like it has actually spent some time boring through the earth."

"Bada bing, bada bang, bada boom you’re done. "

Thanks very much indeed - Great stuff!
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The speed of a T-Rex

When hunting big game, it pays to wear sporting apparel to ease sprinting...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6956867.stm

Or you can stand fast and take it like a man of course!

Science vs Pluck

Anything that says: Tea and buttered scones should be available at all times, stronger spirits only after noon has got to be at least OK in my book, so I present this yahoo group to you here:

‘Science Vs Pluck’ is a game of the Sudan wars set at a ‘generalship’ level; in which players portray officers in the service of Queen or Khedive, and seek to solve a variety of problems posed by the enemy, the harsh terrain and climate and, indeed, their own orders. All the participants serve together in, one would hope, some degree of cooperation, while one or more umpires, control the wild Sudanese foe-men, other Imperial officers and their, troops, and the universe in general. A distinct degree of role-playing is required; players are expected to devote themselves to behaving in a properly ‘Victorian’ manner, while the umpire will ensure that his own dramatic performances of fellow Britons, Arab merchants, Syrian interpreters and suitably obsequious ‘other ranks’ are appropriately Kiplingesque.

http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/ScienceVersusPluck/